I would like to clarify this statement. There are not a lot of agriturismi in Italy, and especially not in Tuscany. It’s like trying to find gelato, instead of ice cream, in Rome. They are very difficult to find.

In general, labeling a place as an agriturismo is just another way for a hotel or B&B to evade hotel regulations, something like AirBnB.

I think it was about 25-30 years ago, when Italy’s economy started to tank, that farmers and residents in rural areas were really getting slammed. The government passed an agriculturismo law to bail out farmers. It allowed them to skip over regulations concerning room rentals, but they had to obey some different regulations.

One was that, I think it was 70% of whatever it was that you ate at the farm, from milk, fowl, meat, butter, fruit, vegetable, you name it, had to actually be grown on that farm. It was a law to help REAL struggling farmers who were working the land earn a few extra dollars to make ends meet during a time of struggle.

Now, these rural towns are not all brimming with inspectors making sure that the agriturismi are actually working farms. Especially if they are bringing tourist money into the town.

Very few agriturismi are actually agriturismi, which are working farms. You will know you found one when there are herds of grazing cattle, pigs, sheep, fields of crops.

Almost all of these are just homes homes where somebody just puts out an agriturismo sign, they put a chain around the neck of a donkey and tie the poor creature to a stake in the parking lot. Or, they have some poor old cow, well past milking age, wandering around.

You have to search hard for a real agriturismo. Most are just hotels, without much agriculture. That isn’t to say that they can’t be enjoyed, but it isn’t agriturismo. It’s staying in a rural hotel.

The way the loophole created 25-30 years ago to help poor farmers has been abused by people wanting to turn their house into a hotel without having to abide by recommendations is well known and legendary in Italy.

Most farming in Italy is industrial, as it is in the USA. In the last few years Tuscany has been doing a great job in trying to reign in the touristy beast they have created throughout the region, including passing new laws to try to bring fake agriturismi under control.the link is below. I doubt it will ever be enforced.

You can find them, but don’t mistake a countryside hotel for a real agriturismo, which is hard to find.

http://www.regione.toscana.it/web/bl...la-l-r-30-2003