When I realized my turn as featured blog poster was September 11, my mind immediately raced back ten years to the impression of darkness left from the events of that day. Checking in with my community of fellow travel guides recently , they all agreed that it would be appropriate to acknowledge this date in history with its iconic images. I remembered that just a short couple of weeks after the original 9/11 tragedy I was scheduled to be in Italy for a three week vacation.  My travel journal from that time came in handy as it reminded me how empty the planes were on both the flight over and returning.  I had use of two full rows to stretch out on, which at any other time might have felt luxurious but at that point was just a reminder of destruction, lost lives and how our world had changed.

My natural inclination towards life is optimistic but I found myself questioning whether it was prudent to fly to Europe for a vacation in that Fall of 2001, to enjoy life as I always had in my favorite Italian venues.  Trying to maintain a sense of normalcy, I chose to go ahead and everywhere I went from the beginning of the trip to end, even though there seemed to be a somber veneer on things, people of all nationalities were warmhearted and offered sympathies with small kindnesses or just unexpected greetings.

From airline staff to the friends greeting me upon arrival, to the many neighbors, shopkeepers and acquaintances in my little village of Bagnoregio people warmly greeted me. embraced just a bit longer and held a knowing smile that seemed to say “we are standing here with you in this sorrowful time”.  An unspoken connection was made as I traveled from place to place revisiting familiar spots; finding new ones with new faces.  There were times in my solo wanderings around several different regions of Italy that I started feeling alone and sad, craving the familiarity of home and at those times I found I could easily ask to join a group of Americans sitting down for lunch, welcoming me into their midst or strike up a conversation with a train seatmate in my pitiful Italian with complete ease and acceptance. I was able to find a group of “slow travel” friends and have a lovely group dinner together in Venice which gave me a sense of “home”.  We’d not met before except on the internet but our common language of travel and interests in cultural diversity gave us a comforting sense of connection that is sometimes overlooked when traveling at a fast pace.

Travel is indeed, an eye opening experience.  It is a reminder of the basic humanity which  connects us in spite of our many differences, socially, economically, politically and even spiritually.  Those labels make no difference ultimately as it all comes down to the same common denominator:  we may like to think we hear a different drummer, but our hearts all have the same beat!  Keep on traveling, friends, slowly!

Ciao-ciao!  Off to Italy next week and hope to see you there soon!

Cheryl

Cheryl has been traveling to Europe, particularly Italy, for more than fourteen years. Her interest in Italy, its history, art and rich culture led her to purchase property near Orvieto, allowing her to spend more time there. Cheryl’s exploration of Italy include the regions of Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, as well as the areas around Venice and south towards Sorrento. She continues to travel into Italy’s less traveled regions, and enjoys sharing her discoveries with others. Relaxed, leisurely tours are her specialty with an emphasis on the comfort of her guests.

Cheryl spends the rest of her time near the beach in San Diego, cavorting with her two small grandchildren. She’s an avid reader, health advocate and community volunteer. Her career as a social worker brings an understanding of people’s needs to the tour business.

Slow Travel Tours is an affiliation of small-group tour operators who offer personalized trips in Italy, France and other European countries.

This area of central Italy is so rich with sights of interest that we could spend at least a month going no farther than a half hour to an hour and a half away, each day, and still have more to choose from.  From Viterbo, south, to Deruta, north-east,  the number of exciting places to visit and explore is endless.  Each spot has something special to offer.  Viterbo has a rich history connected to the Etruscans and the Roman Papacy and is located in the Lazio region, while Deruta , in Umbria, has a very obscure, undocumented history other than being very connected to Peruggia.  It is so well known for it’s lovely hand-painted pottery that no one seems to notice anything else about it.  Nearly every shop in the town of Deruta is a family run ceramics store. Then there is Acquapendente, dating back to the ninth century, and on the way north through Tuscany towards Siena.  One experience after another, each town telling its own story of Etruscan, Faliscan, Roman or other cultural history.  Cultures leaving their mark for us to find and appreciate; wonder and imagine about.

Another fulfilling aspect of having the luxury of “living” in the countryside for a period of time is that of coming home after a day trip, relaxing on the veranda with a glass of wine, then gathering those in the group who enjoy cooking, to prepare the evening meal.  Usually this takes place on days when the group has visited an outdoor farmers market in the course of their wandering.  Using the freshest seasonal produce the cooks spend an hour or so preparing food the way the locals do. 

Pasta can be cooked in so many ways.  We like to to find a local pasta shop and see what the specials for the day are, then plan the meal around that.  Of course, some days we prefer a meat, fowl or fish dish so we find either the local butcher or fish shop.  Springtime is great for a pasta and asparagus recipe:

Choose a pasta like fettuccine or tagliatelle; use only the top third of the asparagus stalk and par boil it for 1-2 minutes, depending on size; toss pasta, asparagus and grated romano or peccorino (or both, if you like) cheese together, then generously drizzle fresh, local olive oil and season to taste.  Top with fresh anchovies, lightly marinated in olive oil and balsamic vinegar and you have a complete, authentic Italian meal from this region.

Another favorite of ours for an appetizer is also just a dish for spring.  Zucchini flowers, stuffed with an anchovy and a bit of local peccorino cheese, lightly battered in beer and flour, then quickly set in a pan of hot of safflower oil for half a minute.  With a glass of white wine and a sunset you will think you are in heaven!

So, just a few musings about things we like to do, see and eat when we visit Italy.

Ciao, tutti!

Cheryl has been traveling to Europe, particularly Italy, for more than fourteen years. Her interest in Italy, its history, art and rich culture led her to purchase property near Orvieto, allowing her to spend more time there. Cheryl’s exploration of Italy include the regions of Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, as well as the areas around Venice and south towards Sorrento. She continues to travel into Italy’s less traveled regions, and enjoys sharing her discoveries with others. Relaxed, leisurely tours are her specialty with an emphasis on the comfort of her guests.

Cheryl spends the rest of her time near the beach in San Diego, cavorting with her two small grandchildren. She’s an avid reader, health advocate and community volunteer. Her career as a social worker brings an understanding of people’s needs to the tour business.

Slow Travel Tours is an affiliation of small-group tour operators who offer personalized trips in Italy, France and other European countries.

It’s a crystal clear and balmy morning in Civita Castellana, in the province of Viterbo, about forty miles north of Rome. The town is quiet. Walking to the post office, I see a pair of women, clearly non-Italian, walking. Lost, clearly. Then I hear them speaking English. I approach them and ask if they’re lost or need directions. “Is this Civita di Bagnoregio?” one asks. “No, I reply, it’s another Civita entirely, Civita Castellana”. They look at each other, confused, and on the point of being gravely disappointed. “Let me show you around!”

Here in Northern Lazio, tourists are a relative rarity. In fact, the locals often ask foreigners – ”Come mai, Civita Castellana??”, which could loosely be translated: How the heck did you wind up here?? Suffice it to say that Italian Excursion knows a fascinating little town when it finds one.

Locals are seemingly immune to or unaware of some of the town’s charms or maybe just immune after long-familiarity. The town’s Duomo, for example, unique in having a Cosmatesque façade as well as Cosmati floors inside. The façade bears their names and the date of completion: 1210. The town held a conference last year to celebrate its 800th birthday. The Civitonici, as they are called, are a proud and singular bunch, not descended from the Etruscans, but from a race apart: the Faliscans. The present-day citizens still bear a grudge against the Romans for subduing them in 241 BC after three hundred odd years of holding them off. That means that these days, the residents support the Lazio football team and not the Rome team.
Six kilometers from the ancient center, is the town of Faleri Novi, where the ancient residents were forced to live, once vanquished. Reached by car or by following the ancient Via Amerina, over the original basalt slabs, through fields, by way of Roman bridges and passing more ancient tombs, Faleri is now the site of a restored Romanesque church, massive tufa city walls and tranquil farm and pasture lands.  

In the old town of Civita, aside from the Duomo, there’s a stunning view of Monte Soratte from Via del Tiratore, a good 4-star hotel (Relais Falisco – where Italian Excursion’s guests always stay), a large central Piazza with the town hall and a Renaissance dragon fountain, and reused Roman fragments in many building facades. Recent efforts to allow tourists to appreciate the town’s charms include a guidebook in Italian and English with coordinated plaques that let us wander and discover the town’s many medieval towers (all cut down in Napoleonic times and mostly now dwellings) and her noble palaces. The crowning glory, though, is the Sangallo Fortress that now houses a modest museum of Faliscan and Etruscan artifacts. The most important ancient treasures from this town and its surroundings, sadly, are now at the Villa Giulia in Rome, but the fort is a grand, imposing and romantic structure that was fortress, palace, jail and refuge over the past five centuries. The courtyard, stunning in its simplicity and serene, is the site of a modest local music festival every July, and outside the steep ramparts, the local contrade compete in a miniature palio every mid-September as part of the town’s patron saints’ festival. This festival marks the real end to summer in town, and nothing much can restart after the summer heat until it’s finished.

Also worth seeing is the annual Infiorata in early June. Groups of residents assemble and cooperate to decorate the alleys with colorful flower-petal creations marking Corpus Domini. In the winter, the Civitonici really push the boat out for Carnival. Groups compete fiercely for the prizes awarded for best float and costumes and participation is huge. The town’s men like to don wigs, heels, breasts, and (of course) sunglasses and abandon themselves to the festivities.

From the fort and the Via del Tiratore you get a real sense of the narrow spit of wonderfully defensible land that was this ancient town, and we can see the true glory of this entire territory – fabulous river valleys, gorges and nature. The Faliscans controlled the many small rivers in the area, most of which ran east-west, while the Romans controlled the Tiber which has a north-south orientation. These waterways provided food, communication, and trade. Today they are a remarkable natural resource for exploring the surrounding territory to appreciate the rugged landscape and a history stretching back many centuries. Local guides will happily take tourists to explore the local gorges, roads, and natural wonders. Stop in to see Mastro Cencio, Vincenzo Dobbolini (Via SS. Giovanni e Marciano 14), a local potter who makes splendid reproductions of ancient vessels, and who also has a passion for these local walks. He can help you organize a leisurely walk or a more challenging hike down to the river and back up to the Castellaccio. This is the even narrower spit of land you see from the Ponte Clementino that served as a settlement point, lookout and burial ground since prehistoric times. Though privately-owned, it’s still easily accessible and worth a visit. The local tour and trail guides make themselves available to our Italian Excursion groups out a sense of pride about where they live and the hidden treasures that surround them.

No need to go hungry. The local establishment for good, solid, filling and moderately priced food is Mignolo’ – a family place where the menu is verbal and meat on the grill is a specialty. Close by is Pane e Pomodoro, recently opened, modern, spacious, but pleasantly chaotic. The owners are locals who used to work in one of the ceramics factories. La Giaretta, opposite Mignolo’, is also dependable, if a bit cavernous. Outside of town a few miles (you really need a vehicle to get around, but roads are uncrowded and non-threatening) is La Campagnola, family-run, kitsch, but with excellent pizza and people-watching in summer. In the historic center, La Scuderia serves more fanciful meals at somewhat higher prices in the glorious atmosphere of a re-done Renaissance stable block.
Civita Castellana is one of the many extraordinary ordinary little towns in the little-known zone north of Rome. This may never be the “next Tuscany”, but for the slow traveler, it’s a worthy and fascinating destination and a useful base for the wonders of a province of Viterbo – full of delights and real life.

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Cheryl has been traveling to Europe, particularly Italy, for more than fourteen years. Her interest in Italy, its history, art and rich culture led her to purchase property near Orvieto, allowing her to spend more time there. Cheryl’s exploration of Italy include the regions of Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, as well as the areas around Venice and south towards Sorrento. She continues to travel into Italy’s less traveled regions, and enjoys sharing her discoveries with others. Relaxed, leisurely tours are her specialty with an emphasis on the comfort of her guests.

Cheryl spends the rest of her time near the beach in San Diego, cavorting with her two small grandchildren. She’s an avid reader, health advocate and community volunteer. Her career as a social worker brings an understanding of people’s needs to the tour business.

Senses are such powerful memory makers. I’m often asked to describe my impressions of Italy and what keeps me traveling there season after season by those seeking to travel with italianexcursion.com. It isn’t just the typical, cliche answer referring to the topical beauty that I want to convey because those are easily found in the many thousands of books, blogs and works of art that come from the experience of Italy. The other senses also pick up impressions that can be revisited time and time again.

It’s quite lovely for me to be in my office or my car, home in California and have a brief moment when a particular memory inserts itself to remind me of an Italian moment I’ve had. Some of those memories have been captured like a snapshot and embedded deep inside my brain or soul or who knows where. Sounds of a thousand song birds, as Italy seems to have more birds per square foot than any place I’ve ever been. Or the melodic sound of old men sitting on a bench discussing something in their native tongue. It’s so soothing to stop my mind and listen to an Italian conversation, which sounds to me more like a piece of music than plain speech.

Landing at the airport, time and time again, being welcomed in Italian by the customs agents, collecting my luggage and finding the train to my final destination, I start my collection of sensory memory that rings so familiar.  The smell of jet fuel at the airport, not pleasant but familiar; the sound of the little shuttle train, clicking along through the countryside, excites all my senses as I take in the deep greens of the pastures we pass.  And all the time I’m listening for the Italian conversations, testing my own ability to speak so musically. Cell phones chirping and the greeting “pronto” upon answering.  There is the inevitable smell of cigarettes wherever I go which somehow seems far less aggravating in Italy than at home.

The weekly farmer’s markets have the fragrant smells of fruits, with a bit of rot showing up here and there, or the earthy scent of truffles and porcini when it’s well into the fall season.  Late September is heavy with harvest smells from the grapes, which can be very musty as well as sweet.  Grape harvest collects memories of special wines that have left their impressions in my memory bank.  I love the smell of heavy mold in a wine cellar that offers the promise of special wines in the future.  Springtime scents are full of the many flowers and grass smells that evoke the beginning of all things new.

It is so uplifting to enter a church during Sunday service and hear the ancient litanies that bring worshipers to gather.  An even more special moment if the church is blessed with a choir.  Oh and street musicians, what a joy to run across a young person playing a solo on her cello or violin in the midst of everyone’s meanderings in the square.

The brilliant red poppies of May aren’t scented but have such amazing color that the memory can almost be tasted. Sometimes I like to just take a walk in the countryside to hear the sound of the insects doing their work and take in the perfume of the flora I come across.   All this I will take home with me to relive Italy when I am not there, adding dimension to my experience and keeping me connected to the beauty that is Italy until I return.

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Cheryl has been traveling to Europe, particularly Italy, for more than fourteen years. Her interest in Italy, its history, art and rich culture led her to purchase property near Orvieto, allowing her to spend more time there. Cheryl’s exploration of Italy include the regions of Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, as well as the areas around Venice and south towards Sorrento. She continues to travel into Italy’s less traveled regions, and enjoys sharing her discoveries with others. Relaxed, leisurely tours are her specialty with an emphasis on the comfort of her guests.

Cheryl spends the rest of her time near the beach in San Diego, cavorting with her two small grandchildren. She’s an avid reader, health advocate and community volunteer. Her career as a social worker brings an understanding of people’s needs to the tour business.

Yes, traveling in Italy on your own, can be a memorable, enlightening experience.  I recommend it, heartily, as I’ve had some of my most enriching travel adventures in this manner.  Recently, a young friend wrote to me asking if she should take a bus tour to Italy, for her special 10 day vacation in Europe.  I told her to explore all of her options, so she researched the many ways of traveling.  Large bus tours, small group tours, self guided tour with friends and a guide book.  She finally decided on going solo, taking trains and buses and just sort of “winging it”. 

Italy is one of the easiest places to travel independently.  I love guiding people around in the countryside, but if you’ve never been to the incredible cities of Venice, Rome, Milan, Florence, Naples, then it’s important to start with those.  It is easy to take daytime guided walking tours in each city (solo guests are welcome to join most already formed groups)  or just hop on and off a city bus to get oriented.  Most large cities have a special “red bus” that takes the most popular route through the city, pointing out significant sights, stopping to let folks on or off for more exploration.  You can buy a 24 or 48 hour ticket that allows time for getting on and off the bus, to get oriented to the area making it easier to choose places to return to later.  Guide books, can be a wonderful resource for wandering through a city and familiarizing yourself at your own pace.

Italy is also a country that I recommend to those traveling alone who are concerned about safety issues.  By taking simple and logical precautions, which one should do traveling in any country, there is little danger in Italy.  OK, so driving might be a hazard to consider, but the people are very friendly and helpful and if one is cautious with valuables in obviously crowded places like railroad stations, the risks are minimal. 

Happy travels, alone or together, but do keep traveling!

Ciao,

Cheryl

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Cheryl has been traveling to Europe, particularly Italy, for more than fourteen years. Her interest in Italy, its history, art and rich culture led her to purchase property near Orvieto, allowing her to spend more time there. Cheryl’s exploration of Italy include the regions of Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, as well as the areas around Venice and south towards Sorento. She continues to travel into Italy’s less traveled regions, and enjoys sharing her discoveries with others. Relaxed, leisurely tours are her specialty with an emphasis on the comfort of her guests.

Cheryl spends the rest of her time near the beach in San Diego, cavorting with her two small grandchildren. She’s an avid reader, health advocate and community volunteer. Her career as a social worker brings an understanding of people’s needs to the tour business.

Thus, Slow Travel was born, when independent traveler’s began to spend longer and longer vacation time in one place, rather than changing locations daily. By spending more than a few days, maybe a week or more in a vacation rental, an apartment, casita or self -catering villa, travelers can become familiar with their surroundings, get to know the local shop-keeps and their neighbors. Learning about a country’s culture in this way gives the traveler an authentic experience of who the people are, their history and an entirely different way of life, in many instances, than what one is accustomed to on a fast paced, must see everything now sort of tour. Forming relationships with the local people, sipping coffee for hours in an outdoor cafe, marketing locally and spending three hours preparing lunch, experiencing the daily rhythm of a village or town, makes a vacation so much more relaxed and memorable.

Traveling Slowly can mean many different things, though it points to a slower pace of activity, lingering over meals, spending time in the lost art of conversation, maybe it’s just taking time to journal or sketch or hone some artistic skill that’s been nagging for attention. This is certainly a way of waking up the senses, getting a “sense of place” in whatever place you happen to be spending time. Italy is the perfect country to practice these lost skills. There is an abundance of natural beauty, places left untouched for centuries just begging for a listen or a look. There are people, friendly and open just waiting to engage with you in any sort of connection and communication. This is a most satisfying, enriching way to experience time, place, connection and relationships; slowly and with deliberate enjoyment!

What Italian Excursion tours does to have a slow experience is “park” the small group in either a boutique hotel in the country or a self catering villa for the length of the tour, plan one, possibly two activities in a day for the travelers and then meander through our day at a very slow pace. Meals are enjoyed for an extended period, sometimes several hours; wine or olive oil tastings in the country where the products are produced; small, unknown museums and archeological sites may be a destination; nature walks in national parks or visits to an abandoned village, many centuries old. The list is endless and each trip brings new discoveries because there are so many layers to Italy’s past. This idea of slow travel, a reaction to our current fast paced, relentlessly productive global culture can bring enrichment as well as reminders of why we seek respite from our daily lives in the form of vacation time.

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Cheryl has been traveling to Europe, particularly Italy, for more than fourteen years. Her interest in Italy, its history, art and rich culture led her to purchase property near Orvieto, allowing her to spend more time there. Cheryl’s exploration of Italy include the regions of Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, as well as the areas around Venice and south towards Sorrento. She continues to travel into Italy’s less traveled regions, and enjoys sharing her discoveries with others. Relaxed, leisurely tours (www.italianexcursion.com) are her specialty with an emphasis on the comfort of her guests. Cheryl spends the rest of her time near the beach in San Diego, cavorting with her two small grandchildren. She’s an avid reader, health advocate and community volunteer. Her career as a social worker brings an understanding of people’s needs to the tour business. 

www.slowtraveltours is an affiliation of small-group tour operators who offer personalized trips in Italy, France and other European countries.
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After nearly four dozen trips to Italy over the last fifteen years I am pleased to say that my enthusiasm for traveling to this lovely country has not been dampened.  It still holds levels of mystery and a myriad of unexplored places that I couldn’t hope to uncover in a couple of lifetimes.  It appeals to my senses in so many ways with its culture of caring for things that are important such as family, history, the arts and conservation of all things natural or beautiful.

One of the first things I noticed when I started visiting Italy were the bell shaped recycle containers that each town or city displays prominently, as a constant reminder for everyone to be aware of caring for the land. Fields are carefully laid to fallow between crops; an economy of energy is observed by all in many ways. Small cars, small refrigerators, laundry either flapping in the breeze or hanging out of second story windows to dry because in Italy few have automatic dryers, even if they may have a washing machine. An irresponsible use of energy, say the Italians.

air dry

And art is felt at every turn, every juncture, down to the base level of graffiti, (most notably in the transportation areas of cities.) A church on every corner means a museum has been erected to house not only a place of worship of a favored entity but to worship the sanctity of art. This is a country where there are thousands of archeological sites stopping time so that study can be made of the multiple layers of history explaining Italy’s culture and civilizations that have made their mark on the land. These sites are as common as a Starbuck’s coffee house in the U.S.

I love the area I call the “tri corners” in central Italy, where Tuscany, Lazio and Umbria meet. There are visible differences in the landscape of each of the regions but more notable are the differences in such things as food, grape varietals and customs or language. Very subtle differences sometimes, greater contrasts at others, but they are evident. Italy has only been a whole country for a short time and it took a couple of hundred years for all the states to concur that they would be whole at some point. I can see that it will be easy for me to continue making two or three trips a year to Italy and never tire of what I will find as there are more interesting things to see and do, than imaginable. Layers and layers of people, places and things to keep one’s interest!

Cheryl has been traveling to Europe, particularly Italy, for more than fourteen years. Her interest in Italy, its history, art and rich culture led her to purchase property near Orvieto, allowing her to spend more time there. Cheryl’s exploration of Italy include the regions of Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, as well as the areas around Venice and south towards Sorrento. She continues to travel into Italy’s less traveled regions, and enjoys sharing her discoveries with others. Relaxed, leisurely tours are her specialty with an emphasis on the comfort of her guests.Cheryl spends the rest of her time near the beach in San Diego, cavorting with her two small grandchildren. She’s an avid reader, health advocate and community volunteer. Her career as a social worker brings an understanding of people’s needs to the tour business.

Slow Travel Tours is an affiliation of small-group tour operators who offer personalized trips in Italy, France and other European countries.

Designing a tour for your pleasure takes more work behind the scenes than I think anyone imagines. I’m thinking of recent requests that I had from two different sources when travelers have asked me to put together an itinerary with certain specifications, for a group of their friends or colleagues. Keeping in mind there is a lot of competition out there, the first thing we’re asked to do as tour operators is fulfill all the requirements put forth for a trip to Italy that is memorable for a group, then most likely, keep within a certain budget. More often than not, the two requests are not compatible. So, many emails must fly back and forth before the real negotiations begin. Tour operators, especially if they don’t live in the country where they lead tours, have a very small profit margin and mostly do this activity for the love of travel and the countries they work in.

Behind the scenes, again, someone like me will spend hours on the internet, phone, skype, etc. researching things such as lodging, prices for airfare and other transport involved . Then countless more hours getting information from the guests requesting a tour. I’ve counted the number of emails between just one group, which did not include my research and it amounted to over 100! We also had several phone conversations. And even after all that this particular group didn’t choose to travel with me in the end, which sometimes happens. They worked with a larger company who could afford to offer an extra couple of days on the trip because they do business in volume. That doesn’t sound like a vacation to me, so I stick with the smaller groups, get to know people and what it is they are looking for as an experience that will be fulfilling and memorable.

My idea of traveling as a leader of a small group in Italy is to think of the group as guests. I want them to be comfortable with me and one another, have most of their expectations met,(we all have ideas in mind about what it is we want to experience), and go home with a sense that they know the people and culture previously unfamiliar to them, a bit better. In order to produce such results it takes countless hours of communication, research and clarification. And to me, that’s a large part of the fun of creating these tours. It’s sort of like the sense of accomplishment one feels having put together a puzzle with 5000 pieces! Thought it might be interesting to know just a little about what goes into your special small group tour.

Hope to see you on our next Spring trip to Italy,

Ciao,

Cheryl

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Cheryl has been traveling to Europe, particularly Italy, for more than fourteen years. Her interest in Italy, its history, art and rich culture led her to purchase property near Orvieto, allowing her to spend more time there. Cheryl’s exploration of Italy include the regions of Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, as well as the areas around Venice and south towards Sorrento. She continues to travel into Italy’s less traveled regions, and enjoys sharing her discoveries with others. Relaxed, leisurely tours are her specialty with an emphasis on the comfort of her guests.Cheryl spends the rest of her time near the beach in San Diego, cavorting with her two small grandchildren. She’s an avid reader, health advocate and community volunteer. Her career as a social worker brings an understanding of people’s needs to the tour business.

Slow Travel Tours is an affiliation of small-group tour operators who offer personalized trips in Italy, France and other European countries.

It’s that time of year again, when things darken and we look for more light. I believe the “holidays” were sort of set in this time so we could brighten our lives with gifts and gala, food and family. It’s a time when I tend to start thinking longingly of my Spring trip to Italy. And it’s always a time I appreciate the richness of my relationships, whether it be with my family, my American community or my Italian community.

Yesterday, our Thanksgiving feast was magnificent. There was, as always, far too much food. It reminded me that the meals I experience in Italy, be it a festival or just dinner, tend to look like our Thanksgiving feasts, with food galore, camaraderie and time taken to enjoy it all. One of the first things I noticed when I began to travel in Italy was that food was used as the venue to friendship and community. It wasn’t that people were so hungry for the parade of dishes coming from the kitchen but that it extended the time they could spend together. That observation alone made this country more endearing to me.

Food is a wonderful way to commune, express culture and bring people closer. It’s a way for families to “make memories” together. And the Italians take this endeavor seriously. The Slow Food movement began with Italians, to counter the fact that people were not spending time together eating and talking, as they once did.

And just as Americans have embraced the “Slow” movement, the Italians have been celebrating Thanksgiving! I emailed with some of my friends in Italy this week to find that they were busy preparing for their holiday meal, just as we were. Some of them like using the traditional menu we use here but many were adapting or creating their own menus. Isn’t it great to be able to mix and match traditions in this age of globalization.

So, in the spirit of gratitude that this most recent holiday brings forth, I just want to say that I’m grateful to be part of two very lovely cultures, that take time to intersect and share. This is the light I relish during the darkest season.

Happy Holidays to you all!

Cheryl

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Cheryl has been traveling to Europe, particularly Italy, for more than fourteen years. Her interest in Italy, its history, art and rich culture led her to purchase property near Orvieto, allowing her to spend more time there. Cheryl’s exploration of Italy include the regions of Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, as well as the areas around Venice and south towards Sorrento. She continues to travel into Italy’s less traveled regions, and enjoys sharing her discoveries with others. Relaxed, leisurely tours are her specialty with an emphasis on the comfort of her guests.Cheryl spends the rest of her time near the beach in San Diego, cavorting with her two small grandchildren. She’s an avid reader, health advocate and community volunteer. Her career as a social worker brings an understanding of people’s needs to the tour business.

Slow Travel Tours is an affiliation of small-group tour operators who offer personalized trips in Italy, France and other European countries.

Italy at harvest time is unforgettable, but not having been there at that time for about five years, I had actually forgotten how spectacular it could be! I usually go mid October for my Fall trip, but this year went the first part of September to witness grape harvest. And I wasn’t disappointed. Except for 3 days of unbearable heat, which we beat by staying at Zia Cathy’s with her pool (www.ziacathys.it), we then had fabulous moderate, fall weather for the rest of the trip.

We were smack dab in the middle of grape picking time for the growers. The air was filled with the pungent sweetness of many grape varietals. There is a sort of seductive feeling seeing the plump, ripe fruit hanging from the vine as many of you can attest to. Everything seems “plumped up”. Everywhere we drove out in the country the fields had either people or machines collecting the fruit. And then, in order to make the very best wines the growers quickly whisk the collections away within just about five minutes to make sure the fruit is crushed immediately. Vintners with the capacity and passion for the best of the best wines will have the grapes handpicked. It’s more costly, depending on the size of the crop.

Fall Countryside

We had the good fortune to visit our friend’s organic vineyards in Civitella d’Agliano, near Orvieto, where he produces 400,000 bottles of award winning wines annually. And by contrast, our friend’s Rita and Antonio in Otricoli, where they grow enough grapes to keep themselves and friends in wine for the year, a much smaller production in a room below the house. Two very different experiences but both vintners with the same passion about their work. Antonio gave me a taste of the juice, just pressed, which was divine. I’ve been tasting the “fruits” of the Mottura’s art for many years now. I most enjoy the sparkling wine, aged for ten years, and the pinot noir which we had with our goose dish! They raise all of their produce and game themselves, organically, which makes me feel right at home. www.motturasergio.it/international/

Fresh Figs

Figs were also in season during this trip, as well as tomatoes (OMG, the most red, most tasteful, most scrumptious you can imagine), melons and even some peaches. It’s fairly impossible for me to eat fresh tomatoes in my own locale anymore, as they just don’t seem to have any taste. Same goes for watermelon, which is just so sad for me.

Another great reason to be in Italy at this time of the year is that there are festivals going on in almost every town and village. Not just little festivals but the whole town attends; there are magnificent fireworks going off before midnight; pallio’s, which I witnessed in Civita Castellana; bands marching around town whose members are teens to elders; speeches being made; booths with food and games. In Sutri, they had the annual fagioli (bean) festival where legend tells us that Sutri’s beans are not “gas producing”!!! (That’s just too funny not to mention).

Wine with Sergio

We almost ran into the Pope, who spent part of a day in Bagnoregio to honor St. Bonaventura, the patron saint of that town. We opted out that day but it was fun to be so close to an event the Italians hold dear. I’ve not attended the famous Pallio of Siena so was thrilled to see the one taking place in Civita Castellana, a town once renowned for being the largest producer of porcelain toilets in Italy. (Just another one of those “fun” facts)! Back to the Pallio where four teams dressed up in the medieval costumes of knights with the colors of the gates of the town that they were representing, then raced around a track just beneath the castle, with lances, to collect little dangling metal rings. It was quite exciting and it rained a bit on us, but we stayed to see the outcome as the rest of the village did. Alison recognized one of the knights as her butcher.

We had many more adventures on this latest tour, visiting Villa Lante in Bagnaia and the Farnese palazzo at Capraola, not to mention the beautiful San Pelegrino area of Viterbo, which is quite special in itself. Some of these spots are well-known while others are hidden from the mainstream. We will continue to discover the lesser known sites and villages of this lovely area as it seems difficult to exhaust its treasures.

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Cheryl has been traveling to Europe, particularly Italy, for more than fourteen years. Her interest in Italy, its history, art and rich culture led her to purchase property near Orvieto, allowing her to spend more time there. Cheryl’s exploration of Italy include the regions of Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, as well as the areas around Venice and south towards Sorrento. She continues to travel into Italy’s less traveled regions, and enjoys sharing her discoveries with others. Relaxed, leisurely tours are her specialty with an emphasis on the comfort of her guests.

Cheryl spends the rest of her time near the beach in San Diego, cavorting with her two small grandchildren. She’s an avid reader, health advocate and community volunteer. Her career as a social worker brings an understanding of people’s needs to the tour business.