Cagliari → Gonnostramatza → Fattoria Cuscusa
40 minutes from Cagliari each way
Spend a full day at Fattoria Cuscusa — Michele Cuscusa's organic farm and dairy in Gonnostramatza. Michele is a third-generation shepherd, the son of the ancient transumanza tradition that has shaped Sardinian culture for four thousand years. He also makes wine, cooks as an agrichef, and farms with 700 sheep and 300 goats.
A day on his farm is an entry point into an older world: simple food, extraordinary ingredients, a hospitality so natural it feels like memory.
Gonnostramatza · Medio Campidano, South Sardinia
The farm sits in the rolling hills of the Medio Campidano, the bread basket for ancient Rome. Michele will meet you at the gate. Upon arrival you will enjoy the view of the extinct volcano, Monte Arci, the perfumes of the more than 150 indigenous plants on the organic farm. Last but not least, Michele's family come from Sedilo, one of the most important horse back riding towns in Sardinia, explaining why they have some of the most beautiful horses on their farm.
"He picked up a pencil and began listing everything he could make from his milk. He kept going. He listed nearly a hundred products before he put the pencil down."
— Jon Brownstein on MicheleThe dairy at Fattoria Cuscusa
Michele uses techniques passed down through generations — the same methods used on this island for three thousand years. You will work alongside him in the dairy, learning the process from milk to finished cheese. This is not a demonstration. You will make it yourself, with your hands, guided by his.
"Ricotta. Casa'axedu. Stracciatella. Soft-serve sheep's milk gelato with onions and mirto..."
— Michele's list, still goingThe vineyard at Fattoria Cuscusa
Michele grows Cannonau, Bovale, Vermentino and Semidano organic grapes with a fraction of added sulphites. I cannot tell you how many people come to the farm and tell me they cannot eat pasta, bread or drink white wine — and leave telling me they have never felt so good after a meal.
The family kitchen · Fattoria Cuscusa
Lunch is cooked together at Michele's family table — in his kitchen, using ingredients from the farm. Simple food, made extraordinary by where it comes from and by who made it with you.
Michele Cuscusa is a shepherd. That is how he introduces himself, and it is the most precise thing you can say about him — he is the son of the transumanza, the ancient shepherding tradition that has shaped Sardinian culture for four thousand years.
He is also a winemaker, an agrichef, and an organic farmer. A man rooted in the oldest traditions of his island who is entirely open to the new. Most guests leave Sardinia thinking about Michele's charismatic and welcoming personality and of course his goat and sheep's milk yogurt based gelato (beelato) and his fregula — Sardinian round pasta — with vegetables.
