After two years of apprenticeship with a top expert in the sector, Maria Condo began producing her own honey in 1982. Her farmhouse, which was built in the 17th-century and is easy to reach from Turin, is situated in a very green area, between the Cavour Canal and the River Po, part of the Po River Park. Given the richness and variety of the vegetation, Maria has opted to keep her farm permanent with fixed hives. In normal years – increasingly rare on account of both record droughts and extreme rainfall and late frosts – the bees move freely within a radius of three to five kilometres. The farm currently has about a hundred hives and produces a total of about three tonnes of honey every year. The varieties produced range from acacia to lime, from dandelion to chestnut, from wild flower to rape, and will soon include a alanthus, a plant regarded as a weed. Everything obviously depends on seasonal conditions. The honeys are sold mainly at the weekly markets in Settimo Torinese and San Mauro, and, by appointment, directly at the farm.
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