Custom Italian Travel Planning for Unforgettable Moments

Ciao!

I returned from Italy two weeks ago, and I'm STILL catching up on sleep.  It was worth it though - what a trip!  Were you following along on Instagram?  I've saved it all in a few highlights if you missed following live.

 

The trip was a whirlwind of four cities in six days - Florence, Bologna, Verona and ending in Bolzano. These familiarization (FAM) trips are designed for agents to scout locations and hotels to increase our destination knowledge and have first hand experiences to better guide our clients.  

 

It's been a flurry of work and life since I returned too.   The first quarter of the year is always a busy booking season as clients kick-off the new year with fresh travel ideas. Add in a new name, brand and website refresh (coming SO soon), new newsletter platform and template (THIS ONE) aaaaand all the personal stuff that always happens in winter (back-to-back illnesses, competitive cheer season, failing at dry January, trying to consistently exercise again) - Arco Destinations is operating with the throttle wide open!

 

But the clock doesn't stop ticking, and it's Thursday again.  So let's get into it!

This isn't your ordinary castle stay.  

 

I mean yes, you can dine in the original dungeon, but the rest of the interiors are as modern as can be.  

 

There's a spa (nudity optional!), a heated outdoor pool, and the kindest and most resourceful concierge, Tommaso, who can organize anything and everything (including the experience you'll read about below). 

 

The location can't be beat -  in a quiet residential area just a short walk from the center of Bolzano, the “Gateway to the Dolomites”.

Lago di Carezza isn't the most famous or most visited lake in this region.  

 

That's Lago di Braies (thanks to Instagram), and so we're not going to talk about Lago di Braies.  Let's discover something different.

 

Lago di Carezza is also known as Lec de Ergobando in the local dialect, meaning “lake of rainbows” due to the spectacular colors of the water and surroundings.  And like many things that are too beautiful to comprehend, there's an old legend to make sense of it all involving a sorcerer, a mermaid and ….. a rainbow.

 

Come for the lake and hang around a bit for the views and the hiking - maybe you'll catch a glimpse of the mermaid!

I hope you read the title above and immediately thought, “Whatever that is, I'm in!  Sign me up!” because that was MY immediate response when I learned about this too.

 

But wait.  It gets better.  The Speck Safari is led by a Speck Ambassador!  

 

Raise you hand if you wish you had THAT on your LinkedIn profile 🙋‍♀️

 

Safari-goers are introduced to the wide world of Speck while on a walking tour of Bolzano followed by a guided tasting of this delicious cured pork product.  Yum!

Some people are big bread people. Not me. I can easily pass it up. 

 

Except for Schüttelbrot. This stuff is delicious. It's a crunchy rye-based flatbread that is spiced in all different combinations. I grew particularly fond of the fennel and cumin seed flavored one we had with dinner one night. 

 

The pic above is the shop hurtig in Bolzano - they exclusively sell Schüttelbrot and in such an aesthetically pleasing presentation don't you think?

I had never heard of this wine until a few weeks ago, but I became an instant fan. 

 

I fully acknowledge that I can easily fall in love with a wine when I'm drinking it at a winery, but when I'm served a tasting led by the farmer and his sweet daughter amongst the vines where the grapes were grown, I don't stand a chance.  

This wine is described as being similar to a Riesling or a Sauvignon Blanc, but it definitely gives Sauvignon Blanc vibes to me.

 

My Dad was disappointed that I didn't mention Ötzi on my Instagram stories while I was in Bolzano, and I don't want to disappoint him TWICE by not including dear old Ötzi in the newsletter.

 

Ötzi is Europe's oldest known natural human mummy, discovered in 1991 by hikers. It's thought that Ötzi may have been murdered based on the embedded arrow in his shoulder, and so Ötzi could very well be the oldest cold-case  - 5,300 years unsolved and counting.

 

Ötzi and his artifacts are on exhibit in Bolzano at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology pictured above.  I did walk by this museum in one of my early morning outings, but of course it wasn't open yet for a visit. 

 

There ya go Dad!

(and don't come at me for not talking about canederli.  It's a short newsletter, not a comprehensive guide to all the things)