One of the best things about traveling with a local guide is that you get to see the non-touristy places.  And, if you’re lucky, you might get a personal invitation to one of the best places in the city.  After touring Siena on our own, with some direction from Carolyn, our guide, our group met at the famous fountain in Siena’s shell-shaped piazza to go to Paola’s house for tea.  Paola is one of Carolyn’s Italian friends and a local “fixer” for her group tours.  She makes introductions and arranges experiences that are easier for a local than a foreigner.  She married a man whose family lived in Siena for many generations (in the owl contrada), so Siena is now her home.  If I remember correctly, her husband’s father or grandfather was an artist, and he converted the turret on the building owned by his family into a studio. Paola

On this trip to Italy, I’m glad I got to see a couple more ancient Tuscan cities – Arezzo and Siena.  I had been to Barga, Lucca, and Florence, and while there are similarities, each city and town has its own flavor.  Once we made our way through the densely packed market crowds of Siena, we had the most spectacular view of the city, medieval buildings with tiled roofs spilling down the hillside.  It was almost overwhelming to think we would be navigating our way through to the city center.  Mom and I stood for a while and just took it all in. We were in an open courtyard in front of a church, but we could see our way into the maze or narrow streets and alleys.  I put on Google navigation to guide us through.  Our target was the Pizza del Campo, the shell-shaped city center.  We decided

I was going to share about our day trip to Siena all in one post, but as I was uploading the photos, I realized the post would be ridiculously long with a million photos!  So, I decided to break it up into a few shorter, more easily-digestable posts.  Our group was going to Siena to shop at the weekly market, tour the city, and meet in the afternoon for tea at the home of one of our Italian hosts and Carolyn’s dear friend. You can find just about anything at the Mercato di La Lizza in Siena, every Wednesday morning – produce, clothing, coats, shoes, bags, crafts…  The thing our group was most excited about, though, was the “Linen Man”.  Orsa, our Italian host, has a direct line to him, so she let him know a group of American women was coming to shop and he should bring a good

The last time I posted about my time in Italy, I shared about my day spent “home” catching up on rest, writing in my journal, exploring, taking pictures, and sketching and painting.  If you missed that post, you can read about that day HERE.  In the early evening, the rest of our creative retreat group returned from a day visiting a local organic farm and making pizza from scratch.  As much as I didn’t want to miss out on that experience, the day I took was the one I needed.  It was refreshing and enriching, and I was excited to continue our curated Tuscany experience with dinner at a castle just down the road from the Podere where we stayed. The Folcieri family, who currently owns the castle, farm, and vineyard, bought it in the mid-1980s, when it was overrun with vines and vegetation, and the castle’s interior was an

After a late night of travel followed by two full days, touring Arezzo and teaching a creative workshop, I was feeling run down and decided to skip the group activity planned for the next day.  It was a tough call, but I wanted time to slow down and soak up our beautiful surroundings.  I didn’t want to feel rushed to go to the next place and do the next thing.  I also wanted time to catch up on my journal and to do some plein air painting. After breakfast, the rest of the group boarded the bus that took them about an hour away to a family-run farm for a pizza-making workshop.  I knew I was missing a special experience and, I was told, an amazing view, but I felt relief that I had a quiet day ahead of me. The podere (a rural Italian estate) was comprised of several

After our day-and-a-half delay in London, we arrived in Florence late at night and sleepily went through customs and connected with the driver who would take us to the Prone to Wander retreat in Sovicelle.  He was a kind gentleman who spoke a little English, so we exchanged the usual pleasantries, then sat quietly for the rest of the drive.  The main excitement of the ride was his driving style.  Mom and I referred to him as Mario Andretti the rest of the week, because he drove that oversized Mercedes van like it was a race car.  He was screeching around corners and passing everyone on the road.  Mom and I sat in the back, wide-eyed, gripping the nearest handle as if it would save us from calamity, hoping we would make it to the retreat in one piece.  I’ll break the suspense.  We did. Not only did we make

The afternoon was fading into the evening as we finished touring the garden of Jane Austen’s House in Chawton, and we decided to walk down the road to visit Chawton House, home of Jane’s brother, Edward.  He inherited the estate, including the house where Jane lived, from the Knight family, who named him their heir.  We knew it would be closed, but it was worth the five-minute walk to see a bit more of Chawton, the house, chapel, and grounds. The Knight family built the house in the 1580s, but there was already a manor house on the estate dating back to 1224.  It is a stunning old home, beautifully situated on a slight rise, so you can really appreciate it as you walk up the gravel drive.  As we made the walk up the house, I thought about how many times Jane and her sister, Cassandra, must’ve made that