I keep thinking about why Village of Italy was so special. I replied once to this but just can’t put this amazing tour to rest in my mind. Now we did this tour pre-covid so things could be different. We went in November of 2019 and stayed at Villa Pambuffetti in Montefalco. It was old but had such charm. Felt like I was in a movie with Humphrey Bogart and we were staying at an Italian Villa. The couch was probably as old as I was but oh so comfortable and inviting. The owners couldn’t have been more hospitable and lovely. We walked to Montefalco that night and enjoyed a bottle of wine and an appetizer at Oro Rosso. The next day we went to Assisi, hometown of St. Francis. After a warming soul visit to the Bacilica in Assisi we visited a local farmer and his unbelievably trained dogs that hunt for truffles. Those rascals (dogs) were just mind blowing to watch. Sure enough they found truffles and took them right to their handler without damaging them. Later we went to the scenic country estate where we enjoyed a farm-to-table dinner where every course contained truffles. Yes even dessert had truffles in it. The view from the dining room was priceless and the food was absolutely scrumptious. Now here is where it got tricky. We walked in the dark from the country estate down to where the bus was parked that then took us back to outside the Villa. You need a flashlight for this part because between the dogs at the farm and the dogs who live at the Villa, there are many land mines if you get my meaning.
The Umbrian Hill Towns will capture your heart. One that we walked to and explored was Civita di Bagnoregio and my poor old husband bless his heart made it the whole way to this hill town and back. This town gives real meaning to the name “Umbrian Hill Towns”. We loved this town and spent lots of time there.
On our way to the Heart of Tuscany we stopped at Az. Agr. Podere La Pietriccia di Mazzetti Stefano. This was a farm but wow what a farm. We were greeted by the owner, aka farmer, and he gave us an interesting talk about his farm and what we were going to do at his farm. While we listened we sat at long tables on a patio overlooking a vineyard and enjoyed wine, bread, cheese and prosciutto. Then we all went into the big prep/dining room and put on aprons, chef hats and washed our hands. We peeled vegetables, made pasta dough, made raviolis and I forget what else we did but we prepped all the food for lunch. We then sat down and enjoyed another glass of wine while the farm crew cooked our lunch.
While in the countryside of Lucca we visited a traditional frantoio (olive oil mill). Once again we sat at big long tables and listened to how olive oil was made while we enjoyed several types of food with olive oil as one of the main ingredients. It was yummy to say the least. We then got lucky and were able to see a farmer bring in his olive crop and we watched it go through the process of becoming olive oil.
We took a “scenic boat ride along the Ligurian Coast” to get to Levanto. My goodness what a ride that was but we made it just fine and it helped kick up the ole adrenaline. We spent two nights in Levanto and one night the hotel owner cooked a dinner for us that was unbelievable. We had a free day while in Levanto so we decided to explore the town from head to toe. Went to the market also and I found two embroidered table cloths that were second hand, but in beautiful shape. Felt like I won the lottery in shopping.
While at Lake Orta we took a boat ride to little Isola San Giulio. There is a Walk of Silence on this island. Of course I wanted to take this walk and with a skeptical look on his face my sweet husband said “ I gotta see this”.
These were just some of the experiences we had on Village of Italy Tour and why it is our favorite RS Tour.
