Casa Migliaca is a farm that in the early nineties has been adapted with accommodation facilities and provides a traditional cuisine based on fresh ingredients mostly produced within the farm itself. Guests can participate to several activities; among these: cuisine courses, italian language courses and 

several outdoor activities as trekking or mountain biking. These can be done, with a guide or not, in any of the four protected areas that surround the farm. Those who love the sea, in the nearby coast facilities, can practice windsurfing, kayak or scuba diving.

Cousine

At Casa Migliaca is offered a cuisine based on fresh local product mostly produced in the farm. Cuisine is lead, developed, and “interpreted” by Madam Teresa, owner and descendant of the family. Her cuisine has received international appraisal, most of all for the combination of flavourings and tastes obtained with the use of herbs and wild vegetables growing spontaneous in her property.

Agricolture

Casa Migliaca is an active farm, from its origins to the fifties a family oil mill, then until the seventies a transition time, then again a farm producing besides its historical product, the olive oil, citrus. The farm extension is about 12 hectares and has its own spring water source. One third of this area is covered with woods where live numerous wild animals such as foxes, porcupines, martens, two thirds are cultivated by the biodinamic method of Rudolph Steiner, developed by the Demeter Bund

Leisure

Casa Migliaca offers many choices for recreational activities. You can actually enjoy physical activities within the bounds of the farm itself: over three kilometers of private trails allow you to practice various levels of footing and jogging. The course develops within the borders of the Migliaca property and includes rings going up and down, in places steep, for jogging and running, intermixed with proper gym training areas. A climbing training wall, a rope ladder and a professional stationary bike complete a mini exercise hall.

Those who prefer a leisurely stroll will find the itinerary along the southern flank of the Ciuppa stream particularly interesting: a total immersion into the “Macchia Mediterranea” (Mediterranean Bush), among elm trees, oaks and ash trees, deep into the most typical Sicilian wild Flora, or alternatively within the cultivated farmland, it may be interesting to scout around the century-old olive trees and carob trees and many other rare specimens of the Mediterranean garden.

Culture

The Olive Harvest 

You can take an active part in the olive harvest, usually in October in Sicily, by each “adopting” one or more olive trees, which would then entitle you to an amount of oil proportional to the amount of olives collected. Working in the shade of a great, century old olive tree is an experience that takes you way back in space and time. The drill here at casa Migliaca has remained the same through the centuries: one or more individuals using a pole or a modern picking tool, called “cutulaturi”, beat the olive branches causing the olives to fall onto a net laid on the ground; a group of “pickers” then collect the olives. This work is collective by nature, thus the whole family can participate, including children, grandparents, guests and friends, in a relaxed atmosphere where harmony becomes natural. In the old days this work had more rhythm to it and there was more awareness of its importance. Olive oil, today destined to consumption as food, was originally a source of energy comparable to modern petroleum products, as it was the essential ingredient for heating, cooking, for soaps, illumination etc. 

Identification of Wild Herbs

This is an all around cultural activity that starts from the observation of the terrain, an inexhaustible source of food and therapeutic resources that the modern man, living in the confines of a city, no longer knows, or knows only marginally. A knowledge thereof limited only to the industrial production found in supermarkets, possibly vacuum packed. And yet a short cycle of walks in the country accompanied by an expert may suffice to discover limitless numbers of wild herbs found anywhere, all rich in therapeutic properties. As you progress, and based upon your needs, you will learn where to look for specific herbs as herbs “speak” to you and tell you where to find this or that vegetable, based on the location, and terrain composition: acid or alkaline, rich or poor of a given mineral, etc. For example, you can learn where to look for fennel or borage, where to find cabbage or mustard, buckwheat or chamomile. 

The Lemon 

Due to its location and for the last 200 years, Casa Migliaca has been one of the oldest lemon growing sites in Sicily. One of the most renowned lemon species, the ”Femminello Santa Teresa”, available all year around is grown at Casa Migliaca using biodynamic techniques and marketed under a protected trademark. It would be redundant to describe the universally known qualities of lemon as a food, however, its countless qualities can be used also in pharmaceuticals The juice of a fresh lemon accounts for about 30% of its weight and contains 6 to 8% citric acid, malic acid, calcium and potassium citrates, large amounts of B1, B2 and B3 vitamins, carotene, vitamin A, up to 50 mg vitamin C every 100 g of juice, mineral salts and metal components such as iron, phosphorus, manganese, copper. 

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