I previously wrote about Sorelle in Salento here – it will be an association organising events and activities for women (single or otherwise, and a mix of Italian and international members) as well as promoting female led businesses and supporting women who are thinking of buying in or moving to the Salento.

It is a project close to my heart, but I am juggling lots of different work projects at the moment, so progress has been a bit slow.

We did run our first event, an Apericena at Nardò House, which was great fun and attended by a good mix of interesting women – eighteen in total. I prepared most of the food (along with Vanessa from Nardò House) which went down very well – very few leftovers! The idea was that there would be some of the 20 euro a head entrance fee left over to go towards the associations start up costs, but it would take forever to raise the funds at this point as I over catered somewhat!

Essentially, we need at least 10 members to start up (you can start a not-for-profit association with less, but with 10 you are also eligible for outside funding), and the costs will be around 400 euros.

We were thinking of charging 30 euros a year membership for ordinary members and offering a trial membership of 50 euros, renewable after six months for professional members – ie women wanting to promote their businesses. So far two attendees have already earned this or more than this from networking at the Apericena. We are hoping to have everything set up by the end of April.

Members will get a discount on paid events as well as lots of free stuff- we have lots of ideas but welcome more. One of the things I think would work really well is having a minibus to organise trips to local towns, markets, and beaches for people who don’t drive or have a car, and we may be able to get sponsorship for this. Several women wanted to come to our first event but couldn’t get there…

In the meantime, if you like the idea, and/or may want to get involved please do fill out our questionnaire here.

Our next event is a private lunch at Il Girone dei Golosi in Nardò – a special menu served as a hot buffet so that people can mingle. Tickets will cost 25 euros for tons of food, wine included. This will be on Thursday 12^th of March at 1 pm – message Caroline on +39 3917982054 if you would like to come.