Mauro D’Agosto
Agriculture and food for well being and longevity

Born on March 4th, 1937, the son of peasants, seller of furniture, Mauro D’Agosto, today retired, devoted himself to agriculture remembering the days when his parents digged fields with a hoe.

For Mauro agriculture is the most beautiful pastime that exists in life. One way to reconcile with the Earth and go against the current of multinationals that sell processed food. It was quite different when women and men from Cilento did o ‘lvino: they took the seeds from various fruits and placed them in the most fertile part of the soil, the little plants were born, and then planted in the garden. Now, the little plants to be put in the garden are bought and one doesn’t know, Mario tells us, if they are “good or bad.”

But the past is not only gold: up to the ‘50s food was scarce and “Hunger” was not just a rhetorical expression to emphasize poverty because often a meal consisted of a bunch of wild herbs that grow naturally. Also there was bartering of food, such as anchovies. Women went from Agnone with baskets on their heads, and exchanged food with olive oil of San Mauro Cilento: a social solidarity stratagem by which they solved primary needs and the lack of money.

The diet of this energetic octogenarian from Cilento is characterized by plenty of fruits and vegetables that come directly from his garden, beans, pasta and a homemade glass of red wine. Meat only a little. On Sunday, however, fusilli with goat meat ragout cannot be missed.