Thursday’s theme is “Italian culture” at school, so the kids focus on cooking and food. Vivi’s class makes berry-banana smoothies, and Guille’s class learns about different pizza types, then make little clay figurines. Guille paints a “pesto chicken-wing pizza with cheese!”

On Friday, the kids go on a fieldtrip to a bigger park farther away to play all morning, then have a picnic. They’ll go on 4 fieldtrips during the session! Meanwhile, the parents organize a our own fieldtrip to Asmana Wellness World, Italy’s largest day-spa, where we spend 5 hours soaking, sweating, and resetting in the Tuscan hillside.

On Saturday, we go on a Boundless-organized trip to Pódere Cavozzoli, an organic olive farm, and learn all about polyphenols – the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory agents that make high-quality olive oil good for you. We learn that on average, consumer-grade extra-virgin olive oil has 100-250mg/kg of polyphenols, while Cavozzoli EVOO has 400-800 mg/kg, depending on the vintage. We learn about the harvest process, the tools (which the kids test), the different types of olives and trees, and the various eco-friendly methods for pest control. We also do a tasting and have a delicious Tuscan lunch, finishing with gelato w/ olive oil.

Guille’s favorite part of the weekend: the tractors at the olive farm
Vivi’s favorite part of the weekend: the gelato w/olive oil