Just a few hundred yards down Maiden Creek from Pennsylvania’s historic Dreibelbis Station covered bridge, the Berks County home of Barbara and Matthew Daub sits tucked in at the foot of a tree-covered hill. Their home – an old log cabin, a striking modern addition, and a red barn – huddles around a small tributary of Maiden Creek where it noisily tumbles through a notch in the hills behind the house and joins the larger stream. Their home was a most appropriate setting for our Slow Travel Tours planning retreat the last weekend in October.

Slow Travel Tours is an informal affiliation of small-group tour operators who lead trips in Europe using the Slow Travel philosophy. Our group members first connected through the Slow Travel message board and began sharing ideas in early 2008. Spread across the USA and Europe with busy travel schedules, most of us had never met in person. Now on this autumn weekend in Pennsylvania Dutch country, ten of us were finally together. The two of us (European Experiences) were eager to meet Matt and Barbara Daub (Arts Sojourn), Anne and Kirk Woodyard (Music and Market Tours), and Valerie and Bryan Schneider (Panorama Italy). And after earlier encounters in Savannah and Asheville, we were excited to reunite with Bill and Kristi Steiner (Adventures in Italy). Our 16-year old daughter Kelly, also an enthusiastic European traveler, joined us for this weekend trip.

Still smiling after a long day!

Our group immediately felt a kinship with each other and the idyllic location. This peaceful, wooded setting at the juncture of hill and stream seemed to emit a confirmation of our travel philosophy: take it slow, stay put and relax, and dig down to discover the deeper layers of place and relationships.

It was fitting in another respect that our group held its first meeting in the Quaker state. Pennsylvania has been the site of a multitude of historical events: the constitutional convention, the first national capital, the birthplace of the oil and steel industries. The list is a long one.

Obviously, the first group gathering of Slow Travel Tours doesn’t equate to these seminal events, but for those of us able to participate, the warmth and hospitality of our hosts and the conviviality of a like-minded group with common interests and goals, will be fondly remembered. This “historical event” gave us a clearer sense of direction, a sharper definition of goals, and some great ideas about how to achieve them. Perhaps the real “event” though was the first meeting and nurturing of new friendships.

Our host Matt Daub

Barbara and Matt welcomed us into their home with its lovely setting and ensured we had the quintessential Pennsylvania Dutch experience. Everyone arrived Friday evening and enjoyed a get-acquainted dinner at the Daubs’ home. The informal evening set the tone for the weekend. Barbara prepared a wonderful buffet meal with an Italian theme, very appropriate for the many Italophiles in the group. Everyone brought wine from one of their favorite wine regions, and we offered a toast to the members of our group who were not able to be with us for the weekend.

On Saturday morning we reconvened in the Daubs’ great room for a full day of discussion facilitated by Bill Steiner. We shared our experiences leading small group tours, discussed ideas for enhancing our trips, and identified initiatives to pursue together. Bill expertly kept us on track and helped us arrive at consensus decisions. We adjourned for a lunch of sandwiches, and then continued working until just before dinner.

Valerie helps with dinner preparations

Bill’s job would have been considerably easier and we would have wrapped-up much earlier if we were average business meeting attendees with a set agenda and a let’s-get-finished-and-out-of-here attitude. But put ten people who love, eat, and breathe travel in the same room and time has a way of getting lost amidst a flurry of personal anecdotes, the sharing of special places and experiences, and discussions of ideas to make great small group trips even better.

Once again we found that the internet facilitates special friendships between people of similar interests who are separated by hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles. Travel is a great common denominator. We fell easily into a comfortable and warm camaraderie. What great fun it is to discover that you’ve sat at the same sidewalk café on the Cours Mirabeau in Aix-en-Provence and enjoyed a glass of wine on a warm summer afternoon, perhaps at the same table and perhaps just days or hours apart.

Getting acquainted on Friday evening

And you can almost smell the aroma of toasted flour in the air when you discuss your favorite boulangerie with someone who’s also walked through that same door and left with a baguette tucked under an arm. And comparing the merits of the multitude of gelato shops in Florence– the taste is on your tongue!

It’s so pleasant to reminisce with another who has shared the experience of strolling along the warm pavements of the Spanish Steps, watching the Roman evening come alive with people doing the things people have done in Rome for thousands of years.

Our attentions and dreams wandered mightily, but Bill pulled us back just before we all signed up for each others tours. With the work mostly done, it was time to enjoy the hearty Pennsylvania Dutch fare of the local area. Dinner at Deitsche Eck in the hamlet of Lenhartsville and breakfast at the Hamburg Diner in the small town of Hamburg brought back memories of America a half century ago.

Small towns, idyllic farms, family-owned restaurants, home style food, covered bridges, hex barns… we loved the ambiance and culture of this part of America. It was hard to believe we were just an hour-and-a-half drive from Philadelphia and approaching the end of 2009! We especially enjoyed the atmosphere at the Hamburg Diner, where several of us met for a copious, inexpensive breakfast before our Sunday morning departure. The old Wurlitzer juke box just inside the front door belted out classics from Elvis, the Beatles, and the Righteous Brothers. The packed café buzzed with polite conversation and a friendly banter that joined the music as the perfect accompaniment to the diner food. Our group semed to be the only non-locals.

Goodbyes outside the Hamburg Diner

Whether it was a scrapple-scrambled-eggs-hashed-browns-and-pancake induced inertia or simply a reluctance to call it finished, we slowly said our goodbyes on the quiet little sidewalks of Sunday-morning Hamburg. On that morning, our home in Knoxville seemed not just miles away in place but ages away in time. No one else said as much, but leaving, we sensed in each face that they had also experienced something very special and unique: a travelers time.

Every member of this group has a passion for sharing special places with other travelers, and for providing a high-quality travel experience. We all have a deep, personal connection with the places where we host our groups. Now we hold even brighter expectations for future possibilities. We came away from this weekend with fresh ideas and the support of friends. We have an excellent plan of how Slow Travel Tours will work together to spread the word about the benefits of small-group, slow tours and how we can let more people know about our trips. And we all look forward to future gatherings of the Slow Travel Tours group where we’ll again enjoy stimulating conversation, idea-sharing and brainstorming, and exceptional food and wine in the company of friends

As a final thought, maybe we should all sign up for everyone else’s tour! We’d definitely enjoy traveling with each of these people and experiencing the places they love so much. Hmmmm… an idea definitely worth considering!

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In the Dordogne, France (July 2009)

Kathy and Charley Wood lead The Luberon Experience, a week-long “slow tour” in the most beautiful area of Provence, France. Their popular trips are offered five weeks a year, in May and September. They also now lead two or three trips a year to other special places in Europe. Their other 2010 European Experiences tours will be based in the Salzkammergut area of Austria and the Cotswolds in England.

Kathy and Charley have been traveling in Europe for almost 20 years and love sharing their special places in Europe with others travelers. Read more about Kathy and Charley here.

Nowadays, Milanese-style risotto or a meat-rich Bolognese sauce can be found in kitchens and trattorias nationwide, thanks in no small part to Artusi, the Italian cookbook author who did for Italian cooking in Italy what Julia Child did sixty years later for French cooking in America.

If you’re not familiar with Artusi, let me introduce you. He’s so famous only one name is necessary. Every Italian regardless of age knows immediately who you’re referring to.  In the butcher shop, it is enough for me to tell him that I am making Artusi’s Filetto alla Marsala for him to give me the right cut, and pound it for me, as well.

That is because Pellegrino Artusi wrote the book on Italian cooking, literally.  His cookbook, La scienza nella cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene (Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well) was the first to be made available to the masses, and the first to unite regional specialties of the peninsula into one tome.  It was also the first one to be written in Italian.  Up until Artusi, cookbooks tended to be written in French and distributed among the upper classes, or they were penned as booklets in regional dialects, focusing on the local dishes of a small, provincial area.  Cooks from Lombardia couldn’t read a booklet from Sicilia, and vice versa.  His book was considered to be an excellent example of the usage of modern Italian language.

Artusi was a 71-year retired silk merchant when his book was first published in 1891, and has been in continual circulation ever since.  He couldn’t find a publisher for it, so he financed the printing himself.  After a couple of years, word spread and he was printing more and more runs.  Artusi expanded the book through the years, adding recipes that were sent to him by readers.  By the time he died in 1910, he had had published its 14^th edition and it had grown to a whopping 790 recipes.

Today there is hardly a household without L’Artusi; the most prized copies, with treasured hand-scrawled notes and splatters, are passed down from mother to daughter. 

Pellegrino Artusi was born in the central region of Emilia-Romagna, then moved to Florence at the age of 32.  His book is very heavy on recipes from those two areas, but he did take care to include the dishes from other regions, such as ossobuco from Lombardia, riso from Veneto, maccheroni from Napoli, and sorbetto from Sicilia.  This was completely unique, and in doing so, he cracked the kitchen window to the aromas and flavors of the diverse regions of the country.

Old World Kitchen

But it’s so much more than a mere collection of recipes. Artusi gives advice on hygiene, on proper digestion, and practical wisdom.  “Excessive salt is the enemy of good cooking,” for example.  And, “Those who don’t do physical labor should eat more sparingly than those who do.” 

He spins stories, tells anecdotes, has rather humorous notes, and gives such basic instructions for the dishes that you can’t help but feel confident that anyone can prepare them successfully.  “With my book, if you can hold a wooden spoon in your hand, you’ll be able to make something,” he wrote.

Artusi also included a helpful section on the varieties and seasons for fish, an interesting thesis on coffee, and a chapter on meal-planning by the month, so that you eat what is fresh and appropriate for each season.

I have a collection of Italian cookbooks, but this one is the stalwart, the point of reference in many respects.  It’s not only full of fantastic recipes, but is a good read, as well.

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Valerie Schneider is a travel professional turned freelance writer and tour guide who moved to Ascoli Piceno in the beautiful region of Le Marche in 2006. She and her husband Bryan operate Panorama Italy, planning personalized journeys so travelers can experience the colors and flavors of a little known corner of Italy. Walking tours, winery visits, and genealogy trips are just a few of their offerings. Visit Panorama Italy for more information on this beautiful place and how Valerie and Bryan can help you experience it personally.

I returned home and jumped into the murky waters of genealogical research.  First-hand information proved sketchy and unreliable; my grandfather said the family came from Calabria but no documentation backed that up.  Names were changed wantonly and unofficially, leaving no paper trail to follow.  Online searches left me bleary-eyed and confused.  I turned to the Ellis Island site where I finally hit upon the right spellings and found my great-grandparents’ ship manifests.  There, handwritten on the documents one hundred years ago in scrolling script, I learned that they came from Basilicata.

We booked airline tickets the next week.  After a year of searching I wanted to see for myself the town that my family left behind.  We found a rugged landscape of deep valleys, forested mountains, and rocky peaks where shepherds still roamed the hills and tended their flocks, and where tourists- even Italian visitors much less foreigners- were not a common sight.  We got out of the car to see the town, but quickly realized the town came out to see us! The old men evacuated their tables at the bar to assemble in the piazza. In an instant we became the spectacle of the small hamlet.

We wandered the streets, chatted as best we could with very limited Italian skills, and departed content that we had found a lovely, traditional place with stunningly pretty countryside.  We didn’t find family on that trip, nor did we know where to look or how to ask, even if anyone had remained behind.

It wasn’t until we moved to Italy that we revisited Basilicata, this time accompanied by my visiting cousins.  By then I was able to speak the language, and this time we truly discovered our roots.  An off-hand comment to the barista over a cappuccino was all it took; recognizing the family name he dispatched a friend to find the town vigile (cop).  The policeman bore the exact name as my grandmother’s oldest brother, and had a striking resemblance to her youngest brother, as well.  A trip to the records office confirmed our family connection, and before we knew what was happening we were being shepherded off for an enormous meal, not unlike the feast for the prodigal son. 

As we wound our way down the mountain that night with a sky-full of stars blazing forth, I felt that I had made the trip of a lifetime, and I knew with absolute certainty that I had found a place I would return to for the rest of my life.  I had found a home, so to speak. 

To say that it was an incredible experience is an understatement.  We were overwhelmed; even now, my heart bursts with emotion at the thought of that day.  That is why it has been so wonderful to have clients visiting Italy who are searching for their roots.  Their travels, like mine, retrace arduous journeys made by desperate souls who left everything familiar to cross an ocean. 

 These descendents are drawn to Italy to walk the streets and take in the scenes that their ancestors knew well.  Helping them find those places and their family documents has been the most rewarding part of our work here.  Together we have visited records offices and talked to parish priests; we have inquired of old-timers about family surnames; and, on a few serendipitous occasions, we have managed to locate family members still living in the ancestral towns.  For one of our clients, it was the records clerk himself who was related to her! 

For others, no family remained in the area but their journeys brought them here to absorb the atmosphere and, like my first trip to my ancestral villages, to see that resemblances and mannerisms do still reside in the old country.

Surprisingly, I have talked to many Italian-Americans who have traveled to Italy without visiting their families’ towns of origin.  While I can understand that some of these places are relatively remote, it saddens me when I think about the experience they are missing.  There is really nothing like the emotion and soulful bond that you feel when you visit a place where your roots dig deeply into ancient soil.  It truly could be their trip of a lifetime; it certainly was for me.

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Valerie Schneider is a travel professional turned freelance writer and tour guide who moved to Ascoli Piceno in the beautiful region of Le Marche in 2006.  She and her husband Bryan operate Panorama Italy, planning personalized journeys so travelers can experience the colors and flavors of lesser-known parts of Italy.  Walking tours, winery visits, and genealogy trips are just a few of their offerings.  Visit Panorama Italy for more information on this beautiful place and how Valerie and Bryan can help you experience it personally.

As Cheryl pointed out in her recent post, summer is starting, bringing with it the pretty poppies and sweet-faced sunflowers all over Italy.  It also brings heightened activity.  Summer means sagras and festivals, making it the ideal time to travel and experience life like a local.

Typical Sagra posters

A sagra in Italy is akin to a county fair in Midwest America … but better. Deriving from the term sacra festa, they are frequently held in conjunction with a religious festival or a patron saint’s feast day and feature some type of religious observation or procession as part of the activity line-up. But for the most part, as with everything in Italy, it boils down to the food. While it may proclaim a saint’s day, the bigger headline is the type of delicacy they will be cooking up.  Make that delicious, delectable delicacies.

Cooks preparing for the sagra

If there is a food item in Italy, there is a sagra dedicated to it.  In our area of Ascoli Piceno we are especially drawn to any festa that will be grilling up arrosticini, an Abruzzo and Marche specialty, which are skewers containing flavorful little nuggets of lamb meat. The wafting smell of the grilling meat is unbelievably enticing and even if I’m not very hungry, I cave in and order a skewer once my nostrils get a whiff of the barbecuing meat.

There are sagre to celebrate the local wines, and polenta fests with a variety of toppings (sausage, fish, clams, or snails, take your pick). Truffles and porcini mushrooms are perennially popular in these parts as are all things pig. I lost count of the number of festivals dedicated to pork, either roasted in its entirety, served as a grilled chop, or in one of its processed forms such as sausage and prosciutto.

Many sagre have fund-raising efforts for the church or organization hosting the party, which usually takes the form of the Pesca di Beneficenza, a kind of raffle lottery. You pay a few euros and receive prizes based on the corresponding numbers you draw.  The most prized award is frequently a whole prosciutto.

Music is obligatory at sagre, normally local groups churning out a combination of folk songs and rock tunes before a wildly appreciative audience. The crowd loves it and dancing always ensues at each of these events. It’s all a lot of home-spun fun with good food at low prices, and a pleasant way to pass a summer evening in the company of fun-loving locals.

Roasting chestnuts

Which is the other reason we love a good sagra…the company.  Most festivals offer long, rectangular communal tables for dining.  We purposely pick seats with others already occupying a portion of the table so we can interact.  In our sagra experience, we’ve found that people are generally congenial and, at nearly every festival we’ve attended, we’ve had someone chat with us and offer us wine from their pitcher. “È troppo,” they tell us.  We have too much wine for just the two of us, take some. Since Italians don’t feel a meal is complete without wine, they always buy a liter. Since most of them drink only a glass or two, they know they’ll not consume it all, so it’s customary to offer some to whoever happens to be sitting nearby.  We have been likewise plied with homemade liqueurs and desserts our table-mates have toted along with them.  We have made some lasting friendships at these festivals.

So how do you find a sagra or festa?  Most towns have a wall dedicated to posters to inform the citizens of upcoming events.  Look them over to see what foods and festivals are highlighted.  Ask your hosts, the barista of your favorite caffe, or the tourist information office.

This summer if you find yourself in Italy, try out a festival or two.  You’re guaranteed a good time and a good meal, and you just might make yourself a friend or two along the way.

To find sagras and festivals in Italy, check these helpful websites:

Eventi e Sagre

Tutte Le Sagre

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Valerie and Bryan

Valerie Schneider is a travel professional turned freelance writer and tour guide who moved to Ascoli Piceno in the beautiful region of Le Marche in 2006. She and her husband Bryan operate Panorama Italy, planning personalized journeys so travelers can experience the colors and flavors of a little known corner of Italy. Walking tours, winery visits, and genealogy trips are just a few of their offerings. Visit Panorama Italy for more information on this beautiful place and how Valerie and Bryan can help you experience it personally.

During my years as a travel agent, I booked thousands of trips.  From neatly packaged resort vacations to cruises, guided tours, and once-in-a-lifetime journeys, I helped people vacate their routine and visit a new place.  I have always considered vacation to be a necessity, a much needed break from work stress and familiar ruts, and I found it rewarding to assist others to achieve just that.

Unfortunately, I quickly detected two disconcerting patterns:  I found myself booking the same companies, the same hotels, the same packages repeatedly, a sort of one-size-fits-all vacation.  I also noticed that many of my clients returned home exhausted from trying to cram too much into their limited time frame.  They regretted missing certain areas, not having enough time to spend in particular museums, or hearing about out-the-way charming towns that they wouldn’t be able to squeeze into their schedules.  They wanted to be doing it all, instead of doing it well.  I came to realize this mode of travel most certainly wasn’t for me.

Scenic picnic spot for Bryan, Valerie and her parents

But what was the alternative?  I had not yet been initiated into the world of vacation rentals or concentric circles.  Slow Travel was not yet on my radar.  Then I bought tickets for my first trip to Italy and, for the first time since I started working in the travel industry, the entire process of trip planning was taken out of my hands.  My parents were undertaking slow travel of the maritime variety, having sailed across the Atlantic on what I considered a much-too-small sailboat, and had parked themselves in Gaeta, a pretty town located on Italy’s kneecap.  They told me that I needed a vacation from planning vacations, come for a visit and they would take care of everything.

Well, one can hardly refuse such an offer, though I admit it felt strange to pack a suitcase for a trip I hadn’t arranged, the details of which I knew nothing about.  Fortunately, my mother instinctively recognized the types of sights and experiences that would most interest me.  Instead of trying to see the entire Italian peninsula in two weeks, they wisely chose three locales: Chianti, Gaeta and Rome.

In Gaeta, we recuperated from jetlag, enjoyed leisurely lunches, and visited pretty villages, as well as the amazing historic sights like Pompeii, while returning to our floating home each evening.  In Chianti I had my first encounter of the agriturismo variety.  We spent several nights in an apartment on an organic wine estate and I fell fast in love – with the farm, with Italy, and with this “new” form of lodging.  By the time we reached Rome, I was fully smitten and ready to return as soon as possible.  I went home feeling like I had a vacation that was created just for me…because it was!  It was all perfectly planned by my mother based on my own interests instead of someone else’s ideas of what to see.

Shortly after that trip, I left the travel agency to take a corporate consulting position, but not before spreading the word with every agent who would listen about this fabulous mode of slowing down and experiencing the true essence of a place.

For all of our subsequent trips we focused our energies on engaging in the culture, interacting with the locals, and seeping ourselves in the history of each new place.

Naturally, when we moved to Italy and found ourselves in a beautiful, vibrant, and relatively undiscovered city, the natural travel agent in me wanted to help others see it and enjoy it to the fullest.  We wanted to be able to share the little family-run wineries, the colorful, historic seasonal events, the tiny restaurants with recited menus that change daily, based on the freshest seasonal produce, along with lovely lodgings in the countryside they would never find themselves.  We wanted to introduce people personally to Ascoli Piceno and all her glories; that is why Panorama Italy offers personalized tours that are created for each individual client, centering on the activities and cultural experiences that they value most.

Ascoli Piceno

I think that is why I am so thrilled to be a part of Slow Travel Tours.  Each company is personal.  Each is personally owned, not a corporate offshoot; each offers personally and carefully planned itineraries to give travelers the best possible experiences; and each focuses on a specific location with personal, in-depth knowledge of the places and people there.  They immerse travelers into the culture instead of skimming the surface.

Take it from a recovered travel agent; it is far superior to the old one-size-fits-all approach any day.

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Valerie and Bryan

Valerie Schneider is a travel professional turned freelance writer and tour guide who moved to Ascoli Piceno in the beautiful region of Le Marche in 2006. She and her husband Bryan operate Panorama Italy, planning personalized journeys so travelers can experience the colors and flavors of a little known corner of Italy. Walking tours, winery visits, and genealogy trips are just a few of their offerings. Visit Panorama Italy for more information on this beautiful place and how Valerie and Bryan can help you experience it personally.