Italian farm
«Do you know where the Italian farm is around here?» – «With ostriches, or what? Still three kilometers to go». The road to Italy leads through the village of Mednoye, which is 200 km from Moscow, along bumpy Russian roads, along which there is the usual dull landscape - rickety houses, shabby front gardens, snowdrifts and abandoned grocery stores, past which old people are wandering somewhere with bags in their hands. And suddenly a fence appears ahead, and above it is the familiar white-red-green flag (mozzarella, basil and tomatoes). The Italian-Russian border.
Pietro Mazza's farm is not an ostrich farm at all, but amongThere are all sorts of local rumors - they say they breed crocodiles, camels... Of course, there are no crocodiles there, but there are ostriches and camels, but only one each. Our love of myth-making and rich imagination work so strangely that we are ready to believe that crocodiles exist, but we simply do not see them. An Italian who moved to Russia and opened a farm - this is also something unreal, but it does exist! Almost everything in this story is unbelievable. That the Italian saw a Russian beauty in a Roman bar and immediately fell in love. Although no, this is understandable. How could you not fall in love with that charming blonde? But he did not just fall in love at first sight, but immediately came up to her and with typical Mediterranean aplomb declared that she would be his wife. It's incredible, but they actually got married. Although not right away - they had to wait another year until Zhanna took a closer look at him. And six years later they went to Russia on vacation - to meet his wife's parents and show their daughter Jessica their homeland - and stayed forever. This is the most incredible thing. An Italian who lived his entire adult life in Rome, born in Calabria, half an hour's drive from the Mediterranean, decided when he landed at Sheremetyevo Airport that he would never return. 10 years have passed since then, Pietro was in the restaurant business, and eventually ended up in the village of Mednoye, opened a farm and began making cheese - like his father and grandfather. His own farm, a small restaurant and the development of agritourism - this is what Pietro always dreamed of. It turned out - although not in Italy, but in Russia. In general, agrotourism is one of the most popular trends in Europe and America. People tired of civilization and the noise of big cities, go to dig potatoes, watch sheep or pick grapes.
Kirill and I are ideal tourists foragrofarms: we just came from the big city, ready to dig or sow. Luckily, there is no need to dig – we are invited straight into the house, to have lunch and drink coffee. Note: coffee, not tea. After all, we agreed that we were in Italy. In the house, in the place where Russians usually have a samovar, there is a bar counter, behind it a shabby coffee machine, like in the bars in Sicily. We are served small cups of espresso – thick and strong, for two sips, it is more pleasant to drink it standing up. “Making real espresso is very difficult,” explains Pietro. “It must be brewed in the coffee machine for exactly 23 seconds, otherwise the taste will be spoiled.” Italians are not known for their punctuality, but Pietro is precise here. It even adjusts the coffee grind depending on the humidity in the air.
Pietro prepares not only coffee, but also all the food– for his family and guests who come to the farm. And here there can be 300-400 people on weekends – then he will definitely check whether his assistants in the kitchen cooked the pasta correctly, how much saffron was added to the risotto and what wine is served with cheeses. According to Pietro, this is normal - 99% of Italians married to foreigners cook themselves. However, the only reminders that Pietro is Italian are his cap, like from the movie "The Godfather", and a classic Tuscan cigar. Over 11 years of living in Russia, he has mimicked a Russian. He has become taciturn, but loves to philosophize. «Russian women are more pessimistic than Italians. For them the glass is half empty, for us it is half full. But they are capable of a lot - they have one more gear (like in a good car), they are very strong - they support the house, and work, and have time to read, and go to the theater. But their priority is still family and children. But Pietro's wife Zhanna is more of an Italian: emotional, lively, talkative. She misses Italy, "like home", unlike her husband. She makes cheeses no worse than any resident of Calabria - that is why it is she who takes us to the cheese factory (Pietro sells cheeses to Moscow restaurants and gourmet boutiques - for example, to "Jean-Jacques" at Nikitskye Vorota) and confidently tells us about the process of fermentation of Parmesan cheese. For lunch we eat, of course, cheese and everything that is somehow connected with it (the most delicious lasagne, for example). On the plate are all 10 types of cheese that Pietro and Zhanna make. They are laid out in order of increasing hardness - you also need to eat them clockwise. First are the softest - ricotta, mozzarella, then burrata (with cream) and butirro (with butter), followed by hard ones - parmesanino and caciotta. The cheeses melt in your mouth, they are made from the milk of only those cows that live on the farm. Pietro prefers to do everything himself, not trusting the local authorities: he has his own cows, his own electrical substation, water. He really understood a lot about Russia.
Pietro, having put on his territory of 16 hectares,Russian felt boots, walks around and proudly shows off – here is a wine cellar, a stable, a cowshed, a pigsty, but there is still plenty of space – for a future hotel, a restaurant. «This endless space is what I value most in Russia. A huge land, great, – says Pietro. – Although Italy is always with me, that’s why you feel it so much here. Just look at the sky!» The sky on this cold winter day is for some reason bright blue, which only happens in the south in spring, and the sun is baking, as if at midday at the Villa Borghese in Rome. The owners called this place Fattoria del sole, «Sunny Farm». The village of Mednoye, 200 km from Moscow, 7 km from the Moscow-St. Petersburg highway. You need to book in advance. Phones: 8-920-150-0056, 8-920-150-0057
