Slow Travel

If you want to see 19 cities is 12 days do not read any further.

Maybe its my age or maybe its just the age these days but not only do I want to slow down, most people I meet want to experience Italy more slowly as well. Enjoying, taking one’s time, savoring more seems to be higher up on the agenda than rushing through seeing the highlights only. Many of us have done that already and now want to get a better idea of what it’s like really living someplace else. At least what you can gather from a couple of weeks in a region.
How people set about attaining this goal is as varied as each of us. At aWeekinUmbria.com I am here to help make your experience all you want it to be. That could be as simple as pointing you in the right direction with a GPS for the most independent; dropping you off and picking you up later for those who don’t want to hassle with parking or have difficulty walking; taking you on a half-day or full-day tour; or planning a week of tours and activities you’ve wanted to do but didn’t know how to do it on your own.

What is Slow Travel?
The Slow Travel Movement, by definition, is a response to the growing pressure of fast consumption — fast food, instant messaging, and weekend getaways. It is about enjoying travel more. Enjoying food more. And, I guess, enjoying life more. Proponents of the Slow Travel movement prefer to spend a week at a time in a chosen place (or two-weeks split between two locations) instead of the ‘If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium’ mode.

Where did the Slow Travel Movement get started?
It might not be surprising that the Slow Travel Movement started in Italy, but the actual epicenter was Rome. A protest in 1986 over the opening of a McDonald’s in the Piazza di Spagna led to the creation of Arcigola, later Slow Food Organization, by Carlo Petrini. There are now chapters in 132 countries with over 100,000 members world wide.

What does the movement advocate?
The movement strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine. It promotes farming of local and specialty varieties of plants and livestock indigenous to a region thereby maintaining the traditional ecosystem as well as the particular flavors of a cuisine. The movement’s objectives are to preserve seed banks of heirloom varieties, celebrate individual regional cuisines, preserve and promote traditional food products, promote small scale processing, educate the public about the dangers of monocultures, factory farms, pesticides, and genetic engineering; and to encourage organic farming, teaching gardening skills and ethical buying in local marketplaces.

— Michael LaPlaca

Experience the rhythm of life in a small town. With only 300 people living within our walls, Bettona is the perfect get-away from larger more ‘discovered’ hill towns. The people are friendly, the streets quaint, and the views spectacular. Guests often comment on how our little town works its charms on them. Yet, there’s always something to do — from strolling to the central piazza for a coffee or gelato to dining in one of our three lovely restaurants. And a special welcome goes out to the LGBT community.

I like to say: “It’s not just what you see but how you see it.”

— Michael LaPlaca, your host