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.

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!

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.

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.

Giving thanks is a simple, rewarding act. Slow travel is, in many ways, a simple and rewarding act as well. While planning a Europe vacation, making the arrangements for everything at home while you are away, and the actual travel to your destination are not necessarily simple, people who then stay in one place – part of a slow travel experience – are rewarded for choosing a simpler form of travel. In the spirit of the season then, I thought it would be nice to share some of the thanks giving of people who have invested themselves in traveling in the slow lane. Most of our trips are art based, so our travelers are working in some form of art – thus comments about “work.”

Slow Travel allows you to reflect:
I think Orvieto gave me a new appreciation of my realities. Savoring things more…. And rushing a bit less.

Sharing coffee outside in Orveito

Susan from Florida

Orvieto has given me time for reflection, living in the moment. I will look for “well being” and laugh more often as a result.
John from North Carolina

I left my heart behind – no surprise there – and I took away a greater, deeper appreciation of the true value of a slower-paced life.
Maureen from Massachusetts

I will take home from this trip to slow down, to create a more cozy garden space at home and to save money for another trip!!
Angela from North Carolina

And grow:
Bloom Indeed! It’s a trip that needs to be experienced firsthand – up close and personal – to be truly appreciated! So happy I did.
Theresa from Florida

Slow travel brings a sense of peace as you sense more, worry less, embrace life. Witness these comments first from Cathy who lives in rural Ohio and then Ann from Olympia, Washington:
I hope the feeling of such peacefulness remains for a longggggggggggggg time – slow city – slow food . . . .Not a day goes by that I don’t think of our fairy tale adventure. Miss all of you and Italy.

I will never forget Giovanna putting her hands on my cheeks and forehead when Marty and I first arrived at the convent and saying “calma”, “calma”. That set the stage for the rest of my days there.

Slow travel allows for reflection

Traveling where you get to know the locals and learn from them can transform your outlook and you.
You have given me a life changing experience. I am now someone who makes her dreams come true. I am experiencing life rather than plowing through it just to get by. I am going to live a healthier, creative, adventuresome and more passionate life. And for that I am eternally grateful.
Beth from Minnesota

It looks like Ruth and I have found a place to rent for an art studio. We’re really excited about it. We’ve been wanting to do this for a long, long, time. See the impact Orvieto has had on us?
Judy from California

I sit here with tears in my eyes recognizing that this wondrous moment has passed and I am sad that I will not come down to start this day with a heart felt buon giorno and lovely coffee at the Blue Bar. I am sad, yet so filled with the wonder that is each and every one of you. Such a gift this week has been; the setting, the amazing heartfelt depth of everyone and everything we’ve experienced. I cannot find the words to really do it all justice. I return full of life (full…..literally too!) and an eagerness to embrace it. Thank you.
Lynn from Chicago

I definitely have to say the Italy trip was a real turning point in my life. It’s terrific. I’m journaling frequently now and work is now just one part of my life again in healthy balance.
Paula from South Carolina

My soul healed and I was given wings.
Jeanne from Wisconsin

Not only am I hearing Italian in my ears, but hoping to learn it.  And starting to do a little Italian cooking. I loved the food.
Sandy from California

Almost two years  later I still dream of Orvieto and Italy.
DD from Montana

And this from Lisa from Australia who added

The simplicity of sharing meals

fun to the transformation:
Well, what can I say, except that this was some of the best fun I have ever had….after cooking all this scrumptious food, we sat down in the restaurant where the staff served it to us…..along with some fabulous wine, we had a ball! I am so inspired to try some of the recipes we were given when I come home.

Traveling this way instills a sense of camaraderie. Witness:
I came back from Italy Saturday night with my heart full of wonderful memories….It was such a great experience to be in Orvieto with all those lovely people. They let you feel at home immediately! We shared a lot, laughed a lot and worked hard together. In one word this trip was STUNNING.
Baukje from France

I loved every minute of it. We got the experience of a lifetime. I sit here wistfully lingering over each photo identifying each place and person with an “Oh, I was there! Oh! WE did that! Oh! I KNOW that Orvietani! Such great memories. I miss you all and look forward to when we meet again.
Angela from Ireland

And in the spirit of the season, thanks to each and everyone of the wonderful people who have traveled with us! Kristi and Bill

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.

The majority of the town is medieval, although there is evidence of Gubbio’s history dating back to the Bronze Age. Just outside the city walls there is a substantial 1^st century BC Roman amphitheater. A Roman mausoleum is located just a stone’s throw from the amphitheater. It is listed on Gubbio’s tourist maps as belonging to the Roman consul Pomponius Graecinus, although there is nothing more than coincidental evidence to substantiate that claim.

The Italian way of preserving and honoring history is clear and evident throughout Gubbio. On our first visit to the town my wife and I passed a public works sewer project along the via dei Consoli. Ancient foundation walls had been uncovered below the the road surface. 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 in the process of carefully cleaning, documenting, and photographing each pile before they could be buried once again and capped with rounded paving stones restored to their original pattern. The work appeared to be progressing slowly. This is the sort of procedure that must be followed when any antiquity is discovered in any project in Italy, whether public or private. Work must stop; archeologists must study; plans must be drawn; every detail noted. History must be preserved and protected; 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.

Also along via dei Consoli are some of the best examples of one of medieval Gubbio’s most puzzling mysteries, the Porte della Morte, the “doors of death.” One could easily pass right by them if not alerted to their presence. The “doors of death” are narrow bricked-in openings usually very near and slightly above a home’s main entrance. They are rare architectural features, found only in a few places in Umbria, Tuscany and the south of France. Their name comes from the most popular, although unlikely explanation of the doors’ purpose. Legend has it that they were used only for carrying out the coffins of dead residents and then sealed again – a very romantic notion, but their primary purpose was probably much more pragmatic. In case of an attack the larger main entrance could be barricaded and the narrow opening, usually leading to a very tight staircase, would be much easier to defend. As is usually the case, superstition provides the more appealing narrative.

Just off of via dei Consoli is the medieval police station, the Bargello, and next to it the Fontana dei Matti – “The Fountain of the Mad.” The legend claims that if you walk around the fountain three times you will lose your mind. Presumably every teenager in Gubbio has tried this at least once and it is also a temptation too great for many visitors to resist. I was not tempted in the slightest, seeing no reason at all to push my sometimes shaky luck.

Towering above the town, near the summit of Monte Ingino, is the Basilica di Sant’Ubaldo; a monument honoring Gubbio’s patron saint. There are two ways of getting to the Basilica; either via a steep and winding footpath which leads up the mountainside from behind the duomo, or by a precarious ski lift-like contraption that is very reminiscent of either a string of dangling human bird cages or some form of medieval torture device. Gubbio is renowned for one great annual event, the Corsa dei Ceri; a foot race up the mountainside to the basillica that has been conducted each May for nearly a millennium. The Corsa dei Ceri is no ordinary foot race. It is a combination civic celebration and religious procession with a dose of carnal fertility rite thrown in for good measure. It is second only to the famous Palio di Siena in the pantheon of popular Tuscan and Umbrian festivals. The Ceri are three large priapic, wooden columns topped with effigies of Saints Ubaldo, Antonio and Giorgio. The carved Ceri are four meters high and very heavy. During a procession through the town the Ceri are raised to their erect position accompanied by a chorus of excited cheers from the crowd. There is an entire day of various celebratory stops and feasting, and then the race begins. Three teams of ten men, which can be replaced every ten minutes, race up the mountain path to the Basilica carrying the Ceri. Of course, the Cero of Saint Ubaldo always wins.

One of Saint Francis’ most dazzling animal escapades is supposed to have taken place in Gubbio. As the story goes, an enormous marauding wolf was terrorizing the inhabitants of Gubbio; devouring livestock and townsfolk alike. Attempts to kill the animal usually ended up with the brave hunters becoming the piatta del giorno for the fierce carnivore. The situation became so bad that few people dared to venture out beyond the city walls. Francis, who was living in Gubbio at the time, was well-aware of the town’s plight and decided to intercede. In spite of many exhortations to stay within the walls, Francis headed out into the surrounding wilderness in search of the animal accompanied by a small group of comrades. All but one of his supporters eventually turned back in fear. When Francis finally found the wolf, or perhaps vice versa, the animal was poised to attack with jaws opened and fangs bared. Francis made the sign of the cross and admonished it: “Come to me, Brother Wolf. I order you in the name of Christ not to hurt anyone!” The animal immediately closed its jaws and laid down at Francis’ feet. Francis then formed a non-aggression pact with the wolf who placed his paw into Francis’ hand as a sign of agreement and followed the saint back into town. The townsfolk were astonished by this exhibition of the power of God and vowed to feed and care for the wolf for the rest of his days. The animal subsequently lived among them in peace. Not even the dogs of Gubbio barked at him. The town was grief stricken when the wolf finally died of old age two years later.

Mysterious Gubbio – so much to discover, but where does myth leave off and history begin? I heard a rumour that the bones of an extremely large wolf were found beneath one of the town’s smaller churches. I only hope it is true!

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.

We stay at a convent Bed and Breakfast on our trips to Orvieto. It is nice because we have a garden, library, lounges, and scenic overlooks in which to spread out. We have begun asking the nuns to cook us our first lunch and for it to be a soup. It is homemade, and for those who are just recovering from jet lag, it provides a light, delicious meal – the perfect thing for a tired body recovering from the assault that is airline food.

Lunch is served simply, but we are always given the unexpected prepared with immense care and presented beautifully. A caprese salad of cherry tomatoes stuffed with mozzarella. A simple dessert of cheese and honey. A sampling of aperitifs made by the nuns themselves and served with their own biscotti. A side of grilled vegetable. Homemade tiramisu.

Cherry tomato caprese

We receive this kind of generosity throughout town, unexpectedly. The offer of a guided visit to the 400 museum quality medieval costumes worn in Orvieto’s most important community event – the Corteo Storico. A behind the scenes tour of the iconic Michelangeli workshop. An invitation to see one of the hundreds of Etruscan and medieval caves under the city in which a sculptor has spent 20 years carving the walls. The opening of a garden hidden behind the walls of the city streets. An invitation to see a local paper shop make marbled paper.

Carvings in a cave under Orvieto

When you stay in one place and see familiar faces, when the locals recognize you and see you aren’t just passing through, they open themselves to you. For travelers wanting more than just the surface glimpse of a culture, it is an enormous gift. The generosity and grace with which it is given does humble, reaffirming our relationship with others as co-inhabitants of what is, in fact,  a very small planet.

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.

As our parents age Kristi and I have been exploring the aging process, learning from our folks and from books we have been reading. While it has been useful and helpful for us, we have also learned things totally unrelated to the reason we began researching.

One of the interesting things we have discovered is that we all learn best through experiencing. Now I think we probably intuitively knew this already. We formulated our art learning trips because we knew that the art reinforces and provides a lens through which to experience the culture in a deeper, more meaningful way. We also knew that, at the same time, the Italian culture serves as inspiration for the creative process. And while we may have intuitively known that it was a better way to learn, we now know it as fact through the research of others on aging.

Plein Air Painting in Orvieto

We never stop learning of course. One of the many reasons people travel and one of the great delights of travel is the learning that takes place. As humans we are curious and travel is a very satisfying way to fill our curiosity, to be surprised, and to be engaged in life. And, it can have a profound effect on our lives – sometimes only discovered after the fact. Proof of this comes from those who have traveled with us.

* Orvieto has changed me forever. I will never be the same. I feel as though there is an imprint in my soul, the very core of me. It says this is life, real life.

* You have given me a life changing experience. I am now someone who makes her dreams come true. I am experiencing life rather than plowing through it just to get by.

* Jane, my daughter, paid me a wonderful compliment when she saw my journal. She called my watercolors “a treasure”. That’s exactly how I feel about my Oriveto experience!

* The trip was a dream come true experience for me. This morning, and yesterday too, I woke dreaming I was photo-ing or being photo-ed in the ancient alleys. I’ll be back in November to visit. Besides I need just one more scarf and certainly more Gorgonzola filled ravioli!

* It seemed so normal and casual to be around you and Bill in a small medieval town in Italy while I’m having the travel/art experience of my life!

* It looks like Ruth and I have found a place to rent, for an art studio. We’re really excited about it.  We’ve been wanting to do this for a long, long time. See the impact Orvieto has had on us?

* Both of us are bursting with inspiration not only from the utter beauty of Italy, and Orvieto, but also from spending wonderful quality time with such endearing students and the most incredible hosts! It is very rare, nowadays, to truly be able take time to stop, appreciate your surroundings, and savor the moment with like hearts and like minds.

* My soul healed and I was given wings.

* Coming home I sifted through all that I had learned, from the ancient history of the Etruscans to the art techniques that I learned. It was presented in such a manor that it all made sense. My only regret was that it was not long enough.

* This experience was just what Angela and I needed to restore a sense of “well being”.

I think this kind of experience is characteristic of all the Slow Travel Tours. It is both satisfying and rewarding!

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Kristi and Bill Steiner

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.

The following was written in the 19th century by a William Henry Channing.

My Symphony

• To live content with small means, to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion, to be worthy not respectable, and wealthy, not rich, to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly, to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart, to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never – in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.

I’ve loved this statement ever since I discovered it perhaps 10 years ago. I love “hurry never”. I love it because in today’s world it seems to be hurry always. Hurry is not a natural way to be. It is not a natural state for us. It implies that we have to get whatever we are doing now done quickly in order to get on to the next, more important thing. And so our lives are an endless rushing through the unimportant to get to the important.

Orvieto's Evening Stroll

For me, travel to Orvieto, where we lead groups for one-week trips, inevitably stops any hurrying in life. Orvieto has, over the last 8 years, led me to stop hurrying nearly always. How has it done this, and how does it do it for those who travel with us?

This is slow travel, what we and the others in Slow Travel Tours do on each and every trip. For us, our trips to Orvieto have profoundly influenced us to slow down. Clearly, we  were ready for it, felt drained by the pace Americans keep, and wanted a saner, richer life. But Orvieto, life in Italy, enabled us to appreciate life by slowing down, to see the benefits of a slower pace, to experience the joy that exists when you are in the present moment.

Imagine what our lives would be like if we hurried never! All of the people who travel with a Slow Travel Tours company get a chance to taste it, re-experience how we used to live life. I believe those who travel with us are ready for a change, it is why they select us – whether deliberately or intuitively. And they are rewarded with a hurry never week – something they have been yearning for.

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Kristi and Bill Steiner

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.

Corpus Domini is one of Orvieto’s most important community events. The day came about because of the miracle of Bolsena where a doubting priest found blood on the alter cloth while giving communion. The cloth was taken the 12 or so kilometers to Orvieto where the Pope was at the time. The Pope declared it a miracle, ordered the building of the cathedral to commemorate the miracle, and established Corpus Domini as a religious holiday, now observed by the Catholic church worldwide.

Now, Orvieto celebrates the event with a weekend long celebration. The culmination is the Corteo Storico, or historic procession. Over 400 men in beautifully handcrafted costumes parade throughout Orvieto. The pageantry is the result of the work of one Lea Pacini, who set about over 50 years ago to create this stellar event.

The Corteo Storico,  is simply stunning in its color, variety, pageantry, and majesty. Our friend Alberto, a protege of the late Pacini, is one of the main knights and organizers of the procession. (When he can, Alberto gives our spring groups behind the scenes tours of the costumes.) He directed us on where best to see the parade. We moved to three different spots in the city as the parade progressed. This was possible because they spend over three hours in procession covering much of Orvieto. We captured them as they emerged from where they dressed and staged the parade. It took a full 30 minutes for everyone to pass by.

There are bugles, drums for many of the different units and each of the four city quadrants. There are fighters with various weapons. There are flags and banners for the different guilds. There are the noblemen, knights, and a few women. Most of the women had gone in the parade the day before. It is truly a beautiful event, and one important to the history of Orvieto.

What follows are a few images capturing a bit of the character of the event. For  coverage in greater detail visit my blog where I began a series yesterday, June 19, covering the Corteo Storico. You can find more coverage of other events of the celebration at my blog on June 2, 3, 4, 5 and 9.

Enjoy!

The stained cloth that led to Corpus Domini

The back of the receptacle holding the cloth

The flags are beautiful!

These are the banners of the various guilds

Look at the tights!

Noblemen

And Noble Lady

Our friend Alberto the knight

The detail!

Over 400 hundred strong

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Kristi and Bill Steiner

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.

One of the most fun things to do when you take time to slow down and enjoy the Italian culture is cook. Since many of us travel to Italy for their food, taking a cooking class is not only fun, but provides some wonderful insights into the care, freshness, and simplicity that is Italian food. On our trips we do a four hour cooking course in the kitchen of a local restaurant. Lorenzo, the chef, is loads of fun and a great teacher. Last October we made our own pasta, focaccia, a wild boar ragu, a pork stew, a divine ricotta mousse, and a very fresh salad. Following are pictures of the class running from the beginning to the enjoyment of eating it all at the table. Enjoy!

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Kristi and Bill Steiner

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.