Slow Travel Tours » Italy

My Villa in Italy, Chapter Two

Cheryl Alexander — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 15:18:06 +0000

So, once we settle on a price for the property we must hire a “notaio”, a sort of para-legal professional, who handles the creation and filing of contracts between the buyer and seller. Bruno was a handsome, shy Italian man in his late thirties with an office in the center of Bagnoregio. He spoke about as much English as I spoke Italian which meant we needed my friend Carlo to interpret for us. That worked well up until the day I was to meet with the farmer and his wife, to sign documents for the first of the two contracts needed for completing the deal. Carlo had his own business to conduct that day and was not available so I joined Bruno and the sellers at Bruno’s office.

This couple who looked quite ancient to me, were probably not much more than 65 years old. But they had not lived an easy life. In fact, the husband had come from a family noted to be the last “cave dwellers” of this little town because during the second world war they were so poor they had lived in one of the numerous Etruscan caves in the valley. Had he not married up, so to speak, he would not have had any land for sale to begin with. Neither the farmer or his wife spoke any English and they were a bit indignant that my Italian was so poor, saying (through Bruno’s struggling English interpretation and many hand gestures) that it was imperative for me to learn their language if I was to be a landowner in Bagnoregio. I smiled, nodded and promised to do just that, but for the moment I wanted to get through this torturous meeting, sign documents and hand over the enormous stack of lire I had stashed in my bag.

When Bruno brought out the city plans that showed the property and its boundaries we discovered that there was also another detached piece of the sale in a different part of town that went with the package (it took half an hour with much hand and arm waving to convey all this to me), which to this day I’ve not seen. However, I do know that it has quite a few very old chestnut trees on it and it’s not much bigger than a good sized RV. Oh well, finding that is on my bucket list as I’m sure it’s just another small adventure.

After about an hour of me listening to the Italians speak Italian and catching maybe 1% of what was being said, my paranoia set in. What the hell was I doing here, trying to buy property so far from home? In a language I couldn’t really speak or understand? And what if I had missed some important details or what if they were all just conspiring to rip me off? No, no, no, I told myself, that is not the case and I have $6000 in Lire in my bag so just do it, as Nike prompts. When it came time to hand over the loot, I counted out pile after pile of tiny lire. Do you know how many lire it takes to make $6000? And then, the farmer, his wife and I sign documents and he proceeds to pack all the money into his vintage sport jacket, circa 1952. Yes, the couple had come dressed to the nines in their very best Sunday clothes, clean, perfectly pressed and from another era altogether. I failed to mention that I felt as though I had stepped into a Felini film, which continued to fun for another year or so.

The next step in the process of signing the “first” as the contract was referred to and after handing over the money, was to walk over to the farmer’s town home and have a celebratory drink, though it was only 11:30 in the morning. Hey, what the heck, I’m in Italy and I just bought property. And yes, the farmer’s jacket was bulging with my lire but he didn’t seem the least bit concerned as we walked through the little village to their home for a little mid-day apertivo and toast to ourselves. Little did I realize that this was only the beginning of a story that is unfinished today, eight years later! Stay tuned for another chapter in June.

Ciao,

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.

The Italian Way of Preservation

Matthew Daub — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 11:58:58 +0000

Gubbio is one of the destinations for our 2012 Arts Sojourn in Umbria. My wife, Barbara and I first explored Gubbio on our own in 2007. We had wanted to visit Gubbio long before this, but somehow its off the beaten path location in northern Umbria necessitated us dropping it from our plans. Apparently many others have passed Gubbio by over the years as well, but its high and set apart situation has had some distinct benefits. Gubbio is said to be one of the best preserved medieval towns in all of northern Italy. The Italian way of preserving and honoring history is clear and evident throughout Gubbio.

As Barbara and I walked along the via dei Consoli, one of the main streets rising through the upper town, we passed a public works sewer project. We noticed there were painstakingly excavated remains of what appeared to be foundation walls below the gaping void in the road surface. Stacked hewn stones of various sizes and configurations had been exposed in the cavity below the water and drain lines. A young woman, who turned out to be the project archeologist, was standing nearby. “Romano?” I asked, in reference to the unearthed stones. “No, medioevale” she replied. Workers were now in the process of carefully cleaning, documenting, and photographing each pile before they could be buried once again and capped with the rounded paving stones that would restore the road surface to its original pattern. The work appeared to be progressing slowly – very slowly.

This is the sort of procedure that must be followed when any antiquity is discovered in any project in all of Italy, whether public or private. Work must stop; archeologists must study; plans must be drawn; every detail noted. History must be preserved and protected at all cost; even the history of medieval stones that will not be seen again until future sewer repairs are necessary. Is this the fastest and most efficient way to expedite construction? Of course not! It is the Italian way.

Matthew Daub is a professional artist and university professor with works in major public and private collections throughout the United States and Europe. He has been leading plein air painting workshops in Italy since 1994. In 1999, Matthew and his wife Barbara formed Arts Sojourn as “a vacation for artists and their friends.” The program is designed to appeal to artists of all levels as well as non-artists who enjoy the company of creative people in a slow travel format.

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

Churches of Lucca and the Garfagnana

Heather Jarman — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 09:47:58 +0000

I’m often asked whether my food and wine tours also include cultural sites and activities. They do. Resembling Rudyard Kipling’s elephant child with a ‘satiable curtiosity’, although I haven’t met my crocodile — yet, I ask ever so many questions and include everything and anything that turns out to be interesting. One tour is based around traditional spinning, dyeing and weaving. Sometimes there’s a concert with music by Puccini, a native son of Lucca. Since I’m posting this on Easter Sunday from a Catholic country, I’ll tell you about some of the churches in Lucca and the Garfagnana that I take my guests to see.

Barga duomo

My all-time favourite is the duomo (cathedral) at Barga on the edge of the Garfagnana. Parts of it date back to 1000 AD. Inside the hush is palpable. The wordless stones breathe tranquility and peace, and golden light seeps through the alabaster windows.

Alabaster windows

A magnificent marble pulpit stands alongside naive romanesque heads and inlaid figures.

Pulpit

A 3.5 m (11.5 ft) tall mediaeval carved wooden St Christopher with an undersized baby Jesus on his shoulder keeps guard over the whole church from his place in the apse. From the piazza in front of the church, you look over Barga and the Serchio River valley to the craggy Alpi Apuane opposite. Even though I’m not religious, I often go sit in this peaceful haven.

View from Barga duomo of the Alpi Apuane

Lucca has been called the ‘city of a hundred churches’. The Basilica of San Frediano stands out for its mosaic façade, the only one in Lucca.

San Frediano

Mosaic on façade of San Frediano

But what draws me there is one painting, one wooden statue and especially Santa Zita. Zita, a serving girl in a noble household, was a favourite of the family. However, she had a secret. Every evening she sneaked into the kitchen, wrapped the leftover bread in her apron and took it away to give to the poor. The other servants, being jealous, told their master she was stealing. He could hardly believe it. He waited for her one evening and challenged her to open her apron. She was very frightened but did as she was commanded and, by a miracle, in place of the bread, her apron was full of flowers. Her somewhat gruesome mummy, lying in a glass coffin in a side chapel, is redeemed by her blue servant’s dress, crisp white apron and the legend of her charity.

Santa Zita

If there isn’t a good story, I make one up. I’ve invented one about San Michele, in the Roman Forum of Lucca, and the duomo, San Martino. Ranks of decorated columns are stacked up their façades.

San Martino, Lucca

San Michele and Easter market

I like to imagine an annual column competition with the winner getting his (I expect there weren’t any female sculptors then) column added to the row. Maybe the runners up also got theirs up there, or else it would have taken an exceedingly long time to collect so many pillars. Of course I admit this as my own fantasy.

Columns of San Martino

Columns of San Michele

Perhaps this church in Villa Basilica, outside Lucca, with far fewer columns was the trial run for the column competition?

Duomo, Villa Basilica, during festival of paper

There are so many exquisite romanesque churches in the countryside I’m tempted to design a walking tour visiting them along with food and wine producers and restaurants on the route.

Heather Jarman invites you on inspiring culinary tours of life behind the scenes that you won’t find in any guidebook — get to know the food artisans and craftspeople of Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont and Liguria. Come join me and my Italian friends and dip into a lifestyle where lunch is more important than business. Find out more at Sapori e Saperi Adventures and follow Heather’s own adventures on her blog.

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

Living Out Loud

Bill Steiner — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 14:19:13 +0000

I find it difficult to put into words why it is people love Italy so much. There are many reasons why, but there is something visceral that defies definition. I read recently this little bit from Mark Nepo:

I must tell you of an old man I know who came here from Italy. He’s spent his life working as a plumber. He is a good, sweet man, and when he laughs, which is often, he cries, no matter who’s around or whether or not anyone understands. He lives out loud.

“He lives out loud.” A perfect description of one of the reasons people love Italy. They do live out loud. Meaning they live fully, robustly, no holds barred. You see it when they use hands and

Enjoying Life

voice to talk animatedly. You see it in their passion for food and for wine that is selected to complement food. You see it when all ages walk arm in arm down the street talking intimately with each other, oblivious to everything around them.

One of the nice things about slow travel is that you can observe and appreciate this living out loud. When we aren’t busy bagging sites, we slow down and observe what is going on around us. In the process we see Italians embracing life uninhibitedly.

The difference between Italians and those of us from the U.S. I think is that there is still a reserve in us, a caring about what others think of us, that “be good or else” upbringing we’ve had. These characteristics seems to be absent in Italians. They’ll cry while they laugh regardless of what people think. They live out loud. Great description. What a great way to be!

And in traveling slow we get to enjoy, appreciate, and perhaps even take cues from it. Va benne!

Kristi and Bill Steiner began leading “learning vacations” to Orvieto, Italy in 2003. Through Adventures in Italy they provide a cultural immersion experience. Many trips include the pursuit of some kind of creative work that complements and reinforces exploration of Italy’s culture. Relationships built over the years enable Kristi and Bill to provide experiences that a typical visitor to Orvieto never gets.

Trips are held in May and September/October every year. Their Discover Orvieto and Girlfriend Getaway trips are available to groups any time of the year.

Learn more about Kristi and Bill’s trips.Stay abreast of Adventures in Italy developments, and follow Bill’s musings about travel and Italy on his blog Make Haste Slowly.

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

A Soak with a View in Tuscany

Anne Woodyard — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 20:39:12 +0000

Posted by Anne & Kirk Woodyard – Music and Markets Tours

The ancient steaming waters of Bagno Vignoni have soaked the Medicis and Saint Catherine of Siena and we have long wanted to experience them for ourselves. Bubbling up from the depths of the earth at around 100 degrees F, they’re a fabulous place for a winter soak while gazing through the mist at the beautiful Tuscan countryside.
We spend a relaxing hour paddling in the warm pool, positioning ourselves a few minutes at a time under the cascade for a pummel of heat on our backs.
The original pool is no longer open for bathing, but is the center of the ancient village, with several interesting boutiques and eateries.
The hot springs bubble up at one end of the basin,with a sheltering loggia, bearing a plaque with an ancient text dedicating the pool to nymphs of Roman mythology, at the opposite end.
The never-ending supply of water is good for more than just baths. At the edge of town are the ruins of multiple mills,the stony ground webbed with millraces and dotted with crumbling stone wall.
Bagno Vignoni is a charming and relaxing experience – one we are eager to share with Music and Markets guests on future tours.

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The best way to describe us (Kirk and Anne Woodyard) is that we’re interested in the stories that make the places we visit come alive.
We’ve visited Europe more times than we can count, learned some entertaining stories there, and met some warm and helpful people who also enjoy the wonders of music and life in Europe.
Between our music-related travels, we split our time between our homes near Washington DC and the south of France. We look forward to sharing these stories and friends and experiences with our Music and Markets guests.
While both of us have experience in organizing travel and music groups Kirk’s background is in project management and competitive writing, and Anne is an accomplished pianist with over thirty years of teaching experience, and a travel and food writer specializing in France and Italy.

“I’m Out of Touch!”

Matthew Daub — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 12:46:04 +0000

Travel is a very personal matter. There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to choices such as destinations, accommodations, the pace of travel, or whether or not to join a group or go it alone. There are endless variables. Some prefer the type of tourism that hits all the best known locations in a country – such as the ubiquitous Rome/Florence/Venice tours of Italy. Some slow travelers prefer to rent apartments or perhaps bed and breakfast accommodations in only one or two locations within in a given region. It comes down to personal choices. Of course, like everyone else, I have my own preferences, but I would like to offer you an optional way of traveling that is not often considered, particularly in this age of social media and instant international communication. I realize that this option is not for everyone for various reasons and might even cause extreme stress and upset to some, so if the idea sounds like punishment or an impossibility you are probably not a candidate to try this.
Have you ever considered being out of touch when you travel? I’m talking about leaving all cell phones, pads and pods at home, avoiding English speaking newspapers or TV, and no checking of email, favorite websites, or social media? I imagine that some folks might think that these are the ravings of a Luddite, a ridiculous suggestion, but if you are still reading please hear me out for just another moment, there is some method behind this madness.
Here’s my theory: Just as modern communication makes it possible to virtually travel the world from our homes, the converse is also true. We now have the possibility of staying in touch with nearly everyone from anywhere and we can be alerted of every disturbing international disaster or scandal instantaneously. This enables us to travel physically, without leaving home psychically. My premise is that this may not always be a good thing.
We began our Italy travels in the days before cell phones and internet access, but even then we made every effort to stay in touch. Although we now use all modern communication devices at home we intentionally leave them behind when we travel. We have come to gauge the success of our trips by how little we think of home. Please don’t misunderstand me – we love our home and our friends and family, but we see travel as the rare opportunity to leave all entanglements behind, both good and bad, and to experience only what is on our plates at the moment in a context and environment so different from our norm. We are not connected, and I love being out of touch – even temporarily! For the most part when we return home we really do not know what has taken place while we’ve been gone. We enjoy the surprises. Even going through the hundreds of emails that inevitably await our return is an adventure, just as it is sorting through the large stacks of physical mail that have piled up. Sure, I could check my email daily and respond while we‘re away, but I find it’s therapeutic to take a complete break from routine. Like I said, this mode of travel is not for everyone, and business responsibilities or family obligations may make this impossible for some, but how many of us spend hours a day connected to a communication device of some sort? From Twitter to television, is it always necessary to be informed from minute to minute? You might actually be surprised at how relaxing and refreshing it can be to take a break from the “real world.” I see it as taking a break to experience the “real world.”

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

Carnival Masks and Floats at Viareggio

Heather Jarman — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:26:50 +0000

Italians seem to exploit every opportunity to celebrate as a community and right now it’s Carnival, time to have fun before the penitential period of Lent. The Carnival at Viareggio is strong competition for the one at Venice, and it’s so little known outside Italy that you rarely hear a foreign language being spoken.

The performers

The audience

Everything is focused on the festive parade of magnificent papier mâché floats that sally forth every Sunday for a month or so and on Shrove Tuesday (the schedule changes each year). You need to arrive early to get a parking space, but you won’t get bored while waiting. The setting is the passegiata or boardwalk with its backdrop of ‘stile liberty’ buildings and beach establishments.

People of all ages come to enjoy the spectacle, many showing off their costumes.

Old

Young

In between

Aspiring teenagers

Animals are there too.

Rare species

Only known case of a ladybird (bug) being born to giraffes

Exotic

Common

Dead

If you’re alert, you’ll see some amusing vignettes.

Ciao tutti!

Which storybook are you from?

He-man

She wasn't impressed?

There’s fast food…

Fast food

…and slow food.

Cacciucco (fish stew) at a bagno

At 3 pm three canon shots announce the start of the parade of floats.

Puffs of moke from the canon

Some are several storeys tall…

Obama above the bankers

…and others are people on the ground wearing elaborate headdresses.

Berlusconi beneath the babes

Some satirise politicians…

Superman to the rescue

Cradle snatcher

Who's she?

…and some feature films and pop stars.

Nearly his last appearance

Some are monuments to the skill and ingenuity of the people who design and build the floats, now full-time jobs.

Flying and breathing fire as the band plays and choir sings

As the sun sets, the floats go round for the last time and spectators drift happily homewards.

(I’d like to thank Klaus Falbe-Hansen for his keen eye, excellent photos and unfailing sense of humour at Carnival 2010.)

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

Slow Travel is Living Life as Art

Bill Steiner — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:03:19 +0000

“Living is the original art,” Mark Nepo says. I love that. While many of our trips to Italy are art based, every one of our trips is based on the idea that life is, or at least certainly can be, art. At one time we considered doing an “Artful Living” trip. Ultimately, we just decided to make every trip a life-is-art experience by its very nature and character. The slow travel that all of us in Slow Travel Tours promote and employ in our trips lends itself to experiencing life as art.

Of course, Italy and Orvieto epitomize artful living. It is what attracts us to them. We tend to forget life is art as we go about our busy lives. Any vacation can return us to this understanding. But one to Italy, when you go slow enough to enjoy the place rather than trying to see it all, immerses you in life as art. You see it in the way people dress. You enjoy it when you eat on tables with linens – most restaurants use linens. You appreciate it with the care that the coffee is made and presented. You recognize it in the ancient monuments so beautifully built and decorated. It infuses everything.

Stefano at Scarponi's in Orvieto

One little example. When you step up to the bar for a cappuccino at Scarponni’s in Orvieto, Stefano always spins the cup on the plate so the handle is to the right. He puts the spoon on the plate so the handle faces you on the right of the cup. Always. Then he pours in the frothed milk in front of you. It is this kind of simple gesture happening around you all the time that you begin to absorb.

Living is the original art. Slow travel helps remind of us that!

Trips are held in May and September/October every year. Their Discover Orvieto and Girlfriend Getaway trips are available to groups any time of the year.

Learn more about Kristi and Bill’s trips.Stay abreast of Adventures in Italy developments, and follow Bill’s musings about travel and Italy on his blog Make Haste Slowly.

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

Italian Vicoli

Matthew Daub — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 02:39:10 +0000

A vicolo is a very tiny street, no more than what most Americans would consider an alley. Yet, in Italian towns much of the local life can be experienced in these narrow passages. The vicoli often wind like a maze through the most ancient parts of town, forming a web of connections between neighbors and neighborhoods. In medieval times, when these streets were laid out, they needed only to be wide enough for an ox cart to pass. The narrower and more labyrinthian the passage, the easier it was to defend, as a result many vicoli are not wide enough to accommodate even the smallest modern car. The buildings on either side run continuously, a series of attached apartments often three and even four stories tall, the windows of one home directly facing those just across the vico.
I have spent countless hours painting along these narrow vicoli. It is one of my favorite things to do in Italy, not only for the visual complexity that I find so compelling as an artist, but also for the uncensored view of Italian town life. To the background din of plates clattering, frying pans sizzling and toilets flushing, I have heard shrieking arguments that made me afraid that a murder might take place at any minute. I have listened to children being scolded, slapped and then, a few minutes later, praised and loved by their cooing mothers. I have heard passionate love-making in the middle of the day. All of life is played out in an Italian alley. I don’t believe that “What will the neighbors think?” translates well into Italian.
Above all what has impressed me is the pervasive goodness and generosity of the Italian people. On many occasions I have painted directly beside a resident’s front door. I always try to be respectful of their space, but I could easily understand if my presence provoked annoyance or at least raised some suspicion. However, my imposition has not only been tolerated, but I have been greeted with genuine warmth and cordiality. I have been invited in to lunch (which I declined), have been invited in to see the owner’s art collection (which contained both a Picasso and a Kandinsky), been asked if I needed to use the bathroom, been handed a beer, and on one occasion had four coffees in china service brought down on a tray for me and my nearby painting companions.
The following watercolors were all painted along various vicoli in the Umbrian towns of Spoleto, and Spello. Umbria is the location of our 2012 Arts Sojourn.

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

How to Prevent Stendhal Syndrome

Heather Jarman — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 10:02:01 +0000

On the first night of my June tour Bread, Cheese & Honey we go to a summer solstice festival at the village of Trassilico, strung out along a narrow ridge in the Alpi Apuane high above the Serchio Valley. It was once a fortified town much coveted by rulers from the Romans to the Este dynasty of Ferrara to the Republic of Lucca, and the ruins of a fort crown the summit.

Este fort

Trassilico from the fort

This year a native of Trassilico, a pensioner who had been an archivist in the Lucca State Archives, offered to give us a guided tour of his beloved village. Pietro Rocchi welcomed us on the warm summer evening and led us to a spring with a long history and many legends attached to it. Since he spoke only Italian, it was my job to interpret to my guests. I begged him in advance to speak slowly and clearly and to leave time for me to translate, but his enthusiasm kept running away with him. What he was explaining was genuinely interesting, but its intricate detail was akin to examining each individual stitch in a complex tapestry. There weren’t any historians in the group, and I could see several beginning to shiver in the damp shade of the stone structure around the spring.

Spring at Trassilico

We managed to lure Pietro up to the rocca, the Este fort, still warm in the rays of the setting sun, but not without many a stop on the way to show us the exact spots where the tough inhabitants had bravely resisted recurrent sieges, tricked their enemies and won the battles. Now the group became interested and began to ask questions.

The way up to the fort

Pietro waiting for us to catch up

We made it

It was worth it

On the way back down to the main piazza by a different route, Pietro showed us a wall partly constructed of old tombstones. He was the person who had deciphered the inscriptions and signs carved on them and had realised that the cemetery from which they came must have spanned the transitional period from paganism to Christianity. The retired Episcopalian minister in the group explained some puzzling symbols, which Pietro was interested to know about too.

The piazza

Back in the piazza some of us tucked into the festival food while others preferred a small restaurant that, with typical village hospitality, provided a table for our communal supper, even though we weren’t all ordering from its menu.

Hospitable restaurant

I later wrote to the friend of a friend who had recommended Pietro as a guide to thank him. I said how interesting it was, but perhaps a wee bit too long and detailed. He reproved me with this slow travel wisdom: ‘When Pietro is your guide, he is like a river in flood and from that one sees all the love he bears toward his village. Your clients must keep in mind that a tour of Europe cannot be accomplished in a week or there is the danger of Stendhal’s syndrome.’ The alarming symptoms include rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion and sometimes hallucinations when exposed to a large amount of especially beautiful art or a surfeit of choice among too much beauty. Whew! That was a lucky escape. Much healthier to slow one’s pace, to bathe in the flow of Pietro’s words, to take time to ask questions and engage in a dialogue, and to appreciate the depth of history in a single extremely beautiful village.

A street in Trassilico

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