I have really been out of the blog post loop of late, and my goal this year is to try and ramp it up again. My reason for not writing as much has been a good one though....I've been busy! Bella Giornata Tours has been growing each year, as word-of-mouth reviews bring me repeat and new business. So, I'm going to try and play catch up a bit. I have great ideas for articles from having spent 7 weeks with clients in Italy this past fall, so it's just a matter of finding the time to write again.

My first blog post for 2018 will be about Venice! This is a region that so many Americans want to visit, and I was there recently with a group of six, the D'Andrea Family. We had a great two week trip together that started in Rome,went north through Tuscany and ended with two nights in Venice.....

We got everyone settled into the beautiful hotel, then set off for a delicious lunch. Finding one's way in Venice can be difficult, to say the least. It requires a combination of skill and an attitude of not caring if you get lost...because you're going to. Street names seem to change on a whim from one corner to the next.  So everyone followed the leader, and we had a fantastic meal to re-energize us for the evening ahead. Post-lunch, the group had time to explore on their own before we met back up for the evening gondola ride!

I had booked the gondola ride for the last available time slot as evening was setting in because Venice is simply stunning at night.

​So far, we've spent our short time in Venice eating and ticking the classic adventure of a gondola ride off our list. But now, we need a little education. Venice has a deep history and fascinating stories worth hearing. So after a good night's sleep in our most charming of hotels, we wake the next morning ready to learn a few things on our guided walking tour.

Everyone agrees the guided walk was so fascinating; a glimpse into everyday life, stories from the past,  as well as taking in the major site of St. Mark's Church. Everyone has the remainder of the day to wander and "get lost" on their own. When we meet back up again for our farewell dinner in one of the oldest quarters of the city, I hear all about their adventures and shoppng experiences. Venice was a great way to end the two week vacation....a combination of history, iconic adventure and relaxation!

Is this not THE best photo?! What a photogenic group, and so fun to boot! Thanks so much Rich, Donna, Doreen, John, Lisa and Anthony. Hope to see you again on another Italian adventure!

Yesterday was a party, fun day. We cruised  on the boat, lounged about on the boat, danced on the boat, sang on the boat, explored Capri and had an amazing lunch. So. Much. Fun.

Well, today promises to be fun as well, but....we're gonna sweat a little!
Today, we are walking the Path of the Gods. Our private van drops us at the start of the hike, where we start in the most civilized of ways...with an espresso and cornetto. One needs to build up the stamina for such a trek after all. There, we meet up with my favorite trekking guide, Tommaso. Now that we are in his capable hands, we can get started:

The path starts out paved, and easy. And though the walk is never really "hard", the path quickly becomes just that; a sometimes packed dirt, sometimes rocky, path. Also very quickly, the beautiful scenery begins!

It should take us about 3 hours at a leisurely pace. It's hard not to do a leisurely pace, as we are always wanting to stop and take photos.

And any time any one has a question...What kind of plant is that? What kind of building is that? What island is that out there? .....Tommaso has an answer. 

The weather is sheer perfection for a hike. The visibility is amazing; the natural beauty simply spectacular. We stop often for a sip of water, and to let photographing stragglers catch up. 

We get to see terraced hill farming close up. We look waaay down there, and see the road our van took this morning to bring us to the starting point. 

We can't believe how lucky we are to be doing this.

We see beautiful rock formations and endless views of the Amalfi Coast. Below left, a farmer's "storage shed"! Can you imagine fetching your farming implements from there each day? We couldn't have chosen a more spectacular day for a trek.

We reach about midway, and find a statue of a madonna. There are also columns of balancing rocks built by previous trekkers. 

We cannot help but to stop and contemplate the beauty around us. As the morning moves on, water traffic picks up in the bay, reminding us....we're getting hungry!

 The Amalfi Coast/Puglia Tour continues....

The group has allotted three nights to the Amalfi Coast, and I have decided to homebase us in the stunning town of Positano, where the buildings spill from the mountains to the sea.  We have so much to see and do and eat and drink. Let's get started!

We cruise our way to Capri, then spend the whole morning making our way all around the island at our leisure. With our small boat, we can nose right into little grottos to admire the rocks and crystalline waters. The weather in this late moment of September even permits us a swim! And then we get to go right through the rocks, and raise our wineglasses in salute as we do so!

Once we're done touring the island by water, it's time to tour it on land. Our open-air taxis await!

By now, we've really built up an appetite (even though we had delicious snacks and Prosecco on the boat). Time to take the chairlift back down and go eat! We have a really wonderful Slow Food lunch waiting for us.

Well, we are filled to the brim, and our taxis and boat await. There's just a little time to do some shopping, then off we go back to the marina where our captain, Roberto is waiting for us. As the sun lowers, we make our way back to Positano.

Continuing the Amalfi Coast/Puglia Tour....

After leaving Napoli, our next stop are the ruins of Pompei. This is such a fascinating place, made even more so on this visit, by the temporary addition of a vast number of modern art sculptures by the artist Igor Mitoraj. One gets this crazy juxtaposition of ancient and modern. Click here for more information on this artist and this particular exhibition: http://www.continiartuk.com/igor-mitoraj-exhibit-ancient-site-pompeii-2/
There is an incredible amount of history and information that can be dispensed at this wonderful site, so it takes a really good guide to make the ruins of Pompei come to life. Good thing we have just that! Emiliano walks us through history and we are fascinated by all he has to say. And to top it off, after the drizzle in Napoli, the weather has become perfection!

Stay tuned! Next stop....Positano! And my goodness, but we had some glorious adventures there! I can't wait to relive it....in my next blog post.

Turns out we were in the nick of time to help the city finish celebrating the Miracle of St. Gennaro (This occurs on Sept. 19, and we arrived on the 20th). Here's a link to an explanation: 
​https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2016/09/19/famed-blood-miracle-san-gennaro-unfolds-naples/
We were visiting the Church of St. Gennaro and got to see the liquified blood! The priest below is holding the ampule and people were welcome to come and give it a kiss. Also notice the shape of San Gennaro's hat...below on the right, on the bronze bust.

Of course, because it was such a special time, the pastry shops were also creating something special to help celebrate. I tasted a San Gennaro hat-shaped pastry....it was delicious! There was even an explanation of what was in it.

A lovely tradition in Napoli is called Caffe' Sospeso, or "Suspended Coffee". What it means, is you can pay ahead for a coffee for someone who will need one and not have the money. So if a coffee shop advertises this service, I can pay for a coffee for someone in need. At any time, someone who can't afford one, or forgot their wallet can stop in for a "free" coffee....not on the house, but on whoever chose to pay for one. So civilized.

The gang arrives to Italy just in time for lunch. (My kind of people.) After I organize their pick up from the airport, our first stop is to the delicious Trattoria Consolare in the tiny town of Ferentino. The chef has organized some special fall themed dishes just for us. Welcome Back to Italy!

Post lunch, our first overnight stop will be Naples (Napoli). So everyone climbs back into the van for a snooze as we make our way there. Once there, we check into our hotel which is perfectly located for all the sightseeing we want to do tomorrow. Get a good night's rest everyone! Tomorrow, we start walking....

​I was fortunate enough to spend a day recently with Arianna Cini and her partner Alessio Di Genova of Km Zero Tours. They have worked long and hard to find just the right artisanal food producers to partner with, who not only create delicious products, but are passionate about how they are produced. And lucky for me, they love to talk about their work.

The Pruneti family has 26,000 trees. Sounds like a lot doesn’t it? And I’m sure it seems like a lot to the 70-80 seasonal workers who are hired to manually pick the trees. But for all those olives picked, do you know how much becomes extra-virgin, cold-pressed olive oil? 10-15%. That’s right…that’s all. So what becomes of the rest of it? It’s waste. The remaining 85-90% is a big mushy mess of broken pits, skins and smashed olive meat.

Back in the day, olive growers used to put this mash back in the field to “feed” the soil. Today’s growers know this practice creates too much acidity in the soil and is in fact not the best use of the mash. So, what do they do with it? Unfortunately, most olive oil producers send the mash to industrial refineries. Here, it is pressed again, using heat for maximum extraction. This second pressing is pretty devoid of all the known healthy properties of first-pressed, cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil. This second-pressed oil is often combined with other non-olive oils, and even falsely colored to mimic the beautiful color of fresh oil. Remember my earlier comments about there being no control during production? 

So what’s to be done about the production of fake olive oil? Emanuele has a solution for that as well, and it starts with us…the consumer. We need to read labels and push for stricter labeling. We need to expect to pay more for a quality product. A quality olive oil should have an expiration date because the sooner you use it after the olives were harvested, the better it is. Unfiltered oil may seem rustically chic, but the truth is, unfiltered oil spoils more quickly due to the remaining solid matter being quicker to go rancid. The bottle should say where the olives came from; not just what country, but what farm. Emanuele is certainly not opposed to olive oils from other countries, but the origin of the olives should be clearly stated on the label.

And here’s an idea: You get what you pay for. Restaurants can’t afford to put high quality olive oil on the table when patrons are coming along, pouring it out onto a plate and mopping it up with their free bread. For a restaurant to offer an amazing olive oil, the bread with an olive oil dip should be a paid appetizer item. Only then, and until regulations are in place during the production process will we be assured of consistently getting a quality olive oil.
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Until then, how does Emanuele handle receiving mediocre olive oil when he’s dining out at a restaurant? He carries a small bottle of Pruneti olive oil in his back pocket. Maybe we should all do the same.

​I have always wondered how certain towns get featured in guidebooks. As I’ve traveled the length of Italy, I have stopped in towns I am “supposed” to stop in and found most of them charming. But at the same time, I’ve stopped in so many towns that are simply not featured in the guidebooks and found most of them to be equally charming. The problem with going to the featured towns is that everyone else is going there too. Recently, in the heart of Maremma, the less-discovered southwestern portion of Tuscany, I stumbled upon a hidden gem. Welcome to Semproniano….a simple and charming town, which holds a special surprise.

My two-night stay at the seemingly unassuming Locanda la Pieve turned into one of my best hotel stays ever. Was it a five-star hotel? No. Was I served breakfast in bed, or drinks by the pool? No. In fact, there is no pool. What there is instead is the charming, gracious and wonderful hospitality of Angela and Enrico Cipolletta.

city center. Eight years ago, they decided to leave the hustle and bustle of Rome and the corporate world behind, and move out into the country where they could create a home for themselves, and a home for their guests.

​The two of them; the entire “staff” of the hotel do it all. Yet, they manage to do it with the utmost of grace, charm, humor and friendliness. They set their guests instantly at ease and welcome you into their “slow-living” life. Each morning there is a beautiful breakfast comprised of freshly baked breakfast cake among other things. During my stay, I was treated to a lemon-poppyseed bread on one day and a prune galette on the next, courtesy of Angela. In addition there are cereals, yogurt, croissants, bread, fresh fruit and always fresh ricotta served with homemade jams (again courtesy of Angela) and local honey. Coffees and teas of your choice are freshly served to you. 

​Lest you think Angela does all the work, let’s discuss what Enrico does. While Angela is queen of desserts from the kitchen, Enrico cooks everything else. Dinner is served each night and is only available to guests of the hotel. I asked them why this was their policy….wouldn’t they make more money opening up to the public every night? Enrico agreed this would be true, but it was simply not their philosophy. They don’t want to offer an endless array of plates to an endless line of diners every night. 

​Enrico concentrates on cooking just what he needs to cook for each night’s number of guests. He only serves what is in season, and what can be purchased locally. There is no menu, and a great part of the fun is sitting at your table wondering what is going to arrive next, and how it could possibly top the last plate Angela brought out from the kitchen. I felt as though I was “in” on a secret dining experience!

One of the things I loved most about the meal was the portions. In a “normal” restaurant, I might start with an appetizer, and though I might see several items on both the primi menu and the secondi menu, I know there is no way, I can eat from both sections. I’m forced to choose only one additional item, and leave so many things on the menu untasted. The way Enrico serves the meal, you get three precious tastes for your appetizer, and a perfectly portioned size of pasta, which leaves you room for a small secondo and a hankering for the dessert you know is coming. Each night, I tasted six different things! I was very satisfied, but never unpleasantly stuffed. And the wines…did I tell you about the wines?! (I guess I already did….I hope you were listening.)

Locanda la Pieve is a lesson in service and hospitality, and a wonderful base from which to explore the many wonders of the area. Semproniano is surrounded by Etruscan ruins, wineries, and charming small villages, all aching to be explored (and fodder for another blog post). I would love to return with clients in tow. I have to eat here again in my lifetime! Join me won’t you, as we explore Maremma together; the sights, the colors, the history, the food and wine. Drop me a line at: irene@bellagiornatatours.com and let’s start planning your next vacation into a fascinating and less-explored area of Tuscany.