8 March at an agritourism farm, celebrating women "in the field"
21 February 2023
2 minutes
In celebration of 8 March, International Women's Day, a great choice is a zero-kilometre dinner, or a weekend in the countryside, in contact with nature. And one out of every three agritourisms in Italy—one out of every two among those belonging to the Campagna Amica network of agritourisms promoted by Terranostra—are run by women.
One farm out of three, in Italy, is 'pink'
Agritourism is female, it would seem. And it is not a paradoxical statement, if we consider that in Italy more and more agritourism businesses are owned by women. More than 8,600 agritourisms, or one out of three farms in the country, are run by women, and the percentage of Campagna Amica agritourisms run by women is even higher: over 50 per cent, as mentioned. When it comes to hospitality and agricultural enterprise, therefore, 'pink quotas' have the upper hand. And the creative and innovative role of women in the strategic sector of agriculture, rural work, sustainability and hospitality culture, has been gaining more and more value and recognition.
The roots of female entrepreneurship
If we turn the clock back, we see that agriculture's relationship with women goes beyond the common theme of fertility and care for life, and has always been significant since the dawn of civilisation. Female agricultural entrepreneurship has ancient roots. Even in the earliest forms of agriculture in history, it was mainly women who cultivated the plants, milled the grain and tended the livestock, playing a fundamental role in the very survival of the community, for the development of agriculture and human civilisation.
In many agritourisms of the Campagna Amica circuit, all over Italy, you can find women involved in many different work tasks: from farm management to hospitality services, from cooking as peasant cooks to marketing on social networks, from the preparation of zero km products to direct sales in markets, from educational visits for children to social farming activities.
International Women's Day - smelling of mimosas
More and more fellow countrywomen are choosing to celebrate International Women's Day together on an agritourism farm. On 8 March, therefore, the countryside is awash with pink, for a holiday that heralds the arrival of springtime, with a walk in the newly awakening nature, enjoying a pleasant dinner with zero km products and healthy and appetising traditional country dishes, prepared with passion by country cooks.
This is a special occasion to pick mimosas (Acacia dealbata), the flower that symbolises International Women's Day, with your own hands, and to experience the emotion of giving yourself or a friend the gift you have just picked with the scent of the earth.
Find your agritourism for Women's Day.