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Italy has a pretty cool program program for helping small scale farmers / ranchers make additional income through tourism by providing support (and money I beli

Italy has a pretty cool program program for helping small scale farmers / ranchers make additional income through tourism by providing support (and money I believe) to help farmers start "agriturismos". It preserves something of the local / historical character of the farms and encourages participation in the tourism by locals rather than real estate companies building hotels. I've stayed in a few and they've been amazing, many provide breakfast or communal dinners with produce from the farm, the settings are beautiful, and you get to know some of the local community I'm not sure how farmers view this program, for all I know they could hate it (I hope not), but from the people I've spoken to it seems like a good program for everyone

mc32 8y ago
Anthony Bourdain did an episode at one of those agriturismoes. Looks pretty cool. I didn't realize some of their ops were subsidized by the govt, but it makes sense.
girvo 8y ago
This is basically how most tourism works in Cuba, with the Casa particulars. I stayed out on a farm for a week in Vinales, and I cannot recommend it enough! Amazing experience, and helps the locals a lot: for $20CUC a night, they're making nearly half what the government gives them a month (depending).
- isolli 8y ago
  An interesting point is that the Cuban government uses an extremely regressive taxation system to extract maximum revenue from the people providing services to tourists. According to the people I spoke to, the first bracket is taxed at 100%, and revenue above this is not taxed (at all, I believe). However, the bracket limit is set quite high, so that a lot of work is required to clear the hurdle. But the motivation to reach that goal is high, so people work hard, and the government collects the fruits of this labor. I believe Mancur Olson described a similar, extremely regressive taxation system at work in the Soviet Union. I cannot find any reference to this unfortunately.
- simonebrunozzi 8y ago
  I did the same. Loved it too! p.s. It's "Casa particulares"
  - girvo 8y ago
    I typed that, autocorrect!
telesilla 8y ago
I spent time on one of these farms not far south of Rome, it was a truly wonderful experience. I didn't know it was so common - do you know if there is any easy way to find them? I came across mine by a referral, quite by (fortunate) chance.
- aaavl2821 8y ago
  I've used this site [1] and then cross check places that look interesting on Yelp / trip advisor [1] https://www.agriturismo.it/en/ https://www.agriturismo.it/en/

mc32 8y ago

Anthony Bourdain did an episode at one of those agriturismoes. Looks pretty cool. I didn't realize some of their ops were subsidized by the govt, but it makes sense.

girvo 8y ago

This is basically how most tourism works in Cuba, with the Casa particulars. I stayed out on a farm for a week in Vinales, and I cannot recommend it enough! Amazing experience, and helps the locals a lot: for $20CUC a night, they're making nearly half what the government gives them a month (depending).

isolli 8y ago
An interesting point is that the Cuban government uses an extremely regressive taxation system to extract maximum revenue from the people providing services to tourists. According to the people I spoke to, the first bracket is taxed at 100%, and revenue above this is not taxed (at all, I believe). However, the bracket limit is set quite high, so that a lot of work is required to clear the hurdle. But the motivation to reach that goal is high, so people work hard, and the government collects the fruits of this labor. I believe Mancur Olson described a similar, extremely regressive taxation system at work in the Soviet Union. I cannot find any reference to this unfortunately.
simonebrunozzi 8y ago
I did the same. Loved it too! p.s. It's "Casa particulares"
- girvo 8y ago
  I typed that, autocorrect!

telesilla 8y ago

I spent time on one of these farms not far south of Rome, it was a truly wonderful experience. I didn't know it was so common - do you know if there is any easy way to find them? I came across mine by a referral, quite by (fortunate) chance.

aaavl2821 8y ago
I've used this site [1] and then cross check places that look interesting on Yelp / trip advisor [1] https://www.agriturismo.it/en/ https://www.agriturismo.it/en/