We are just a little over a month away from our departure on our 12th Candelaria Design Tour Italy! Yes - this is a REAL tour and we really do go with clients, friends, and people who have discovered our trip and just want to go explore Italy in a special way. I have a wonderful group traveling with us this year with travelers as far as Delaware and Oklahoma joining us. I also have some first time to Europe travelers which I love!
Before I get into it - I do have an opening for two travelers as two of my repeat travelers from last year had a little family situation come up so I have room for two more travelers!!! Now I know we are just 39 days away from our departure but I always find some spontaneous adventurers who have their passports and love the idea of going on the spur of a moment!!! Our September 2016 trip is SOLD OUT but we are adding a trip in June of 2016 due to the strong demand! Thank you!
This year's trip will be fantastic. We will fly to Florence where we will spend two days and two nights and explore this beautiful city of the Renaissance. On our first night we will dine on the street right in front of the Duomo and the second night I will take our group to the spectacular Villa ste Michele on the hills above Florence. This hotel, designed by none other than Michelangelo, is so elegant and the perfect contrast to dining on the street the night before.
From Florence we rent cars and convoy to our farmhouse compound in Umbria hosted by Elizabeth Wholey. She will have a traditional Umbrian dinner waiting for us. I love the contrast of being in a luxury hotel in Florence and then to the quiet tranquility and rustic nature of the farmhouses. We will spend a week there and explore the Umbrian and Tuscan countryside including a wine tour through the hill towns of Tuscany and our cooking classes. We will explore and experience such picturesque towns as Assisi, Cortona, Montalcino, Montepulciano, San Gimignano, and Siena.
Then after a week "roughing it" we will drive 5 hours southward towards the Amalfi Coast and our final destination in Positano! Isabel and I have never been here so we will join our travelers in this new adventure! I love that part of the trip when we all explore something new for the first time together. Three nights there and we will return to Phoenix.
I love this trip and the experiences we share and the friendships that transpire! From clients, to friends, to people I have never met and have found us through social media or our website, the best part of the trip is the friendships that grow during the trip. It is truly the intangible that no one expects but becomes so lasting. This will be Isabel's fourth trip with me - of course on trip two we surprised our travelers by inviting them all to our wedding on the last day of the trip at the Villa d' Este on Lake Como. That was quite the grand finale'.......who knows what we have planned this year! Follow this blog and our Candelaria Design Tour Italy Page on Facebook where we will post blogs, pictures and videos from each day's travels! You can also check out our Tour d'Italia page right here on our website for more details on next year's trips! If you have never been to Europe or Italy this is the way to learn to travel and see a part of Italy few tourists ever experience.
