Farmstay In Italy,

Overview

If you love nature and the countryside and would relish the opportunity to live as a local with a welcoming host family in Italy, this programme will appeal to you!

The program is available for 1 to 3 months, between April and October (other periods on request).

Our Italian Farmstay project gives you the opportunity to experience life on an Italian farm. You will discover the everyday life of an Italian farming family while improving yourlanguage skills.

The type of farm work we can offer is dependent on the time of year you choose to travel, but examples are:

• Fruit picking
• Olive gathering
• Grape harvesting
• General crop maintenance incuding work in glass houses etc.
• Caring for the farm animals

In exchange for your accommodation and meals, which your host family will provide, you will be required to provide approximately 25 hours of farm-related work per week, and with arrangement with your host family you will have 2 free days a week.

What's included?

• Pre-departure information and advice
• Farmstay family search, screening and placement process
• In-country assistance and support
• 24-hour emergency contacts
• Accommodation: homestay
• Food: all meals included and provided by host family

What's NOT included:

• Flights
• Insurance
• Visas
• Sightseeing activities
• Monthly stipend
• Transportation: airport pick-up, airport drop-off, local transportation

This program is available for 1 to 3 months, between April and October (other periods available on request).

Location

The placements are located all over Italy, so you can request your location and we will endeavour to place you there.

Once you are registered on the programme, the local team in Italy will begin the search to match you with your farmstay family in your required location.

Project life and Photos

Placement process:

Whilst we know that many of you would simply like to fill in an online application form, attach a CV, then 'hey presto' be offered a job in Italy, it is not always that simple.

It can take around 8 weeks before we can find a job that suits what you're looking for. We guarantee however, that it will be worth the wait.

The steps involved in securing your Farmstay in Italy:

1. Complete the Online Application Form. You'll be contacted by your own dedicated Travel Advisor who will assess your interests, qualifications and previous work experience if any. You'll then be asked to email your Travel Advisor all your supporting documents. Once you've been assessed and approved you'll be asked to pay your deposit.

2. We require the following documents to process your application:

• A Registration Pack.
• A passport sized photograph (smiling please)
• A letter to your Host Family - please send 2 copies, one hand written and the other typed and signed. Your letter to the Host Family may be the single most important part of your application, please tell them about yourself, your family, your hobbies and why you would like to come to Italy as a Working Guest. This letter should be 1-2 pages long. Show your enthusiasm for their country/business and include something interesting to make yourself stand out over other applicants.
• Your CV.
• 3. Your documents are reviewed by WAVA and then by the partner organisation in Italy. We work with our Italian team to distribute your application as quickly as possible to suitable Farmstay families.

4. A Host Family who would like to offer you a placement may then contact you directly for a telephone interview - it is then your choice to accept or decline the offer. Host families typically offer a placement approximately 6 weeks before they would like you to start, so please be patient if you apply well in advance.

5. Shortly afterwards, you will receive the contract.

6. You then settle your fee for your programme.

7. Now all you have to do is finalise your start date with your host family.

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Flights, transportation and visas

International flights and travel to your host family are not included, however, your host family will offer guidelines on the cheapest and most effective way to travel to their home.

There is generally an efficient and regular public transport system across Italy allowing you to explore the local area with your time off.

Visas:

• European Union citizens do not require a visa
• Non-European Union citizens (citizens of America, Australia, New Zealand, Canada & Japan) may participate on the programme for up to 3 months on the relevant visa

 

CIBT Visa advice... For expert visa advice we advise our volunteer, work placement, and internship participants to get in touch with CIBT - a company that we work in partnership with. Our UK, Canadian, and US travellers can use CIBT for visa advice and to get their visa applications processed - with visas returned within a week. UK travellers can contact CIBT for visa advice. Canadian participants can contact CIBT for visa advice or call Toll Free: 888-665-9956 US participants can contact CIBT for visa advice or call Toll Free: 800-577-2428 Canadian citizens should state account number: 57497 US citizens should state account number: 57496

Dates and duration

• You are welcome to join the programme between April and October (other periods on request).

• The minimum duration is 4 weeks. Maximum duration is 12 weeks.

Safety and insurance

• All of Twin Work & Volunteer's placements are in partnership with recognised and established local organisations, run by or employing local people. These organisations, depending on the nature of what they do, might be small-scale NGOs, family projects, schools or orphanages, or local initiatives with environmental or social goals.
• We often use local businesses to provide logistical and support services to volunteers such as transfers, pick-ups, accommodation and so on. In this way, we support the local economy through helping independent local businesses to thrive. We take our partnerships very seriously and work extremely closely with all our partners.
• We provide 24-hour emergency support from the UK and our partners provides support locally.
• We have an agreement with the crisis management service Tranquillico, should the very worst situations arise.
• If any wider safety concerns arise in the destination, such as civil disturbances or natural disasters, we seek advice from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO)and implement their recommendations where appropriate.

 

Insurance options... Comprehensive insurance is available for all programmes. You have no obligation to take up insurance with any of these companies, but insurance of a suitable sort is mandatory on all our programmes. For UK participants: Here are the full details of our partnership with Endsleigh. For American and Canadian participants: We offer insurance options with International Volunteer Card (IVC).

Eligibility

Participants on this programme must:

• be over 18 years old
• a university student or a student that has graduated in the last year
• have a basic knowledge of Italian
• be in good physical health and motivated
• love nature and the countryside
• be a European citizen or be able to get a Working Holiday Visa (for citizens of Australia, New Zealand, Canada & Japan)
• have travel insurance covering sickness, accidents and repatriation

We operate a firm equal opportunities policy that prohibits any unfair discrimination of our travellers based on their race, religion, sex, age, physical/mental disability, sexual orientation, or any other facet that we feel should not have an effect on quality of their work or their ability to carry it out.

Accommodation and Food

• You'll have your own room within your host family's home, however the majority of the time you will share facilities with the family

• Meals will be eaten with your host family

• Full details of the accommodation will be provided with the placement offer

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