Just adding a bit to Perche's description of "agriturismi". I the suburbs of Perugia (20-25 km radius), there were several brand-new small villas labelled agriturismo, often with a small pool, that could be rented on a yearly lease by out-of-town University staff (postdocs, research fellows, profs on sabbatical, medics, etc.) for prices that were much lower than what one would be paying for appartments of the same size closer to town (<10 km radius). The lower rent was due to the fact that the construction of these villas had been heavily subsidized by the gorvernment and the EU and before being made available to the general public, the owners only had to keep the villas empty for a year stating that they had not been able to find tourists who would use them for their short vacation. No animals, including donkeys, were involved in the scam. Amazingly, on one of my trips back home I heard in the news that the same trick had been used by two politicians, one of whom was an acting minister (and still is
)at the time the story broke out in the news. As we say in Greece, una faccia una razza...