AL VECCHIO BIROCCIO DA GIORGIO

The Farm Holidays “Al Vecchio Biroccio da Giorgio” offers to guests comfortable rooms and typical dishes all over the year, in a warm familiar atmosphere characterised by full respect for the environment.
Owned by Pisani family for four generations now, the estates still have the features of the original farm of late Nineteenth century, devoted to the production of cheeses up to thirty years ago.
Attentive works of restoration allowed the design of typical and functional spaces, well integrated in the surrounding agricultural context.
In the main farmhouse, on the ground floor, there are a reception, a bar corner, and a restaurant with many halls and more than 100 seats.
A meeting room with a capacity of 50 seats in theatre style is available as well.
On the first floor, a well-lighted lounge characterised by a large fireplace overlooks a wide panoramic terrace, being an ideal standpoint to admire the Massif of Pollino and the Sila High Plateau sloping down to the Ionian Sea on the horizon.
Very close to the main farmhouse, the old stables and shelters once used for domestic animals, have been turned into cosy bedrooms.

The agricultural garden around the buildings, fenced by hundreds of olive-trees, is full of orange and “clementine” trees.Many others fruit-trees and various ornamental plants like robinia, thuyas, and palms are alternated to oleander and pine grooves which surround wide meadows.
In May, guests can walk having a pleasant smell of orange blossoms all around, circled by colourful roses in flower for most of the year.
The lane bordered with palms which leads to the citrus orchard, is a peaceful place to dream.
Our Farm Holidays is ideally located just three kilometres far from the Ionian coast and five kilometres far from the town centre of Corigliano Calabro.
Our guests can experience within reach history, architecture, folklore and nature, as well as cycling, water sports and horse riding.

Located in two different buildings, our nine rooms can accommodate twenty-five people in total and they are all equipped with private bathroom, air conditioning, heating, TV, hair dryer and mini-bar.

Room Grapes
Located in front of a wide meadow next to the pines groove, this room is equipped with one single bed and one double-bed.
Room Lemons
Located in front of a wide meadow next to the pines groove, this room is equipped with three single beds.
Room Blackberries
Overlooking the countryside, this room is equipped with a double-bed.
Romm Indian Fig
Overlooking the lane bordered with palms, this room is equipped with three single beds or a double-bed.
Room Horsehoe
Located in front of the citrus orchard, this flat is provided of two communicating rooms, having two single beds in the first room and a double-bed in the second one.
Room Wheat
Overlooking the lane bordered with palms, this room is equipped with two single beds or a double-bed.
Room Chestnuts
Overlooking the lane bordered with palms, this room is equipped with three single beds or a double-bed.
Room Pomegranate
Overlooking the lane bordered with palms, this room is equipped with a single bed and a double-bed.
Room Clementine
Overlooking the lane bordered with palms, this room is equipped with three single beds or a double-bed.

Our agricultural production meets the requirements of organic farming, all products are certified by the Italian Association for Organic Farming (AIAB).
Oranges, “Clementine” and lemons are among the most important cultivations and the main ingredients of our delicious home-made marmalades as well.
We cultivate green olives to produce excellent extra virgin olive oil, but also figs, grapes, a lot of fruits and vegetables in season, partly transformed in tasty preserves and jars of various specialities in oil.
Bee-keeping, favoured by the natural environment without synthetic chemical substances, allows us to offer sweet-smelling orange blossom honey.
Our cooking is tasty, mainly characterised by local dishes of the Calabrian cuisine.
Among our various special pasta dishes are home- made “maccarruni” with mutton and “ricotta” cheese sauce, soup of “cannaruzzielli” pasta with beans and pork rind, but also “lagana” pasta and chickpeas or “rigatoni” with Coriglianese sauce made of meat balls, eggs, spicy sausages and tomatoes.
Among the main traditional meat dishes are spicy turnip-tops with sausages and pork ribs, while “crustuli”, “pasta confetto” and “giurgiulena” are the most traditional local sweets.
Our specialities are accompanied by local wines like Cirò and many other famous red and white regional wines.
Apart from our daily menu made of different and tasty dishes, our guests can experience among a variety of meat or fish menus on request and menus especially designed for ceremonies, banquets and business luncheons as well.

The Farm Holidays “Al Vecchio Biroccio da Giorgio” is ideally located in the heart of Sibari‘s plain, the largest one in Calabria.
Washed by the river Crati, the longest river of the region, the plain of Sibari is characterised by an extremely fruitful soil which ensures luxuriant vegetation.
Having a warm and pleasant climate for most of the year, the plain is only few kilometres far from the Ionian coast, not widely known yet, but rich in nature as well as religious and archaeological places of interest.

Four kilometres far from our Farm Holidays, along the ancient SS 106 road, stands the town centre of Corigliano Calabro, whose name, according to the majority, should derive from Greek “Korion Elaios” (garden of olive-trees).
Made of typical terraced houses built on the ancient Serratore hill, the village is dominated by the Castle dating back to the Norman times.
Built by Ruggero il Guiscardo around 1100 AC, it has been inhabited over the centuries by various nobles, such us the Ruffo Princes (15th century), the Dukes of Saluzzo (13th century) and the barons Compagna as well (19th century).
Characterized by four embattled towers, the castle, having architectural elements of the Angioian period, is now a prestigious venue for exhibitions, conferences and important events, thanks to significant renewal works.
Corigliano has many interesting churches to be visited, each having its own particular features.
Not far from the river Coriglianeto, along the road leading to the town centre, stands the Carmine Church, once monastery, characterized by three stone portals in Gothic – Neapolitan style dating back to the 14th -15th centuries.
Entering the village, the S.
Antonio from Padua Church built in the 16th century has a colourful facing of majolica decorating the dome and the small cupolas.
Walking along Via Roma, visitors can reach the S.
Francesco from Paola Church, in which some traces of an ancient settlement dating back to 15th-16th centuries are still visible.
A fresco representing the Holy Trinity dated around the 15th century, has been discovered there during the recent works for restoration, arising a great interest among many art experts.
The St.
Mary Church worth visiting too, with its magnificent wooden engraved choir made around 1700, while the St.
Peter Church, is well known for its splendid “Madonna dell‘Odigitria”, a bi-facial painting made on wood, dating back to 1400.
In the countryside, not far from Corigliano, are the typical Albanian villages like San Demetrio, San Cosmo and San Giorgio Albanese.
The Arbresh language and many old traditions dating back to the times in which Albanians escaped from Turkish persecutions looking for a refuge in Calabria, are still part of the everyday life of these village

Along the SS 106 Road towards the south of the region, stands the Santa Maria del Patire (or Pathirion), an ancient monastery built at the beginning of 12th century thanks to Beato Bartolomeo from Simeri.
Not far from the monastery, stands the village of Rossano, with its town centre having plenty of ancient backgrounds such as the Codex Purpureus.
Called also the “Rossanensis”, it‘s a precious Greek evangelistary crafted during the Fifth-Sixth centuries A.C in Syria or in Palestine, which arrived later in Italy between Ninth and Tenth centuries.
The manuscript, now in the Museo Diocesano, it has been considered as the most important sample of Greek illuminated codex, having not only a great historical and philological value, but being also a model of precision and balanced composition.
Not far from Rossano, visitors can enjoy the Giorgio Amarelli‘s Museum dedicated to the production of liquorice, located in the Fifteenth century mansion of Amarelli‘s family, where three centuries ago liquorice was produced for the first time.
Three kilometres far from our Farm Holidays, are the sandy and gravel beaches of Schiavonea, while many other beautiful beaches are scattered along the villages located in the surrounding of Corigliano Calabro, like Trebisacce, Rossano and Roseto Capo Spulico, the latter well known for its castle overlooking the sea.
Travelling along the SS 106 BIS road up to the north, visitors can reach Sibarys, an ancient Achaean colony founded around 750 B.C.
The Sybarites experienced here a great development which made possible the coinage as well as the foundation of other sub-colonies in Magna Graecia like Paestum.
Nowadays, the Archaeological site and the Museum of Sibarys can be visited.

Not far from Corigliano, are the Massif of Pollino and the Sila High Plateau, with their natural parks full of bright colours changing over the different seasons and offering plenty of opportunities for excursions.
Along the slopes of Pollino Massif, are the typical “loricato” pines, so called because their bark is similar to the body armour once used by the Romans soldiers (“lorica” in Latin).This particular species of pine, is only located here in Calabria and in Greece, on the Mount Athos.
The Sila High Plateau, divided in “Sila Grande” and “Sila Piccola”, it‘s a well known by tourists for skiing in winter.
In particular, in the “Sila Grande”, the Fallistro Reserve is a very fascinating place, where visitors can admire the Giants of the Sila High Plateau, more than fifty larches and maple trees of extraordinary dimensions, some of them reaching forty metres in height and two metres in width.