US travel agents see the heart of Italy

FAM trip participants experience the Best of Romagna

US East Coast travel agents recently had an in-depth experience of much that green, green Romagna has to offer – their verdict? Amazing!

Travel agents from Massachusetts recently took the opportunity to explore a fabulous secret Italian destination, learned to cook Italian, ate great food, tasted great wines, experienced the culture and castles of magnificent Romagna – and learned about its green tourism initiatives.

The FAM trip included guided excursions, specially-arranged tastings of local produce including food, wine, olive oils, sea salt, a hands-on cookery class to make (and eat!) fabulous pasta and an informal workshop to understand the area – in particular Romagna’s new green tourism initiative.

The agents visited extraordinary Ravenna (twice capital of the Roman Empire) with its amazing mosaics and UNESCO world heritage site followed by a visit to the lovely hillside olive-oil and wine village of Brisighella   where they tasted some of Italy’s best olive oil, local wine and grappa.

Another fascinating day was taken by a visit to the cookery school and library founded in honour of the ‘Father of Italian Cookery’ Pellegrino Artusi. The US guests learned how to create authentic pasta and made their own delicious lunch under the supervision of the head chef of the Casa Artusi Foundation. In the afternoon the agents took a guided walk around the sensational wine village of Bertinoro,  visited the superb castle and tasted wines in its oldest vineyard – Fattoria Paradiso

The art city of Cesena , with its fabulous medieval library and towering castle was also visited by the agents after a morning visit to Longiano  and its lovely theatre Petrella . The day started with an olive-oil and wine tasting at an ancient olive grove and hostelry the Locanda della Luna  followed by visit to its soaring castle  a sensational lunch of local produce at the Michelin-rated Dei Cantoni restaurant. Naturally the day finished with another sensational meal – at Cesena’s oldest (and many say finest!) restaurant Michiletta

Cervia is the base for the new Green Tourism Italy project and the agents were treated to a visit to Cervia’s Salt Museum  and a presentation about the benefits of the tourism greening initiative – including the fact that all guests have access to free bicycles to visit the area. After a lunch of very local seafood, a guided visit to the sensational UNESCO World Heritage Site of San Marino by SanMarino2000 tourism consortium

During their stay, the agents even managed to fit in inspection visits of the thermal baths at Castrocaro  and at Bagna di Romagna

And just to prove how close they are – the agents took a scenic day excursion by train to Florence and a day visit to nearby Venice.

Accommodation for the visit was in the country hotels Relais Villa Roncuzzi, and at the hotel Delle Colline http://www.hoteldellecolline.it/ and the Allogio San Girolamo in Longiano.

Further FAM trips are planned in the spring… Details HERE