ABOUT VAPIANO

“Va piano” (pronounced vah-pee-AH-no)
meaning to “go slowly”

While hoeing the potato fields in the sweltering sun near the Po River, a farmer I apprenticed with would sometimes say “piano, piano” (“slowly, slowly”.) This was a command I had never heard in Italian – or English. I had brought my New England work ethic to the rural fields of Italy and it was useless. I soon learned that speed was not of importance in this lifestyle I was so attracted to, and so I began to practice living at a slower pace, moving with the rhythms of nature, refraining from hurrying and instead, enjoying the sweet life.   

Katie biting into a freshly picked strawberry in Tenuta Antica’s fields, June 2007

At the heart of Vapiano Tours is an intention to invite travelers to explore their surroundings with ease and wonder.   

My first experience in Italy was in 2007 when I volunteered through the WWOOF organization. I was fortunate to connect with an incredible family in Piedmont (see below) where I worked in their garden, vineyard and kitchen. This work-stay experience along with two others in the years following gifted me with an insider’s view of rural Italian life which I found to be most admirable and authentic. 

Bottling homemade Lambrusco in Lombardy, April 2010 

 

 

Meet Our Hosts

Mauro & Pia

Mauro and Pia welcome you to Tenuta Antica in the peaceful countryside village of Cessole. Their cozy, rustic agriturismo will be our home base for four nights of the tour. Look forward to quiet nights under the stars, fresh air and fields of wild flowers, hazelnuts and grape vines. We’ll enjoy a cooking class with Pia, along with Mauro’s wines (made with grapes from their organic vineyard)… and the option to bask in their new outdoor wellness spa!

 

 

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Vapiano Tours | katie@vapianotours.com