Have you ever seen photos or videos of tiny Italian villages — the laughter, the food, the friendship — and wondered how to find that for yourself? Today's guest did exactly that, and she now lives it every day. Elizabeth Heath moved from Florida to a hilltop village of 200 people in Umbria, Italy, and after 15 years immersed in the culture, she created Villaggio Tours — small-group immersive experiences where strangers become friends, grandmothers teach you to make pasta, and going-away dinners end in happy tears.

Welcome to Travel That Touches Your Soul podcast and video channel, where I bring you the people and places around the world to help you connect with something greater than yourself and fulfill your heart's desires. I'm Karen Cleveland, and today's guest is Elizabeth Heath.

Elizabeth founded Villaggio Tours with a mission to connect travelers with the authentic rhythms of rural Italian life — the harvests, the feasts, the folklore, and the families. She lives in Allerona, Umbria with her husband Paolo, a traditional stone mason, in a restored 13th-century home that now serves as Six Keys Guest House, the home base for all her tours.

Guest Bio

Elizabeth Heath is the founder of Villaggio Tours and co-owner of Six Keys Guest House in Allerona, a medieval hill town of roughly 200 residents in Umbria, Italy. Originally from Florida, Elizabeth came to Italy to pursue a PhD in anthropology and archeology, fell in love with the land and the people — including her husband Paolo, born and raised in Allerona — and never left. After 15+ years immersed in rural Italian life, she now leads intimate small-group tours that weave together food, harvest traditions, history, and genuine human connection. Her tours include cooking classes in a real Italian grandmother's kitchen, truffle hunts on private reserves, olive and grape harvests, visits to a 17th-century noble family's palazzo, and day trips to some of Umbria's most dramatic and lesser-known sites. When guests leave crying, she knows she's done her job.

Host Bio

Karen Cleveland is the creator and host of Travel That Touches Your Soul. She is a safari host, spiritual teacher, and animal communicator devoted to helping people reconnect with what matters most through meaningful travel. Her work centers on connection with animals, land, culture, and inner truth, and the quiet inner knowing that says, this is the kind of life I came here to live.

Episode Topics and Timestamps

1. Those Italian village photos — and how to actually live that experience (00:00)
2. Welcome and introduction — Karen introduces Elizabeth Heath and Villaggio Tours (00:43)
3. From Florida to Umbria — archeological digs, a summer in Orvieto, and meeting Paolo (01:32)
4. Life in Allerona — a medieval hill town of 200 inside a curtain wall from the 1100s (02:27)
5. Why field archeology is a young person's game — and how Elizabeth still shares her passion (03:20)
6. The going-away dinner — family, friends, food, and why guests cry when they leave (04:00)
7. Paolo, the family, and the difference between performing Italian culture and living it (05:23)
8. Harvesting grapes with a friend — and how everything begins and ends with food (07:11)
9. Olive oil from tree to mill to table — and what an olive oil tasting actually teaches you (08:00)
10. The first Villaggio Tours group — launched with one Facebook post in 2023 (09:00)
11. Truffle hunting on a private reserve with trained dogs at dawn (09:51)
12. The cooking class — fresh pasta, ravioli, and lunch with wine in a grandmother's kitchen (10:59)
13. Six Keys Guest House — the 13th-century home Paolo restored stone by stone (11:41)
14. Dining in a nobleman's palazzo that's been in the same family since the 1600s (13:21)
15. The ethnobotanical hike — edible plants, abandoned farmhouses, and ruins on a Vatican map (15:57)
16. Civita di Bagnoregio — the dying city with a population of five (18:25)
17. One-day cooking class options for travelers already in the Orvieto area (20:12)
18. Upcoming tours — April springtime, May folk festival, September island + countryside, fall harvest, Venice (23:31)
19. Where to find Villaggio Tours and Six Keys Guest House (26:00)

Villaggio Tours https://www.villaggiotours.com

Six Keys Guest House https://www.sixkeysumbria.com

Join our email community to receive notice of upcoming trips, new podcasts, and find out the "Top Travels of 2026 to Soothe Your Soul" https://mailchi.mp/soulful/travels or https://soulful.travel

Be sure to Subscribe and review the podcast!

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/travel-that-touches-your-soul/id1865822112 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0IMDYh43NAVhKXXfoUUNls iHeart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1333-travel-that-touches-your-315490361/

Facebook: Karen https://www.facebook.com/karentcleveland Travel that Touches Your Soul https://www.facebook.com/RevKarenCleveland/ Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/safarisandsacredjourneys/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@soulfultravelchannel

Have you ever seen those pictures

or videos where you see these little

2

villages in Italy and it looks like

the people are having so much fun.

3

There's friendship, there's

family, there's food, and you

4

wondered, gosh, that looks great.

5

How does a person experience that?

6

How can I find that?

7

Well, today you're going to learn how

to lose the crowds and find what you're

8

searching for in those communities Where

you get extra helpings of dessert and

9

strangers become friends because, my guest

is going to help you with that today.

10

Welcome to Travel That touches your soul.

11

This is Karen Cleveland and.

12

my goal is, to bring you the people

and the places around the world

13

that help you connect with something

greater than yourself or help you

14

fulfill your dreams and desires.

15

my guest today is Elizabeth Heath with

Villagio Tours she lived most of her

16

life in Florida where she grew up.

17

She's been in Italy in a small

village for over 15 years, and she's

18

really established herself in the

Italy culture and as an expert.

19

So welcome to the show, Liz.

20

It's so great to have you.

21

Thanks.

22

Thanks for the great intro.

23

absolutely.

24

So I'm going to share a video initially,

, of what Liz does for everyone.

25

. I have to be honest, one of my

first questions is, can you,

26

do you know what they're saying?

27

Can you speak the language?

28

Oh yeah.

29

Yeah.

30

I have to, it was sink or

swim when I moved here.

31

Nobody, nobody in our town.

32

I mean, a few people in our

town speak English, but very

33

few and very few fluently.

34

Okay.

35

Including my husband, so, oh, okay.

36

So tell me a little about this.

37

What, um, how did you get

to this place in life?

38

I went back to school somewhat later in

life to work on a PhD in anthropology

39

and archeology, and I started coming

to Italy to work on archeological digs.

40

And spent a summer here in 2008

and, uh, wound up meeting my husband

41

while I was, while I was here for

that summer, I was in Orvieto, which

42

is, um, with about 10,000 people.

43

We referred to it as the big city, um,

over, you know, about 20 minutes from us.

44

And, uh, I met him at a party

and, um, he was born and raised

45

in the town that we live in now.

46

Which is Aona, which has, um, we are

in the old part, we're in the Old

47

Town, which is the, the hill town,

uh, the dates to the 11 hundreds.

48

And we have about 200

full-time residents in town.

49

Wow.

50

So that's why we call

all Orta the big city.

51

So it's a, a typical Italian hill town

that was built, uh, around the, you

52

know, after the fall of the Roman Empire,

the definitive fall of the empire, when

53

they were boards of, you know, waves

of, of invasion, invaders coming in.

54

And people had to move up to high

points, high points in the ground, high

55

spots in the ground, and build a wall.

56

parts of our walls are still

standing and the old town is

57

contained in that curtain wall.

58

Did do you continue to do

your archeological work?

59

I do not.

60

I mean, I'm still passionate about

archeology and I incorporate archeology,

61

you know, visits to archeological

sites, visits to lesser known

62

sites, a lot of underground sites.

63

When we go to Rome, uh,

as part of our tours.

64

Um, our field archeology is a young

person's game, so I'm, it's hard work.

65

So I am quite content to take people to

sites and have somebody else explain to

66

us what's going on and, um, and so, you

know, convey my passion for archeology.

67

'cause I am really, when I see people

at a site and they're digging, I

68

really have , this sense of fomo.

69

But, Yeah, I bet it is

a young person's game.

70

So tell us a little bit about, this

picture and just to explain to the audio.

71

There's, there's a, a gentleman,

and women hugging a beautiful

72

dark background, with the flowers.

73

It's at nighttime.

74

Yeah.

75

So what, , so this is our going, this is a

scene from one of our going away dinners.

76

That's the last night

of our week long tours.

77

We always host when, when weather permits,

and it's most, most of the times of

78

the year that I offer tours, we're able

to do most of our activities outside.

79

So we host this going away dinner.

80

And, you know, it's a cookout and the

family and friends that our guests have

81

met during the week all gather and it's

just a nice sendoff for our guests.

82

And it usually ends in some,

you know, watery eyes, I guess.

83

Um, which is a, have a little

bit of that going on here.

84

So these guests, she's

hugging my mother-in-law.

85

Um, it's just always a real

special, I mean, people.

86

People realize that they've

been part of something special.

87

And I, and when I always say, when I

see when, when guests cry, when they

88

leave, I feel like I've really, you

know, like this was a winner, right?

89

Yeah.

90

Yeah.

91

Um, because I wanna make people sad,

but it's because people are just, you

92

know, they, they, they recognize the

value of the experience that they've had.

93

Exactly.

94

And they've been touched by it.

95

So this is your mother-in-law.

96

She's hugging.

97

So your entire family is involved in

this, um, experience for people, right?

98

For guests?

99

Yes.

100

Yes.

101

You're seeing the back

of my mother-in-law.

102

Just to, just to communicate that

the other woman is, was our guest.

103

Um, my mother, well, my husband

helps me with the, with the tours.

104

He's, I always, I kind of refer

to him as our color commentary.

105

'cause he put, He's a raconteur and he's

got a big personality and he likes to joke

106

around with people and he's just very good

at, at, at breaking the ice with people.

107

And even when guests feel maybe

a little bit reserved, it's hard

108

to feel too reserved around Paolo

because he just has such a, he

109

has this gregarious personality.

110

Um, so his friends help us.

111

His, his family, uh, his mom and my

mother-in-law and sister-in-law, his

112

sister, um, run our cooking classes.

113

So we go to his mom's kitchen,

which is this very humble Italian

114

little old lady's kitchen.

115

which is just like the ones that you

see in, you know, old Italian movies.

116

I mean, there's a TV on, we don't

have the TV on during the cooking

117

classes, but typically there's

a TV on in Pots on the stove.

118

And, so we have our

cooking classes there, and.

119

Then during the week there, my,

my relatives, my and PA's family

120

are helping us prepare meals and

I say his cousin, well, you don't

121

quite know what to call people.

122

You call him a cousin

or an uncle, something.

123

Right, right.

124

Because you know, you're, you're

sort of related, but not exactly,

125

one of his cousins, his older

cousins, brings the grappa.

126

To the dinners 'cause

he makes his own grappa.

127

So after everybody's had a nice,

uh, you know, boozy dinner with, or

128

lunch with wine, Pepe brings cracks

out the grappa and, uh, and everybody

129

who swore they'd never taste grappa

in their lives has a little sample.

130

And It's not performative.

131

We're not, these aren't Italians who

are putting on a show for you, right?

132

They're Italians who are welcoming you

into their homes and their lives and

133

their community, and are just happy that

you're here, proud of their food, proud

134

of their traditions, and very pleased to

be able to share that in an authentic way.

135

And then here's another experience.

136

It looks like a, a fun getting

down to the earth kind of thing.

137

Yeah.

138

This is, um, just helping out was

just helping our friend pick his

139

grapes because he had, it was near

the end of the harvest season and

140

he hadn't gotten out to get his, um.

141

To get his grapes harvested yet.

142

So after lunch we said, Hey, does

anybody wanna go pick grapes?

143

And you know, everybody jumped in and.

144

Um, they had a, a grape

harvesting experience.

145

And then of course Dominico,

who's our friend who's, uh,

146

who wow, those are his grapes.

147

He cracked open the wine and some salami

and bread and some other snacks and

148

things, and now everything ends with food.

149

Everything, it seems like everything

begins and ends with food here,

150

does he make his own wine?

151

Hmm.

152

Yeah.

153

Yeah.

154

Do you make wine?

155

Um, we do not, we have our own olive oil.

156

Okay.

157

We, we, I mean, we don't,

we don't make the olive oil.

158

I mean, we pick our, we

have our own olive trees.

159

We pick the olives, we take them

to the mill, and then that might be

160

the experience that guests have too.

161

It just depends on what, you

know, depending on the time

162

of year grapes or September.

163

Olives are generally October,

November, and we schedule tours

164

around the harvest too, so that.

165

When our guests are here in the

fall, hopefully they're hitting

166

one of those two harvests.

167

And if we do the olive harvest, then

we take the olives to the olive mill

168

and we watch as they go into the

hopper and our olive oil comes out.

169

Wow.

170

You know, in about an hour's time.

171

And in the meantime we have an olive

oil tasting session where the, the,

172

um, the person who, who helps run

the mill explains how you taste

173

oil and what the differences are.

174

And here's oil that came from

this kind of tree, and here's oil

175

that came from that kind of tree.

176

And it's just, it's really interesting.

177

Yeah, that's, that's amazing.

178

That would be a great experience.

179

these are some of the

guests or is this family?

180

These were our first guests.

181

Okay.

182

Um, I launched GIO Tours in 2023

with a Facebook post, um, to

183

just my friends on Facebook and

I said, Hey, we're doing this.

184

I'm doing a beta test.

185

You know, it was a, it was a

discounted tour, uh, to just make

186

sure we were on the right track.

187

And we had a group of, I had

eight guests altogether, including

188

this group of four, just terrific

friends who, who, uh, came together.

189

It was, it was the first time in Italy

for all of them, and they just had so much

190

fun and they were so happy to be here and,

and, um, just terrific, terrific guests.

191

And it helped us, helped us realize

that we were onto something too.

192

That's fantastic.

193

. This is an introduction to a truffle hunt.

194

So we have friends, um, you know,

partners, we call 'em, you know,

195

partners with us in tour who

have a private truffle reserve.

196

Um, so we meet them there and

again, they have always have a

197

little breakfast spread out for us.

198

And then we go out for a walk

through their reserve with their

199

dogs and hunt for truffles, which

are, you know, the, they're a tuber.

200

They're a, a fungus, basically.

201

A fungi.

202

Fungi, um, that grow underground and.

203

They use, especially

trained dogs to find them.

204

So we, you know, people get to see

the dogs at work and how, you know,

205

they're able to sniff out these, these

things and, you know, dig and dig

206

and dig and dig, and they're happy

to get a piece of salami or some sort

207

of treat in exchange for the truffle.

208

And, um, so this is our,

our, our friend, uh, Emilios.

209

Just anos, just explaining.

210

how fun.

211

This is the beginning of the hunt.

212

Yeah.

213

This is from our cooking class.

214

So we have a cooking lesson that's

a sort of a signature part of our,

215

of our one week tour experience.

216

And we make, uh, two kinds

of pasta, including ravioli.

217

So these are fresh raviolis that we

then, um, cook and eat for lunch.

218

I'm, I'm getting a little bit hungry.

219

It looks really good.

220

This is, um, this is one of our lunches

that's my mother-in-law's dining room.

221

so this year this is all about group

that participated in the cooking class.

222

We're waiting for, waiting

for the food to come out.

223

I think it's fantastic that these are

truly authentic in people's houses.

224

Where do people sleep?

225

We have, uh, a guest house

that just opened in the fall.

226

Um, our, our guest house is, is

called Six Keys Guest House, and it's

227

six keys because we have six rooms.

228

Um, was the whole impetus

behind the tours because of.

229

A few years ago, we bought this

old, completely dilapidated house

230

up in the village, uh, that my, my

husband had had his eye on for years.

231

And the price kept going down

and going down and going down,

232

and finally we grabbed it,

didn't know what to do with it.

233

And I just, having worked in tourism

for several years as a travel writer

234

and been on different types of group

tours and had all these different.

235

Travel experiences and just sort of

seeing how travel and tourism had changed

236

in Italy over the decade and plus that

I'd been involved, um, in tourism here.

237

The light bulb just kind of went off.

238

And I, I just remember, I always remember

like our friends and family who come

239

to visit just loved their experiences

in town and like, God, that lunch with

240

Franca was the best, or going mushroom

hunting that day was so much fun.

241

And that's what we, we just took that

and bottled it into a, into a small

242

group tour with the aim of that this

house was always going to be the.

243

The, the base for our chores.

244

Okay.

245

And what, prior to that, we had

comfortable guest houses in town.

246

Now we have our own place in

town and, and we just love it.

247

And it, you know, it's comfy and cozy

and smells good, and it's stylish

248

and just love everything about it.

249

So, right.

250

So that houses up to

12 people in six rooms.

251

And then if we go over that,

or if we need, you know,

252

people need their own spaces.

253

We don't have people that

are willing to share a room.

254

We have other places in town where

people can stay very comfortably.

255

But Six Keys is always

like, is always home base.

256

This is a dining room of a palace in

LaRona that you would not know was there

257

until we knock on the door and they're

ushered into this, you know, regal space.

258

Um, and this belongs to a family that

is descended from Italian nobility.

259

And, uh, they've had the house,

the house has been in their

260

family since the 16 hundreds.

261

Uh, so, you know, we're

welcomed into their home.

262

We get a tour of the home,

an explanation of the house's

263

history, the family's history.

264

This is innately tied to the

history of the village as well.

265

And then they prepare this beautiful,

what this is what we would call an aina.

266

So a pariti is like an, appetizer, right?

267

Like a happy hour.

268

Okay, and Chana is dinner.

269

Okay, so a pair of chana is

like heavy, um, heavy anti

270

pasta that becomes a dinner.

271

So this is all local products,

including some things that they produce.

272

They produce their own olive oil as well.

273

They use wine from, you know, that

comes from probably within a 10 mile

274

radius of all, all focused as much as

possible on zero kilometer uh, products.

275

You know, what I really love about this

is people really do want this connection

276

and learning about the actual life

because, , if you go to Rome and it's,

277

there's still value in going to Rome

and seeing the ruins, but it's just

278

so, um, big and crowded and distant

and so coming to the small villages

279

really adds a lot, learning about

Italy and not just looking at things.

280

Yeah, I think that, you know, I take

guests to Rome and I take guests to

281

Venice and I'll take them to Florence

if they wanna go to Florence, and I can

282

give them very, um, I don't wanna bandy

about the word authentic too much, but

283

I use guides in those places who do

share stories and talk about growing up

284

what it was like to grow up in Venice or

growing up in Rome or, yeah, like that.

285

So we get that human.

286

Personal connection, but not in the same

way that we can offer, you know, when we,

287

when we're inviting people to our cousin's

garden and their kids are playing on the

288

swing set in the background here, and, you

know, there's, there's children running

289

around and there's music playing and

it's just, uh, food and food, you know,

290

platters and platters and food coming

out, and it's just a different experience.

291

It looks, so amazing.

292

This is our, um, one of my guests

termed it, an ethno botanical hike.

293

That is actually a very good term

for it because our guy, the guy

294

with the yellow shirt on audio,

um, runs the Austria, this, uh,

295

rustic restaurant set in the woods.

296

And so we set out from

there on a nature walk.

297

It's like, I call it a, it, it's

somewhere between a walk and a hike.

298

'cause there's a little bit of,

you know, uphill scrambling,

299

but mostly it's walking.

300

Um.

301

as we walk, he explains how he explains

a lot about human interaction with.

302

The environment here.

303

Oh.

304

So you know, every place where we

see pine trees used to be farmland.

305

And then when the farms were abandoned

after the end of the, of the, basically

306

the tenant farming traditions in

Italy, um, people moved into the cities

307

and, you know, there's a whole, the

whole history, there's sort of like

308

geopolitical history too, sociopolitical.

309

And then, oh, and this plant's edible.

310

And people knew that they could use

this plant if they had a toothache.

311

And then, you know, we taste it.

312

And, and you know, as we're walking, and

this is, um, you know, this is a leftover,

313

he takes us to a, a pile of ruins.

314

It's been there, it was on a,

it's on a map in, in the Vatican

315

museums from the 16 hundreds.

316

Wow.

317

So that spot that we're standing, Then

we go back to the restaurant and we eat

318

dishes that were prepared with all of

these various edible herbs that we talked

319

about when we were out on our walk.

320

That's amazing.

321

This is a, I would say this is one of our

signature experiences and people just, I

322

say everything I say, oh, people love it.

323

People love it, but

people really do love it.

324

No, I can see why Really being in

touch with the land, which, is often

325

forgotten in the cities and other places.

326

It's very much the way

we live here too, though.

327

Okay.

328

And I'm not saying this is, you

know, some ena farmer or something.

329

Um, 'cause I've certainly not been,

um, a person who's been terribly

330

in touch with the land in my life.

331

But I am much more now, as I always

say, it's like we're a lot closer to

332

our food in, in Italy and in rural Italy

and India particularly in a lot of ways.

333

Um.

334

living with the land is still much,

very much part of, part of life Yeah.

335

Of life here.

336

Yeah, this is a guest birthday

in, uh, this is in Gio, which

337

is another one of our day trips.

338

So we usually do like a day around

LaRona and then a day out somewhere and

339

know we have a van with a driver that

takes us, takes us to different areas.

340

Um, I try not to keep people in

a van for much longer than about

341

40 minutes or so, just 'cause.

342

Who likes to, who, like, who wants to see

Italy looking out the window of a van.

343

Right.

344

So we try to do day trips.

345

They're manageable without, without

long, terribly long car rides.

346

Um, so Chivita and I probably have

another few photos of that, uh,

347

coming up, uh, is called The Dying

City, and it's a, uh, per, currently

348

has a population of five and it's

perch very dramatically on a hill.

349

Wow.

350

Um, not far from Orvieto.

351

So we go out there and.

352

That's one of our real

kind of wow experiences.

353

here It is.

354

So it's the dying city for a couple

of reasons because it is eroding and

355

falling into the valley behind it, and

it's, they're, they're not doing anything

356

to try to stop the, what is eventually

gonna be the disintegration of the city.

357

Okay.

358

Um, and the dying city because.

359

It's not very convenient to live out

there because that long footbridge

360

is the only way in and out of town.

361

Oh, wow.

362

So, um, so our guests, you know, we

get there, you see this, this, I

363

don't know what the word is, but when

you see it for the first time, the

364

city perched up on the, on the bluff,

like that is really quite dramatic.

365

And then we walk out there and spend a

few hours there, have lunch and um, you

366

know, get our photos and, and walk back.

367

So all groceries or food or other

products, you people need to live there.

368

Residents.

369

Residents are allowed to

come and go with a moped.

370

Okay.

371

Or maybe a little what?

372

A little a petto, which you

write those little carts.

373

And then they do have, um,

people who can't walk very well.

374

They have a sort of A-A-A-T-V.

375

That will take people back and

forth, but it's not unless you have

376

a for, for tourists, unless you

have a, a, you know, a wheelchair.

377

you have to walk out.

378

there's my husband and my

daughter in the front there.

379

This is one of our cooking classes too.

380

We had guests, so guests

come and so we do the cooking

381

classes as a one day experience.

382

Even if people don't wanna do, if

they're, or if they're already,

383

if they're already in Italy,

maybe they're staying in Orvieto.

384

And again, they're looking for

something that's not just a run of

385

the mill sort of touristy experience.

386

They can come out and just do a one

day cooking class with us, which always

387

ends in lunch and wine and grappa.

388

Sorry, people needing a nap when,

when lunch is over these are

389

coupled in orvieto, so we do, we

spend time in Orvieto as well.

390

Um, which again, I, i

we call it the big city.

391

Orvieto was, , strategically important

during the era of the papal states.

392

And when, when, you know, Italy was

divided in different sort of futile.

393

kingdoms rather than a unified country.

394

it still has several important sites and

it's also just a lovely place to, you

395

know, there's nice shops and restaurants.

396

We go to some of our favorite places,

favorite restaurants there and, and

397

also do some experiences that people

might not be able to find on their own.

398

. this looks interesting.

399

Is it a cave that's a, it's a cantina.

400

So it's, that's our friend Dominico.

401

And those were his grapes that we

were picking in the earlier photo.

402

So, and this is why he makes his wine.

403

So this is dug into, you have

to figure that these cities

404

that are up on hills are on, um.

405

Like a, they're on a limestone or tufa,

which is a tufa, which is a volcanic rock

406

bluff, and most of them have cantina.

407

Most of the houses have, uh, caves

underneath, which we call cantina,

408

and they would've been used for cold

storage, which in the era before.

409

Refrigerators.

410

Yeah.

411

This, they say they'll keep your wine

and your olive oil and your cured meats.

412

And grain all of the steady temperature.

413

So it kept food from spoiling.

414

Okay.

415

and people still use their cantina.

416

We have a cantina at six keys

guest house, and we have our wine,

417

our wine, uh, sash down there.

418

Wonderful.

419

Yeah, it's a natural cellar..

420

So at, at the video again.

421

So why don't you tell the guests,

um, everything will be in the

422

show notes, of course, but your

website, , if you have anything

423

coming up this year, you particularly

want to let people know about.

424

And I just realized to share

photos of our guest house with you.

425

Um, and it's, it's beautiful

and we're really, really pleased

426

with the way it turned out.

427

My husband is a, uh, traditional

stone mason, so he did all of the work

428

on the guest house and, um, he is.

429

Definitely one of a dying breed who

still knows how to work with, you know,

430

walk into a 13th century house and

say, okay, this and this and this and

431

this, and here's what we need to do

here, here's what we need to do there.

432

So we, we preserved the, the antique

character of the house, but, you

433

know, inserted modern comforts.

434

And it's just this very nice mix

of, of contemporary and antique.

435

That, uh, that works very well.

436

, So our website is um, villagio tours.com

437

and Vijo is V-I-L-L-A-G-G-I-O

tours all connected.com.

438

And then the guest house

is six Keys, Umbria.

439

Oh, okay.

440

So it has its own website?

441

Yeah, it has its own.

442

Okay.

443

It's a separate, it also runs as a

separate entity because when we don't

444

have tours scheduled, you can just

rent a room and come stay with us.

445

Come visit us in LaRona for a few days.

446

Oh, great.

447

I have, um, upcoming, we have

tour scheduled in April and May.

448

And our April tour, uh, begins April 18th.

449

It's our springtime immersive umbr,

and there is the option of adding on

450

three nights in Rome with that too.

451

And I have several people who

are, who are already joined for.

452

Some have joined just for the

week in LaRona, and some are

453

joined the Rome extension as well.

454

And then in May, on May 16th,

uh, we have our, um, springtime

455

immersive umbr, but it includes our

most important festival in town.

456

It's a, it's a traditional folk

festival, uh, for Sanur who is

457

the patron saint of the farmers.

458

He's a patron saint of ag agriculture.

459

Okay.

460

So it's a mix of, it's interesting

is it's this mix of, of Pagan

461

and Christian traditions.

462

Yeah.

463

Those are a lot of these folk.

464

Folk traditions of, yeah.

465

Throughout, I guess all over

the world, you know, uh, Italy,

466

certainly no exception to that.

467

, A festival that's linked to, uh,

productive harvest so our guests

468

will be here in time for the festival

and then pick up on, you know, the

469

rest of our week of activities.

470

So we're really excited for that one too.

471

And we have several people signed up

and then we reconvene in September.

472

And um, I have a tour that takes in

Gilio Island, which is this just idyllic

473

island right off the coast of Tuscany.

474

And we spend three nights there.

475

Snorkeling and boating and hiking,

and we have this fantastic, uh, lunch.

476

We hike down to a vineyard and they

have this, this lunch just spread

477

out for us and there's this sea

and it's just, it's, it's fabulous.

478

It exceeded Wow.

479

Exceeded my expectations,

um, and our guests as well.

480

And then that is, that

follows with days in LaRona.

481

So that's, that's, we call that,

you know, sea and countryside.

482

And then in the fall we have

our, our tours that are linked

483

to the different harvest, to

the grape in the olive harvest.

484

And I also run a tour in November

that starts in Venice and includes

485

three nights in Venice and then

follows up with a week in Elona.

486

We can do custom tours and private

tours, and if you come to me with

487

a and say, Hey, what can we do?

488

We can figure it out.

489

Nice.

490

Nice.

491

I, think I will need to go visit you

within the next couple years and,

492

it all sounds and looks wonderful.

493

thank you so much for

being on the show today.

494

it's been fascinating learning about

all this and seeing all this and yeah, a

495

personal experience like this is exactly

the kind of things that, that I love,

496

that people love that I wanna promote.

497

So thank you for being here.

498

Thank you, Karen.

499

Thanks so much for the opportunity.

500

All right, you're welcome.

501

And guests, thank you for listening

and watching, and we will, um,

502

I'll connect with you again later.