Tag Archives: Italy

The Italy Earthquake and What You Can Do to Help

Update 10/30/16: Yet another earthquake has hit Italy today—the strongest in 36 years. The epicenter is near the town of Norcia, where the medieval basilica of St Benedict is among the historic buildings demolished by the disaster. Norcia is close the epicenter of the August 24 quake near Amatrice, which killed nearly 300 people. Thankfully, this one has only caused injuries, about 20, and no deaths.

Updated 10/27/16: A 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit central Italy on August 24, centered about 65 miles northeast of Rome, in the town of Amatrice. Sadly, nearly 300 people were killed, according to officials, and the mayor of Amatrice told CNN,“The town is no more.”

The Italian Red Cross has set up an information page for those who want to donate funds to the rescue effort. The organization is also asking those who are in the area to donate blood (if they’re eligible) and to unlock their personal Wi-Fi systems (ie., make it so that passwords are not required to log on) so that rescue workers and victims can freely use their Internet access to stay connected to each other and other emergency service workers.

For the longer relief effort, one of our own Trusted Travel Experts, Andrea Grisdale, has a few plans in action. In addition to promoting a donation appeal on her IC Bellagio website and raising funds through her nonprofit association Prolezzeno, she says: “We are working with the Lake Como town of Menaggio to organize fund-raising event on September 9. We are also working with towns in central lake area of lake Como to get all our restaurants and trattorias to put Spaghetti Alla Amatriciana on their menus and for every plate sold they donate two euro to earthquake appeal.” She adds that all funds collected will be managed by Associazione Italiano Alpini (Gruppo Di Menaggio), “as they have earthquake support experience and they are local and this gives folks confidence that monies will reach the right destination.”

During the immediate aftermath of the quake, Facebook activated its Safety Check feature so that those in the area could alert friends and family that they were okay, and so that those at home could search for travelers and confirm their status. Google also has a Public Alerts page, where you can see a map of affected areas and track information on earthquakes, floods, and other emergency situations, sometimes with forecasts before they happen.

Sadly, the disaster in Italy was not the only one that day: Myanmar also suffered a 6.8 magnitude earthquake, which damaged at least 66 stupas in the ancient city of Bagan. The shake was felt as far away as Bangkok, Thailand; Calcutta, India, and Dhaka, Bangladesh. Only three people have been reported killed so far, including two children.

A smaller quake hit Indonesia on August 24 too, off the coast in the Flores sea. Luckily no one has been injured and a tsunami warning was not issued. That’s a relief for the country, which sustained a 6.5 magnitude quake in June that damaged buildings in western Sumatra.

Japan suffered a double quake this past spring: a 6.2 on April 14, followed by a 7.0 two days later. And in the western hemisphere that same week, Ecuador was rocked by a huge 7.8 earthquake on April 16 and then hit again in May; more than 1,300 people were killed in both, and tens of thousands were injured.

We’re not ticking off all these tragedies to scare anyone, nor are we suggesting that you stop traveling, or attempting to capitalize on such devastation. Rather, our goal (as always at WendyPerrin.com) is to keep you informed and to help you be as prepared for your travels as possible—and that includes being prepared for the unlikely event that you’ll be caught in an earthquake. To that end, we’re putting together a guide on how to be prepared for an emergency when you’re traveling overseas. Stay tuned.

#terremoto, ricognizione aerea #drone #vigilidelfuoco macerie #amatrice pic.twitter.com/Ymn8h3T4CI

— Vigili del Fuoco (@emergenzavvf) August 24, 2016

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Rent A Villa In Italy For the Whole Family

7 Replies

Poolside and deck view. Photo: Homebase Abroad

Countryside view. Photo: Homebase Abroad

Outdoor side view. Photo: Homebase Abroad

Dining room. Photo: Homebase Abroad

Master suite sitting area. Photo: Homebase Abroad

Outdoor dining. Photo: Homebase Abroad

Dining pergola. Photo: Homebase Abroad

Cantina detail. Photo: Homebase Abroad

Cinema night. Photo: Homebase Abroad

Cinema seating. Photo: Homebase Abroad

Bellavista suite detail. Photo: Homebase Abroad

Brunello suite sitting room. Photo: Homebase Abroad

Living room view. Photo: Homebase Abroad

Interior view. Photo: Homebase Abroad

Breakfast nook. Photo: Homebase Abroad

children's TV room Ca di Pesa Italy villa

Children's TV room. Photo: Homebase Abroad

Jungle room. Photo: Homebase Abroad

Countryside view. Photo: Homebase Abroad

Question:

Hi Wendy,

I’m looking for a really special villa in Tuscany for a family reunion for my mom and dad’s 40th wedding anniversary. There will be 18 of us, ranging in age from three years old to 82. We want a great setting with fabulous views, and also a good base for making day trips to the hill towns. Can you suggest a village or villa for us—or a good resource for securing a rental?
Thanks for any help you can offer,

—Margaret

Answer:

You’ve got a challenge, Margaret: The dreamiest villas in Tuscany tend to be restored farmhouses or castles filled with things that can be treacherous to toddlers or grandmas or both: slippery centuries-old stone steps, open-hearth fireplaces, wobbly antique furniture, spiky medieval-style door latches, etc. I know this from personal experience, having rented an ancient Italian farmhouse with my own mom and kids. I went to sleep every night worried my two-year-old was going to trip over an antique, go flying into a door latch, catapult down the stairs, and end up in the fireplace.

But I do, in fact, have a place in mind for you. Several years ago, when I was in Tuscany I was shown a rambling property called Ca di Pesa that is actually an historic borgo (medieval village). I’ve remembered it since because it struck that unusual note of being sophisticated enough for adults (it’s got a wine cellar where you can dine by candelight, for instance, not to mention a cinema and a bocce court), while also kid-friendly enough for tots (it’s got plenty of flat lawn and a freshwater pool with a child-friendly gate). It’s in an ideal central location amid the vineyards and olive groves of Chianti, near the charming town of Panzano, halfway between Florence and Siena. And it fits 18.

Two caveats: First, a lot of people who rent homes in Tuscany like to be able to walk into town, and while it’s only a five-minute drive to town, it’s a 3.6-mile walk—and not on a charming country path but just on the regular road. Second, the price tag is high, so it helps if you can fill the house. (Maybe you can scrounge up two more family members to make your group 20?) The price in May is $22,500 for the week—which sounds exorbitant until you do the math and realize it translates to $161 per person per night and includes a concierge and a welcome dinner.

So it’s a splurge, for sure, but then again, you did ask for “really special.” And, to this day, whenever I fantasize about the Tuscan villa vacation I desperately need, I think back to Ca di Pesa and look through the photos above. My favorite touch in the house? The jungle fresco in one of the bedrooms.

Florence’s Vasari Corridor Is Closed, Effective Immediately

1 Reply

Florence’s fire department has shut down the famed Vasari Corridor “effective immediately.” The medieval passageway is a hidden gem of an art gallery that is lined with approximately 700 works of art collected by Cardinal Leopold de Medici. The Corridor connects the Uffizi Gallery to the Pitti Palace via the Ponte Vecchio and was first constructed in 1565. Now 450 years old, it needs some renovations to bring it up to fire code.

Uffizi Director Eike Schmidt had previously announced a plan to revamp the Corridor—most of which has been closed to the public for years—and make it accessible to all visitors to the museum. Prior to the shutdown, the gallery had been open only to travelers who planned their trips through Italy travel specialists such as Maria Gabriella Landers, one of Wendy’s Trusted Travel Experts for Italy.

This most recent shutdown of the gallery is not part of Schmidt’s original plan, but the hope is that it will not delay the overall renovation project, which would’ve seen the Corridor refurbished and reopened in October of this year.

Vasari Corridor florence italy by lloyd alter

Inside the Vasari Corridor, you’ll find one of the largest collections of self-portraits. Photo: Lloyd Alter/Flickr

The experience is worth waiting for. Wendy has visited the Corridor herself and described it to Independent Traveler: “The Vasari Corridor…was built by the Medicis so they could walk between their workplace and residence invisibly, spying on their subjects from on high. The passageway houses the world’s largest collection of self-portraits by artists, and also provides some of Florence’s best views, but that’s not even what makes it so cool. The thrill is how it makes Florence’s history and secrecy come to life in such a visceral way. As the passageway winds this way and that, growing narrower and darker and more rough-hewn, it feels like you’re walking back in time. Alone in the tunnel with your guide, peering down into the shops on the bridge, into hotel rooms on the river, even into the church balcony that the Medicis used, you feel the power that the Medicis must have felt. Seeing without being seen, you get to be a spy like them.”

There’s no news yet on how long the shutdown will last but, in the meantime, there is plenty more behind-the-scenes insider access that travelers to Italy can enjoy—experiences available through Maria, as well as through our other Trusted Travel Expert for Italy, Andrea Grisdale. For example, Maria is happy to arrange an exclusive visit to the 16th-century Torrigiani Gardens, Europe’s largest private garden, with the Florentine nobleman who owns it as your guide. Andrea can set up you up in a beautiful mahogany speedboat for a lake tour that will reveal the many of the area’s magnificent hidden mansions and gardens, or get you access to Capri’s secret grottos.

What Italy experience would you recommend for other travelers?

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

How to Find Italy’s Most Authentic Gelato (and Where)

5 Replies

Few things excite me more about Italy in summertime than the prospect of all that gelato. Milky and dense, this Italian delicacy feels both familiar and exotic to a palate raised on American ice cream. The difference: America’s iconic dessert is made with more cream, gelato with more milk; the latter is also served at a higher temperature.

How to find, and properly eat, Italy’s finest gelato? Here’s intel from our Italy-based Trusted Travel Experts:.

Color will tell you a lot about the gelato—it should be natural, not neon. Photo: Marcello Baglioni

Color is key to sussing out a truly artisanal gelateria.

Look first at the banana and pistachio flavors: They should be a grayish white and earthy green, respectively,, says Andrea Grisdale of IC Bellagio. No flavors should have anything approaching a neon hue.

Gelato should be packed densely into the bins. Wave patterns mean air was pumped into the dessert. Photo: CIU Travel

If it’s not packed flat into the bins it’s served from, it’s not high-quality.

While those fluffy waves of gelato in the display case might look appealing, says Brian Dore of CIU Travel, they actually signal that air was pumped into the dessert, simply for appearance’s sake. Like Donald Trump’s hairdo, those waves are all about style, not substance.

It’s normal to have to pay for gelato before you order it.

Let the cashier know what size you want, in a “cono” or a “coppa”—the smallest version of each usually allows room for two flavors—and then bring your receipt to the counter to place your order. “It’s not very common, but you can ask for a small taste,” says Andrea.

You shouldn’t mix cream- and fruit-based flavors.

That’s what connoisseurs say (though that hasn’t always stopped me).

It’s okay to eat it for breakfast.

We all know by now not to order a cappuccino in Italy after noon, but no such rules apply to gelato. In his 15 years living on Sicily, says Marcello Baglioni of Agave Travel Creative, he saw plenty of Italians make a breakfast of a sandwich of ricotta, pistachio, and Modicano chocolate gelato pressed between fresh brioche.

Gelato is more than just a snack; it’s a ritual.

It’s “a ritual tied to the passeggiata in a way that no other food in this street-food-bereft culture is,” writes Brian on his Postcards from Italy blog. “Where almost anything in the U.S. can be eaten on the go, very few Italian foods can, and very few Italians want to! Gelato is one of the few exceptions, and everyone from stately grandfathers to young hipsters to toddling grandchildren can be seen walking down the street licking dripping cones or digging into cups with tiny plastic shovel-shaped spoons for the late afternoon ‘merenda’ (snack) or after dinner on hot summer evenings.”

Here are a few of Andrea, Brian, and Marcello’s favorite gelaterias:

Gelateria del Teatro in Rome. Photo: Concierge in Umbria

In Rome:

Giolitti has been making gelato since the 19th century. The stracciatella (a milky base with fine chocolate shavings mixed in) is a must. Via degli Uffici del Vicario, 40

Gelateria del Teatro serves cake flavors that reflect the founder’s pastry-chef training, as well as inventive options such as ricotta, fico, e mandorle (ricotta, fig, and almonds). Via dei Coronari, 65

Gelateria Alberto Pica is known for its fragoline (strawberry) and riso zabaione (similar to rice pudding). Via della Seggiola, 12

Gelateria Carapina is a new style of gelateria, playing off of the slow-food movement with intensely flavored, creamy gelato and a limited selection based on seasonal availability. Via dei Chiavari, 37

In Bellagio (on Lake Como):

At Gelateria del Borgo, Andrea recommends the vanilla, hazelnut, and pistachio. Via Garibaldi, 46

In Ragusa, Sicily:

Gelati Divini serves flavors inspired by local wine varietals such as Moscato and Nero d’Avola. Piazza Duomo, 20

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

The Truth About Cinque Terre’s Supposed Tourist Limits

1 Reply

Lots of news outlets have been reporting that Italy will soon start limiting the number of people allowed to visit Cinque Terre this summer. The crowded seaside villages have become so clogged with tourists over the past few years that this announcement—of a plan to require tickets and cap visitors at 1.5 million—sounded realistic.

But as so often happens, the reports got most of it wrong (as they did with the scare that Venice was banning all wheeled luggage). You will not need tickets to visit the Cinque Terre this summer. We checked in with our Trusted Travel Experts for Italy to get the real details.

Turns out that the ticket idea broached by the president of Parco delle Cinque Terre was just that—an idea. As his staff clarified for Andrea Grisdale, it’s true that the national park is concerned about the high numbers of tourists to their UNESCO World Heritage Site—since 2011, the number of visitors has shot up from about 400,000 to about 2.5 million in 2015.

But officials are only brainstorming and researching options at this point—they are not limiting the number of visitors in 2016. One proposed idea is an online ticketing system called the Cinque Terre card (which would give visitors unlimited train access and admission to the park’s trails); another proposal could be a simple increase in prices. Beyond that, other ideas have been floating around—basing ticket availability on weather and trail conditions; an app that would show live information about traffic and tourist congestion in each village—but nothing is concrete.

At this stage, it’s too early to tell what will definitely happen. And you can be sure that we will keep you updated with the facts from our well-connected experts

As Brian Dore and Maria Gabriella Landers clarified, “There is nothing to this story other than it highlights something we’ve been saying to our clients for a long time: The Cinque Terre are overrun with tourists and may not be the authentic, fishing villages and peaceful hiking experience they have in mind.”

Of course, the Cinque Terre are not so popular by accident—they are beautiful, and remain on many people’s bucket lists despite the crowds. If these five towns along Italy’s Ligurian coast are on your travel list, here are some tips for making the most of your visit:

See the towns by boat.

“The five Terre towns are really tiny, so any land-based visit or hiking will be crowded, and the public ferries and local trains that go from town to town are also crowded,” notes Maria. “It is lovely to get out on the water to see the coast from that perspective—the view from the water is really what people see in dramatic photos of the area anyway.” Maria and Brian can set up a private boat excursion for you on a speedboat or sailboat; you can read more about it here.

Plan far ahead.

Andrea recommends you reserve accommodation as much in advance as possible, as the availability in the hotels is quickly booked up.

Visit during shoulder seasons.

“Consider the months of April and October ,as there are fewer tourists and a beautiful time of the year for weather and scenery,” says Andrea. “May, June, July August and September are always busy months for this area.”

Put in the leg work and you’ll be rewarded.

In a great blog post on the Cinque Terre, Maria and Brian point out that “Corniglia, the center village, is one of the least visited, as its clifftop position requires climbing 400 stairs, but because of this also has some of the most stunning views and hikes on the coast.”

Eat local

With all that walking, you’ll need sustenance. Don’t miss the local specialties: Liguria is the birthplace of pesto Genovese and is also known for focaccia bread, seafood, and Sciacchetrà, a wine produced in the hills of Cinque Terre.

Explore beyond Cinque Terre

Pro tip from Maria: Explore the area beyond the five towns. “I often suggest that visitors to the area stay in Santa Margherita Ligure or Portofino, which are also popular, but larger and a bit more expansive so you don’t feel the constant crush of your fellow travelers. The Cinque Terre is only a few minutes away, and you can visit the five towns in one day. You can also hike in the hills above Portofino. Other small coastal towns that are not strictly part of the 5 Terre but are nearby include Comogli, Moneglia and Porto Venere.”

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Italy Vacation Ideas for Every Age

Leave a reply

When it comes to family-friendly destinations, Italy is near the top of the list—and not just because of all the pasta and gelato. Italians simply love kids (but really, is there anything they’re not passionate about?). They’ll welcome your rambunctious toddler into their restaurant, pinch your baby on the cheeks, give your teen all the free samples of local cheeses she can handle.

That said, not every part of Italy is perfect for every age. Here are examples of where you might not want to take your kids, and a better alternative for each.

For beach lovers

Don’t…

Expect a relaxed beach vacation on the Amalfi Coast; all those picturesque cliffs lack childproofing. If your kid isn’t old enough to reliably obey your instructions, you’re sure to be stressed. Plus, the best beaches are always a long walk or a boat ride away from wherever you’re staying.

Instead…

Base yourself in Lucca, and get your sun and sand in the towns of Forte dei Marmi, Pietra Santa, Viareggio, all of which have sandy beaches that gradually give way to gentle surf. Lucca itself is a flat city, and you can easily circumnavigate the old town on bikes without worrying about losing track of the kids.

For city lovers

Venice, Italy. Photo: Leprince/Pixabay

Don’t…

Risk losing your kid in Venice. It’s hard enough for adults to find their way around this maze of a city; imagine trying to retrieve a four-year-old who zipped around a corner ahead of you and now is nowhere in sight.

Instead…

Wait a few years; there’s simply no other place like Venice, and it’s great for families with kids seven and up. Arrive by train, and hustle out of the station first, camera in hand, so you can capture that magical moment when your kids truly grasp a city where the roads are made of water.

For Sporty Families

Lake Como, Italy. Photo: Fototeca ENIT/Gino Cianci

Don’t…

Plan to get around by bike in Tuscany. They’re called hill towns for a reason—you’ll be sweating for your groceries, either with offspring who leave you in the dust or groan about all the hills you’re making them climb.

Instead…

Head to Lake Como for waterskiing, wake-boarding, hiking, canyoning, and plenty of other ways to keep your kids’ veins running with adrenaline. For more mellow multigenerational groups, Mara recommends a kayaking-and-walking day trip from Bellagio, paddling around the point in boats and then re-crossing the peninsula on foot.

For the Overscheduled, Media-Obsessed Teen

Milan italy city center photo by Igor Saveliev Pixabay

Milan, Italy. Photo: Igor Saveliev/Pixabay

Don’t…

Drop your family in the countryside and then pack your days with outings to stave off teenage boredom.

Instead…

Spend an entire week in Milan or Naples, with little on the agenda other than coffee-drinking and people watching. Teens are attracted to things that feel relevant to their lives, and these two modern, vibrant cities fit the bill without feeling overrun by tourists.

For Wine Connoisseurs

Outdoor dining. Photo: Homebase Abroad

Don’t…

Pack your days with vineyard visits, even if there are bocce courts or hobby horses to keep your kids occupied at the wineries. Travel as a way to bring families together, not separate them.

Instead…

Do as the locals would, and don’t drink without food—an excellent example to set for kids, by the way. The right trip designer can arrange for a sommelier and chef to come to your villa and present a menu of local dishes paired with regional wines. The sommelier will help you understand how the two go together, and their guidance can be calibrated to any level of experience.

For a WOW trip in an Italian villa or estate for a groups large and small, Ask Wendy.

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

The Rewards of an Italian Villa Vacation in Winter

Leave a reply

Le Ripe villa, Tuscany, Italy. Photo: Home Base Abroad

Via Lambertesca apartment rental, Florence, Italy

Via Lambertesca apartment, Florence, Italy. Photo: Home Base Abroad

San Lorenzo villa rental, Dolomites, Italy

San Lorenzo villa, Dolomites, Italy. Photo: Home Base Abroad

Outdoor whirlpool, San Lorenzo villa, Dolomites, Italy. Photo: Home Base Abroad

La Civetta villa rental, Maremma, Tuscany, Italy

La Civetta villa, Maremma, Tuscany, Italy. Photo: Home Base Abroad

Villa Maria Serena, Lake Como, Italy villa rental

Villa Maria Serena, Lake Como, Italy. Photo: Home Base Abroad

Villa Sola Cabiati, Lake Como, Italy villa rental

Villa Sola Cabiati, Lake Como, Italy. Photo: Home Base Abroad

How does a holiday in an Italian villa sound? Like a dream, if you ask us. Sure, the holidays are lovely no matter where you spend them because it’s always wonderful to be with family…but wouldn’t they be just a bit more wonderful if you were sipping Italian wine from the scenic backyard of your own Tuscany estate? Yeah, you know it would. That’s why we checked in with Mara Solomon, our Trusted Travel Expert for Large Italian Villas (four bedrooms or more), to find the best, most beautiful properties for all your holiday getaways. Start planning your Italian villa vacation now…

Thanksgiving in Tuscany

Le Ripe villa, Tuscany, Italy. Photo: Home Base Abroad

“One of our favorite houses is Le Ripe, outside the village of San Casciano dei Bagni, a little jewel box of a medieval village that’s a 1.6 km walk from the house. The view is of all the hills that go up to Monte Amiata—it’s breathtaking. It’s a main house for eight with an adjacent building that brings you up to 14. You have working fireplaces, and the cook, Antonietta, is amazing. The owner of the house has also developed a lovely spa, and November is a perfect time to visit (so are December and January) because you can sit in 104-degree water and look out over the gorgeous countryside. The other reasons to come here for Thanksgiving are that airfare is cheap and you are deep into the autumn festival. You have fresh porcini, zucca, chestnuts—it’s a huge food time here and there are many simple quaint festivals to celebrate the harvest.”

Christmas in Florence

Via Lambertesca apartment, Florence, Italy. Photo: Home Base Abroad

“I love Florence for Christmas. They put these long, white banners over the streets with illuminated stars and snowflakes, and it’s beautiful. They don’t do the whole commercial Christmas here—you get together with your family and you eat. And there’s no better place for it. Via Lambertesca is the apartment I would recommend in Florence. It’s between the Ponte Vecchio and the Duomo—there is no better location. It has five double rooms and comfortably accommodates ten people. It’s modern and gorgeous, and we have a terrific cook who can prepare a whole holiday dinner.”

Christmas or New Year’s in Milan/Lake Como

Villa Maria Serena, Lake Como, Italy. Photo: Home Base Abroad

“Milan is fabulous right now—so alive, so interesting, and the people are beautiful. As for where to stay, this is a contrarian view, but I recommend Lake Como. I was at Lake Como a few years ago in December and it snowed, and it was the most beautiful I’d ever seen it. We have three houses that have beautiful working fireplaces, and that are so sumptuous that you just want to relax indoors and enjoy. Plus, it takes no time at all to get to Milan from here—they’ve really improved the highways so it’s only about an hour, and we would arrange the car so you don’t have to drive.”

Winter Break in Venice and then the Dolomites

San Lorenzo villa, Dolomites, Italy. Photo: Home Base Abroad

“For a February or March break, I am an enormous fan of doing a city culture trip to Venice and then going two hours to the Dolomites for skiing, where you can do the Sellaronda ski loop of connected lifts and trails.

We have a beautiful house called San Lorenzo. It’s small and intimate with four rooms and three and a half baths, and it can accommodate ten people. It’s up in the mountains overlooking Val Badia, Val Pusteria, and Val Aurina. It’s really a retreat: You have a stainless steel heated outdoor whirlpool, you have a full indoor spa with sauna, you have a huge wood-burning stove, and you have people who cook and look after you and who are gems.”

Easter/Spring Break in Maremma, Tuscany

La Civetta villa, Maremma, Tuscany, Italy. Photo: Home Base Abroad

“April is pretty much the best time for getting a hit of spring in Italy, when it’s still bad weather back home on the East Coast. My preference for April is the Maremma region. There’s a microclimate here, where spring comes early. It’s not pool weather but it’s warm, colorful spring days, and after a long winter, we’re all just starved for that. It doesn’t work if you’re from L.A., but as a New Englander I’m especially drawn here.

La Civetta is one of our properties in this area. It’s five minutes from a cool little village where you’ll find a Croatian tailor who will make you a beautiful jacket in a week, for men or women. It’s also near another thermal bath that’s very natural, rustic, and wonderful.

In addition to this little tailor, there are also food shops—and this is wine country. All the big heavy-hitting wines—they’re from here. You’re driving by the vineyards as you come to the house. So anybody with an interest in wine could easily fill an April here. And it’s nice because this is not when other people are there. You pay nothing for your plane ticket, it’s not crowded, and it’s much easier to see the vineyards.”

Be a smarter traveler: Follow Wendy Perrin on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Florence Can Be Kid-Friendly: Just Follow These Tips

Leave a reply

When I won Condé Nast Traveler’s Dream Trip contest three years ago, it was based on my essay about wanting to take my kids to Florence, a city I loved but that I didn’t think of as kid-friendly. Wendy and her WOW List expert Maria Landers crafted a great two-week trip for us—so great that Florence quickly became our family’s favorite destination, and we’ve now returned to the city every summer since the prize trip.

My advice to families heading to Florence for the first time? Embrace what Florence is known for—namely art, architecture, history and food. Here are my recommendations for how best to do that with kids:

Embrace the Art

visiting Pitti Palace with kids Florence Italy

Our guide Elvira (arranged through CIU Travel) showing our kids the art of the Pitti Palace. Photo: Eric Stoen/Travel Babbo

Art is everywhere in Florence—in the public squares, in the museums, and even on street signs. Our kids loved the Bargello, Academia, and Uffizi Museums with Elvira, our extraordinary guide arranged by Concierge of Umbria. At each museum we were able to skip the long lines and we had decidedly kid-friendly tours, focusing on lesser-known important pieces, as well as the major works. We never spent more than an hour in any museum, and every stop involved not only seeing the art but also interacting with it. Elvira arranged scavenger hunts and sketching sessions for us around town. After my kids saw David, they went out to patio of the Academia and drew photos of what they thought Goliath looked like. And our private tour through the Uffizi’s Vasari Corridor was extraordinary. Our kids still remember the corridor above their heads every time they cross the Ponte Vecchio.

We’ve also done private art sessions. Paul Bennett, another Trusted Travel Expert on Wendy’s WOW List,, set up a fresco making session with a Florentine artist. And through Arte al Sole the kids had a sketching class combined with a scavenger hunt through the Boboli Gardens. The best thing about the Arte al Sole class? We, the parents, weren’t involved at all. We dropped the kids off with their art expert Andi and picked them up three hours later at the entrance to the gardens. It’s the only time we’ve separated from the kids in Europe and they loved it!

Embrace the Architecture

The Palazzo Vecchio in Florence reflected in a puddle. Photo: Eric Stoen/Travel Babbo

My favorite way to get the kids to appreciate the architecture of Florence? Climbing to the top of the Duomo. Buy tickets in advance across the street, get there early and enjoy! And don’t fall for this “private tour” scam.

This year we also added in a scavenger-hunt-with-a-twist through the city using cards from Tava Adventures. The cards are for kids and show the major sites of the city, like the Uffizi, Santa Croce, and the Duomo, along with some games for the kids to play during downtime. But since our kids had been to Florence several times they already knew the information on the cards, so we tested the kids by letting them lead us to each site in the city based on the cards. That challenged their navigation skills and memory (and our patience a little!) but they got us to all of the sites successfully.

The last thing that we do is to make an annual visit to Piazzale Michelangelo above the city. It’s a great place to enjoy the sunset, but we let the kids point out to us all of the elements of the skyline so that they remember, for example, the difference between the churches of San Lorenzo, Santa Croce, and Santa Maria Novella. The Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, and Ponte Vecchio are all visible from there as well.

Embrace the History

Flag throwing with the Bandierai degli Uffizi, Florence Italy

Flag throwing with the Bandierai degli Uffizi. Photo: Eric Stoen/Travel Babbo

History is obviously intertwined with art and architecture, but there are some excellent museums that are more historical than artistic—like the Bardini, Galileo and Stibbert museums—that our kids really enjoyed. We also had a great visit to the Torrigiani Gardens with Elvira and Maria, which included a tour of the gardens (Europe’s largest private garden) by the owner of the property and a private demonstration by the Bandierai degli Uffizi, one of the most prestigious flag carrying/throwing groups. Such a cool afternoon, all rooted in Florence’s history.

Take walks with one or more of the kids at sunrise; you’ll have the city to yourselves. Photo: Eric Stoen/Travel Babbo

My favorite thing to do in Florence, sometimes with one of the kids and sometimes by myself, is to walk around the city right at sunrise. There are a few locals out but very few tourists, and it’s amazing to have all of the sites virtually to myself. I love standing in the middle of the Piazza della Signoria, closing my eyes and thinking about the Medici, artists, and others who have walked through that exact spot. Florence isn’t particularly enjoyable in the middle of a summer day with hordes of tourists and day-trippers off of cruise ships, but early in the day, as the sun is rising and the city is coming to life, it’s magical.

Embrace the Food

Become a regular at a restaurant during your trip and you’ll soon be treated like family. Photo: Eric Stoen/Travel Babbo

We love the food in Florence. Every year we return to our favorite restaurants and also make a point of trying new places. Even when we don’t love a trattoria we rarely have a bad meal. My primary dining advice to people when traveling to Europe applies in Florence just like it does in Paris or anywhere else: become locals! If you find a place that you love, go back again and again. You’ll find the service is completely different when the staff recognizes you and appreciates that you’ve returned. We typically eat at our favorite casual place three times a summer. The staff remembers us even when we haven’t visited in 11½ months and greets us with handshakes and hugs. We sometimes get a local discount. And this year we were given a bottle of our favorite wine as we were leaving the final time. The restaurant is barely in the top 50 percent of Florentine restaurants on TripAdvisor, but to us it has some of the best food in the city and the service is great. Find your own favorite place and go back again and again! I promise it’s worth it.

A cooking class is a great way to introduce kids to local cuisine, and to continue the memories once you get home. Photo: Eric Stoen/Travel Babbo

Beyond restaurants, we’ve done many cooking classes in and around the city. We’ve learned how to make pizza, gelato and pasta. We’ve made chocolate, tiramisu and salads. We’ve cooked chicken, pork and zucchini flowers using only local ingredients. Every cooking experience has been excellent and our kids have loved every minute. Maria and CIU Travel set up several of the cooking classes for us. We’ve also found others through TripAdvisor—simply search for Florence, and then go to Things to Do and choose Classes and Workshops and then Cooking Classes in the menu on the left (here’s my full guide on how to use TripAdvisor to find great things to do). Our last class was extraordinary, through Let’s Cook with Jacopo and Anna, but there are a lot of highly-ranked classes.

Overall, we’ve found Florence to be extraordinarily kid-friendly, but it’s kid-friendly because we’ve gone out of our way to find family-friendly guides who make the art and history of Florence come alive, and we’ve made walking around and sightseeing highly interactive. Food is no longer something to order; it’s something to learn how to make, and then to build on that when we get home. Take your kids to Florence! But do it right.

Meet our writer

Eric Stoen, the founder of Travel Babbo, travels around the world constantly with his three kids. Wendy met him when he won Condé Nast Traveler’s Dream Trip Contest a few years ago and was so impressed with his travel savvy that she invited him to contribute to WendyPerrin.com.

5 Steps to the Best Family Vacation You’ll Ever Have

3 Replies

Traveling to almost 30 countries with young kids I’ve learned a little something about crafting vacations that the kids love and remember but that are also sophisticated and fun for the adults. Here are five tips for making summer travel gratifying for the entire family:

Our tour of The Marais with Paris Muse. Photo by Eric Stoen/TravelBabbo.com.

1) Book a family-oriented walking tour.

No matter where you’re going, there’s likely a company that offers walking tours through certain neighborhoods or museums. Select one that’s geared toward the kids. Good walking tours are interactive and highly educational, without the kids even realizing how much they’re learning. And given that we parents have forgotten most of the history that we learned in school, they’re great for us too! My family has now done walking tours in Paris, Florence, Athens, Ephesus (Turkey) and Valletta (Malta). I particularly like those we’ve done with Context Travel and Paris Muse. An added benefit: By arranging museum tours in advance, you can generally skip the lines. With our guide from Paris Muse we walked right past an hour-long queue at the Louvre.

My daughter making pici pasta at Boscarecce Cooking School. Photo by Eric Stoen/TravelBabbo.com

2) Consider a cooking class.

What better way to let the kids be creative, teach them life-long skills, and introduce them to local cuisine? Our kids always come home wanting to cook the things that they made abroad, and they’ve become better eaters as well. And how many kids prefer to make their own pasta instead of buying it at the grocery store? Ours do, after we learned to make pasta at Boscarecce Cooking School outside of Florence. We’ve already booked a pita-making class in Greece for this coming summer.

3) Look into day camps.

When we go on a family vacation, we generally don’t look for activities where we can drop off the kids for seven hours at a time. But there are some week-long day camps that are so cool that we’d be excited for our kids to enroll. Arte al Sole has workshops throughout Italy that incorporate art projects (think frescos and mosaics), cooking classes, walking tours, history and even movie-making for kids 6 to 12, and parents can participate in some of the activities (such as museum visits) with their kids. An added benefit is that your kids will make friends from all over the world. If a camp or workshop doesn’t fit your travel schedule, it’s worth asking if they can arrange something that does. When my nine-year-old and I were in Bali in March, we stumbled upon a three-day ceramic camp at Gaya Ceramic that looked like a lot of fun. Gaya doesn’t pre-schedule family-oriented workshops, but they can arrange group or private workshops at a very reasonable cost.

My kids feeding the fish from our dock at the Rosewood Mayakoba. Photo by Eric Stoen/TravelBabbo.com.

4) Find a hotel that’s both romantic and kid-friendly.

Impossible? Nope. Both Wendy and I have had great stays with our kids at Rosewood Mayakoba in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. The hotel has many romantic touches—including private plunge pools, outdoor showers, moonlit restaurants, and a sensuous spa—yet it’s also got a kids’ club, kid-friendly cooking classes, a children’s breakfast buffet, a kid-friendly pool and beach. There’s even a snow cone machine by the pool. Four Seasons resorts also tend to achieve that balance of sophistication and kid-friendliness. Our overwater bungalow at the Four Seasons Bora Bora is one of the most amazing places we’ve stayed, with a spectacular view and a definite honeymoon feel, yet the hotel staff also set up an entire inflatable water playground for our kids, and let us know that they would open up the kids club and plan activities just for us anytime we wanted.

The Torrigiani Gardens, which CIU Travel got us access to. Photo by Eric Stoen/TravelBabbo.com.

5) Ask Wendy for the right family-friendly travel agent.

Most of the experts on Wendy’s WOW List create trips for families and can suggest (and get you into) unique places that you couldn’t access on your own. Our best vacation ever was two weeks in Florence planned by Maria Gabriella Landers of CIU Travel. We made pasta, pizza, gelato, chocolate, frescoes and books. We went through the normally off-limits Vasari Corridor. We saw a private flag-throwing demonstration in the amazing Torrigiani Gardens. We did kid-friendly visits to all of the major sites and museums. It was literally a perfect trip—and it made our kids love Florence so much that we now go back annually.

Meet our writer

Is a Small-Ship Cruise Right for You? These Photos Will Help You Decide

7 Replies

If you’ve never cruised before, it can be hard to deduce which size ship will best suit you and your travel companions. I’ve taken more than 30 cruises—on everything from 6,000-passenger megaships to 120-guest river boats—so I’m happy to point you in the right direction. Just write to Ask Wendy. And enjoy the article below, which my husband, Tim, wrote after an especially fun cruise on a 212-passenger ship—one that I christened!

As the husband of the godmother of a cruise ship (no official title for me; I looked it up), I got to experience the inaugural sailing of Windstar Cruises’ Star Breeze on the French and Italian rivieras. I had no official duties so, unlike my wife, I was free to just hang out. And take photos.

The last time I’d sailed on Windstar was 15 years ago, right after Wendy and I got married. With young kids, we’ve had to limit ourselves to large ships with child-friendly programs and features. I’ve appreciated the large ships—they’ve kept everyone in the family busy with their sports decks, ice bars, and activities from sunrise to midnight—but, given my druthers, I’d choose a small ship, with small ports to match: There are no long walks to your stateroom or anywhere on the ship. You’re with like-minded passengers. The crew remembers your name and your favorite drink in the evenings. There are no long tender lines snaking through the bowels of the ship just to get from ship to shore. Everything’s easier.

These snapshots from our trip should give you a feel for the benefits of a small ship and small ports.

Portoferraio, Elba: Only small ships can dock here.

In Portoferraio, on the island of Elba, we loved that we were the only cruise ship in town.

Small ports are easy to explore on your own. And it’s easier to talk to locals such as this fisherman, whose boat was docked next to ours in Portoferraio.

Some of the catch of this commercial fishing boat is reserved for selling to the locals.

Only small ships can get into small ports, such as the harbor of Nice, France.

A sailing class at the entrance to Nice’s harbor, photographed from our room aboard Star Breeze.

In Nice we were docked next to traditional fishing boats.

In small ports you can dock within walking distance of the sights you’ve come to see. In Nice we could walk from the harbor to the Cours Saleya, which holds an antiques market on Mondays, a flower market on Tuesdays, etc.

Posters for sale at the Cours Saleya antiques market. The prices were high, and I’ve seen enough “Roadshow” to be leery of reproductions masquerading as the real thing.

We checked out Maison Auer, the ultimate sweets shop in Nice’s Old Town.

Candied fruits in the window of Maison Auer.

We found a rainbow of salts from around the world (including the Himalayas, Morocco, and Hawaii) in a shop called Lou Pantai in Nice, France.

Another advantage of small ships: In small ports they can dock at the pier, whereas larger ships need to anchor out in the harbor. Docking means you can walk off the ship and get right into town. Anchoring means taking a tender from ship to shore—which swallows up time. The larger the ship, the longer the line for the tenders—which swallows up more time.

In Monte Carlo, Star Breeze docked at the marina, whereas a larger Royal Caribbean ship anchored.

On a small ship, you’re closer to other boats.

A VanDutch 55 in Monte Carlo’s harbor, as viewed from aboard Star Breeze. The day cruiser carries a price tag of about $1.5 million (water skiis not included).

It’s an easy (uphill) walk from Monte Carlo’s marina to the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco.

The Oceanographic Museum of Monaco’s exhibition on sharks.

Antique diving gear at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco.

Spotted: An ancient Fiat in a garage across from the Oceanographic Museum.

In Monte Carlo, at cocktail hour, Windstar brought local dancers onboard the ship.

More of those dancers

Each Windstar sailing includes a “Private Event” just for the ship’s passengers. In Monte Carlo the event was a cocktail party atop the Café de Paris, overlooking the Casino de Monte-Carlo.

Fellow passengers posed for a photo with the Casino as the backdrop.

Wendy kidded around with some of the folks who run Windstar.

In Portofino one of Windstar’s shore excursions was a wine-and-cheese tasting at Castello Brown, in the hills above town. We learned about and tasted all the locally sourced ingredients.

Here Chef Guido offers us a whiff of basil.

When Chef Guido asked for volunteers to learn how to make pesto, I jumped at the chance. How could anyone pass up the opportunity to make pesto in Liguria instructed by a local chef?

Grinding pesto is harder than you think, but I brought a mortar and pestle home with me to practice.

Next time I’ll cut back on the garlic.

Walking from Castello Brown back down into town, we passed the Museo del Parco, a colorful sculpture garden.

In Portofino’s sculpture garden, the meerkats look like giant Peeps.

The smaller a ship, the better you get to know the officers and crew. The crew aboard Star Breeze is super-friendly. They went out of their way to be helpful.

Chehab took us for a spin in the zodiac.

Richmond: bread baker by day, lead dancer by night.

The Village People (a.k.a. the Star Breeze crew) performs YMCA at the deck barbeque.

How I Became a Cruise Ship’s Godmother

7 Replies

I’ve been a travel reporter for 25 years, and never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be named godmother of a cruise ship. But last week I christened the newest addition to Windstar Cruises’ fleet, the 212-passenger Star Breeze, in a ceremony on the French Riviera, and then hosted the inaugural voyage to Rome.

Star Breeze christening ceremony in Nice, France, on May 6, 2015

It’s a longstanding maritime tradition for cruise ships to have godmothers—they bless the ship and historically have been entrusted with the safe passage of the vessel—and I’m told I’m the first journalist to receive this honor. Usually it’s reserved for people like Sophia Loren and Princess Kate. Here’s why Windstar chose me.

Star Breeze captain Krasimir Ivanov, priest Father Jean Marie, Windstar CEO Hans Birkholz, and Wendy

Hans Birkholz introducing Wendy as the ship’s godmother

The ship’s crew—and a Jeroboam of Veuve Clicquot

The ship’s crew watching the ceremony—and a Jeroboam of Veuve Clicquot waiting to be smashed against the bow

The moment before the champagne bottle hit the ship

Being named godmother is a tremendous honor. It’s also one that some people might view as a conflict of interest for a journalist. You might be wondering whether I’ll show bias toward Windstar. You might question how I can report impartially on Star Breeze when my portrait hangs in one of its hallways.

So let me explain why I accepted this honor. First, as I’ve said before, it’s meaningful to me personally. The Windstar sailings I took with my dad two decades ago are among my favorite memories of our time together. And my husband and I still keep in touch with friends we made on our Windstar honeymoon voyage 15 years ago.

Moreover, I want to do what I can to support small ships. Some would say they’re endangered. Most of the new ships that cruise lines build nowadays are behemoths. And while a vacation in a 4,000-passenger floating city may make sense for some people, it’s certainly not the best way to explore foreign countries. So I’m relieved that there are still a few small ships taking travelers to those off-the-beaten-path islands and hidden-gem harbors that might otherwise be too logistically difficult or prohibitively expensive to get to any other way. Anything I can do to help small ships continue to help sophisticated travelers see the world better, I’ll do.

I want to assure anyone who might be concerned about a conflict of interest that my godmother role will have zero influence on my travel reportage or the advice I give travelers. I remain the same unbiased truth teller and honest adviser I’ve always been. Just because Windstar’s style of small-ship travel suits me personally, that does not mean it’s for everyone. We all have different travel tastes, interests, and needs, and my mission is the same as it’s been for 25 years: To point you toward the right travel experience for your goals, whether that’s a small ship, a big ship, or no ship at all.

If you’re hoping for a review of Star Breeze, though, I’m going to recuse myself—not because I can’t write about the ship impartially, but because there was nothing typical about the voyage I just experienced. I was showered with special treatment (as you’ll see in the photos below), and while there were a number of regular passengers onboard—and I spent as much time as I could chatting with them—I was mainly with the media and travel-industry execs who were being wined and dined (as they are on nearly every new cruise ship’s inaugural voyage). In other words, it was not a normal cruise like one that my readers would experience, and therefore it would be a disservice to them to pretend that it was.

So I will leave the reviews of Star Breeze to exceptional cruise reporters such as Cruise Critic’s Carolyn Spencer Brown and USA Today’s Gene Sloan. You can read their accounts of the christening ceremony here on Cruise Critic and here in USA Today. My husband Tim (who shot the photos here) also plans to weigh in (I’m not sure how, but I’m sure it will involve more photos). Stay tuned.

With Nancy Anschutz, godmother of Star Breeze’s sister ship Star Pride

With Windstar CEO Hans Birkholz

The sailaway from Nice

Arriving in Monte Carlo a few hours later

Arriving in Monte Carlo that same night

The top deck

The Yacht Club observation lounge

The dining room

The Veranda café

A pretty typical room on Star Breeze

Wendy’s room: Suite 03 (one of the Owner’s Suites)

Wendy on her balcony on the ship’s bow

What I Have in Common with the Queen of England and the Rockettes

11 Replies

Can you guess what I have in common with the Queen of England, Sophia Loren, the Rockettes, and Tinkerbell (besides two X chromosomes)? We’re all godmothers of ships. I’m honored and flattered that Windstar Cruises has named me the godmother of its newest ship, the Star Breeze. I’ll be christening the 212-passenger vessel on May 6 in Nice, France. Yes, that means I’ll get to smash the champagne bottle against the boat’s bow—a 4,000-year-old tradition (although the Vikings sprayed blood over the bow)—and host glittery parties on the inaugural voyage. We’ll be sailing to Rome, with stops in the picture-postcard ports of Monte Carlo, Portofino, and Portoferraio, on the island of Elba. While I’ve sailed on Windstar before as a guest lecturer, this will be my first time back onboard since I had children. And I cannot wait to return to the small, romantic, sophisticated ships of my pre-kids life!

Some of the most rewarding and authentic travel experiences I’ve had have been on Windstar voyages. That’s because they enable you to see collections of islands and stretches of coastline that would be too logistically difficult, time-consuming, and expensive to see any other way: The ships are small enough to sail into the tiny picturesque harbors and hidden coves that big ships can’t access.

As an example, my first Windstar voyage was in the Caribbean, and each day we stopped at a different off-the-beaten-path island—such as Bequia, Ile des Saintes, Jost Van Dyke, and Virgin Gorda. They’re the sorts of tiny islands where you can get off the ship and just meander off on your own and meet and talk to the locals. That’s hard to do on big cruise ships because the larger the ship, the more industrial and overbuilt the ports, the more time it takes to get on and off the ship, and the harder it is to escape the cruise crowds. I took my dad on that Windstar Caribbean trip, and what we loved most were the idyllic views as we sailed into port each morning and out again each evening. My dad also loved how the bartender remembered his name and favorite drink from Day One.

I was scheduled to be a guest lecturer on Windstar again right after I got married, so I took my husband, Tim, and it morphed into our honeymoon—the first of several (honeymoons, that is; not husbands). The cruise was from Athens to Monte Carlo, with stops in jewels such as Monemvasia, Greece; Taormina, Sicily; Capri, Italy; Bastia, Corsica; Portoferraio, Elba; Portofino, Italy; and St. Tropez, France. We had the same perspicacious bartender, Danny (yes, we remember his name too).

The day I recall most vividly—because it was the most perfect day of any cruise I’ve ever taken—was when we stopped in Fiskardo, a sweet fishing village on the Greek island of Kefalonia. Tim and I rented a car to explore the island. Our first stop was Myrtos Beach—a dazzling white arc of sand book-ended by dramatic cliffs and water in a dozen shades of blue. We were the only people there. After a swim and a couple of fun drives up and down the steep winding road with hairpin turns that leads to and from the beach, with Tim trying to teach me how to drive a stick (rental cars and zig-zag roads are good for that), we continued on and stopped at a seaside taverna for lunch. Again, we were the only people there—and it was the freshest calamari and Greek salad we’d ever tasted. On we went, passing a farm with a “honey for sale” sign. We stopped to buy some homemade honey and ended up spending an hour talking with the beekeeper and his daughter in their house and getting a tour of his traditional rural apiary. We continued criss-crossing the island, at each turn seeing views more glorious than the last. By the time the sun was setting, we were back onboard the ship in the hot tub, daiquiris in hand, watching our favorite new Greek island recede into the distance as we sailed to the next day’s adventure.

Back then never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that someday I might serve as the godmother of a Windstar ship. The inaugural sailing is sold out, but I’ll be hosting another Windstar voyage this summer—as well as lecturing onboard—and I’d love for you to join me! Details to come.

Have you sailed on Windstar? I’d love to hear about your experience.

Yes, It’s Possible: A Villa Vacation That Keeps Every Member of the Family Happy

Leave a reply

You already know the benefits of choosing a rental villa over a hotel for your family vacation: More space, more privacy, more local flavor, and—if your group is large enough to fill every room in the house—significant savings. What you might not know though, is just how much the property itself—its layout, location, amenities—will affect the group dynamic. So will decisions ranging from which activities you pre-plan to which type of car you rent to whether the fridge is already stocked when you arrive on a Sunday and the grocery stores are closed. As someone who has rented homes for multiple generations of my own family in locales from Tuscany to Jamaica, I am here to tell you that renting through an expert who will level with you about the pros and cons of the neighborhoods and homes at your destination is a priceless advantage.

Mara Solomon, my Trusted Travel Expert for large Italian villas (read her Insider’s Guide to Italian Villa Vacations) does even more than that. Part magician, part psychologist, she can predict potential conflicts within your group…and make them disappear via smart planning. Mara, who specializes in properties that have four or more bedrooms, has compiled 11 tips for a successful villa vacation, and they’re a must-read as you start to plan your summer villa trip:

1. Manage everyone’s expectations. Travel might be the ultimate test of relationships (besides politics according to my mother). We all do it differently and spend time and money according to our own priorities. Manage everyone’s expectations for time together and time apart, for planned activities versus kicking back, very early on. Use Skype or a similar tool to bring the relevant decision-makers together, hash out the basic structure of the holiday and get everyone on the same playing field. A well-structured villa vacation ensures an elder is not over-taxed, a sporting parent gets the exercise they seek, and the kids are well engaged.

2. Divvy up the work and establish authority. Group travel—whether an extended family or group of long-standing friends (with or without children)—does take planning and it is essential for each group to decide who is making the decisions. Then make sure everyone gets behind them and sticks to the agreed upon plan. It’s also important to decide how the planning work is being shared. One person, maybe two if they work well together, is best for spearheading the choice of villa, but there are other tasks. The wine enthusiast can be put in charge of provisioning wine for the house and selecting wineries to visit, for instance.

3. Determine what really matters to your group. If your first conversations are less focused and people are less than candid, that is ok. Listen closely and you will have the keys to success. One person may need nothing so much as a fabulous bathroom. Be sure you have a plan for mornings out walking or taking coffee up to your own balcony or terrace if you need alone time. Maybe your nuclear family runs at a different speed and needs an excursion without the entourage of in-laws and cousins. Americans are used to enjoying their freedom. Be sure to rent enough cars so someone can make a quick get-away if tension mounts.

4. Make the most of the intelligence and insight of the people who have seen the house and know the area. Villa travel is, by definition, different from any other form of travel. The point is to have space as well as time and experiences together. The house matters greatly, even if you are a get-up-and-go group. Sooner or later your paths will return you home. Get this figured out in the early stages. How? Talk to the person or people who have been there and know the house. The accumulated wisdom of their experience can mean you avoid any nasty surprises. We greatly appreciate a chance to share our knowledge and our talents with our clients. This is what we are paid to do and besides the villas themselves, it is what our clients most appreciate.

5. Build into the structure of your holiday as much service as you can afford. You may think you don’t want a full-time cook but we can say from 20 years travel experience cooking services in the house are the amenity our guests appreciate the most and derive the most value. Inevitably people cancel restaurant meals and stay home because the food is so good. And enjoying it all in the privacy of your own Villa in black tie or pajamas (as you prefer) is a priceless gift to share with people you love. Meal organizing, shopping, preparation and clean up is an every-day responsibility for most of us. It becomes a true vacation when you can be at home without the everyday responsibilities.

6. Plan organized group-wide events or activities. Creating joy-filled moments elevates a get-together to the status of life-long shared memory. An excursion of interest to everyone, a special meal with a well-chosen menu or some fun and easy activity local to your destination generates enthusiasm and excitement. But don’t overdo the planning. In Italy, as with so many destinations, the most transcendent moments are often unplanned, so you want to leave room for those as well.

7. Consider seriously the layout and amenities of the property you are selecting. Quality time for relaxing and playing together in various combinations is essential for successful villa travel. The point is to come together in different times and different ways. Where will you gather for apperitivi before dinner? Are there enough chairs? A friendly bocce competition makes great fun all week long and you can end with a tournament complete with prizes.

8. Staying in one place longer makes for a richer, more rewarding experience. One week is most always not quite enough. Ten days is much better but two weeks is really recommended. I know, you may be thinking people will be bored, but I encourage you to give it consideration. A two-week stay means you sink in and get to know the place, find yourself unwinding in ways you may have forgotten. Your group of teenage boys will be transforming a mound of potatoes into that night’s gnocchi. Maybe you find yourself deep in a long conversation that is years overdue. You will have more flexibility in group configuration and size, as not everyone has to be together the whole time. And a well-located villa will have more to do than you think. We hear this quite often when our guests return: “I wish I pushed for that second week in the villa…”

9. It is Your Vacation too. We do not believe in ‘musts’ and ‘shoulds’. A visit to the Leaning Tower of Pisa could be a highlight or the worst day of the holiday. It depends. It depends both on things you control and those you don’t. Make sure you work with people who are listening closely to what matters to you and are facilitating that experience for you. If you are working with someone who really understands your group, the necessary insights, contacts and arrangements can be deployed in a way that meets your needs. And, that travel consultant will have you prepared for the variables beyond your control that are an essential part of the villa experience. Yes, the Blue Grotto is special, but we think having your own boat and exploring the other relatively deserted grottos around Capri is much more rewarding. And if you want to skip Capri altogether, that is fine too.

10. Success is in the details. Location, location, location counts when planning villa travel. With villa travel you might not know what questions to ask, so we suggest you work with people who know the house, setting and local area well enough to tell you what you need to consider. The Amalfi Coast is not well suited to those who cannot manage steps. Do you need running room for rambunctious children with soccer balls? Do you have shoppers or fitness buffs or serious scholars? What about food allergies? Can the staff find gluten-free pasta and almond milk easily if needed?

11. Plan on enjoying yourselves and having fun together. We invite our guests to plan on enjoying themselves and doing things differently. Use your phone or tablet for photos, not for email with the office. Eat gelato at least once every day. Have fun getting lost –you will be rewarded with at least a great story to share over apperitivi back at the house. You are sure to encounter an awe-inspiring moment, great memento or new friend for life. Remember what it is to have a day to fill as you like, without an agenda. This is what we strive for at Homebase Abroad–a well-structured trip whose cadence best matches the needs and preferences of your family and friends. We promise you will be rewarded with an exceptional experience. Maybe even the best vacation of your life.

Thanks, Mara, for letting me share your tips with WendyPerrin.com travelers!

Be a smarter traveler: Follow Wendy Perrin on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Is Venice Really Banning All Wheeled Luggage?

1 Reply

Question:

“I’ve heard a rumor that Venice is going to ban all roll-on suitcases starting in May 2015. Is this true? My husband and I will be visiting Venice then and hope we won’t have to carry our suitcases to our hotel or be held hostage by someone who insists on carrying them at a high cost. We travel light, but not that light.”
—Sharon

Answer:

Anyone who has flown to Venice, taken a water taxi from the airport to the stop closest to their hotel, and then wheeled their luggage—over cobbled streets and up and down stone stairs and over ancient footbridges—to their hotel knows what an obstacle course that can be, especially since some hotels are hidden down tiny alleys and hard to find. Getting lost in Venice is one of the most fun travel experiences I know, but getting lost with luggage is not.

The good news, Sharon, is that the ban on wheeled luggage is a rumor. There were reports last fall that the Venice City Council was going to ban it (for visitors, not residents) and slap travelers who break the ban with a 500 euro fine. But then Venetian authorities clarified what had been a misunderstanding: They are not planning any ban or fine after all. But the controversy points to an ongoing problem: Twenty million tourists or so visit Venice annually, and all those wheels damage ancient stones (not to mention suitcases) and create a cacophony.

“Venice presents unique logistical challenges if you have more than a backpack,” says Brian Dore, one of my Trusted Travel Experts for Italy. You should absolutely check out Brian’s Insider’s Guide to Venice. I asked him to share advice for handling luggage in Venice, and he was kind enough to lay out your options:

“1. Water taxis and porters
Water taxis wait at the airport, but keep in mind that it is a fairly long walk to the water-taxi dock. You will need a cart to put your luggage on, and then you’ll need to wheel it to the pier. The water-taxi driver will tell you the fare based upon the address of your hotel (it’s more expensive if your hotel dock is on a small side canal, as opposed to the Grand Canal) and the amount of luggage you have. If you don’t want to walk to the water-taxi pier, car taxis wait just outside the airport exit and you can go immediately to the Piazzale Roma, Venice’s frontier for cars. From here, you can hire a porter to take your bags to a water taxi and then on to your hotel. The cost of the porter service is 2.50 euro per bag.

If you’re arriving at the train station, you can take a water taxi directly from the station to your hotel.

2. Public Transportation
If you want to save on the water taxi, you can take the public water buses to the stop nearest your hotel. This is advisable only if you can carry your luggage, such as a backpack. If you have actual luggage, with our without wheels, the vaporetto operator may make you wait for the next one if the water bus is crowded, and when you do arrive at your station, you then have to navigate the confusing maze of Venetian streets to find your hotel. Doing this with luggage—even one small suitcase with wheels—is difficult, as well as hard on your luggage. It’s not recommended; it’s worth paying for a water taxi. If you are traveling in Italy with luggage but can consolidate to a backpack for your days in Venice, you might consider checking the rest of your luggage in a locker at the airport or station.

3. Private Service
When our travelers arrive at any entry point, an assistant meets them with a waiting water taxi and porters, and it is prepaid—so there’s no wandering around to find service and no worries about being overcharged along the way.”

In summary, advises Brian, “if you can’t physically carry your bags, save yourself some aggravation and pay for help. There is value in convenience.”

Brian and his wife Maria Gabriella Landers can, in fact, make everything easier and more rewarding when you travel in Italy. Here’s the best way to contact them for a trip. Check out their fabulous blog Postcards from Italy too.

Buon viaggio!

European Cities that are Surprisingly Kid-Friendly

2 Replies

You’d be amazed how many of our frequent-traveling families prefer European capitals of culture to the beach. So we’ve rounded up a few of our favorite European cities for vacations that are exceptionally kid-friendly yet also sophisticated enough for culture-vulture parents:

Berlin

The fantastic public transportation network is what puts Berlin over the top as a family-friendly destination. “Every place of note in the city is well served by public transportation,” says Gwen Kozlowski, who is one of the Eastern Europe travel specialists on Wendy’s WOW List of Trusted Travel Experts and who frequently takes her young son on European scouting trips. “Getting around as a family is easy and a good value. The Berlin Welcome card provides from 48 hours to 6 days of unlimited transportation on the metro, S-Bahn (elevated train), and city buses, and each card covers one adult and three kids 6 to 14 years old; children under 6 are free.” For families Gwen recommends the Adina Hackescher Markt hotel, where a two-bedroom suite costs less than a standard room in many of the city’s five-stars. Expose your kids to history at the Checkpoint Charlie House—but only later in the day, she advises, after all the tour buses have left.

For the best possible family-friendly trip to Berlin and to be marked as a VIP, contact Gwen through Wendy’s questionnaire. Read reviews of Gwen’s trips here.

Paris

Paris is filled with parks and playgrounds. That’s Wendy’s son Doug in the Jardin du Luxembourg when he was eight.

When you’re traveling with kids, you want engaging activities, easy transportation, and great spaces for downtime, and the City of Light ticks all of these boxes. Paris also has an increasing number of pedestrian zones and neighborhoods closed to traffic on certain days, and strollers, scooters, and various bike set-ups can easily be rented to get around. Many Paris museums have kid-friendly spaces and self-guided tours; make sure to download the children’s activity book before tackling the Eiffel Tower. If you’re seeking special private experiences, nobody is more plugged in than Jennifer Virgilio, one of Wendy’s Trusted Travel Experts for France, who can arrange hands-on activities such as an éclair-making class or an out-of-the-box tour that focuses on the city’s street art. Renting an apartment in the right arrondissement can be a smart move for families too. Finally, when all you need is to burn off some energy, head to one of the many neighborhood parks and playgrounds, all well maintained and fenced in for safety.

Read Jennifer’s Insider’s Guide to Paris with Perks and, for the best possible family-friendly trip to Paris and to be marked as a VIP, contact Jennifer through Wendy’s questionnaire. Read reviews of Jennifer’s trips here.

Dijon

Burgundy might be best known for its wine, but there’s plenty else to keep the underage set happy in the region’s capital. Dijon, you see, was the capital of the Valois Dukes—who were once more powerful than the king—so the old center is full of well-preserved medieval architecture. At the farmer’s market, France Trusted Travel Expert Michael Eloy arranges for kids to help an organic farmer run his stall. He also sends families to the Parc de la Colombière, where young and old can tackle a treetop ropes course, and to the Place de la Libération, where parents sit and enjoy a respite at a café while the kids play in the fountains.

Read Michael’s Insider’s Guide to Burgundy, and for the best possible family-friendly trip to Burgundy and to be marked as a VIP, contact Michael through Wendy’s questionnaire. Read reviews of Michael’s trips here.

Florence

Florence, Italy. Photo: Shutterstock

“At first glance, Florence is intimidating for families because many of the famous attractions are museums and monuments that seem grandiose and overwhelming, even to adults,” says Maria Landers, Trusted Travel Expert for Italy. “But with a little research and planning, Florence—and by extension, Italy’s Renaissance history—can be made vibrant and interesting for younger visitors. Several of the city’s museums, including the Palazzo Vecchio and the Museo Galileo, offer guided itineraries for children, and the Bardini and Boboli gardens are perfect outdoor spots for romping and picnicking. Don’t forget to reward yourselves with healthy doses of gelato as you go!”

Read Maria’s Insider’s Guide to Florence, and for the best possible family-friendly trip to Florence and to be marked as a VIP, contact Maria through Wendy’s questionnaire. Read reviews of Maria’s trips here.

Istanbul

Galata Tower and the street in the Old Town of Istanbul, Turkey. Photo: Shutterstock

Many of the city’s sites naturally appeal to youngsters: “The Rahmi M Koç Industrial Museum’s interactive displays are great for kids, who also love going underground to the Byzantine Cistern and spying fish in the water,” says Earl Starkey, Trusted Travel Expert for Turkey. Earl uses art as a kid-friendly window into Turkish culture, arranging private classes on pottery and ebru (the Ottoman technique of paper marbling), as well as cooking. Even the pickiest palates will be satisfied with pide—best described as Turkish pizza—and Istanbul’s ubiquitous fresh-squeezed juices. To escape the city’s hustle and bustle, take a ferry to the car-free island of Buyukada, where you can rent bikes or hire a horse-drawn carriage.

Read Earl’s Insider’s Guide to Istanbul, and contact him through Wendy’s “Start a Trip” questionnaire to be marked as a VIP and get the best trip possible.

London

Many museums in London are free, including the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. Photo: Michael Heffernan/London and Partners

Free museums make London a great choice for families. The Science Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, the Tate Modern, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Maritime Museum, the National Gallery, and the Museum of London are only the start. “Anywhere else, visiting even half of these would ring up costs of at least $100 per person,” notes Jonathan Epstein, Trusted Travel Expert for the British Isles. He adds that traveling to London removes the language barrier that can trip up some kids—especially on their first adventure abroad. Epstein’s young son is a devotee of the pirate-ship climbing structure at the Diana, Princess of Wales’ Memorial Playground. And then, of course, there’s Harry Potter: Families can visit sites featured in the books, or even tour the studios where the movies were filmed. Don’t miss this London advice from Wendy’s 14-year-old son: Dos and Don’ts For Your Trip to London.

Contact Jonathan through Wendy’s “Start a Trip” questionnaire to be marked as a VIP and get the best trip possible.

Barcelona

Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia looks to some like a child’s masterpiece in sand. Photo: Pixabay

The Mediterranean climate makes it almost always pleasant to be outdoors (who wants to be cooped up inside with kids?), and there’s a fantastic beach area where can spend your afternoons after mornings spent exploring the city. Gaudi’s famous Sagrada Familia looks to some like a child’s masterpiece in sand—maybe that’s why kids are so drawn to his buildings and to the other Catalan Modernist structures sprinkled throughout the city. You could spend an entire day exploring how nature and architecture are woven together at Parc Guell. And did you know that chocolate was introduced to Europe by the Spanish? There’s a chocolate factory in Barcelona that will have your kids begging for a second trip.

Contact Spain expert Pablo Calvo through Wendy’s “Start a Trip” questionnaire to be marked as a VIP and get the best trip possible.

What European cities would you add to this list?

Be a smarter traveler: Read real travelers’ reviews of Wendy’s WOW List and use it to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter @wendyperrin, and Instagram @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

How to Plan the Ideal Italy Trip

3 Replies

Question:

Hi Wendy, I’m planning a trip to Italy in September 2015 for my 40th birthday with my husband. We have 12 days total and would love to see Florence, Pisa, Rome, and drive the Amalfi Coast. What would you recommend for the most time-efficient way to cover these areas? Thanks.

—Chris H.

Answer:

Chris, it depends on which cities you’re flying into and out of. If your airline ticket is roundtrip to Rome, for instance, then I’d give you different advice than if you can fly into Florence and out of Naples, or vice-versa. Some people would prefer a north-to-south itinerary, starting their trip in Florence—because that’s the portion that requires the most brainwork and footwork—and ending on the Amalfi Coast—because that’s the portion more conducive to relaxation and beachgoing. Others would prefer the opposite because Florence is a shopping extravaganza and you’ll have a lot less to pack around Italy if Florence comes at the end of your trip rather than the start.

And then there’s Andrea Grisdale, one of our Trusted Travel Experts for Italy, who is a master of efficiency who plans trips to Italy for thousands of travelers each year. She suggests starting in Naples and ending in Florence, based on airline schedules from the U.S., airport distances, and hotel check-in times. Here’s an itinerary that Andrea recommends for you:

Day 1: FLY TO NAPLES (OR ROME)

When booking your airline ticket, keep in mind that if you must connect in Rome to get to Naples, it may be faster to drive from the Rome airport to Naples than to fly that short distance.

Day 2: NAPLES TO POMPEII TO POSITANO

Have a driver pick you up at either the Rome or Naples airport and drive you to Pompeii so you can see the ancient city en route to the Amalfi Coast. Make Positano your base for the next three nights because of the selection of accommodations and because the town has beautiful bars, restaurants, shops, lanes/stairways, and hidden corners to explore. You’ll arrive in the mid-afternoon when your room is available for check-in. Spend your first late afternoon/evening exploring Positano.

Ravello Photo courtesy IC Bellagio

Day 3: THE AMALFI COAST (Read Andrea’s Insider’s Guide to the Amalfi Coast.)

If you want to drive yourself, rent a Smart Car locally, as they are easy to drive and park (parking is a challenge on the Amalfi Coast) and great when you must pass large vehicles on narrow curves. Having a driver would give you the time to explore more coastal villages and off-the-beaten-track corners and to enjoy fun local interaction. Your driver could drop you off in Ravello, and you could walk through the valleys and villages down into Amalfi and meet him there.

Capri City Photo courtesy IC Bellagio

Day 4: CAPRI

Head to Capri by public boat. Or you could hire a private boat, which would give you the option to swim in the area of the Li Galli Islands, enjoy a fun lunch in one of the cove restaurants in Nerano, and explore the many grottoes around the island of Capri before arriving in Marina Grande (where the public boats arrive). See Capri by taxi or take the funicular from port to Capri Town. Drink an aperitivo and people-watch in the piazza, and also see Ana Capri (more quiet and quaint) before returning to Positano.

Vatican City Photo courtesy IC Bellagio

Days 5 – 7: ROME

Leaving Positano, you may wish to enjoy a typical pizza in Naples, or take in the city’s highlights via a walk through the backstreets with a local, before hopping onto the high-speed train to Rome (just 1 hour 10 minutes). Take a taxi to your hotel in the heart of Rome and spend three nights. In Rome Andrea can arrange Vespa and Segway tours, gelato-making lessons, cooking with a local chef in his beautiful apartment, seeing the wonders of the Vatican, exploring Underground Rome in Trastevere, etc.

Days 8 – 11: THROUGH TUSCANY TO FLORENCE

Take the high-speed train to Florence (just 1.5 hours) or hire a private driver/guide for the day so you can stop in towns between Rome and Florence and learn all about the Lazio and Tuscany regions en route. Stop for lunch in an off-the-beaten-track trattoria or with one of the Palio teams in Siena in their headquarters or, if wine is your thing, with a local family in their private vineyard. Arrive in Florence and spend four nights. In Florence you may follow in the footsteps of the Medicis, discover more about Michelangelo, take gastronomic walks and pop into specialty food stores, visit artisan studios, shop at the designer outlets (and hire a personal shopper to maximize your shopping time), and much more.

Lucca Photo courtesy IC Bellagio

Day 9 or 10: PISA AND LUCCA

Spend one of your Florence days with a driver/guide exploring nearby Pisa (for the Leaning Tower) and Lucca (a medieval walled town). If you wish to climb the Leaning Tower, be sure to research it in advance.

Day 12: FLY HOME

Florence’s airport is an easy 20-minute drive from the city.

So, Chris, that’s an efficient way to pack a whole lot of Italy into a trip with only ten nights on the ground. If you’d like Andrea to arrange your trip, customizing it to your needs and interests, using her team of drivers and guides, and booking it so that you get the special treatment and perks that her guests get at hotels and restaurants, of course she’d be happy to.

Buon viaggio … and happy birthday!

Make Your Next Trip Extraordinary

Tag Archives: Italy

The Italy Earthquake and What You Can Do to Help

Rent A Villa In Italy For the Whole Family

Florence’s Vasari Corridor Is Closed, Effective Immediately

How to Find Italy’s Most Authentic Gelato (and Where)

The Truth About Cinque Terre’s Supposed Tourist Limits

Italy Vacation Ideas for Every Age

The Rewards of an Italian Villa Vacation in Winter

Florence Can Be Kid-Friendly: Just Follow These Tips

5 Steps to the Best Family Vacation You’ll Ever Have

Is a Small-Ship Cruise Right for You? These Photos Will Help You Decide

How I Became a Cruise Ship’s Godmother

What I Have in Common with the Queen of England and the Rockettes

Yes, It’s Possible: A Villa Vacation That Keeps Every Member of the Family Happy

Is Venice Really Banning All Wheeled Luggage?

European Cities that are Surprisingly Kid-Friendly

How to Plan the Ideal Italy Trip

We may receive a referral fee from trip planners for trips designed for and purchased by travelers referred through us.

Make Your Next Trip Extraordinary

Our Latest Newsletters

Be a Smarter Traveler

We may receive a referral fee from trip planners for trips designed for and purchased by travelers referred through us.