POST ON YOUR DREAMBOARD
Planning an epic adventure is the opposite of just spontaneously rolling into weekend plans. An epic adventure takes time to research, it takes dedication to the process, and of course it takes creativity to pull it all together. A few years ago I imagined a bite sized adventure — I wanted to do something I’d never done before. And that was sailing in the Med. I had never actually been sailing and I didn’t even know if I would like sailing (I was worried it would be too windy. I know that sounds nuts!). I was deeply curious about seeing more of Sardinia. I grew up on an island and I just keep getting drawn to them. So I moved ahead with it — made some calls, spent a lot of time online, asked people who knew more than I did, and put in on the calendar. One week sailing in Sardinia and Corsica with my best friends. Check! What I found on my trip is that Sardinia and Corsica are next level — so many beautiful beaches and inlets and pretty villages along the coast. Want a bite-sized or epic adventure in these parts, too? Whether you swim (yes, people actually SWIM between Sardinia and Corsica, and these people will help you), sail (like I did, and these people will help you do that), or just hang closer to the land, Sardinia (and Corsica) absolutely do not disappoint. Epic adventures — I dream for you to have more of those!
MANGIAMO
Some of the most strategic planning we do, apart from perfecting the cadence and rhythm of the locations we choose, is thinking through the food. We’re Italy experts, and going on a trip with experts takes you “one layer deeper” than just going it alone. It’s all a coordinated dance, incorporating what you see, what you do, and what you eat. For meals, we eat at people’s private homes and villas, at restaurants, standing at a stall at a market. We eat family style and also plated multicourse. We eat “fancy like tourists” and we eat like “normal working folk.” There’s a lot of diversity in our dining options, because we believe delivering a diversity of experiences is really what people want — even if they don’t know it. Many first-time clients don’t understand that we work with our restaurateurs to create a “best of” menu that is created just for our clients. Our WhatsApp threads can get pretty spicy as we discuss new menus (four people chiming in about the merits of the primi piatti). Everyone’s dietary needs also need to be considered — we pull out all the stops and allow our clients to have a sampling of the best of the area. Mangiamo!
Image: Hotel Signum
SLEEP HERE
I’m infinitely curious about real estate in Italy — I’ve hinted before that if you’re interested in spending more time in Italy one day and maybe owning your own slice, we should talk. Sign up for a special list here. I assume that the free or 1-euro home initiatives in Italy have already crossed your radar. We wrote about that years ago here. It was so newsworthy, even Airbnb got into the mix, renovated one of these places, then ran a contest where the winner got to live in it rent-free for a year as the property’s host! (Read about it here.) You’ll soon be able to stay in that same home in Sambuca and see the renaissance that is happening in that Sicilian town first-hand. I guess the answer to how do we save Italian towns is, give away houses!
Image: Airbnb
WISH YOU WERE HERE
Today our clients are in Sicily on the first Italian Fix trip of the season! They just took the hydrofoil from mainland Sicily to the island of Salina and are staying at Hotel Signum. Who knows? They might even be sitting in these very chairs right now, taking it all in. (That’s Stromboli off in the distance, btw.)
Image: Hotel Signum
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With love + lemon gelato
Bianca
