La Fattoria del Borgo

June 14, 2019

My time in Urbino has been nothing short of an…

No place like an organic farm.

MONTEFABBRI, Italy—Enrico Libanore, owner and farmer of La Fattoria del Borgo (the village farm), walks through the fields among the hills near the small town of Montefabbri. He reaches up and picks a cherry. “You can eat them off of the trees,” he says.

“The process of making our cherry jam is not very demanding like making the honey or wine,” Libanore explains. “However, it is important that the cherries are washed fresh to get the best quality jam.”

He adds proudly, “People know us for the quality of our organic products.”

Fresh picked cherries from the garden are sitting and waiting to be washed for the making of the jam.

Cherries are just one kind of many kinds of produce grown on the farm. There are also apricots, tomatoes, olives, elder flowers, sage, lavender, and rosemary. Libanore is equally proud of the many products he makes from those raw ingredients. These include Sapa (a thick liquid to pour over ricotta polenta and ice cream, made from crushed grapes), Visciolata (a dessert topping, made from forest cherries left in the sun for 60 days), Il Riparaguai (“the repairman,” a cherry-based Sangiovese wine drink), and Sciroppo di Fiori di Sambuco (a healthful drink containing elder flowers, lemon, and cane sugar).

Many of these can be found in restaurants, specialty food shops, and food supplies centers in and around Urbino.

Libanore and his wife, Olessia Tambovtseva, purchased the farm in 1996. “We were shown a hundred houses before this, and I knew this was the house I wanted to be in,” he says.

“The quality of our jam is what we are most proud of, not the amount we make.”

Libanore began with bee-keeping to make honey, but soon expanded.“I realized how much produce was already being grown on the farm and thought to make goods out of them.” He says his organic techniques started from his belief in the quality of the produce he grows and the organic lifestyle he and Tambovtseva follow. “The quality of our jam is what we are most proud of,” he says, “not the amount we make.”

Libanore takes the honey comb to the workshop where he will then scrape it off.

On a recent June morning, Libanore is making wild cherry jam in the laboratorio, or workshop, about a five minute walk from the cherry trees. This is where most of the products are made and packaged to be taken to stores and restaurants. There is a loud hum of the machines. He goes through the process step-by-step, paying close attention to detail. The farmer washes the cherries and then puts them in a container before they are then poured into the pulper. He then grinds the pulp to create the sticky jam.

Libanore leaves the workshop and heads to his little shop alongside the family’s home. Here is where he keeps a small supply of his products on shelves for selling

“All are for sale here,” says Libanore, “but as a farmer, my success depends on the products being sold in local shops and larger scale distributors in the region and internationally.”

In Urbino, the owner of Raffaello Degusteria, a popular restaurant and shop offering authentic local food, describes Libanore and his family as friends. Fausto Foglietta says, “I love their juices such as elder flower and I use their cherry jam for our pies.” Foglietta says he appreciates the farm not only for its products but also for its values in organic living.

La Fattoria is also a favorite of Degusteria customer Carlos Carlini. “I am a fan of all the products that La Fattoria sells,” says Carlini, who visits the farm once a month to shop. Andrea Ceccarelli, president of L’Emporio AE, a large healthful food supplier in Fano, says items from La Fattoria del Borgo are among his favorite products in their warehouse.

Despite the farm’s success, Libanore says he will not try to increase sales by expanding his shop at the farm. “I don’t want to open a bigger shop to sell because farmers should focus on farming, and not trying to be shop sellers.”

“Our goal is to get the community to understand the importance of an organic lifestyle.”

But La Fattoria has recently expanded by taking on a government-funded project called “Active Longevity.” Tambovtseva is in charge of this program, which encourages older people to be mentally and physically active while on the farm. Like most of the activities she directs at La Fattoria, it also teaches why and how organic living is important.

While Libanore spends most of his time farming, and leaves much of the activity planning to his wife, he often takes time to explain the same principles to groups of visiting schoolchildren.“We started these activities to become a more social farm,” says Libanore. “Our goal is to get the community to understand the importance of an organic lifestyle and to promote longevity.”

Translation of interviews and other language assistance by University of Urbino students Liliana Cogliandro, Bianca Sartini, Francesca Massari, Tonia Perecca, and Lisa Olivia.

Video by Sabriya McKoy & Sara Amil

Sabriya McKoy

My time in Urbino has been nothing short of an adventure. From taking the first step in Italian soil, to getting gelato every evening after dinner. Italy is not a place without already visiting, will you understand the simplicity of living or the roaring laughter of Italian students walking the streets at night. On rainy days in May there seems to be less people roaming the Piaza but the sun surely forces itself out of the corners around noon. Throughout my time living in Urbino I never had a dull moment. Even when homework deadlines come up, the stories that are produced have so much life and the joyous people that are eager to teach you. Each city is different, and I will definitely come back to experience more of what Italy has to offer. The culture is so interesting and the history behind it will lead you to a place of excitement.