Total Tuscany

Episode 35: Origins of Italy With Mary Tedesco

It's human nature to be curious about where we came from. When we start to diagram our family tree, just how far back can we go and where does that lead us to? 

In this episode of the Total Tuscany podcast, you hear from a professional genealogist, Mary Tedesco. Mary was a host on season two of the popular PBS series, Genealogy Roadshow and is the founder of the website Origins Italy.

Mary can help you trace  your family heritage in any country, but her specialty is Italy. Mary speaks fluent Italian and travels often to Italy to conduct client genealogical research and visit family. Mary is also the co-author of "Tracing Your Italian Ancestors" an 84-page Italian research guide published by Moorshead Magazines.

Chances are you have tried Ancestry.com or even Familysearch.org to start your journey back to your family history. Both are excellent resources will definitely point your in the right direction. 

Mary digs deeper than any website search is capable of and in this podcast we talk in great detail about her skill set and how to find family secrets that are just begging to be told. 

Episode 34: What To Do In An Emergency

A trip to Italy is supposed to be like a dream, a get away to a relaxing life with no worries, great food and great wine. Bob Cullinan has visited Italy several times, finding new and exciting places to explore and feeling more comfortable  in his surroundings each trip. Bob enjoys embracing the culture and living like a local when he is there. It was in late January of 2015 that Bob's latest Italian dream trip turned into a nightmare.

Driving his rented Vespa through the streets of Rome, Bob was in a serious accident that left him laying in the street, banged up and unable to walk at a rather busy intersection. If you have ever been in Rome and experienced the flow of traffic, you can imagine the horror Bob was thinking before he was able to assess his injuries from his accident. Crazy drivers, and lots them in cars and on vespas heading right for him and not appearing to slow down. Yes, Bob was in shock!

Listen to the podcast as Bob goes into great detail of what caused the accident and what happens after.

We are getting ready to take our next dream trip to Florence. On our previous trips to Italy, nothing has gone wrong, everything went as planned.

After hearing about Bob's story, it left us asking ourselves the question, what if? What if we are in an accident? What if we need to call an ambulance. What if we have to go to the hospital? These are questions we've never asked ourselves before and never planned for.

Accidents can be prevented, but not all of them and they can happen to you...They can happen to us!

In this podcast Bob not only tells the fascinating story of his accident, but gives some practical advice and steps we can all take to be prepared for the worst.  Are you planning a trip in the near future? If so, listen to this podcast to feel safer, more secure and prepared!

Episode 33: Parker Villas Spring Sale

Are you looking for the perfect Valentine's Day gift? How about a trip to Tuscany! Well, it's not all expenses paid,but our good friends at Parker Villas are having a spring sale that can save you money and leave you with memories that last a lifetime.

Here's the deal, April and May are two of the best months to visit Italy. Everything is in bloom. The attractions are a lot less crowded and prices are lower.  When you book with Parker Villas between now and February 27th you get: 

• 2 nights free when renting a participating villa for a selected week.
• A free wine and cheese basket on arrival.
• Returning Parker clients earn a 50 or 100 Euro credit towards any villa meals or cleaning.

Again, you can only get this offer if you book your villa by February 27th, 2015.

Full disclosure, we are past Parker Villa clients and couldn't be happier with the service, selection, and quality of villas. 

In our latest podcast with Parker Villas owner and President Mario Scalzi, we discuss the latest trends in villas. Besides the spring sale, why NOW is the time to travel to Italy. Here's a hint, it's a Euro thing.

Now is the time! Don't put it off any longer, the best way to say I love you for Valentines day is by renting a villa and taking a trip to Tuscany! 

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Episode 32: Molly McIlwrath

Our first trip to Tuscany was in 2009. We are going to be very honest here, we both brought our kids. Seven in all! We are in agreement that the experience had a profound effect on their view of the world. However, looking back we could have done things differently to make THEIR vacation more enjoyable. It's amazing how selfish we parents can be! Why wouldn't an 8 year old boy appreciate the alabaster in Volterra along with the craftsmanship behind all the wonderful pieces of art? Oh, because he is 8!

If you are taking your kids on your next trip to Tuscany, you MUST contact our friend Molly McIlwrath. Her specialty (among many) is conducting workshops for kids centered around art in Florence. 

A mother of a five year old girl, Molly makes Florence come alive for the young and even the not so young.  Using her vast educational background in Italian literature and art to customize an experience the whole family can remember. Not only will you and your children learn something, you might create a masterpiece!

Molly grew up in Stockton, California but she really has been an Italian at heart since the age of 12 when she first visited on a family vacation.  How big of an influence was the trip? Well she started studying the Italian language in high school then eventually studied abroad in college. One thing led to another and as you will hear in this podcast, Molly met her husband in Italy and they are now living just outside of Florence. 

Her latest project is the launch of her new website, letterartemente.com. If you are looking at it and trying to pronounce it, good luck! We won't even make you listen to the the podcast to decode it. LetterArteMente translates to literary, artistic, landcapes.  Molly takes a short train ride from her home in Pistoia to Florence and as she says on her website, it is this Tuscan landscape where LetterArteMente begins and draws its inspiration.

We hope this podcast inspires you and we look forward to your comments, please take a moment to tell us what you   think by leaving your comments below. 

Episode 31: Juls Kitchen

We are convinced that if Giulia Scarpaleggia lived in the United States, she would have her own show on the Food Network. Right now, (at least in our opinion) she is producing one of the best food blogs in the world! It's packed full of creative recipes, wonderful Tuscan dishes, fantastic photos and videos that will make your mouth water.

Giulia's journey to the kitchen started when she was just a kid, preparing meals with her grandmother and mother. But like all good adventures, the story of getting to your destination is full of detours and crossroads. Thank goodness they have all led to Juls' Kitchen!

Giulia is not just a writer and a photographer, she's a teacher. She conducts small, intimate cooking classes on her family's farm. These experiences can be customized to fit your lifestyle and expectations. The options include vegetarian, gluten-free and vegan courses. All classes include a Juls' Kitchen apron so you can remember your authentic experience when you are trying your own Tuscan recipes in your own kitchen.

Juls' Kitchen is located between Siena and Florence, as she says, in the heart of Tuscany. Giulia is a self proclaimed dreamer; she's had inspiration in many different aspects of her life that you hear about in this podcast. She is as authentic as the Tuscan countryside and her passion for quality food and memorable experiences shines through when you hear her talk. 

We want to know what you think of this podcast, please leave your comments below. Also make sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Episode 30: Driving In Tuscany

One of the most common questions readers of this website ask is this. Is it hard to drive a car in Tuscany?

When we show you a road sign like this you are probably struggling to pronounce the names of the towns and you need to know the numbers are not miles but rather kilometers. 

I think readers are somewhat surprised and yet relieved when we reply to them and say NO! Driving in Tuscany is not hard, in fact it's pretty darn easy. The great thing about renting a car and going out on your own is that it gives you a lot of freedom!  If you were stuck to a bus schedule, a train schedule or a tour group you just wouldn't have the same experiences. 

But this doesn't mean you shouldn't plan ahead and take time to know the rules of the (very narrow) roads in Tuscany. In this edition of the Total Tuscany Podcast, we share our experiences behind the wheel in Tuscany. Have all the experiences been perfect? No! But that makes for a more memorable trip.

Again the experiences we share in this podcast are our own. Here are some of the topics we discuss if you are looking for answers. 

• Renting A Car
• Do You Need A GPS?
• What About Insurance? 
• Manual or Automatic
• Parking, Yes Parking
• Driving In The City
• Road Signs
• Narrow Roads
• International Drivers License 
• Filling Up With Gas: Liter vs. Gallon $$

If you are going to Tuscany from the United States, you will notice everything is smaller! The cars are smaller, the roads are narrower and the parking spaces are tight! 

One thing we did not cover in the podcast but need to mention here, pack light! If you are renting your car at the airport, remember a Fiat 500 can only hold so many bags!

We would love to hear your driving stories from Tuscany or anywhere in Italy and Europe. Please leave your comments below, our listeners always have the best stories! 

Episode 29: Crazy Success For Pazzi

Back in November of 2014 we told you the story of the #CrazyForPazzi kick starter campaign. The goal was to raise enough money to start and complete the renovation of the Pazzi Chapel at the Opera di Santa Croce in Florence, Italy.

Not only was this campaign a tremendous success, they raised more money that the original goal and the the renovation project has started!

We are excited to tell you that we are going to Florence in early March and we will be able to share pictures and video of the construction process that is supposed to last six months. 

Donations came in from all around the world! This collaborative effort is a sign of bigger things to come when it comes to finding the funds for such important projects. 

Not only did this project take a lot of people to donate, but it took two exceptional women who believe passionately in the project and what it means to everyone who loves Florence and the Opera di Santa Croce. In the 29th edition of the Total Tuscany Podcast we hear from these two innovators and what their efforts mean for the Pazzi Chapel and how (we think) they have changed the game going forward. Who knows, in a century they may be talking about Helen Farrell and Paola Vojnovic in Florence the way we talk about Dante, Michaelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci. 

Episode 28: Italy In Focus

Tuscany is an wide open canvas for all kinds of artists. You have painters, potters and our favorite, photographers. In preparing for this podcast episode we did a quick Google search of "Pictures of Tuscany", 24,000,000 results popped up. 24-MILLION! 

It seems everywhere you look in Tuscany there is a picture to be taken. The Duomo in Florence, thePiazza del Campo in Siena, hill towns like the famous San Gimignano, the vineyards of Chianti and the famous landscapes of the Val d'Orcia.

On your next trip to Tuscany, wouldn't you like to bring all these images into focus? Of course you would, and this is why you need to meet Rob Moles. His company "Italy in Focus" offers week long photography workshops in the heart of Tuscany. 

Rob's workshops run in May, June, July and September. You will notice there are no workshops in August, this is because of the extreme heat that can make an all day photography excursion uncomfortable. 

Who are the workshops for? Rob specializes in working with beginners as well as photographers with intermediate skills. This isn't to say a professional can't participate, after all Rob knows all the secret places to get some of the best photos in Tuscany!

These week long workshops are an intensive but yet a fun crash course in mastering your camera's settings, working and finding the perfect light, composition and processing your works of art in photoshop. 

Rob Moles is an award winning photographer and started his professional career in photography as a commercial photographer, traveling the UK shooting architectural photography for an advertising agency. But he soon developed a passion for portraiture and in 1986 he opened his own portrait studio in Nottingham.

Commissions to photograph the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, Joan Collins and a variety of actors and musicians from the entertainment world followed as Rob's style developed, culminating in the studio specializing solely in Black & White photography. This love of Black & White is still reflected in a lot of Rob's work as you will see on the pages of his website.

So how did Rob end up in the heart of Tuscany? It's a journey of extremes highs and lows that took him from the U.K to New Zealand, Australia, the United States and finally Italy. A story he describes in great detail in this podcast and his determination will serve as motivation to chase your dreams no matter the circumstances and the road blocks in the way. 

When you sign up for one of Rob's workshops you get so much more than an education in photography. You get an experience of a lifetime that includes five nights accommodation including breakfast, transport from your arrival airport to your accommodation, transport to all photographic locations by comfortable minibus - including night tours and early morning trips. 

So what are you waiting for? The next time you take a trip to Tuscany you can start creating lasting memories and stunning images when you bring Italy In Focus! 

Episode 27: Palazzo Belfiore: Feel At Home In Florence

Since the day we started podcasting about Tuscany, our advice has been to stay away from hotels and immerse yourself into Italian and Tuscan culture by staying at a villa or an apartment. We have always stayed at villas in the country. When we visited Florence for a one or two night stay, we opted to be unadventurous. We stayed in rather predictable hotels that excelled at customer service but lacked true Florentine character. To be honest, we were just too lazy to look for an apartment that rented night-by-night.

Our prayers have been answered! Okay, we really didn't get down on our knees and ask for this, but everyone at Palazzo Belfiore must have been reading our minds from thousands of miles away. Out- of-the-blue, we get an email from them wanting to discuss their apartments and the unique experiences renters will have while staying in a "different" part of the city center.

Palazzo Belfiore is the orginal residence of a 14th century family and is located near major attractions like the Ponte Vechhio, the Uffize Gallery, Palazzo Pitti, Boboli Gardens and Santo Spirito. There are seven fully furnished apartments at Palazzo Belfiore ranging in size but sure to fit the needs of couples, families or smaller groups. Each apartment is named after a famous Florentine.

You'll be in the heart of the Florentine culture on both the inside and outside of Palazzo Belfiore. One of the apartments has an original fresco dating back to the 15th century! Palazzo Belfiore is located on the "other" side of the Arno. Here you'll find handcraft shops, antique shops and typical restaurants. You will also experience the renaissance atmosphere of Florence you read about in books, blogs and magazines. 

There are a number of complimentary services that are included with your rental, free Wi-Fi, daily newspaper and Concierge service. If you want to splurge from some extras, you can! Like a personal shopper, personal driver and Italian language and cooking courses.

You can book your apartment online or email them directly for a more competitive rate. Palazzo Belfiore is a 2014 Tripadvisor Certificate of Excellence winner. 

Episode 26: Crazy For Pazzi

We want you to be Crazy For Pazzi! In this weeks Total Tuscany podcast, we visit with Helen Farrell from The Florentine.  Helen is the managing editor of the newspaper that is published in english and she's is reaching out to the rest of the world by joining forces with Opera di Santa Croce to help preserve the Loggia at the Pazzi Chapel.

The project is not cheap and the clock is ticking in order to get all the money raised so the restoration can start in 2015. That's is where you come in! A Kickstarter campaign has been lauched and the rush to raise $95,000 by December 19th is on. You can pledge any amount to the campaign by CLICKING HERE.