Slow Travel Tours

Authentic Italian Village Stay

Posted on September 6, 2026 by Nedra BottieriSeptember 6, 2026

Authentic Italian Village Stay

Unpack once and enjoy Umbria & Tuscany for an Authentic Italian Village Stay. Included in your tour are day trips to other villages and towns, all planned and curated for you. A bountiful daily breakfast to start your day, three lunches, and a wine-paired dinner every evening prepared by Chef Leonardo and his mother. We pick you up at Leonardo Da Vinci Airport Rome and bring you to your “Home Away From Home” in the gorgeous hills of Umbria in Panicale.

The sunflowers have bloomed and now bow their heads, ready to be harvested. Summer will soon be behind us, and fall is fast approaching. Fall is my favorite time of year and bountiful with festivals and celebrations, with the grape harvest in September and the Olive Harvest starting in October.

Village Vacations in Italy offers an “Authentic Village Vacation” where you will meet and experience locals in their daily lives. The vineyard owners and winemakers, the artists hand-painting extraordinary pieces in Deruta, and you will have a cooking lesson in the hills of Umbria on a property that has been in the family for years, and they even process their own olives into “EVOO Liquid Gold”; you will also learn firsthand how DelBrenna of Cortona creates their gorgeous jewelry. A guided tour through mystical, magical Assisi and the story of St. Frances. Also, a very fun Saturday open market in Città delle Pieve, shopping with the locals.

Hand-Painted Pottery in Deruta

Saturday Morning Market

A Prosecco Party in Cortona

Shopping and sightseeing in Cortona

Make Five Pastas & Five Sauces

Assisi, the birthplace of St. Frances

Grape Harvest & Squishing

Squish grapes like Lucille Ball

Olive Harvest in October

After picking, we enjoy lunch and local wine, of course

An authentic Italian village stay with Village Vacations in Italy

“I want you to experience Italy the way I do…..Like a Local”

We are now booking for 2028 and have a waiting list for 2027

www.VillageVacationsInItaly.com

Nedra@VillageVacationsInItaly.com

Former flight attendant Nedra Bottieri made a life-changing trip to Italy twenty years ago to re-discover her family heritage. Now with dual citizenship, she has a second home in Umbria.

Through her company, Village Vacations in Italy, she organizes and hosts small group tours based in small villages in Umbria and Tuscany, normally customized tours for private groups. Groups have included yoga workshops, writing workshops, and groups of family and friends. Nedra draws on her extensive experience and relationships to plan special accommodations and activities to meet each group’s needs and dreams. Experience “La Dolce Vita” in Italy!

To learn more about her tours, see www.villagevacationsinitaly.com

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

Adventures in Italy: Five Frequently Asked Questions

Posted on August 30, 2026 by Michelle LogueAugust 29, 2026 1

Adventures-in-Italy-blog-frequently-asked-questions-august-2026

There are always unknowns with any trip. Visiting a new place, even as part of a group, might make you anxious. The more information you have, the more comfortable you feel. So, with that in mind, here are the answers to five of the most frequently asked questions regarding a trip with Adventures in Italy.

How large are your groups?

Groups range in size from 6-12 artists. Sometimes spouses, friends, or family join us, so we’ve had as many as 18 for group meals and activities. A smaller number of artists ensures personalized attention from the teacher.

I am nervous about traveling on my own. Are there other solo travellers?

All groups have a mixture of solo travellers and those traveling with a friend or family member. We start the week off with a couple of group meals to get everyone familiar with the town and each other. There are several meals that are not prearranged so you can choose where and what to eat. Recommendations are offered and no one eats alone!

How physical are your trips?

Orvieto is a medieval hilltop town with cobblestone streets and very few cars. We walk everywhere, leaving “The Rock” only twice – for our cooking class and our vineyard visit. Like most of Europe, elevators are rare. All of that to say a moderate level of fitness is encouraged. Only our breakfast and our classroom are on-site, everything else is a walk away. Because we walk everywhere, you quickly learn how to navigate the town and integrate into the fabric of Orvieto, saying hello to the merchants and discovering your favorite cafe.

What are the rooms like? Will I have my own bathroom?

Yes! Each room has it’s own ensuite. We stay in a former convent, and a former palace. The common spaces can be quite grand, but the rooms are humble. You will find everything you need.

I don’t speak Italian, do people there speak English?

You will hear a lot of English spoken in Orvieto. Guests always seem to make it work. It’s always nice to have a few simple words at the ready – hello, please, thank you – buongiorno, per favore, grazie. And just a little side note, it is customary (and kind!) to greet the shopkeeper whenever you enter a store.

The answers to more frequently asked questions and a gallery of photos of the accommodation and other hot spots can be found on the website.

To learn more about Adventures in Italy read these other posts:

Spring Recap

Look Less Like a Tourist

Orvieto Scavenger Hunt

Michelle Logue leads cultural and creative adventures in Orvieto, Italy. With a mandate to provide "travel that transforms," Adventures in Italy gives guests an immersive experience. After more than 20 years of return trips, Orvieto has become a welcoming home base surpassing the typical Italian vacation.

Adventures in Italy operates trips in May and September. Find out more about tours and special offers by following Adventures in Italy on Facebook and Instagram and visit www.adventuresinitaly.ca

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

Slow Travel Tours

Posted on August 24, 2026 by Sue AranAugust 24, 2026

The concept of “slow travel” did not begin with a single tour company. Instead, it evolved organically as a tourism philosophy derived from the Slow Food movement, which was founded by Carlo Petrini in 1986. One of the earliest uses of the term for tourism was a community website launched in 2000 by Pauline Kenny. She inspired Kathy Wood to form an informal cooperative network of independent small-business operators called Slow Travel Tours, which formed to offer deeply immersive, regional European itineraries.

Slow travel has grown organically over the past 26 years, which is fitting considering its roots. However, It seems that every day a new “slow travel” tour company pops up on Facebook and Instagram. And with each post I read I discover some new “influencer” wanting to help you discover France, s l o w l y.

So, how do you choose which tour company to sign up with? My answer is simply “experience”,

Inclusion in the Slow Travel Tours group is by invitation only. Over the past 14 years, they’ve been highly selective in inviting others to join, because they want to be sure each new member meets their requirements and has a compatible philosophy. The current 11 members are all established tour operators with a record of highly-satisfied participants from all over the world. Each has been in business for at least three years. Five members have been leading tours for more than 10 years, and some for 20.

French Country Adventures joined Slow Travel Tours in 2020. I had already been offering tours in my local area, Gascony, specifically the Gers, for over 10 years. As I’ve familiarized myself with different parts of southern France, I’ve added the Basque Country, Provence, the Tarn, Gard and Camargue, and most recently the Dordogne. From early spring to late fall, I offer genuinely small, group tours for no more than 6 people, as well as custom itineraries for those not wanting to travel in a group. With a combined history of leading tours for almost 20 years, I invite you to discover unique places to visit in southern France.

Classic Gascony
Gascony is a well-kept secret. Bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, the east by Toulouse, the north by Bordeaux and the south by the Pyrenees Mountains, this unspoiled paradise is far enough off the beaten path to retain its unique identity, yet established enough to accommodate travelers….

The Basque Country
The Basque Country is located in the western Pyrenees Mountains, straddling the border of France and Spain meeting at the Atlantic coast’s Bay of Biscay. Emerald landscapes, distinctively rugged mountains, precipitous shorelines and the rich heritage of the Basque people has kept this area uniquely singular in a world of vanishing cultures…

Edible Provence
The French passion for food is celebrated in the village markets where seasonal foods are the mainstays of daily living. We’ll visit farmers’ markets, and indulge in two, hands-on cooking classes with local chefs. We’ll tour charming villages, sample wines at local vineyards…

The Tarn, Gard & Camargue
This special twelve day tour takes a serpentine route through some of Occitanie’s most beautiful countryside in southern France beginning in La Ville Rouge, the red city of Albi in the southwest, and ending in the southeastern village of Aigues- Mortes, a perfectly preserved walled village set among the salt marshes bordering the Mediterranean Sea…

The Dordogne
Located in southwest France, in the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Its history is intertwined with that of England. After Eleanor of Aquitaine inherited all of the lands from the Loire Valley to the Pyrenees and east to Toulouse from her father, she married King Henri II of England. The Dordogne then fell under English rule until the Hundred Years’ War ended in 1453, when it was returned to France…

Sue Aran lives in the Gers department of southwest France. She is the owner of French Country Adventures, which provides private, personally-guided, small-group, slow travel tours into Gascony, the Pays Basque, Provence and beyond. She writes a monthly blog about her life in France and is a contributor to Bonjour Paris and France Today magazines.

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