Join Lenora Boyle in Italy, the land of passion and possibilities.



Monday, June 21, 2010

Winner of Book Giveaway Contest for "100 Places in Italy.."

Drumroll please....the winner of the book giveaway contest, 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go (Travelers' Tales) by Susan Van Allen, is Virginia Rocha, from the blog,
Italy Lovers. I was going to draw the winner's name out of a hat, but instead I used Random Number Generator.

I encourage all of you to read Susan's book. You will learn a ton about Italy and chuckle throughout the book as you experience her humorous perspective.

I love the quote at the beginning of the book,
"Whenever I go anywhere but Italy for a vacation, I always feel as if I have made a mistake." --Erica Jong

There are still a few spots open if you'd like to visit some of the "100 Places in Italy" during my women's Italy Retreat in Cinque Terre, Italy from September 11-19.
Thanks to everyone who entered the contest. Please visit us here anytime.



Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Excerpt from "100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go" and Book Giveaway Contest


by Susan Van Allen from MyBellaVita's blog contest.

Because I thoroughly enjoyed the book and since I'm teaching my 2nd annual Women's Retreat in Italy to 'live la dolce vita', I am offering a FREE copy too. All you need to do to enter the contest is to LEAVE A COMMENT on THIS post, between today, June 11 and Sunday, June 20, midnight eastern time.

Since Susan Van Allen opened my eyes to the courageous Anita Garibaldi, and because my workshop will be in the region of Liguria, I'm sharing this excerpt from Chapter 37, Parchi di Nervi--Liguria.

"Catch the spirit of gutsy, gorgeous Anita Garibaldi as you walk

along the seaside path named in her honor. Waves crash against

rugged cliffs, as you look out to stunning views of Portofino

and the Cinque Terre. Flanking the other side of the Anita

Garibaldi Path are three villa lawns that comprise the Parchi

di Nervi. They are shaded by palm trees and pines, filled with

exotic plants and Mediterranean flowers.


The Genoa elite used to come here to escape the summer

heat, but now it’s the place to blend with the regular folk.

Couples stroll arm in arm, kids run for the trees with bags of

nuts to feed the squirrels.


The dramatic seascape and exotic nature

of the gardens express the essence of Anita

Garibaldi. She was Italy’s wonder-woman who

fought alongside her husband Giuseppe in

the nineteenth-century revolution that culminated

in giving them the titles “Father and

Mother of Modern Italy.”


I first encountered Anita on Rome’s

Janiculum Hill, where there’s a statue of her brandishing a

pistol as she rides a wild mustang, with a baby tucked under her

other arm.


Anita’s life story is the stuff of a blockbuster movie. She was

born in Brazil and learned horsemanship from her father, who

died when she was twelve. At fourteen, she was married off to a

local older man, Signor Aguiar, aka “the drunken shoemaker.”


While her husband was off at war, who should appear, but

Giuseppe Garibaldi, sailing in from Italy with a passion to

help Brazil fight for its independence. The moment Giuseppe

set eyes on dark-haired Anita with her extraordinary almondshaped

eyes, he walked straight up to her and said, “Maiden,

thou shalt be mine.”


Even though she was still married, Anita

took off to fight by Giuseppe’s side in Brazil and Uruguay, firing

canons, teaching him gaucho guerilla warfare, and giving birth

to their first son in the midst of all that. They married two years

later, after Anita’s first husband died.


In 1848, with four children in tow (between the ages of eight

and two!), Anita and Giuseppe left South America to go to Italy

and join the fight for unification. A year later, Anita died

in Giuseppe’s arms after a battle near Ravenna. She was

twenty-eight and pregnant with their fifth child.


Giuseppe kept Anita’s memory alive. When he rode

in victory to the crowning of Emmanuel II as the first

king of a united Italy, he wore a Brazilian poncho.

And around his neck, Anita’s striped scarf.


The Anita Garibaldi Passeggiata was created by

Marchese Gaetano Gropallo in 1862, just two years after

Italy’s unification. It used to be a rustic path used by fisherman,

but the Marchese fancied it up with lampposts and paving,

so now it’s an extended terrace to not only Gropallo’s gardens,

but also his neighbors, the Grimaldis and the Serras.


The Villa Grimaldi rose garden is the most famous of the three and

especially beautiful in spring. All are now owned by the state,

house museums, and the grounds are used for outdoor ballets

and theater in July.

Parco Villa Grimaldi, Via Capolungo 9, 8–dusk.


Golden Day: Take a train (fifteen minutes) from Genoa to

Nervi, stroll the path and gardens."

*****************************************************


When I interviewed Susan I asked her why women love Italy. She simply said, 'because it feels like home. This means a place that understands us, brings peace, comfort, and stirs the soul. We feel it as soon as we land in Italy: a deluge of sensual pleasures: We see masterpieces, gorgeous sunsets, fountains, gardens, we smell the ragu bubbling on the stove, taste the wine and gelato, hear church bells, and the lilting Italian language. We feel the Mediterranean sun on our shoulders. It’s such an overload of sensual pleasures, we lose our minds and our hearts melt open. The sensual overload snaps you into the moment.'

This gem of a book puts a spotlight on goddesses, the Madonna, female saints, beauties who've inspired masterpieces, women who've taken power. Women have been worshipped here for thousands of years which is one of the reasons we love Italy. The women of Italy are proud of their beauty and sensuality knowing they are descendants of Venus, the goddess of love, beauty and fertility.

*********************************
Now to enter the free giveaway, all you need to do is LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS POST between today, June 11 and Sunday, June 20, midnight eastern time. A winner will be chosen the old fashioned way..by picking your name out of a hat and a copy of "100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go" will be sent to you anywhere in the world!

Thanks for participating! What do you love about visiting Italy?

Photo: Anita Garibaldi statue on Janiculum Hill, Rome. From blog of Susan Van Allen






Thursday, June 3, 2010

Vacation Rentals in Italy

Recently I met Pauline Kenny, who is 'living the dream' of traveling for the fun of it. She has written this post today giving us details about vacation rentals in Italy in addition to recommended reading. Please welcome Pauline Kenny, founder of Slowtrav.com, an online travel community (now owned by Internet Brands, Inc.) Pauline ran the Slow Travel website and community from 2000-2007. She and her husband, Steve Cohen, now run the Slow Europe Website. They have both been traveling extensively for over three decades all over the US and Europe, living in Europe from one to five months every year.

Taking the Time to Experience More of Italy

Lenora’s Italy Retreat for Women is a great way to experience a beautiful part of Italy – the Cinque Terre and the Liguria coast – and the timing is perfect – mid-September when the holiday crowds have returned home and the very hot days have ended. But the week in Liguria will only whet your appetite for Italy; you will want to see more. My favorite regions are close by - Tuscany, Umbria and Le Marche.

From Liguria take the train to Florence, spend a few nights in this Renaissance capital, then pick up a rental car and head out to the countryside. Or pick up a rental car in La Spezia and head out from there. If you have the time, a week in each of these three regions would be a wonderful immersion into Italy. Or pick one region and spend your week there.

If you are flying out of Rome, it is only a couple of hours by car to the airport. Or drop the car off in Chiusi (in Tuscany on the main train line) and take the train to Rome for a visit before you head home. Remember when booking your flight that it is possible to fly into Milan so you arrive close to Liguria, but return from Rome, so you don’t have to drive all the way back to Milan.

If you do not want to rent a car, you can see Tuscany by using Florence as your base. From there you can take trains to Lucca, Pisa, Bologna – even to Rome. Buses will take you to Siena. It is not that easy to get to the small towns, but study the bus schedules and you can do it.

Spoiled for Choice Accommodations

Italy has the full range of accommodation options from luxurious 5-star hotels to family-run inns, from villas for a group of 10 to cottages for two on a farm. My favorite type of accommodations is vacation rentals – houses, cottages or apartments, in cities, towns or the countryside, that you rent by the week (usually Saturday to Saturday). I like to settle into a vacation rental, shop in the local village, do some of my own cooking and explore the area from my comfortable base.

Under That Beautiful Tuscan Sun

When I think of Italy, I think of the Tuscan countryside with its curving country roads, hillsides lined with olive trees or grape vines, medieval hill towns and roads lined with cypress trees. Tuscany is mostly rural with mountains in the north and gentle hills and valleys in the rest of the region. The western edge borders the Mediterranean, but Liguria has more interesting seaside towns. The city of Florence (Firenze in Italian) is the art center – Michelangelo’s David and Botticelli’s Venus are my favorites. Siena, south of Florence, has one of Europe's greatest medieval squares, Piazza del Campo.

My favorite parts of Tuscany are the Chianti, a wine producing area between Florence and Siena, and the Crete Senesi, open countryside dotted with historic hill towns, south of Siena. The main towns in the Chianti are Greve, Panzano, Castelina and Radda, forming a triangle north of Siena. In the Crete the main towns are Montalcino, Pienza and Montepulciano, all close together and all surrounded by beautiful open countryside. You would be happy staying in or near any of these towns.

One of my favorite places in Tuscany is Monte Oliveto, a monastery just north of Pienza, with a magnificent set of Frescoes depicting the Life of St. Benedict painted in the 1400s.

Read more about Tuscany:

Suggested Accommodations: Sant’Antonio (http://www.santantonio.it/) – vacation rentals on an historic estate near Montepulciano

Umbria, the Green Heart of Italy

In between Tuscany and Le Marche lies Umbria. While it is not as popular as Tuscany, nor as perfectly groomed, it is full of interesting hill towns and beautiful countryside (endless fields of sunflowers). In Tuscany the art is in the larger towns but in Umbria you find it in the churches in the villages. Assisi can be overrun with Catholic pilgrims, but is well worth the visit, just to see the frescoes in the cathedral.

My favorite area is central Umbria with the towns of Assisi, Spello, Bevagna and Montefalco. In western Umbria, skip the north shore of Lake Trasimeno (boring summer beach towns), but south of the lake are interesting hill towns like Panicale and Paciano. Southern Umbria, with Spoleto and Todi, is also interesting. Any of these areas would be good to stay in.

One of my favorite places in Umbria is the hill town of Spello and the fresco in its church, Pinturicchio’s cycle of the Annunciation, the Nativity and the Dispute with the Doctors. We spent two weeks in Spello and looked at those frescoes every day - I never grew tired of them.

Read more about Umbria:

Suggested Accommodations:

Le Marche, Mountains and Seaside

Le Marche is less known and less touristed than Tuscany and Umbria, but in many ways is like the Tuscany we experienced traveling there 20 years ago. Less English is spoken, towns cater to locals instead of tourists, restaurants are more “homey”.

Le Marche is mountainous, so prepare yourself for winding mountain roads. It has lovely beaches on the Adriatic. Urbino, in the north, is a magnificent art town. The museum holds the final painting in the “Piero della Francesca Trail”, a series of paintings located in towns in Tuscany and Umbria. Ascoli Piceno, in the south, has a wonderful medieval center.

I must confess that I do not know Le Marche like I do Tuscany and Umbria, so don’t have a favorite spot (yet), but I really liked Urbino.

Read more about Le Marche:

Suggested Accommodations:

Photo Credits: from Pauline Kenny. Top photo: tower, Assisi in Umbria, Italy. Lower Photo of Le Marche - View near Urbino

Have you ever rented in Italy? Do you have a favorite travel destination in Italy?