Episodes
March 30, 2025
#177 - Gearing up to start the season!
Finishing up winter projects and starting spring ones - from sharpening knives to hauling manure, there's a little bit of everything to do before the first guests of the season arrive. As usual a classic Gaggi & Rossana story...
Feb. 24, 2025
176 - Restocking on Olive Oil, Vet Saga & KitchenAids are a Piece of Sh!t
Our big Great Dane, Leroy had a medical emergency that turned into a House episode & has been a month and a half of vet trips. In between his appointments I went to the Boar Hunter's end of the season lunch which is always fu...
Jan. 26, 2025
#175 - 50 kilos of homecured lard + the $1 Homes in Italy vs. 100% Property Tax for Foreigners in Spain
We first do a recap of the holidays - from Christmas Eve's fish dinner to La Befana festival in our tiny neighboring village of Urbania. Boar hunting season is nearly over and we live right in the thick of it - find out what ...
Dec. 19, 2024
174 - Christmas in Italy & a roadtrip to Lucca, Cararra Marble Tour, Prato, Pisa & Padova
Finally a proper full episode - starting with a recap from a November to remember! We took our first road trip since getting dogs and visited the marble quarries above Cararra for an unforgettable private tour & then our thou...
Dec. 18, 2024
Chasing Crazy Dreams: Ashley Bartner's Journey from New York to an Organic Farm in Italy - A New Life in Italy
Welcome to another episode of New Life in Italy ! I'm Samantha Wilson, and today, we’re diving deep into the power of chasing big dreams—especially the dream of moving to Italy and building a meaningful life here. In this epi...
Oct. 27, 2024
#173 - Autumn in Le Marche: Truffle Hunting & Festivals + the Annual Boar Hunters Lunch
An autumn episode of all of our favorite October happenings in our neck of the woods of Le Marche, Italy. Truffle season has begun along with each weekend another truffle festival! We took the guests to Sant'Angelo in Vado's ...
Sept. 30, 2024
#172 - The Ugly Club
The air changed quickly and autumn has arrived, along with hunters of all sorts along our road - from mushrooms to hunting and tomorrow opens white truffles!! A short recap of September and a bit of history on the legendary C...
Sept. 1, 2024
#171 - Local August Festivals in Italy & Jarring Tomatoes
The height of summer is over but the heat is still strong! This short but jam packed episode is all about August - jarring tomatoes with ol' Dr. Gaggi and the usual shenanigans ensued + we packed a summer worth of festivals i...
July 30, 2024
170 - Midsummer Festivals in Small Town Italy
It's the dog days of summer, but here's an update on the garden and growing tomatoes 3 different ways and getting out & about as summer festival season kicks off! Then we discuss Italian kids and car seats or the lack there ...
June 30, 2024
#169 - Bitchn' bout Bureaucracy is BACK! Plus our #1 tip when making a reservation.
A fan favorite segment is back - Bitchn' bout Bureaucracy! However, this time it's not about immigration but Italian property taxes. Plus we share our number one tip while making a reservation for a table! An update on the fa...
May 26, 2024
168 - The Dark Truth Behind Truffles: Why the cost is much higher than you think!
Newsflash: Jason broke the plow, right away! So we are calling this the transition year in the garden & we explain what that means and why. After an unsuccessful trip into the woods for mushroom with the guests, it reminds me...
April 25, 2024
#167 - Memories of our first trip to Italy, 18 years ago today
In this short & sweet or as Jason called it 'quick & dirty' episode we reminice about our first trip to Italy 18 years ago for our honeymoon and a few of the highlights & low points! Leroy is becoming an international stud, l...
March 31, 2024
#166 - An Easter Episode: Making Pizza di Pasqua & Ciccioli (Pork Cracklings)
An Easter episode and recap of Spring! Jason explains not only how to make Crescia or Pizza di Pasqua a savory peppery Easter bread, as well as making homemade ciccioli (think pork cracklings), plus he shares his thoughts on ...
Feb. 25, 2024
#165 - Slaughtering our 1st pig, Carnevale Dolce & Boar Hunter's Lunch
#165 - Slaughtering our 1st pig, Carnevale Dolce & Boar Hunter's Lunch Kicking off a new season of the podcast with a whirlwind of activity in our valley! We slaughtered our first pig with the help of our neighbors and then t...
Jan. 29, 2024
#164 - The Blessing of the Animals, Italian Driver's License Test, A New Tractor and Logistics of Slaughtering the Pigs
So much is talked about in this jam-packed episode! From buying a used tractor and figuring out the transportation to the logistics of slaughtering our pigs. In local life talk - we take the dogs to the blessing of the animal...
Jan. 14, 2024
#163 - Holiday Stories, Recipe for Wild Boar Sauce & A Major Award
A little holiday recap and memories of La Befana and the living nativity scenes of years past. Jason shares a local boar sauce recipe after the hunters left us a nice little thank you gift! And we return with a listener favor...
Dec. 13, 2023
# 162 - 2023 Recap
We are finally back after a great season of guests with stories about the farm, animals, guests and of course Gaggi!
May 11, 2023
#161 - Gelato is on the Menu + Wild Life Encounters deep in the Italian countryside
Spring is in full swing and we decided to procrastinate on a rainy evening & instead of working down our to-do list we recorded a new episode! We share crazy and funny wild life encounters at our farmhouse and along our road ...
April 9, 2023
#160 - Pasqua, Pigs & LARPing?!
Happy Easter from Italy! We've been busy with Spring projects as usual during early Spring but for the first time Jason was at the helm of the tractor when we prepared the soil! Was it all he had built up in his mind over the...
March 2, 2023
#159 - Archery Classes, Formula 1 Racing & Clarkson’s Farm + A Chapter from the Book
This episode we connect the dots between our archery classes and the Ferrari Formula 1 racing team - we have something very funny in common! Our thoughts on "Clarkson's Farm" along with seed planning for this year. Then hot t...
Feb. 16, 2023
#158 - Pigs, Lake Garda and a Traffic Light
We’re getting pigs! An update on their arrival and the winter weather along with water cooler talk about what everyone’s talking about in Piobbbico…!! We take a little getaway to Lake Garda and visit Verona for the European O...
Jan. 10, 2023
#157 - Holiday Recap
A festive holiday recap - from dinner on Christmas and New Year's Eve with good ol' Dr. Gaggi to a satanic ritualistic sacrifice of sorts in the main piazza of Urbania during the La Befana children's festival vs. our memories...
Dec. 13, 2022
#156 - 6 months later... + 8 Memorable Christmas Market in Italy
Ok so maybe this has become a bi-annual podcast! For those of you still listening, we start back in June and summer weather and the garden, then a hilarious story about our getaway to the Mediterranean where everything went w...
June 5, 2022
#155 - Jam Packed Update on Everything!
It's been six months since our last podcast, there's a lot to catch you up on! From 'what's new in 2022' including my big ticket impulse purchase & an update on our citizenship to our 'new' tractor, and daily life in Italy: c...