16/03/2026
Francesca Buonagurelli has been a friend from even before I started Sapori & Saperi Adventures. She befriended me looking bewildered at an agricultural meeting near her farm just outside Barga. She had abandoned graphic design to buy a run-down farm to try her hand at beekeeping. She renovated the farm buildings to become her house and two apartments and a double bedroom for paying guests. Meanwhile her two donkeys were eating their way through a hillside of brambles to reveal an olive grove which she didn’t know she had. Producing olive oil joined the honey and agriturismo (not to mention caring for a young daughter). She has a warm heart and open house. Her friends flock to her place, and I spent many a joyous Christmas and Easter there. And I was with her during her very difficult divorce. I’ve learned from her how you can be tough while also being warm and hospitable.
Wanting my clients to experience the warmth of Italian hospitality, I took them to learn about bees and mono-floral honey, but especially for pizza parties with her friends, a chance to mix with locals. Now she’s a chef. She was at the forefront of a new initiative by Coldiretti, her agricultural association, to teach people with agriturismi how to use their produce more interestingly in their restaurants. The only stand-alone cooking lesson I offer, ‘No shopping list, no recipes’, is taught by Francesca. If you’re looking for an idyllic place to chill out surrounded by exquisite mountain scenery, you can’t do better than Francesca’s Al Benefizio.
