After graduating, Nicola went back home to start his farm Alba. Michela, instead, remained in Piedmont, working as a freelance consultant and a marketing manager for a distribution company. In the meantime, her frequent trips down south allowed her to learn more and more about Molise and what Nicola was trying to create: “So, in the end, I decided to move and give my direct contribution” she explains.

Having previously worked for Slow Food, she had developed a different approach to communication and food: “Food is not just what we put in our mouths, food has to provide nourishment” she says.

When Michela arrived in Campolieto, the business was in its start-up phase. Nicola, who was born like her in 1985, had spent the first few years renovating the farmhouse to create a cheese-making workshop and reclaiming abandoned land on the property.

“We opened our cheese-making business in 2016” says Michela Today, Azienda Agricola Alba produces raw milk sheep and goat cheeses, raises free-roaming chickens, produces extra virgin olive oil and grows vegetables and grains. “By summer 2020, if the emergency (Editor’s Note: Covid) will allow the works to resume, our processing workshop, which will be positioned next to the cheese-making facility will also be ready”, he says. A 40-hectare wood is also part of the land owned by the business: “Heating and hot water for the entire operation is provided by our timber. This allows us to keep the wood in good order, with selective maintenance cutting taking place every two years” explains Michela.