Villa Rental In Umbria and Olive Picking/Pressing near Pisa and learning Italian in Todi!

I am going Home To Italy after more than 18 months since my last visit.
It is like a fix, chocolate, wine, face book,  something that completes your day and enhances your life.
While talking with a stranger about Italy I was amazed that they understood how addictive Italy can be.   Almost from the time you step off the plan or the ship if you are lucky to have that method of arrival, something happens.  Life becomes animated, people are seen in color, I feel more alive.  Perhaps it is becaue I can understand some of what they say and listening to their daily conversations is like watching a movie.  When you view life from the outside/in it can be very interesting.

Back to the topic!   I have not posted in weeks because I was finishing a 23 year career that I closed this week, tried to sell a house to finance the plan to move Home To Italy (yes that was a joke in todays market) and organizing my next adventure:  30 days in country and a 2 week sail back to NYC.

Have so much to share and I shall post each in turn, so stay tuned for my life, Home to Italy.

Flash Backs of Italy! Or just dreams of a life in the Tuscan Hills?

Have you visited Italy or have you dreamed of a trip to the wonderful areas of Italy?

Take a moment to meat a colleague of mine I met while promoting Italian real estate here in the USA.

Ms Ford and I stayed in touch over the past 6 years and visit every trip I return HomeToItaly.

Now I find there is an artist behind the real estate professional! 

Do you remember the incredible light, the colors and how they change as the day progresses when you walk the streets of a very old town or city in Italy? 

Now you can take that image home in photos or even note cards.

Take a look at Sheilas gallery of art treasures and make one your own.

From her web site:

NOT ONLY HOUSES

Real Estate agent by profession but by passion photographer, Sheila Ford has lived and worked in Florence for more than 25 years.


"Of English origin she has always had a love for photography. On her eighth birthday she was given her first camera a Kodak Brownie 127 which she still keeps! 
Today her photography is much more involved and wishes to share her emotions captured through the eye of the lens. The Florence and Tuscany she knows, the streets, colors, ancient stones revisited time and again from angles less known."

http://www.florenceprimopiano.com/photo/

No more Beach Vacations

Now that I don't spend every waking hour tanning or sitting on the beach (even if i did spend the time reading a book) it opens up far more time and opportunity on where I can travel, solo.
The beach is wonderful and the view of the sea or ocean one of the joys of life, but if you add up all the hours from age 16 to 35 (approx) you could travel the world in that amount. And your tan fades, and you freckle and have brown spots later on. Yes it is true.

However, i watched Italians sun every possible moment while I was in Sorrento, and show no wear and tear on them as you looked at older sun worshipers. Who can stay indoors with a view of the sea, the islands, or just a walk along the coast??

Now what to do with all this time?

Traveling solo and on a budget (because of the dreaded single supplements) often requires that I have to travel off season: Europe in the fall or spring, the USA the reverse of the vacationers:

beach trips in the winter, ski areas or Montana, Utah in the early summer. Forget about seeing the leaves change in the fall, two many couples to be able to find a room.

There is an art to solo travel and I am still exploring all the possibilities.

how do you handle the cost of solo travel during the "best" travel times