Owned and run personally by Marina and Carlo Martelli (and their four irresistible dogs - Luna, Toulouse, Blinda and Mafalda), I Monaci is a seriously-recommendable example of a holiday movement that's spreading right across the Med: agritourism or, in English, farm holidays during which guests are in no way expected to so much as think about getting their hands dirty with farm work. As it happens, just my kind of holiday.

"It's very important not to confuse agritourism with agrotourism," says Marina, whose childhood in Rome was punctuated by long summer holidays at I Monaci, then owned by her grandfather. "Agrotourism simply amounts to an ordinary hotel that happens to be in the country. What we do - agritourism - is very different. It's about genuine hospitality and a genuine commitment to the local community and the land." practice, this means that registered agritourism ventures providing self-catering and hotel accommodation get income tax breaks and financial help for restoration work if they meet conditions, which include: all of the jobs they create must be given to local people; it must be a real working farm, and a stipulated percentage of the produce used in meals for guests must come from the farm.

"And," says Marina, "unlike ordinary hotels, we have guests here, never clients." aims of agritourism include generating employment and trade in economically deprived rural areas, promoting eco-friendly tourism and stopping the endemic emigration - mostly to the big cities further north and to the US - that for decades has weakened regions such as Calabria. And after a stay at I Monaci, I'm here to tell you what's in it for tourists.

Here's my little list: perfect peace and quiet right around the clock; the safest of outdoor environments for children; complete privacy for couples who want to commune with nature, or, er, each other; magnificent country views and walks; an opportunity to experience rural life in a corner of an unadorned Italy a world away from the tourist traps and chic towns of the north; and, in the Martellis, hospitality that's warm and generous.

Accommodation at I Monaci comprises self-catering apartments in a cluster of former farm buildings (our one-bedroom unit was once a hay loft) and six hotel bedrooms in the main house, a lovingly-restored early 19th century villa built on the ruins of a 10th century Greek monastery. Most of the walls in the villa are covered by frescos - witty and romantic - drawn by Signora Martelli's grandfather.

"My grandfather was a newspaper director and a cartoonist," she told me as we sat having coffee in the villa's elegant dining room. "And he was a friend of Federico Fellini - Fellini had him play the part of the Pope in Satyricon!"