I DID IT…I FELL IN LOVE WITH ITALY 

When you fall in love, it hits you like a ton of bricks, and that is exactly what happened to me when I fell in love with Italy and everything that this amazing, incredible, gorgeous country has to offer. The feeling just never ends. This country is one huge museum for you to feel in your heart, touch, and savor every morsel and every minute you are here. I can’t explain it. It’s just magical and, trust me, you will fall in love with Italy also. Whether you are traveling solo or with a small group tours Italy will welcome you with open arms.

How I fell deeper in Love with Italy

 In 2005, I enrolled in an Italian course at the Universita Per Stranieri in Perugia, and in the back of my mind, I kept thinking about what I could do to stay longer! Then one day, I went out to lunch with four friends who had just opened a real estate office, and the idea hit me like a lightning bolt. The words came out of my mouth, and I asked them, “If I build a website and help rent out properties would you pay me a commission”? They didn’t hesitate, and all four said yes. Hence the birth of Village Vacations in Italy, and I have never looked back. My passion and curiosity kept pushing me forward to where I am today, offering incredible tours in Umbria, the “Green Heart of Italy.” Being raised in a very Italian family made me realize how fortunate I am to have Italian “Sangue” running through my veins. I just wish I had paid more attention to listening to my parents speak to their parents in this secret language of theirs, Italian. Of course, I caught bits and pieces but not enough to be fluid. Now I am paying the price by studying and paying close attention to every word I hear.

Our philosophy is Slow Travel, Un-pack Once, and No Rush to enjoy your time in each village we take you to. A wonderful opportunity to spend time in Umbria and Tuscany in a beautiful villa with everything arranged for you to truly enjoy and live “La Dolce Vita” for the week you are with us.

Village Vacations in Italy Tours

2 Spots are available September 17-22, 2022 & October 1-8, 2022, for Lucy Ball Grape Squishing 

  Two meals daily round trip transfers from FCO airport, villa, FCO. Day trip transportation to other villages such as Cortona, Deruta, Assisi, cooking class, and vineyard tour.  No need to rent a car. We literally pamper you for a week.

Visit www.VillageVacationsInItaly.com for more information

Pictures tell a thousand words, so here you go…enjoy!

 Yoga Retreat & Tours

Aperitivo Yoga with Prosecco

  Sunset Yoga

Weave Your Way Through Umbria and Tuscany Textile Tours

If you are a weaver and lover of looms, you will love this tour! The local artisans of this ancient craft will dazzle your minds with their showrooms and looms that are centuries old. You will get to see up close and personal how they use intricate patterns from their ancestors to keep their family traditions living.

Hand-dyed Yarn

The Looms of Pardi

 Gorgeous Fabrics

Weaving in Panicale

Girlfriend Get-A-Ways

Let’s mix it up….I came up with the name of this tour to offer a little bit of everything from my other tours. Let’s face it,  girls love to shop, so I will whisk you away to the clothing outlets of Prada, Gucci, Tom Ford, Channel, and Dolce & Gabbana, to name a few. Visit local businesses to find your “Must Haves.” We will visit a vineyard for a wine and olive oil tasting,  Cortona for a day “Under The Tuscan Sun,” a spa day for you to relax in the natural bubbling spring waters of Umbria. www.VillageVacationsInItaly.com If you are into hiking, biking, paddle boarding, or boating, I can arrange that for you also.

Sip and Shop with your girlfriends & meet other solo travelers

Garden to Table Cooking Class with wine, of course!

 Hand-painted plate by Valeria Tassi….This one is hanging in my kitchen!

Antica Fornace Deruta

Ladies enjoying the thermal baths in Tuscany, your body will melt into the water. 

Lucille Ball Grape Stomping in the Fall

Getting ready to squish grapes

Thousands of years ago, this was the beginning process of making wine, and Lucille Ball made this famous.

 Our Grape Stomping is dedicated to Jan Smith-Johnson on the left. Her wish was to stomp grapes like Lucy before she passed….we haven’t stopped!

The ladies dedicating our 2021 “Grape Squish” to Jan

 Olive Harvest Tours in the fall

Grab a pair of gloves and a basket and experience the Olive Harvest with a local family

Lunch with the locals after picking for a few hours

Yes, this is the color of freshly pressed olives, and you have never tasted anything like it before. You will go home spoiled. After lunch, we head on over to the  Frantolio so you can see the pressing process and eat freshly toasted bread smeared with freshly pressed oil. 

There is so much to do in this region. The opportunities are endless. If you have a special interest, let me know, and I can customize your tour or vacation week.

Because I fell in love with Italy, I offer self-guided as well as guided tours for 1 to 16 people. With 12 to 16 people bookings, one person is offered complimentary accommodations and everything listed on the tour. All tours also included round-trip airport transfers from Leonardo Da Vinci Airport (FCO), a private driver for your daily day trips to other villages and towns in Umbria and Tuscany,

Imagine

• No need to rent a car. We will pick you up at Leonardo Da Vinci Airport (FCO) and drop you off at the end of the tour with transportation daily to a different village.
• Two meals a day, breakfast and dinner prepared by the villa’s chefs
• Aperitivo each evening before dinner
• Day trips where you can take your time the “Slow Travel Way” to explore, visit museums, shop until you drop, sit at a café for a cappuccino, Aperol Spritz, or glass of wine and just enjoy being here! You are not timed or scheduled; I don’t walk around with a stick and a flower on it for you to follow. I give you suggestions and information to do what your heart desires, and always near in case, you need me.
• You will visit a local vineyard and taste incredible wines and visit a family that produces their own olive oil. Trust me; you haven’t lived until you taste fresh olive oil on toasted bruschetta.
• You will take a cooking class and learn the secrets of Italian cooking, and afterward, enjoy the fruits of your labor on a terrace overlooking the hills of Umbria with the wine flowing and birds chirping.
• A visit to Lago Trasimeno, where you can take a ferry ride to Isola Maggiore and enjoy lunch or explore the lakeside village of Passignano
• Deruta, where you will see this process of hand-painted pottery from beginning to end. Make sure you leave room in your luggage for the treasures you will find!
• Cortona in Tuscany Yes, “Under the Tuscan Sun,” you might just run into Frances Mayes, the book’s author walking down Via Nazionale. Many shops, restaurants, art galleries, and museums.
• Assisi, where St Francis of Assisi was born, and see the Basilica and the Church of St. Claire. Walking the streets of this spiritual, mystical town is simply amazing.
• If you come during the week of Vendemmia, late September, during the grape harvest, you will go back in time and squish grapes, “Lucille Ball Style,” with your feet like they did thousands of years ago. This tour is the most requested and books fast. FYI: You MUST be in costume for the full experience, which is so much F-U-N

The options are endless!

Now you can understand why I fell in love with Italy. Chase your dreams and make them happen. Italy is waiting for you, and I would be more than happy to show you around! I want you to experience Italy the way I do…. like a local.

I am proud to be a member of Slow Travel Tours, an informal affiliation of small-group tour operators who offer personalized trips in Italy, France, England, and other European countries. All these people have a travel philosophy similar to ours. If one of our trips isn’t right for you, we hope you’ll consider one of theirs. Follow the Slow Travel Tours blog to learn more about exploring Europe slowly with a small group tour.

Ci Vediamo Presto,

Nedra Marie Bottieri

Are you interested in Solo Travel in Italy? Click here to read all about it. »

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.