Trip Report Viva Italia!! My Adventure by Disney!

So yours truly just arrived home from a wonderful trip to Italy courtesy of Adventures by Disney and let me tell you, it was AWESOME!! The tour that I went on was called Viva Italia which took us from Rome to Tuscany to Florence and then our final stop in Venice, which was truly a dream come true for me! Venice has been on my bucket list for some time now and it did not disappoint. So, let me tell you about my Adventures!

Day1: My daughter and I took a late afternoon flight out of Newark that got us into sunny Rome the next morning. The flight was a little over 8 ½ hours, but who’s counting, we’re going to ITALY!!

When we arrived we were met by our Adventures by Disney greeter who helped us to grab our luggage and after a quick potty break we headed towards the exit where we met one of our Adventure Guides Marco. He was staying at the airport to help co-ordinate the other Adventurers that would be arriving that day and said he would see us at the hotel later for the reception. Our bags were loaded into the waiting van and we were off on our Adventure in Rome! I do have to say that the drivers in Rome definitely give the NYC drives some heavy competition. And those people on the scooters!!! Wow, they do take their lives into their own hands over there. They make their own lanes… LOL

It took us approx 30 mins to arrive at the beautiful Gran Melia Rome hotel.
melia.JPG
 

Kingdom Konsultant

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Now I have to tell you, I thought that the Basilica was beautiful, but then I saw the beauty of the Vatican Museum. If you love Art, if you love History, you MUST go to Rome. When we arrived, keep in mind that this was a PRIVATE after hour’s tour. So the Adventures by Disney tour was THE ONLY group there and it was off the charts. This is truly in my opinion the best thing about this tour. Off the charts!!
 

Kingdom Konsultant

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Ok on to day 4
After another wonderful buffet breakfast at the Hotel Gran Melia we boarded the bus and we are off to
Tuscany and the Hotel Borgo di Cortefreda!http://www.borgodicortefreda.com/en/
Umbria is absolutely gorgeous! You have such wonderful history here with the Etruscan ruins and a visit to the medieval town of Orvieto!
We boarded the Fonicolare to go up the side of the mountain to Orvieto!
 

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Kingdom Konsultant

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Orvieto is THE place to go for white truffles. White truffle oil, white truffle everything!!

After leaving Orvieto we headed to a gorgeous private family owned estate called Relais Gli Ulivi which translates to "The Olive Orchard". We had a wonderful lunch there followed by Torta Della Nonna (Grandmothers cake).
 

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Kingdom Konsultant

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They started us with lots of wine and prosecco and had plates and bowls of salad and appetizers before bringing courses of different pastas and grilled meats. The food was phenomenal. What an absolutely gorgeous setting!!
 

Kingdom Konsultant

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After lunch we headed to the Hotel Borgo di Cortefredo. What a beautiful setting. We were greeted with wine and snacks in the courtyard in the back of the hotel. After going to our rooms and freshening up we checked out the hotel which is very charming. For dinner we had a private group dining at the hotel outdoors and it was wonderful. We had many bottles of wine from their wine cellar, multiple dishes of pastas, fresh breads and desserts. The food and wine kept coming, not that I am complaining but we were stuffed to the gills and feeling just a tad tipsy when we went off to bed. While we had a wonderful meal, the Junior Adventures had a wonderful meal of their own followed by a movie with our Adventure Guides. We made a wonderful new friend that night too. Max the hotels Sommelier is wonderful and his laugh is infectious. He can be heard across the hotel... too funny!
 

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Some pics of the hotel and the grounds
 

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Kingdom Konsultant

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Day 5 started with a huge buffet breakfast at the hotel. We are heading off to the Tuscan countryside to the Fattoria Poggio Alloro for a pasta making class and lunch! Here's yours truly ready for pasta making!
 

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They also have a winery on the grounds which we did a short tour of also. the kids learned how to make flavored olive oil while we toured. They have a nice gift shop on property that sells their wine, olive oil, etc. Their daughter Sara is a chef and she wrote an award winning cookbook which I of course had to buy!
More pics of the winery and lunch!
 

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