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Timeless enchantment,
brilliant food, and transformational self-creation, in the world's most
sensual country, at its most celebratory time of the year |
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Join Crescent Dragonwagon for Fearless
Writing in Italy, an exuberant, abundant weeklong cornucopia, holidays
2005 |
When it comes to
experiencing central Italy's
Emilia-Romagna,
what's your pleasure? In this
province, called
by Italian Cooking magazine “a gastronomic paradise”
it's hard to choose: the lush
summertime, with its seduction of ripe apricots and overflowing
gardens, its warm days of picnics and beaches and walks, perhaps
punctuated
with a scoop of creamy gelato? Or the crisp, magical holiday season,
ablaze with light and color and tastes, the tastes of newly pressed
olive oil and special confections, the bustling lanes and small shops
and markets piled high with goods and foods and seductions for busy
shoppers? At either time, of course, you will be steeped in the
incomparable atmosphere of an old, old country, which has been
cultivating not just the land, but life itself, lived well, since
medieval times. (Left, a glorious fruit market in December. Photo,
David Koff; click to enlarge photo).
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winter
2005 (December 19-26)
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This just might be the year
to do something you've always dreamed of doing : visiting sensual,
seductive Italy, where everywhere you look, you are embraced by beauty.
Even a simple view of rooftops (right, rooftops from a
hotel room in Bologna; photo, David Koff; click to enlarge) enchants the eye, already
overwhelmed by stunning reality of cathedrals you've only seen in
pictures, the orderly and abundant orchards and vineyards visible along
every country road, the paintings and mosaics and gardens.
During Fearless Writing™
in Passionate Italy, you'll explore the culture, cuisine, and
architecture, hone your cooking skills at the source (often in private
Italian family kitchens and gardens),
smell, taste,
learn and discover the foods and wines, the honeys, fruits, vegetables,
cheeses, pastas, of this overflowing cornucopia of a country. You might
even tag along with Luciano and his truffle-hunting legatto
romagna dogs --- followed by a truffle-centered feast made by his mother
and served in the kitchen... black truffles in the winter, white in the
summer.
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your Fearless host, Crescent Dragonwagon; your Passionate Italy
hosts, Marcello & Raffaella
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You already know
about CD
and
Fearless Writing.
Now, meet Marcello and Raffeala, who give new meaning to the words "warm
welcome." Natives of Emilia-Romagna, the couple grew up in the small
town of Rimini, perhaps best known as Fellini's home-town and
immortalized in his film Amarcord.. Now based in Bologna,
they run a personal, one-of-a-kind travel company, specializing in small
culinary and cultural tours of the area.
 Who
makes the best sorbetto? When are the peaches in season? Can you make
noccino liqueur at home, and if so, how? Who makes the ceramics in the
ancient and authentic way, and is willing to let us into his studio? Ask
them.. They know their neighbors and they know their neighborhood. (Our
accommodations are in a beautifully restored monastery-turned-hotel...
Marcello remembers bicycling there as a boy, to play soccer with the
priests.) Every detail for comfort, pleasure, and elucidation has been
thought of, and you, the visitor, get to experience Italy so closely, so
personally, and so all-embracingly, that they could almost be your
long-lost cousins. (Left, Marcello and Raffa, far right, join
Fearless Writers Bob Messer, Sue Hamer, and Pat Messer, CD peeking over
Bob's shoulder. Photo, David Koff; click to enlarge).
And the service starts now. If you have any
further questions about travel arrangements and details, e-mail
Raffa and Marcello (
info@bluone.com )
and you'll see just how much they care,
and how kindly.
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inner and outer sojourns intertwine seamlessly
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 How it is possible to combine the
intense interior experience of breakthrough writing and understanding,
with the equally intense outer exploration of a country as rich in
history and fine food and sensual pleasure as Italy?
Well,
we've broken it out for you day by day,
but here's an overview. Congenial,
creative mornings (mostly) spent Fearlessly with Crescent and your
fellow writers. Gorgeous hotel high atop a hill (see view from the
Monte de Re window, left. Photo, David Koff; click to enlarge). Afternoons (mostly)
spent exploring, visiting private homes and artisinal food production
facilities, working with chefs and great home cooks, with time-outs for
architecture and culture (such as the great mosaics, some even
pre-Christian, at Ravenna) and pleasure (beach picnics, dinner at
the world-renowned San Domenico restaurant.). |
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"deep travel" radiates pleasure and insight long after the trip is
done
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Combine an idiosyncratic,
indulgent, adventurous, and totally personal culinary tour with
Fearless Writing™, in the good company of a small, intimate
group. It adds up to "deep travel", as opposed to being a tourist. You
receive an experiential gift that is both outer and inner.
Fearless Writing / Passionate Italy is life-changing, full of joy, fun
and surprises. These continue to unfold and transform long after
returning home. This journey celebrates an extraordinary place
--- Italy --- and the senses and soul, mind and heart, and creative
vitality of the travelers themselves.
Book your visit, passionate inside and
out, now, using our
Booking Form.
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Make the decision now: why you'll be glad
forever that you joined us in Italy this Christmas:
- the food (and eating it, understanding it, and learning
to cook it at the source)
- the shops (from fruit markets to galleries, lingerie
shops to textile stores --- irresistible taste and sensuality)
- the teaching and the learning
- the countryside and the country (each painterly rural
vista, each exuberant city view)
- the accommodations ( a castle-like stone mountaintop
redoubt overlooking orchards and vineyards, once a monastery, now as
luxurious as it once was spartan --- but, along with 800
thread-count sheets and fresh flowers, still full of soul )
- Christmas (sensuality, Catholicism, family, history,
extraordinary architecture --- no matter your religion, you will be
warmed at every street corner, each front door by the color, the
music, and the energy)
- what you'll take home.
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("Over the past twenty
years I have spent tens of thousands of dollars on workshops,
conferences, seminars, classes, books, and whatever I could find to
transform my abilities in dozens of areas of the arts, and in my life.
With Crescent, this transformation at last occurred: an internal sea
change... far beyond anything that was in the workshop description, all
of which I was so ready for."
--- Vivian Ciolli Ackerman, New York, New York.) |
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