where fish wear crowns 253the courage to take it down to the dining room. “You take it,” I prodded
Steven.
“No way,” was his helpful reply.
We’re too American. We lost our nerve. We dined well, but no
seminary- trained pumpkin met its maker that night.
/A type of tourist establishment exists in Italy that does not easily trans-
late: categorically called agriturismo, it’s a guest accommodation on a
working family farm. The rooms tend to be few in number, charmingly
furnished, in a picturesque setting, similar to a bed and breakfast with the
addition of lunch and dinner, plus the opportunity to help hoe the turnips
and harvest the grapes if a guest is so inclined. The main point of the visit
for the guest, however, is dinner, usually served family- style at a long
wooden table adjacent to the kitchen. Virtually everything set down upon
that table, from the wine, olive oil, and cheeses to the after- dinner li-
queur, will have been grown and proudly fabricated on the premises. The
growers and fabricators will be on hand to accept the diners’ queries and
appreciation. The host family will likely join the guests at the table, dis-
cussing the meal’s preparation while enjoying it. By law, this type of ac-
commodation must be run by farmers whose principal income derives
from farming rather than tourism. The guest rooms must be converted
from farm buildings; all food served must be the farm’s own. Fakes are not
tolerated.
This hospitality tradition is big business in Italy, with 9,000 establish-
ments hosting more than 10 million bed- nights in a typical recent year,
turning over nearly 500 million euros. The notion of agri- vacationing orig-
inated in the days (not so long ago) when urban Italians routinely made
trips to the countryside to visit relatives and friends who were still on the
farm. Any farmstead with a little extra in the storehouse could hang a
leafy bough out on the public highway, announcing that travelers were
welcome to stop in, sample, and purchase some of the local bounty to
take home. It was customary for city- dwelling Italians to spend a few
nights out in the country, whenever they could get away, tasting regional
specialties at their freshest and best.