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Who we are The olive farm "Il Cantastorie", established in 2006, is owned and run by Michael and Cristina. As a little girl, Cristina would spend a lot of time in the country at her grandparents' farm in Piedmont. Later on, she discovered a passion for foreign languages and after completing her studies in Translation at the University of Geneva, Cristina took a job at a large translation company based in England. In 1996, she moved to Amsterdam where she met Michael. Cristina spent 8 years in the Netherlands, during which she worked both as a translator and as an Italian language teacher. In addition, she was a coauthor of a new method for learning Italian in 4 volumes titled "Ci vediamo presto!" In 2002, Cristina and Michael got married in Tuscany and in 2004 they left Holland in order to settle down in Valdinievole. Today Cristina manages the agriturismo. Michael was born and raised in Holland. After meeting Cristina, he became captivated with Italy and its many facets: culture, lifestyle, landscape, food and wine, climate, and personality. Moving to Italy became the next logical step, and both Cristina and Michael were thrilled at the prospect. While in the Netherlands Michael was a network engineer for a large ICT company, in Italy, Michael concentrated on learning the language and getting familiar with the A to Z’s of running an olive grove and producing extra-virgin olive oil. He completed all of the academic and theoretical classwork and successfully took all required exams necessary to earn the designation of “qualified farmer.” Today, Michael personally oversees their land and carries out all the activities, from tree pruning to olive harvesting and pressing, necessary to run a good farm. |
  
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