Dolce Vita Adventures

11/19/2024

Interesting perspectives and actual facts to consider as we plan next year's travels...🛵🧳

The Trump era is likely to change various aspects of USA tourism.

11/05/2024

Part 3 - The grand finale brought us south to the stunning 🌞Amalfi Coast, where Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello treated us with incredibly blue sea views, boat rides, gardens, boutiques, more beautiful cathedrals, another winery visit with music, tasty mozzarella-making in the mountains, Limoncello 🍋lessons, and of course, more gelato than anyone could dream of… Did I mention SO. MUCH. WALKING? We gladly surrendered ourselves to Rome’s rich history on our last few nights, down cobbled alley ways fortified with decadent Italian chocolate and wine pairings, the Pantheon, the fountains, every corner under the lights of bella Roma’s magnificence revealed a surprise. Our last dinner together was a sweet celebration of new friendships 🥰and unforgettable memories. This trip was truly one for the books!
Gather your friends, and let’s create some magic together—contact me today!

11/05/2024

For part 2, the group continued to explore the art-filled streets of spectacular Florence and the lush Chianti farms where our driver graciously stopped for every valley view, we savored more fine wine and mouthwatering juicy steak, marveled world-class museums and rewarded our “scholarly attention” with endless PASTA! Thank goodness 😅😂? we walked M.I.L.E.S each day!

11/04/2024

Part 1 of 3 - In September the “Southern Bellas” took Italy by storm! This fab group of friends embarked on an unforgettable DVA adventure, kicking off in everyone’s fav, the sweet, enchanting medieval town of Cortona, making new friends in postcard worthy vineyards, hiking along the countryside, shopping colorful markets, indulging at cooking classes and exploring breathtaking Siena with its awe-inspiring 13 c. cathedral. This was just the beginning!

07/24/2024

It's always just a matter of time, so let the fire burn out while the instagrammer's choose their next destination 😄 We can enjoy so many lovely spots while we wait for them to move on...

07/10/2024

👏👏🥰 Big shout out to ITALY and
DOLCE VITA ADVENTURES’s newest fans!
GRAZIE 💝 for your sweet support!
🇺🇸✈️ 🇮🇹 Andiamo, let’s travel! 😘

Ashlee Sumner, Annette Jacka, Ann Crabtree Cameron

06/12/2024

Awesome ORVIETO was our last stop before our final night in Rome. The colorful Medieval procession 👑was postponed due to rain - something about 🌦️ soggy wet, fur collared, crimson velvet robes and silk slippers dragging through wet streets did not appeal… jokes aside, some of these original costumes have been lovingly cared for hundreds of years! So we drowned our disappointment in Orvieto wines and perhaps the best Carbonara 👅 🍽️ of my life, explored the complex underground cave system, St Patrick’s well and of course the actual masterpiece, Orvieto’s stunning 14th century Cathedral, Luca Signorelli’s 🎨🖼️ masterpieces, the Sacred cloth and the church’s glorious golden facade. On to Rome for 1 more night of wine 🍷 tastings and pairings then we reluctantly said our goodbyes. What a trip! Definitely worth repeating - so… I’m already planning for next year’s “FOODS, FESTIVALS AND WINES of Italy” - let’s gooooo! June 15-25, 2025 💪👏👏👏🥰😆🇮🇹

06/08/2024

SPECTACULAR SPELLO is always a favorite stop, and certainly the most challenging as far as limiting the number of 📸photos… 😆 This sweet town absolutely transforms during its yearly Flower Festival in celebration of Corpus Domini. It’s a joyful collaboration, a celebration by young and old, family and friends, working together🤝🤲 from 8pm till 8am to cover the town streets in huge colorful images made entirely of FLOWER 🌷🌻🌸🌼PETALS! The ALL NIGHT preparation of this 200 year old tradition creates a palpable energy - and witnessing the event is moving 🥹 and unforgettable. The next morning, the bishop leads a procession of blessings - walking right over the carpets. The flower images dissapear as quickly as they appeared, in a matter of hours. Everyone was in awe of one image in particular - Judas’ Kiss, no surprise to later hear it was awarded 🏆 first place. Add a 5 mile hike 😅 along a Roman Acqeduct through olive groves UP to the next town and you’ll agree - SPELLO IS SPECTACULAR! 🥰, and really, takes your breath away!

06/05/2024

The Foods, Festivals and Wine journey continued as we stayed in a lovely ancient Etruscan farmhouse 🏡 to explore the area of CHIANTI. We easily walked into town and walked (and SAVOURED) our way through vineyards and wineries 🍷 to learn about local ancient grape cultivation. Have you ever tasted amphora stored wines? Sangiovese, Chianti, Syrah 🍇 ... it’s all here! We also made our pasta for a delicious cooking class in the lushest green Tuscan countryside. Stopped to stock-up on 6 month old, first-press olive oil and of course had time (dodging a spring shower) for a passeggiata and a gelato in sweet Cortona. Next stop… Umbria’s town of SPELLO!

06/01/2024

🇮🇹 Our Foods, Festivals & Wine 🍷 Adventure started with a great BANG in BOLOGNA! 😄 This is the home of Tortellini, Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, Balsamic, Mortadella, Prosciutto and more. 😋We visited some farms to learn about the origins and authenticity of genuine Italian ingredients then we tasted, tasted and tasted! Indulgence! Aside from being a foodie paradise, this intriguing medieval city has loads of art and architecture to explore. Bologna historic center, its Basilicas, Towers and Porticos are steeped in old world elegance perfectly balanced with the vibrant younger energy from Bologna’s University, the oldest in Europe. It’s easy to navigate, tourist friendly but not yet saturated by tourism, we all agreed we needed more time - but, we packed up and now we’re off to CHIANTI!

05/24/2024

Our ACQUA Adventure finished strong on gorgeous LAKE GARDA with what we voted to be our favorite historical and architectural sites of the trip - a huge 1st century BC Roman Villa complex, CATULLO, belonging to the 1st Roman emperor, set among olive groves, at the very center of the lake, bordering 3 regions. To reach it you must enter the sweet town of Sirmione, over a castle moat. From there we headed south to the gorgeous TETUCCIO Thermal Water Spa in Montecatini. Finally an up close view of my personal favorite, the beautiful Liberty Style/Art Nouveau tiled Spa! 😍
The “restorative” drinking water fountains, surrounding gardens, caffe area, art gallery shop and reading rooms are absolutely stunning. Of course the water tasted like alka-seltzer but our eyes were happy!
We wrapped up our Italian ACQUA adventure in Florence, along the Arno river. I L💝VED being with such a small and interested group! It just felt like a few good friends on a special adventure!
🥰🇮🇹 see you next time!

(Food Festivals and Wines of Italy Adventure starts in just a few days! 🥳Woohoo!)

05/23/2024

🌊ACQUA Tour continues to LAKE COMO. We loved staying in Bellagio in the center of the lake, with views of villas and snow capped mountains in the distance. We boated over to medieval Varenna, the “lover’s walk” and a hike up (“swear it’s only 20 minutes…”🤣) to the spectacular 1,000 year old VEZIO Castle - medieval, surrounded by gardens, more endless lake views and still haunted by its Queen Teodolina! 😬😆 The weather matched perfectly ☀️☔️☀️

05/20/2024

🌊 ☀️ACQUA ADVENTURE in Italy! Our WATER focused small group tour started at the LEMON🍋🍋 FESTIVAL on the beaches of Monterosso, Cinque Terre. We boated a crystal clear coastline to explore the other villages. And also enjoyed the sweet harbour town of picturesque PORTOFINO - actually -pictures cannot capture the beauty of this small coastline… and this small group is having a BIG BLAST! 🤣💝🥰🇮🇹

05/17/2024

05/17/2024

Our Sicilian adventure ended, but the memories and the island’s beauty will never fade! Our final days were filled with discovery, history, a few broadway show tunes and laughter! 😆 The Salt Pans, Favignana Island’s clear waters, e-bikes, medieval Erice, castles, Barroque art, warm Genovese cookies, Monreale’s mosaics, and vibrant, exciting Palermo created an unforgettable journey for a wonderful group of friends. 🥰 See you next year Sicily!
I’m off to Florence and our next adventure - Northern Italy’s ACQUA Tour!

05/15/2024

Doing laundry, 500 years ago.

https://cefalu.it/en/magazine-en/the-medieval-wash-house-of-cefalu/

05/13/2024

Sicily’s adventure 🇮🇹☀️ continues through time- the best preserved Greek temples outside of Greece from 2,500 years ago. The most elaborate Roman Villa mosaics from 1,700 years ago. Opera night, sweet marzipan reproductions, beach walks, chatter and laughter - timeless!
(Agrigento: Valley of the Temples and Piazza Armerina: Villa Romana del Casale)

09/24/2023

Limoncello class, Pompeii walks and winery , Roman history, Trastevere’s Cacio e Pepe and gelato in front of the Pantheon with these great women. Only bad part of this adventure was that it had to end! 💝 We probably broke some DVA walking records! (I think I say that every time? 😆) Grazie “Signorine”’ 🥰😘