Archive for the 'About AHA' Category

GILLIAN SEELY IS A BIG PART OF THE AHA TEAM

May 17th, 2012

Gillian Seely, marketing

Gillian Seely is AHA’s Marketing and Social Networking Guru. She came to us through our son Noah, with whom she worked in Boston. As two young professionals, they discovered that they had both been raised overseas—Noah in Asia, Gill in Germany—and that they missed the stimulation of the art, history, and differing cultures. Noah told Gillian all about AHA, and the next thing we knew, Gill and I were on the phone, practically finishing each other’s sentences.

Gillian drives traffic to the AHA website through FB, Twitter, and outreach emails to targeted organizations. Making connections nationwide with university alumni groups, non-competing travel sites, Italian cultural organizations, and newspapers, she works hard for AHA. She has been able to exchange the AHA link with some very well placed sites and get our website in front of many, many faces that otherwise might not have found it.

With a BA in English Literature from the University of London, and an MA in International Relations from the University of Oklahoma, Gillian has been in marketing and public relations, an account executive, has been an AP English instructor, an intern for CNN London, and is currently in marketing and communications for Pearson, the world’s leading learning company. Gillian also spent almost two years in the Philippines with the Peace Corps, and if that wasn’t interesting enough, she is fluent in both German and Visayan, a Filipino dialect.

Gillian is a HUGE part of our virtual team. She loves what AHA is all about and works very diligently to see that it is successful.  Thanks Gillian, for all your hard work and for being part of the team!

 

 

 


WHAT IS CULTURAL IMMERSION AND HOW DO YOU GET IT?

May 7th, 2012

The term “cultural immersion” is an important one, but like so many great “tags,” they become overused sound bites and lose their strength. Nonetheless, it is what Art History Alive achieves trip after trip, and why prospective clients ask me my definition. We can achieve a sense of immersion into a place in several key ways:

  1. Slow Pace
  2. Historic Accommodations
  3. Sites in, Under, and Above
  4. Off the Beaten Track
  5. Family-Run Restaurants
  6. Meeting and Greeting Interesting Locals

Slow Pace. Similar to the slow food movement, in order to savor a place, we hold back on pace. AHA meanders, soaking in the culture.

 

Pucci and Giovanni, owners Castello di Proceno

Accommodations. The place that you sleep on an AHA tour will be small, located in the historic center of wherever we are, and often run by a family that we now call friends. These are the people whom each of you will get to know, and they will go above and beyond to make you feel at home in the city or area they are immensely proud of. Whether we are in Tuscany, Florence, Rome, Paris, or California, our friends welcome us back with the warmest of reunions. Needless to say, locating and building these trusted friendships has been a 15-year labor of love that you, our guests, will enjoy.

In, Under, and Above a Place. For example: AHA will wander with you into tiny colorful towns, under a city through tunnels dating back before Christ, and above the Pacific Ocean perched on a high cliff. We will take you down into a valley only to look up at an enormous and majestic rushing waterfall.

We Will Go Off The Beaten Track. In Italy, everyone goes to the beautiful Chianti region for wine tasting. We, on the other hand, have sought out tucked away wineries so as to avoid the slick marketing of the “Italian Wine Country.” Instead, AHA enjoys visiting a large typical wine estate overlooking, for example, Orvieto. We taste the wines with complementary foods under a frescoed ceiling. At other times, we might visit a village wine co-op. Here, everyone in the village pools their small private vineyard grape crop to make a wine that they divide up and will drink every day for the next year. The same is true in California. We will go wine tasting in the lesser known wine producing areas of Paso Robles, on the Central Coast, and Murphy’s in the foothills of the mighty Sierra Mountains.

Restaurant Choices Are Key. In Italy, we will eat in family- owned trattorie. These are the restaurants where wonderful smells waft as you walk in the door. They’re where Mama and Grandma are in the kitchen, Papa is at the fireplace roaster, Grandpa is making the coffee and tending the cash register, and the kids are busing tables and taking orders. This is where they approach your table, not with a menu, but with a list of what was cooked today, always fresh, and only seasonal. They will take great pride in their homemade pastas, which will melt in your mouth, and their house wines which were probably made at the co-op mentioned above. This is too much fun! However, if American travelers discover one of our favs, we move on. There is no cultural immersion if the table next to you is talking about their last trip to Vegas.

Roberto, Latte de Luna, Pienza

In California, Paris, and NYC, we will take you to places we know and trust—eateries that reflect the personality of the place we are visiting. From Clint Eastwood’s Mission Ranch steak house in Carmel, CA, to the best French fries in the world at L’Entrecote in Paris, where we enjoy our meals is an important piece of the immersion process.

You, Our Guests, Will Have The Opportunity To Meet and Greet Our Wonderful Friends. This is something NO other tour group, large or small, can boast. As mentioned above, through years of returning to these places, we have met, and had the pleasure of getting to know, grocers in small towns, tiny hotel owners, restaurant owners, and vintners, all of whom are genuinely happy to see us again. We really enjoy our reunions and introducing our guests to them. This is so key in getting beyond the ordinary in a country. Now you are not simply an observer in a culture, but you are interacting with it. This is a huge difference and uniquely Art History Alive.

I am sure you will agree that when you add these experiences together, you will feel that you have been immersed in a wonderful culture. And so do we!

 

 

 

 


TRAVEL EXPANDS YOUR FRAME OF REFERENCE, FOREVER

April 23rd, 2012

Lake Como

Travel expands our frame of reference for the rest of our lives. We call on our frame of reference daily, without even realizing it, and the wider it is the more valuable an asset to understanding. Of course, travel is typically seen as a vacation, but it can be so much more, especially with Art History Alive.

Often wonderful and unexpected things happen while we are abroad that enlighten us. However, sometimes the impact of your adventure, the expansion of our mind, isn’t noticed until we return home.

Here are three examples that, in my opinion, illustrate the many ways in which travel expands us:

1. Our frame of reference and worldview

Remember the wave of anti-French sentiment that swept through America in 2003? Americans stopped frequenting French restaurants, stopped purchasing French products of any kind, and French Fries became Freedom Fries. It was all about the French not supporting the effort in Iraq. I was frustrated, too, but I remembered September 11, 2002, the first anniversary of that horrid day. I was in Paris, and something happened that changed my frame of reference forever toward France and the French. To read the story, click here.

Anyone who has visited Beijing has walked in and around Tiananmen Square. When we watched CNN and saw that young Chinese student defying the Chinese military tank in the square, it was powerful, but even more so for those of us who have stood in that place.

This past October, when video of the flood in Vernazza, Italy (a part of Cinque Terre) was released, it was very real to those of us who have walked those pretty streets.

2. Our rapidly evolving world market place

I need a special stainless steel hinge. I need it because the salt from the Monterey Bay, across the street from our home, eats any and all other materials. My handyman goes online and finds the hinge I need in “zinc coated” brass and wonders if it will work for me. I, in turn, go online looking for information on zinc-coated hinges. Up pops a comment from a fisherman off the coast of China. He tells me that he installed a zinc-coated hinge on his long-tail fishing boat and that it did not hold up to marine conditions. Before I thanked him for his input, I sat and stared at my computer screen for a few seconds. Wow, off the coast of China! I’ve been there. I knew where he was. The world is getting really, really small, and I want to be part of it.

3. Replacing ignorance and anxiety with understanding

On one of my trips, I realized before departure that I was facing a challenge. Signed up was a couple. The wife was so excited to be going to Italy for the

Exchanging Ideas, Rome

first and perhaps only time, but her husband seemed bored and uninterested and wondered why folks went on and on about the food in Italy when you could get good spaghetti down the street and around the corner. I sensed some fear, that was thinly veiled. The challenge: to win him over. The winner, Italy. He probably still complains about the expense of everything, but his ignorance and anxiety about this foreign place and culture dissolved when he saw, with his own eyes, that Italians were just as regular as he was, and, that there is spaghetti, and then there is spaghetti. Funny, the stereotypes we have in our heads. I think his came from Lady and the Tramp.

When we travel, all things make more sense. It is human nature to fear the unknown, so go get to know it. Grab your passport and suitcase and get up close and personal with our world. My favorite guest is an intellectually curious and enthusiastic traveler who wants to expand his/her frame of reference, forever. If that describes you, let’s go!

Go ahead and click over to our Home Page to see where we are going in 2012. Join us!

 

MEET ALYSA WEINSTEIN GRAVINA – AHA’s Correspondent in Rome

April 2nd, 2012

Family Life in Rome

How does a young woman from Connecticut, fall in love with a Roman in Guatemala, and three sons later, lives large in the Eternal City? Below is Alysa’s story, and now we can look forward to her posts, from Rome, about life in Rome, on the AHA blog. Welcome to the AHA Team, Alysa, we are so happy to have you!

My name is Alysa Weinstein, and for the last seven years, I have been living in Rome. I was born in NYC and grew up in the Fairfield county suburbs. I was a lucky little girl! I have three younger brothers and nothing could have prepared me better for raising three little boys of my own.

After playing soccer and dancing and singing my way through Greenwich Country Day School and Greenwich High School, I went off to The University of Wisconsin – Madison, where I did not make the soccer team, gave up my dreams of musical theater, and fell madly in love with Art History and, in particular, Italian art.

After my freshman year, my cousin and I backpacked from Milan to Naples. The adventures are blog-worthy! Two years later, I came back to Rome for my junior summer where I studied the language in the morning and in the afternoon I studied the people, the food, cinema, sights, and everything dolce vita. I caught “the Eternal City” bug.

After graduating from University, I was introduced to an Italian art dealer with a gallery in NYC and also one in Rome. She hired me on the spot, and while my professional relationship with Carla lasted five years and I worked only and always at the NYC gallery, she is still today a very, very important point of reference in Rome and in my life.

Cut to 2002. On a whim, my brother Justin and I planned a 10-day excursion, vacation, detoxification to Guatemala and Honduras. As we flew away from NYC, the last thing on my mind was finding true love, let alone meeting an Italian. But destiny has a strange way of working . . . and on my first night, I met my husband Carmine, and it was love at first sight. (When he walked into the bar, I was 100% sure.)

So after six months of long-distance phone calls and Alitalia overnight flights, he moved to NYC. One year later, I sold my interior design company and we moved to Rome where we celebrated our wedding with 200 of our favorite people (major blog entry). And three little boys later, I am pretty sure that my love affair with Italy is still going strong, even if the daily life is always more challenging. But if it weren’t, there would be no blog!

SOMETHING NEW: CLASSICAL MUSIC PERFORMANCES FOR AHA TRAVELERS

February 22nd, 2012

Gregorian Chants at Abbey Sant'Antimo, Tuscany

“. . . a true knowledge of the object of our affections gives greater love of it; if our knowledge is slight our love will be little or nothing . . .” Leonardo DaVinci

The object of my affection is Italy, and for twenty years I have been building a true knowledge of it. This knowledge, and subsequent love, is what I will share with you on an AHA trip, it is as simple as that.

For sometime, AHA has been trying to include more music in its travel, and now we will. We are so pleased to announce that beginning in the 2012 travel season, your chosen  itinerary will  include an optional classical music performance! With music being a huge component of any culture, what a perfect fit for AHA guests that are seeking cultural immersion. Your itinerary might include a night at the Opera in Florence, a chamber music recital in a baroque church in Paris, or Gregorian Chants in an ancient Abbey in Tuscany.  Europe is rich with the arts, and we will select something wonderful for every one of our upcoming European trips.

We are launching this new aspect of AHA travel with Musica in Tuscany, July 2012. This itinerary includes a one day music festival, four days in Tuscany and two days in Rome. While in Tuscany, we will stay at Castello di Proceno, host to the annual Convivio in Musica. As Italian music enthusiasts gather in the stone courtyard of Castello di Proceno, we, who are actually staying at the castle, will join the group for a performance of favorite opera arias, followed by a delicious buffet, complete with cold bubbling Prosecco.

Join our Musica in Tuscany group, get to know a bit of beautiful Tuscany, and top it off by spending two wonderful days in amazing Rome.

 

Upcoming: April in Yosemite – Waterfalls and Wildflowers

February 8th, 2012

Yosemite Falls Reflected

Spring is waterfall season in Yosemite, when the snowmelt comes rushing over rock walls and races 3,000 feet straight down in a powerful ribbon to crash on the rocks below. Juxtaposed against the power and strength of water is the delicate wildflower season, a gorgeous time to be in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

AHA’s Gold Rush, Wines, and Yosemite, April 19 – 26, 2012, is a great 8-day getaway—from San Francisco to Carmel-by-the-Sea, with Yosemite as the ”jewel in the crown.” However, we are offering our guests the choice of an abbreviated version as well. For those who just can’t get away for a full 8 days but long to get up into the hills and stay in Yosemite, AHA is offering a 5-day, 4-night version. This “Sierra” version, April 19 – 23, 2012, will begin in San Francisco, followed by 2 days in Sonora, including a massage and facial, Murphy’s wine tasting, and, of course, Yosemite and the Ahwahnee.

I love this area, know it quite well, and enjoy sharing it. The links will take you to details and pricing.

Days 1 – 5: (Sierra) We will begin this trip at sea level in San Francisco, with all its culture and color, and then meander on to spend two days in the heart of the Gold Rush area in Sonora. While here, our guests will enjoy a European body massage and facial by leading professionals in the area. We will then go wine tasting in the adorable little town of Murphys, and finally make our way into Yosemite National Park, arguably one of the most beautiful places on earth. After checking in to the historic and very majestic Ahwahnee Hotel, we will explore the park and picnic along the way, just soaking in Yosemite.

Days 6 and 7: We will come full circle as the final two days of this itinerary find us back on the California coast in beautiful Carmel-by-the-Sea. Quaint as can be, with its storybook architecture, we will wander the streets, share some delicious meals, the fresh salt air, and prepare to return to life.

To sign up for Gold Rush, Wines, and Yosemite or Sierra, click here.

 

 

Part 2: ROMA – A Lifetime Is Not Enough

January 31st, 2012

 

 

Dinner For AHA, Rome

 

AHA and I will be in Rome three times in 2012. Links to the trip descriptions are below this post. Enjoy Part 2 of ROMA.

I came to Italy for the art, history, ancient architecture, scenic beauty, food, wine, hill towns, landscapes, and, loving it all, I return for Rome.

Why does one place reach out and hug you, and others simply don’t?  No one really knows, but really, who cares? It just happens. When it does, however, it is very personal and very intimate. For some, it’s a sandy- beached island, a mountain perch, an almost silent lake, the sidewalks of Paris, Vienna, or strolling the Giant Sequoias. But when it happens, you know it.

After about 48 hours in Rome, I felt a sense of sinking into it, a yearning to get lost in it. Not in the great sites necessarily. Suddenly the Colosseum and the Forum jumped into the back seat. I wanted to be on a back street in a nondescript neighborhood. I didn’t want to stand out; in fact, quite the opposite. I wanted to blend in, fit, and melt into Rome.

Frances Mayes feels about Tuscany as I do about Rome.  She describes it this way:  “The place took hold of me and shaped me in its image.”  Exactly.

“I wanted an aperture,” she writes elsewhere, “an opportunity to merge with something limitless. Something that takes you out of yourself also restores

Dinner With Our Roman Friends

you to yourself with a greater freedom.” And finally, “I wanted an aperture, an opportunity to merge with something limitless.”

This last quote touches on what many travelers who fall in love with a place often recount: “I felt like I was home.” I love the way Rome swoops me out of myself, fills me to the brim, and returns a wiser, more humbled me. And often, when wandering its tangled web of streets, I feel very small as the enormity of all that Rome has been, is, and will be, surrounds me. How could I not want a repeat of that thrill ride?

Through the ages, Rome has gathered many, many lovers, of which I am but one. When I arrive, we have such a joyous reunion. Rome is all decked out and gives me her full attention. Below are some thoughts by a few of her other lovers:

Living History In Rome

Barbara Gruzzuti Harrison (1934-2002) – “I am happy here; when I or others have bruised my life, I close my eyes against the hurt and think of Rome: as possibility and hope. . . The world is lovable when the world is Rome. . . For the rest of my life I will love Rome and think better of my life having known Rome.”

Johann Goethe (1749-1832) – In Rome you learn to. . . . “See with an eye that can feel, feel with a hand that can see.”

Henry James (1843-1916) – At nineteen years old, “I went reeling and moaning thro’ the streets, in a fever of enjoyment.”  Fifty years later – “No one who has ever loved Rome, as Rome could be loved in youth, wants to stop loving her.”

H. V. Morton (1892-1979) – “I looked down with gratitude upon the city where I had learnt many things; but one does not say goodbye to Rome.”

Judith Testa – (During my first visit) . . .”A strange energy surged through me, a passion for the place which has never faded but only increased with each subsequent visit.  Whenever I return to Rome, I experience that same anticipation, energy, and excitement.”

Jim Quist – “I love Rome simply because it’s Italian.”

AHA and I will be in Rome three times in 2012. Funny, even after twenty years, just writing those words, “I will be in Rome”, puts a smile on my face and pulls at my heart.  I would love to share it with you.

Musica in Tuscany: July 12 – 18, 2012, includes two days in Rome.

Rome and Tuscany: September 30 – October 8, 2012, includes four full days in Rome.

Roma Amor: Rome Is Love Spelled Backward: October 10 – 17, 2012, is a full week in Rome guided by Judith Testa, PhD, author of the book by the same name, and myself. A daring duo of like-minded pilgrims are we.

 

Part 1: ROMA – A Lifetime Is Not Enough

January 18th, 2012

Ghosts of the Caesars, Evening, Roman Forum

There is an Italian expression, “Roma, non basta una vita,” which means that for Rome, a lifetime is not enough life to really know her.

Not even close. But knowing Rome would be the destination and getting to know her, the journey. I never want my journey to end. I love this city with all my heart.

Why is it that of all of the wonderful places I have visited in my traveling life, Rome, above all others, gripped me, holds me, and haunts me?

I have wrestled with this question for twenty years. Friends do not understand why I keep returning when there is so much more “out there” to see. They ask if I will guide a trip to Greece or Hong Kong. I smile, as I think about those amazing places and say, “Maybe, someday.” But in my head I am saying, “I don’t want to. I want to go back to Rome.” There is still, after countless visits, so much of Rome that I long to understand, be familiar with, and appreciate.

Maybe it can be explained this way. When I buy a car, I think it through, wrangle, and weigh every aspect and option, and by the time my decision is made, I am in love with it and drive it for years. I’ve sort of sunk my teeth into it, very unlike the car buyer who enjoys flipping cars every couple of years. That is the kind of traveler that I have become as well. I am determined to catch the spirit of a place and sink my teeth in.  When I am not traveling I am reading, highlighting, margin noting, and learning more deeply about Rome.   A list of destinations to see in this world and tick off could not be more unappealing to me.

However, it hasn’t always been that way. In 1989, I was traveling around Europe with my list in hand, happily visiting Switzerland, Paris, Florence, all beautiful and stimulating, tick, tick, tick. Not sinking my teeth into any of them. But then we arrived in Rome, and everything changed. Only this time, I was blindsided as I felt Rome sink her teeth into me! How?

One thing I am sure of is that there is more than one answer to this question. In Part 2 of ROME: Life Is Not Long Enough To Know All Of Rome, I will

My Happy Place

discuss a few, and maybe you will feel your reaction to a special place being described.

As a guest with Art History Alive, my intense passion for Rome and its living history, will be my gift to you. Travelers will have three opportunities to visit and get to know Rome with AHA in 2012.

Musica in Tuscany: July 12 – 18, 2012, includes two days in Rome.

Rome and Tuscany: September 30 – October 8, 2012, includes four full days in Rome.

Roma Amor: Rome Is Love Spelled Backward: October 10 – 17, 2012, is a full week in Rome guided by Judith Testa, PhD, author of the book by the same name, and myself. A daring duo of like-minded pilgrims are we.

In Part Two of ROMA, I will also share news on a few of the fantastically characteristic boutique hotels that AHA now reserves for its guests—a converted cloister, quiet and tucked away, an 11th-century tower, with one room on each of its five floors, and a pretty guest house gem on a quiet street near the Tiber River—all unique, pristine, and located in the historic center of this amazing city. I have visited each and every one of these hotels, plus many others that did not make the AHA list of preferred properties. Only the best for AHA guests—that is my promise.

Come experience Rome as part of a small group of other intellectually curious travelers. We would love to have you.

 

 

TUSCANY: Like A Hollywood Backdrop

December 15th, 2011

Abbey and Monastery, Sant Antimo , Tuscany

Almost everywhere you look in Tuscany, the view is like a backdrop, and this time, we were the movie. Spending five days in September, wandering the quiet back alleys of Sorano, moved by Gregorian Chants in this ancient abbey, and sleeping each night in a castle, we did feel as though we were in a movie. For those five days, we really “lived” in Tuscany. We woke each morning and made our own lattes in the kitchen of our castle apartment. I can smell that hot espresso bubbling right now. Add to that the hot milk and some sugar, and it’s going to be another good day.

We drove up, down, and around those pretty hills, lunched in some great new finds, and visited La Foce, again. Jim and I have found that we cannot get near La Foce without stopping in to just be there. La Foce is a gracious villa that supported several farms in the heart of Tuscany, and ended up right in the center of the World War II fighting. If the walls could talk. The story of La Foce, and all that happened there, both sad and heroic, is in a slim book entitled, War in Val d’Orcia: An Italian War Diary, 1943-1944, by Iris Origo. Signore and Signora Origo owned and lived in the villa during this time—a first hand account, to be sure. Now, the villa has apartments to book and produces some delicious olive oil, which I have in my pantry. Seems sort of extravagant that we do our olive oil shopping in Italy, but we do.

Our anchor in Tuscany is Castello di Proceno. Such a precious place owned by a wonderful couple that we love. Built in the 11th century, acquired by the ancestors of the current owners in the 15th century, the castle is decorated not just with antiques but with Etruscan antiquities, unearthed on the property, dating back to 700 BC.

Up on a rocky spur, this castle fortress has defended the tiny town of Proceno for centuries. Located just up the hill from what for hundreds of years was the main road from Florence to Rome, and from the Catholic pilgrimage route from Germany to Rome, the Americans and Germans also occupied Castello di Proceno in turn, during World War II. The art and history in this place lives, which is why Jim and I return year after year, and this castle is the perfect place for Art History Alive guests to stay.

No trip to Tuscany would be complete without lunch at the outrageous Osteria Acquacheta in Montepulciano. No vegetarians allowed! This is a steakhouse, Italian style. The owner, who carries a rather bloody meat cleaver in his belt, draws a diagram of a steak on your paper tablecloth and asks (forcefully) if you want the whole (that would be the porterhouse cut) or a smaller piece, the NY. You point, and he clomps off to his huge butcher’s block placed in front of a roaring fireplace in the back. Whack, whack! A huge steak is slapped on a piece of butcher paper, weighed, and brought to your table for approval. Our steak was the size of a newborn, no kidding. If you like what you see, you nod, he calculates the cost, again on the handy paper tablecloth, you nod again, and off it goes to the fireplace. The rareness of the still-sizzling steak upon delivery to your table indicates that it has not spent much time on the grate, but WOW, is it delicious! This place is a must for meat eaters. It is loud, raucous, the staff is great, and you make friends with the people at the table 3” from yours. Really, really fun!

Orvieto, just 45 minutes from the castello, is such a big, beautiful hill town. I love everything about it, because it has everything. A fantastic cathedral with breathtaking art and history, winding streets with fun shopping, delicious hidden restaurants, and amazing people watching. The more I visit, the more I love it.

AHA  will be in Tuscany twice in 2012. July 12-18, we will share an Italian music festival at Castello di Proceno, with a very small group of guests, Musica in Tuscany, a Castle Courtyard Concert. And again, September 30 – October 8, with Rome and Tuscany, a Colosseum and a Castle. If you want to know Tuscany, these two itineraries were designed to accomplish just that. In fact, all of our itineraries are created with one thing in mind, getting to really know your destination.

After five leisurely days of just “being” in Tuscany, we are packing and girding ourselves for the upcoming five days in our very favorite, Rome! After Tuscany, it can be a shock to your system. But we will be there on a Sunday, so we are planning to gather with thousands in St. Peter’s Square to see and hear Pope Benedict. We have done this many times over the years, and there is something very special about it.

I will post about our time in Rome in the New Year. It was FANTASTIC.

UGLY AMERICAN ALERT: After our lunch at Aquacheta and an afternoon ramble around picturesque Montepulciano, we were headed back to our car

Steak for two, Acquacheta

about 6PM. Our route took us past the now-closed Aquacheta. Standing in front, trying to peer in the windows, was a very American couple with a computer printout in hand. We were the only other
folks on the street so, in apparent desperation, they looked at us with frustration.

Jim says: “Great restaurant! Delicious! You’ll love it,” and keeps moving.
Woman: (In a whine) “Yes, we’ve heard about it, but it isn’t open.”
Jim: “No, it will open about 7:30 for dinner.”
Man: (Angrily) “If it is so good, why isn’t it open at dinnertime?!”

Cyndie: Walking away, a little ashamed and shaking head.

It was 6PM, he was hungry, and they walked away to find some place, any place that was open. I guess he thought he was still in the states where dinnertime is dinnertime.

TRAVEL TIP: In Italy, the only people in a restaurant having dinner before 8PM are either Americans or Canadians. By grabbing a piece of pizza or a gelato around 4PM, you’ll be hungry when the restaurants are hopping Italian-style.

New Friends, Estela and Gianni, Acquacheta

Lago di Como: A Peaceful Retreat

November 15th, 2011

Above Bellagio, Lunch, Baita Belvedere

I recently Googled the 10 most beautiful lakes in the world, and, I think I need to speak to the judges. Lago di Como did not make the cut, and I wondered about the criteria. I suppose it would be impossible to judge a place on the way it makes you feel. Well, not for me it isn’t.

For visitors, Lake Como has two distinct faces. One really fun and alive, with this big blue beautiful backdrop but focused on the shore, and the other focused right smack on “The Lake.” For me, it all depends on where you stay. I have visited both faces and prefer strongly to focus on the lake. I can shop anywhere.

For over 30 years I have held onto a small, really dated brochure on a place I’d written to before email. This brochure has been suspended over the trash bin several times, but I had a hunch. Something about this hotel drew me in, and someday, I thought, I would at least give it a drive-by. Finally, after all these years and many visits to Lago di Como and some of her very pretty hotels, we spent five beautiful days at the Hotel San Giorgio, in Lenno, and now I know that my hunch was right, because this place is a treasure.

Even though many villa-hotels dot the lakeside, none that I could find have the magic ingredient

Lake Entrance to Villa Balbianello

that the San Giorgio has, and that is the huge rolling lawn and garden that sweep from the hotel down to the lapping edge of the lake. Dotted with chaise lounges, chairs, and small tables all facing the lake (and Bellagio on the opposite shore), it is quiet, restful, and magical. Whether we started our day there in the sun, or ended our day with the sunset, it is what sets the Hotel San Giorgio apart, and it is why I want to share it with AHA guests who surely will love it. Another discovery of a 3-star+ property with a 5-star location—my favorite combo.

Always fun is a boat ride/day trip to beautiful and hopping Bellagio. Thanks to Maggie McKenny-Harris, our intrepid researcher, we experienced a lunch

there that we won’t forget. While all the bustling crowds are winding around the pretty alleyways of Bellagio, Chiara picked us up and whisked us away, up, up, up above the city to the slow food, farm-to-table Trattoria Baita Belvedere, where we were the only English speakers, and we love that. The homemade cheeses, succulent simmered boar, and fresh porcini mushrooms were fabulous, as the back of the Swiss Alps stared across the lake at us, and we looked down on the top of Bellagio. Peace and beauty.

Ice Cream and Oranges on an Island

From Villa Melzi, owned by Napoleon and by Liszt, to Villa Carlotta with its fantastic gardens, the prize- winner for me was the old monastery converted

into Villa Balbianello. Perched on a promontory that juts out into the lake with water on three sides, it is as if it were floating. A short boat ride from the Hotel San Giorgio, this villa, it’s history, collections, and gardens are absolutely staggering.

Isola Comacina is the only island in the lake and a must-stop for lunch on any Lake Como itinerary. And why would anyone pass a seven-course lunch on a stone terrace, overlooking the lake and under spreading shade trees? Please! The freshest ingredients served simply over a lazy three hours include twelve different vegetables, gorgeous pink trout, chicken, and aged parmigiana scooped out of the wheel and plopped right into your palm. And every course is bottomless. Everyone finishes with ice cream and oranges, highlighted by a coffee ceremony featuring sweet scalding espresso and an intriguing tale of island history. OK, I’m there. Back on the mainland, we were thankful we had walked along the pretty greenway from the hotel. We hoped we could negotiate the winding walkway back, but the lounges on the lawn at the Hotel San Giorgio were calling to us, shhhh, nap, nap, nap. Lago di Como has become, or more likely always was, a place to run to, escape into, a place to let down and go limp.

Art History Alive will be traveling to Lago di Como in the Fall of 2013. All of the above-mentioned places will be part of the itinerary, and there will be other surprises as well. Group size will be 6. Start dreaming.

 

 

Next »