Ciao a tutti!
We have returned from our September/October tours and we’re getting back into the swing of writing a newsletter for you all. It was a super short summer and a super busy fall for us! Our fall season began with our niece's wedding in Belgium, which was a great time for all as we love to celebrate with family!
After the wedding festivities we went on to Napoli and the Campania region for our first fall tour. We loved the energy of our group and loved sharing our favorite parts of Naples, delving into the history, the pizza and seafood the area is famous for. One of the highlights was a pizza class taught by a famous local pizzaiolo. We are still reminiscing about the boat ride to Sorrento and around Capri. Then it was on to Puglia! The seafood is always outstanding and we loved learning about the history of olive oil, seeing how burrata is made, and walking through the white-washed hilltop towns. In our cooking class we learned to make the local cavatelli pasta, foccacia and a special way to cook octopus. The wines of this region and history were a highlight for many of our group.
After 3 weeks in southern Italy it was time to head to Tuscany, which always feels like home to us and is a comfort to return. Our Tuscany week had lots of returning customers, who had been with us to other regions, so we toured with old friends!
Fall is a wonderful time to be in Italy, especially Tuscany when there’s a big fireplaces warming the home after a chilly day out. During October and into November, there’s a special bread called Pan co’Santi, named in honor of All Saints Day on November 1st. Literally “bread of the saints”, Pan co’Santi is a great example of the foods used to celebrate seasons and holidays. Available in bakeries now, it will be replaced by panettone and pandoro for Christmas, then frittelle for St Joseph’s Day and then colombo for Easter! Always something fun to try no matter when or where you are in Italy!
Below is Gina's recipe for Pan co' Santi. She's been tweaking her recipe and thinks she might have finally got it right! Filled with raisins and walnuts and spiced with black pepper, it’s delicious for breakfast or with a creamy cheese and a glass of wine!
Looking for a big, bold red wine this fall, maybe something from Italy, not California? You can’t go wrong with a Valpolicella Ripasso or Amarone from the northern region of the Veneto. Our tour to the Veneto is based near Verona, with our villa smack dab in the middle of a Valpolicella vineyard!
There's still availability for our Veneto tour next spring (May 25 - June 1). We absolutely love this region - the wines are so varied (and deliziosi!) and range from these big, bold reds to easy drinking white wines to Prosecco. Click here to jump to more info - Veneto
A big Grazie Mille to you all for following us,checking in with us and reading our newsletter. We love keeping in touch and having us be a part of your inbox and journey!

Buon appetito!
Gina and Mary
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