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10/23/2005 Archived Entry: "Come to Italy with Me"

It’s always great to be away, and always great to come home. So I am looking forward to going back to Italy, back to Tenuta Seliano, in two weeks. Yes, I have another group. Last year, three couples who wanted to come together requested an early November date, instead of our usual post Christmas to New Year session. I accommodated. Besides that I am happy to customize dates and tour specifics for groups of six or more, I thought it would be nice to be home for the holidays, which I haven’t been for five years. As usually happens, a few more people have decided that they want to come along in November, too. Now it’s a group of nine.

If you want more information about Cook at Seliano, which includes three half-days of cooking, two full days of touring the beautiful and exciting region of Campania, and other activities to joyfully fill in our days, click on the Cook at Seliano section of my website. There are photos among the details. My next group will be in late March, artichoke season in Paestum, then who knows? Probably late September. But, as I said, I am open to other possibilities.

COME CRUISE WITH ME
You know, I hope, that I host Mediterranean cruises, too. The next one is May 21 through May 31, 2006, beginning and ending in Rome, on Holland America’s Noordam, the line’s newest ship. In fact, the Noordam won’t even be launched until February.

As usual, I will also be hosting three full days on land before we board the ship. As the ship leaves from Rome, and I love and know Rome so well, I thought we could do a lot worse than stay put in a luxurious hotel, tour some of Rome’s fabulous food markets, have a traditional (and languorous) Roman lunch, shop a little, and spend one day outside the city visiting the fascinating walled, medieval city of Viterbo – once the seat of the Pope, and with a Papal palace -- where we can also visit and have a picnic in a fabulous Renaissance garden. For dinner, we’ll drive to a farm between Viterbo and Rome, where we’ll have a pasta demonstration, as well as a farm feast. So that’s what we will be doing.

Iris Carulli -- my dear friend and former assistant, art historian, philosopher, and epicure, who has been cited by Gourmet Magazine as one of the 100 Best Things in Rome -- will be our guiding light in the Eternal City. She lives in Rome and knows everything you could possibly want to know, from where all the Caravaggio paintings are located to which is the best day spa and beauty salon.

The Noordam, our cruise ship, visits Monte Carlo (with evening hours available for gambling at the city’s famous casino), Livorno (the port city of Tuscany, and gateway to Florence or Pisa), Barcelona and Mallorca (Spain), Tunis (a jumping off point to visit Tunisia’s ancient Carthage), Palermo (Sicily, where we will offer you a free half day food and church tour with me), and Naples (I know all the best and worst places, it’s my home away from home). On the 10-day cruise there are two days at sea (that’s cruise lingo for days we are not visiting a port). One day I’ll do a cooking demonstration. (No one has ever said “Sit down you’re rocking the boat.”) On the other day at sea we’ll gather for afternoon tea and a chat, meaning I give a little talk and everyone asks me questions.

We will be traveling under the wings of Alice Travel and Travel Four Vacations (www.travelfour.com), my longtime travel partners. I am with you every step of the way – and Iris and I plan the land portion of the trip – but they are the ones who really look after you. They also book the reservations and answer all your questions. Just call 888-414-2323.
Inside state rooms on the Noordam cost $3,108 a person, double occupancy (single supplements can be arranged), including air fare. Staterooms with verandas cost $3,768.
The optional, four-day, pre-cruise, land package in Rome costs $1,399 ($299 single supplement). This includes three nights at the deluxe Empire Palace Hotel, full breakfast daily, two luncheons (with me), one dinner (with me), plus one and a half days of gastronomic and cultural touring (with me).
The pre-cruise dates are May 18 to 21. You leave the U.S. on May 17, arrive in Rome on the 18th, and board the Noordam in the afternoon of the 21st.
You can also go to the Alice Travel website page. Or go to the Travel Four Vacations website.

STILL TALKING ABOUT FUTURE TRIPS:
PASTA AND PALAZZOS IN CAMPANIA
The region of Campania and the Chamber of Commerce of Naples, which just honored me at a dinner in New York for my work getting the word out about this much underrated part of Italy, have agreed to work with me on a non-cooking tour of the region. We will do gastronomic activities – visit wine, cheese and other food producers. We will eat very well, with plenty of explanation and guidance from me. And I will do a cooking demonstration or two along the way. But there will be no hands-on cooking. There will be no need to don an apron at any time. What will be really special is that we will be entertained in some fabulous aristocratic homes – okay, palaces and castles – where we will have receptions and dinners. We will also visit an archaeological site that has yet to be fully opened to the public – ancient Stabia, where the richest of the rich Roman lives during the era of Pompeii.

This trip will be sometime next year. It will be a ten-day tour just food adventures, but also cultural ones – private palazzos, castles, and very special and interesting archaeological sites.

Is there any interest out there?

The group would be limited to 35, a very comfortably sized group. We have neither set a price nor an exact date for this. Both are flexible. I mean, as for cost, we can stay at very luxurious and expensive hotels and eat lots of lobster, or we can stay at more moderate hotels (but always comfortable) and eat more shrimp than lobster. You get the picture. I would like this trip to happen in about a year from now. In mid September to late October, the weather in Campania is warm and sunny. I am assuming that the cost would be in the neighborhood of $3,500 for 10 days, including everything. I believe we can manage air fare in that ball-park figure, too. If you have any interest, please drop me a line at mavensmail@aol.com

ONE MORE TRIP: THE ITALIAN ROOTS TOUR
I am still hoping to get together a small group – no more than eight or ten people (four or five couples) – for an Italian Roots Tour in and around the neighboring regions of Campania, Puglia, and Basilicata (which used to be called Lucania). If your family has roots in or around Naples, Salerno, Potenza, Matera, Bari or Foggia, and you are interested in such a tour, please write to me at mavensmail@aol.com. I already have two couples from Basilicata who would like to do this next September or October. I am trying to build on that. If your family is from Calabria, you may need a different tour (because of distances), but please let me know of your interest, too. Maybe we can work something out. I love visiting Calabria and am making it a project to learn it better. The cost of the Italian Roots Tour will be about the same as Cook at Seliano, which is $3,500 a person for one week, including everything except air fare.