Travel Tips

A Day in Vignanello

1 week ago

by Peta in Culture, Lazio, Travel Tips

TweetThis Sunday with the weather a little less conducive to wandering around an ancient village so we decided not to travel too far from home. I had heard there is a regular antique/bric-a-brac auction in Vignanello (about 10 minutes from Soriano) & missing a little of our life in Oz [...]

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Italian Food You Won’t Find in Italy

1 year ago

by Michael in Coffee, Cooking, Culinary, Culture, Food, Travel Tips

TweetAs we learned with Alfredo Sauce in the “Who is Alfredo Sauce, and Why do Americans Keep Asking About Him? ”, that which you believe to be Italian, very often is not. Since we do culinary vacations in Italy, you can imagine how many people come with certain expectations about [...]

The Mummies of Ferentillo

1 year ago

by Michael in Culture, Travel Tips, Umbria

Tweet24 years ago on the Monday that followed Easter, we were boating on a beautiful lake in southern Umbria with a friend. He asked us if we had ever heard of “The Mummies”. Mummies? Naturally Egypt and King Tut suddenly popped into mind. No, not those kind of mummies…. So we [...]

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The Battle with Jet Lag – How to Fight and Win (sort of)

1 year ago

by Michael in Travel Tips

TweetIt has always amazed me that some people suffer jet lag horribly, while others barely feel the effects at all. Me? I fall into the first group: I used to dread every trip because I fall squarely on the top of the “Suffers Horribly” column. Before I go any further, let’s dispel a [...]

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You Want to Feed the Meal I Prepared… TO YOUR DOG?

1 year ago

by Michael in Cooking, Culinary, Culture, Food, Travel Tips

TweetOn day one of every cooking vacation we offer, there is a little talk with all of the newly arriving guests. We go over the things that they can expect, and should not expect. We discus the plans for the days ahead, and we go over some of the more common cultural faux-pas that [...]

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Who is Alfredo Sauce, and why do Americans keep asking about him?

1 year ago

by Michael in Cooking, Culinary, Culture, Food, Travel Tips

TweetI’ve heard it time and time again. ”I can’t wait to have Fettuccine Alfredo in Italy”. Ummm, sorry friend… you won’t find it. It isn’t Italian. Well, that isn’t entirely true, actually. You can get it in Italy, but you will never find anything like it it on a menu, [...]

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In Search of the Perfect Espresso

1 year ago

by Michael in Coffee, Cooking, Culinary, Personal, Recipes, Travel Tips

TweetLike a fine wine or a great cigar, those who know their coffee are extremely discriminating. I count myself among them. Coffee is something I take very seriously.Technorati: VA2TJVJYZX67 Depending on the style of coffee, completely different factors come into play when determining [...]

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Calcata Italy – A Quick Peek

2 years ago

by Michael in Culture, Lazio, Tours, Travel Tips

Tweet Calcata is an ancient hilltop village that is about 45 minutes from Soriano, near Rome. What makes this village so special is that in the 1930′s, it was condemned, and became a ghost town. However, in the 60′s hippies and artists began to squat here, and over time it developed into [...]

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The FAMILY feeling of our vacations explained

2 years ago

by Michael in Cooking, Culinary, Culture, Food, Personal, Tours, Travel Tips, Tuscany

TweetOur future guests often ask me what our tours are going to be like, and I try to explain the feeling of ‘family’, and how it is so different than anything else out there. Oddly, it is a difficult thing to explain, especially since our future guests are little more than strangers on a [...]

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Spoleto, Italy – A Quick Peek

3 years ago

by Michael in Tours, Travel Tips, Umbria

TweetI tried to shoot a good amount of video this year to give me a bunch of material for the blog, so I will have quite a few of the various cities we visited on our tours. Spoleto was a place that we visited fairly often, but I only shot video once while there for a few hours. [...]

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Cooking & Touring Tuscany, Umbria & Lazio Italy in 2008, a look back

3 years ago

by Michael in Cooking, Culinary, Culture, Festivals, Food, Lazio, Music, Tours, Travel Tips, Tuscany, Umbria, Wine

Tweet7 months, 17 tours, 56 cooking classes, 144 guests and over 35,000 miles of Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio are behind us. That was the 2008 season for us at Culture Discovery. As with last year, after coming back to the US, I have gone into video mode. Here is the first video I have [...]

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Recession-proof your vacation with Culture Discovery Vacations

3 years ago

by Michael in Tours, Travel Tips

TweetWith so much uncertainty ahead with the economy, skyrocketing fuel prices, and the drastic drop of the Dollar against the Euro over the past couple years; many people have been concerned about planning travel. In fact, during the 2008 season, most of Europe has seen a sharp drop in [...]

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Tuscia in Jazz Festival 2008 – Schedule

3 years ago

by Michael in Culture, Festivals, Lazio, Tours, Travel Tips, Tuscany, Umbria

TweetCultureDiscovery.com is a proud sponsor of this year’s Jazz Festival in Soriano. We hope you will come and see us! We’ll be filming a great deal of the festival this year in High Definition, as well as conducting numerous interviews. This is the preliminary schedule for the 2008 Jazz [...]

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Soriano nel Cimino – Palio delle Contrade

4 years ago

by Michael in Culture, Festivals, Lazio, Sports, Tours, Travel Tips, Umbria

TweetThis year wasn’t my first time seeing the Chestnut Festival, but through the years, I have never made it to the Palio. First things first, What on earth is a ‘Palio’ ? Those who have heard the term generally know of it it in connection with the famous ‘Palio di Siena’, which is a [...]

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The hidden ruins of a 13th century Olive Mill in Italy

4 years ago

by Michael in Culture, Lazio, Personal, Tours, Travel Tips, Umbria

TweetAsk around Soriano about ‘Fosso Mulino’ (River Mill) and you will get mostly blank stares. So it is no surprise that after all of these years I had no idea that it existed. Very few people do. One day I was out with my friend (and our contractor) Andrea D’Alessio. He asked me if I [...]