Gathered here are some compelling reasons why you might consider becoming a part of Art History Alive’s upcoming trip to Tuscany and Rome; “Italy Through a Castle Window”.  (Day to day itinerary below article)

The thoughts below, I adore, as they put into words my exact feelings, and those of so many others that have traveled to Italy. With some written two centuries ago and some written as recently as last week, the sentiments are the same. The first few quotes are by Johann Goethe who lived in Rome, Naples, and Sicily for two life changing years. The latter two quotes were written recently by a very intelligent and well traveled woman, Ellie Trevarthen, and a friend, just after his first trip to Italy, Walter Schuppe. May I suggest that as you read, you take a moment after each one and consider thoughtfully the wisdom and excitement within. Strong feelings all.

“In Rome you learn to see with an eye that feels and feel with a hand that can see.” Goethe, 1786

“These paintings are like friends with whom one has long been acquainted through correspondence and now sees face to face for the first time.” Goethe, 1787

“Nothing, above all, is comparable to the new life that a reflective person experiences when he observes a new country. Though I am still always myself, I believe I have been changed to the very marrow of my bones.” Goethe, 1788

“In this place, whoever looks seriously about him and has eyes to see is bound to become a stronger character: he acquires a sense of strength hitherto unknown to him.” Goethe, 1788

” Despite the weak dollar, my decisions to vacation in Italy are conscious and carefully considered. The travel experience has vastly more value and affects my life perspective more profoundly than the value of the dollars it costs to get the experience. My trips to Europe in recent years have changed my world view dramatically — there’s nothing I could buy with the same amount of money at home that would derive an equal amount of intangible value. For me, it truly is the “cost of living” life, rather than not living it. ” Trevarthen, 2008

What is it about this country that gets so deeply into it’s guests and has them dreaming of their return? For those of you who have been fortunate enough to visit, I would love to hear your thoughts on this question via email or the comments box at the bottom of this page. Who knows, one day you may find a request from AHA to publish your quote.

September is one of the most gorgeous months to be in Italy. Warm days, cool nights, beautiful and haunting hilltowns and scenery, delicious food, welcoming people and fantastic wines. All of this is Tuscany and Rome in September.

Here is a final quote from a very happy traveler, a philosopher he is not.

“. . . . Rome was our favorite. The history was incredible and the food was magnificent. I’d like to move to a small village to speak Italian and eat pasta every day. We were so tired after our 5 days we needed to be carried to the plane.” Schuppe, 2008

Art History Alive’s trip, “Italy Through a Castle Window”, which is a very nice eight day Tuscany /Rome blend in September, can be a life changing opportunity. Applications can be easily filled out online, or email AHA and let’s get going.

Italy Through a Castle Window: September 23 - 30, 2008

Eight days Tuscany and Rome
Price: $3,500.00*

9/23/08 Day one - Arrive Rome and drive to Castello di Proceno, via the beautiful hilltop town of Orvieto where you will roam around and see the world famous Cathedral. Then off on the short drive to Proceno and check in to our castle rooms, meet Pucci, Giovanni, and Roberto. Celebration dinner at Gianfranco’s!

9/24 - 26/08 Days two-four - The hilltowns of Tuscany. We will explore the pretty towns of Sorano, Pitigliano, Sovana, and the haunting Civita di Bagnoregio. We will lunch in Pienza and visit Montipulciano in the heart of “Brunello land”. Beautiful churches, sunwarmed stone walls with overflowing window boxes a bloom with red geraniums. Delicious Tuscan food, velvety wines (well most of the time) and an opportunity to meet our lovely Italian friends of many years.

9/27/08 Day five - Morning departure for Roma. After check in to the Hotel Forte we will wander this ancient city to include The Spanish Steps, The Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon, and Piazza Navona. Dinner together in our favorite place, Il Corallo, just steps from Piazza Navona.

9/28 and 29/08 Days six and seven - Rome! St. Peter’s Basilica, The Vatican Museum, The Borghese Gallery, the Coliseum, Forum, and some of the coolest restaurants you’ll ever experience.**

9/30/08 Day eight - Arrivaderci Roma

*Price includes everything except your roundtrip airfare to Rome. Meals in our favorite places, house wines, all “in country” transportation, all museum admissions, and travel insurance. Everything paid for before departure for an absolutely worry free travel experience.

**All AHA itineraries are totally flexible. If there are other sites, than those listed, that you would like to see, just let us know. Whether this is your first visit or your tenth, whether your wish to see the “must sees” or you wish to go deeper under the surface, we love this country and want to share it with you. Plain and simple.

We’ve all seen these groups trailing behind a harried guide with a faded raised umbrella. Oft-haggard looking clients dragging along, stopping every now and then while the guide shouts out some historic or cultural facts, hoping that everyone can hear, as the guide continuously checks her watch. The guide keeps checking that watch because of the all important time schedule. It is vital to stay on schedule and to get these tourists to the pre-selected restaurants on time for their pre-ordered meals. Many, many of my travelers have found AHA a welcome and refreshing contrast to their prior experiences on tours like this.

First of all I am the guide and I really love what I do. This is not a vocation for me; it is an avocation, and a much beloved hobby. What could be more fun than guiding a truly, small group of intellectually curious adults through beautiful places, during only the prettiest times of the year.

No bedraggled clients here. AHA clients are rested because if they become tired, we take a rest. Simple. Our hotels are always located in the historic and cultural center of the city visited, and therefore easily within reach for a power nap if needed. No problem. I refuse to wear my clients out, after all, this is their vacation, and one of my goals is that upon their return they remember where they’ve been, what they’ve seen, and what they’ve done, with the most pleasant memories possible.

Quiet chats about art, history, and culture. Again, unlike other tour companies and their employees, this is not my job, it is my passion. Therefore, when we are standing in front of a piece of art, what I try to impart to you is what excites me most, what I have found utterly compelling about that artwork. However, I am very sensitive to museum visitors, being one myself, and therefore choose to be soft spoken with my clients inside, which is easy to do with AHA’s small groups. I often opt to share important information outside of a museum both pre- and post-visit enabling clients to experience the art on their own. Truth-be-told, my preference is stimulating conversation over a lingering and delicious lunch or dinner where we digest the art and history along with our meal.

Flexible itineraries. AHA’s philosophy is to maintain a “loose” itinerary for each day that can be easily and quickly revised if necessary. For example, clients can break off on their own whenever they like. We just arrange where and when to meet up and off they go. Sometimes a client will opt out on a site because they have been there before, no problem at all, we just meet up later. If we have a walk through a park planned and awake to rain, we just switch things around. And finally, each night we discuss and decide together what time we would like to start out in the morning. Try doing that with a group of 18 to 24 people.

Traveling with AHA means enjoying delicious meals anywhere and anytime we want, and this is all included in your travel price. Nothing ever pre-planned or even worse, pre-ordered! Because our groups are the size of a family we can walk into any of our favorite places, or try a new one, and simply ask for a table for the group. Our group size enables us to visit small, inviting, out of the way trattorias, hostarias, and bistros, and typically allows us to sit in the main room of the restaurant where all the fun is, while the groups of 18-24 are off in a back room reserved just for them. I can just imagine what the response would be upon entering a great little place, exuding wonderful aromas, on some back alley and asking, “ Table for 20 please.” I don’t think so.

I’m convinced that the key to success for Art History Alive is our group size and passion for travel. My passion shared with 6 to 8 interested people at a time affords AHA and our clients tremendous flexibility and endless choices. From the very day you sign up, you can be a part of the planning of your trip, so . . . . . where do you want to go?

The Castello, perched high on a spur overlooking the countryside, was built in the 12th century and has been reinvented over the centuries as needed. It has been a castle and defending fortress which protected the inhabitants of the town, a family gathering place for centuries, and during WWII, because of its strategic location near the main road between Rome and Florence, it was occupied by Germans and Americans alike. Since then, it has been divided into lovely apartments, each one unique with beautiful countryside views of Tuscany and Lazio. Our Castello, where we have been staying with happy clients for a decade, is a 3 star accommodation in a 5 star setting, and we love it!

The beds are comfy, the pillows can be lumpy, but having said that, we sleep very well. The towels, that you use more than once, are of the waffle design, and you provide your own soap. The apartments are warm, dry, pretty, and made primarily of stone. The little kitchen corners provide espresso pots and tea kettles to boil water for tea or instant American coffee. They include a small refrigerator and a gas stove as well. Actually the kitchens are equipped for guests to make full meals and serve small groups, and we sometimes do. It is so fun, on an evening, to all gather in one of the larger apartments for local wines, cheeses, and perfectly crunchy bruschetta made in the apartment fireplace. We follow that with a big bowl of pasta slathered in olive oil and freshly grated parmigiano and loaded with a variety of sauteed vegetables and a big salad. Coffee, cookies, and limoncello to finish and we have all enjoyed each others company. If you are curious, use the comment box at the bottom of this page to ask me about the dark Sunday evening I ended up at the castle, with no restaurants open, no vehicle, and eight unsuspecting clients hungry for dinner. Necessity is the mother of invention and flexibility is the key.

That brings me to my next point. There is a great little grocery store across the one and only street in Proceno, owned by our friend, Roberto. Here you can buy the makings of a feast as well as milk for your coffee, a variety of juices, the local wines, cheeses, salami, and fruits. Actually, he has everything. On one trip I had forgotten a crucial tool of the trade, my alarm clock. No problem for Roberto. He disappeared for a few moments and returned to save the day. On another occasion a client, actually my dad, was thrilled to find a lovely pair of slippers for himself there, and is still enjoying them to this day. An amazing little place that is more of a grocery/green grocer/department store, who’s proprietor, Roberto, is delightful to boot. Can’t decide on a cheese? No problem, taste them all. Fall in love with one? No problem, Robert will vacuum pack it for you to take home with you.

Optional items to pack for castle hopping:

Small pillow
Slippers, for the stone floors.
Two small bars of soap, trial size are perfect.
Coffee or tea (I bring a zip lock bag of my favorite espresso and one of sugar.)
A flattened bag at the bottom of your suitcase to be used as a carry on later for the cheese and wine you will most probably collect along the way.
Be sure to include any, and all of you medications that you might need. Medicines are a bit different in a foreign country and a vacation is not a good time to experiment. Include you favorite cold and allergy meds.

Can’t wait to hug Roberto again, he is my hero!

Ciao,

Cynthia

PS  Use the comment box below to send me your comments and suggestions.  Have you subscribed yet?

Here are the things that make AHA tick, and the differences that make us stand out.

An Intimate Journey
Together with our goal of creating a meaningful experience for each and every traveler is our non-negotiable commitment to treating our clients to the best a destination has to offer. We insist on keeping our groups very small so that you can be up close and personal with the art, history, culture, and the natural environment of your chosen destination, as well as develop a camaraderie with the other members of the group. Not only does this camaraderie create harmony in our groups but this small group intimate style of travel brings our clients back to Art History Alive, again and again. We love hearing the comment, “the perfect size” from our friends and we totally agree.

It Is All About You
Seamless worry-free travel from your first inquiry until you are safely home, we have thought of everything so that you don’t have to. Every detail from customized travel information to pre reading lists, we work with you from beginning to end at Art History Alive.

Let’s Jump Into A Culture
Whether you are wandering the cobblestone alleyways in a Tuscan hilltown, or seeing Paris for the first time, our favorite places to stay will be a part of your immersion process. They have been selected because of the slice of history that they can contribute. For some an 11th century Tuscan castle will appeal, for others a tiny turn of the century hotel on the Left Bank of Paris. Then there is the quiet tucked away hotel in Rome on the street where Federico Fellini lived, the monumental Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite (right) with it’s walk in fireplaces, huge scale, gigantic beams, and Native American decor, or the grand dame of them all, the Royal Hawaiian on Waikiki beach. On California’s Pacific Coast, up in the Gold Rush Country, or in the heartbeat of New York City, we will share with you our favorite hotels and you will not be disappointed.

Authentic, chic, and quirky restaurants have been chosen based on “delicious”. In Europe on here in the United States you will taste some of the most delicious food ever and in awesome settings. Some with views out over the ocean, some with views of of ancient churches, or fishing villages, no matter where we are your meals will enrich and complement your immersion. We want to wrap you up in the place of your choice so be prepared.

Strengthen Your Body and Mind

With only six in a group, exploring Yosemite National Park, ancient hilltowns, Paris and Monet’s gardens in Giverny, and/or the cliffs of Positano, your body will be strengthened.

Add to that, the stories of pirates in Sorrento, the mood of Michelangelo while he sculpted the Pieta in Rome, or a discussion of how the California Gold Rush actually effected the whole world, and your intellect will be challenged.

I believe that this statement bears repeating, Art History Alive is for the intellectually curious, life long learners that want to have some fun in gorgeous places. It’s a simple formula that works very well.

So, where do you want to go?
Cynthia

Blogging and Art History Alive are a great match, and this is why. Since I create, then plan, and escort all of the trips myself, getting to know me a bit can be helpful in deciding if AHA is the right travel fit for you. Through my posts, I hope that you will become acquainted with my style of travel, the sites that I think are important to see and understand, and why I feel that way. I will chat about our hotel choices, which are vitally important to me, restaurants we have enjoyed for years, new finds, and lots more. I plan to write a post on each itinerary individually and include pictures, which are worth a thousand words in this business, and along the way, share my travel dreams with you. Blogging also lets me get to know you a bit. By using the comment area at the bottom of the page, you can send me your thoughts, questions, or suggestions.

OK, lets get started. Many clients have asked just how I decide on a destination. I use a very, very simple criteria. If I visit a place, on my own, and it blows me away, my brain instantly kicks into a planning phase. I almost can’t help it, I think I must be “hard wired” that way. Being blown away is the easy part, then starts the research and development, copious note and photo taking, planning day by day, and step by step itineraries and I love every minute of it. I have had the opportunity to travel extensively in the past 25 years and I have seen many, many beautiful and fascinating places, however, only a few actually thrill me, and those are the ones that make the AHA list of upcoming trips.

So, you are beginning to get to know me a bit. I hope that you will come to trust my destination choices as more than worthy of your all important travel decisions. With only 6-8 like minded travelers in a group versus 18-28 and often times many more, AHA can easily guarantee that you will get up close and very personal with your destination and make some great friends along the way. AHA will be available to you from the day you sign on to travel, and take care of everything from the day we meet in our destination until the day we hug goodbye. I love my job so much and would like to share these beautiful places with you.

I hope that you will become a subscriber to the AHA blog which is easy and free. When I post something new, and I hope interesting, on the AHA blog, subscribers will receive a very brief notification by email containing a link to the new item of interest. So, when time permits you can browse the latest from Art History Alive, or any earlier posts that you might find of interest. To become an AHA subscriber, just click the link above or at the top of this page and follow the instructions.

I am really looking forward to getting to know you, and I’d love to know what you would like to learn more about on this blog. Travel hints, destinations, future destinations, art, architecture, food, wine, our DVD, all of the above? So don’t be a stranger, ask your questions and let’s talk soon.

My next post is on the 2008 AHA trip: The Best of Italy - September 17-29, 2008!

Cynthia