Italian Cooking Vacations and Holidays, Culinary & Wine Tours - Tour Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio Italy, mixed with Tuscan cooking classes & authentic italian culture

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Paola and I in Soriano June 2006

Hi! We are Michael and Paola, the people behind DiscoverSoriano.com. Read on to find out a little about us (from Michael's perspective), our history, and how DiscoverSoriano.com came to be.

First things first... Who are we?
I (Michael) am a Los Angeles native. I grew up in the 'Valley'. In 1984, when I was 18, I took a trip to Italy, and during my travels I went to visit a friend of my mother's who had moved back to his hometown in Italy a couple years prior. I fell in love with the town, but more importantly, I fell in love with a girl in that town. She was beautiful and vibrant.. and she happened to be the only person around that spoke english. Over the next two years, we ended up going back and forth between Los Angeles and Soriano together while I learned to speak Italian, and in 1986 we married. The decision was made that we would live in America and spend our summers in Soriano nel Cimino, her home town.

Our villa about 3 miles south of Soriano nel Cimino's piazza

Our villa in Soriano. It is still a work in progress.

After we married, we took possession of a 380 year old country house that had been in Paola's family since it was built. Over the years, we have been working on restoring the house little by little, such that it has developed into an amazing country villa. We have named it 'Villa Eddarella' after Paola's mother. The house is our personal sanctuary, and if you visit Soriano while we are in town, we would love to invite you to our home for dinner.

We have two wonderful children who enjoy the kind of freedom here that they could never dream of back in L.A. Our girl, Alyssa, speaks fluent Italian, and our boy, Andrei, has decided that his mission in life it to teach English to everyone in Soriano so that he doesn't have to speak Italian :-).

Our Daughter Alyssa - Taken in Calcata 2008

About Paola... Paola had the misfortune of having attended a linguistic-focused high school that left her speaking near perfect English. As a result of her excellent English, she met me while I was on vacation in Italy. After a couple years we were married, and I took her away from this wonderful place to live in a traffic-infested megalopolis... Los Angeles. She is a direct descendant of the Corsi family, who were one of the more important families in town for hundreds of years. During the time of Napoleon, her family emigrated from Corsica to Italy. They were land barons that owned much of the valley beneath Soriano. She is extremely proud of her hometown (rightfully so!) and can sit down and tell you stories about Soriano all day long that would keep you riveted.

For years Soriano was our secret. In fact, during most of my years coming here, I was quite simply 'The American', and the two years that I actually lived here, only once had I encountered an native english speaking person.

Our son, Andrei, taken during Christmastime 2006

Then several years ago a timeshare group opened a hotel in town that attracts mostly Brits and Americans. They brought in enough tourism to cause the town to offer basic services for tourists. As I would hang out in the Piazza (main square), I would often meet the guests and help them with the language barrier. As we got to know more and more of the tourists, they would tell us what they loved about the area, and what was left to be desired. All of them were absolutely in love with the town, the area, and its proximity to major destinations. They all felt that this was the hidden jewel of Italy, stunning and beautiful, while unspoiled by the floods of tourism. It is a place that has quick and easy access to major destinations like Rome, Florence, the Tuscany wineries, Orvieto, Assisi and much more. However, many said that they would like to have access to some of the comforts they are accustomed to. They wanted conveniences like air conditioning in their rooms, American coffee now and again, english books and movies, etc. Finally, many indicated that while they loved being off the beaten path, they had wished for access to more information like train schedules, places to see, where to get dry cleaning, internet access, etc.

Paola and I saw an opportunity. We realized for many years that while Italians had so much to offer, they rarely understand how important certain comforts can be to tourists. Even the best hotels in Italy missed the mark in many areas. So we set out to offer the best of both worlds. All of the raw beauty and history that Italy offers, with the various comforts that many non-Italians value. We bought several absolutely beautiful medieval village homes in Soriano, and fully appointed them, while making sure key services were available to our guests. What we came up with was a hybrid between traditional vacation rentals and a resort hotel. We offered all of the adventure you would get by getting off the beaten path in a private vacation home, while still offering many of the comforts you would get from a major hotel chain... at a fraction of the cost, and much more real.

Our new kitchen at Villa Eddarella

Not much time passed before guests began asking if they could get Italian cooking classes and tour guides while they were here, and before we knew it, we found ourselves organizing these services until we found ourselves doing this for just about everyone. With that in mind, in 2006 we began to package accommodations, tours and cooking classes into all-inclusive cooking and culinary tours. The plan was to limit it to small and intimate groups to maintain the family feeling that got us started in the first place. We started doing the cooking classes in our home kitchen, but the tour packages became so popular that we realized the need for something bigger. In 2007 we started a construction project that would add a stunning new 750 sq.ft. kitchen. After much delay (we are in Italy, after all) we began using the new kitchen for our classes in the summer of 2008.

Today the cooking and culinary tours represents roughly 95% of DiscoverSoriano's operation, as we entertain hundreds of guests per season. We offer one-week all-inclusive full-immersion cooking and culinary tours that strike a balance between cooking and touring Italy's most breathtaking regions, as well as full-participation wine harvest and olive harvest tours in season, during which you make your own wine and olive oil, and bring it home with you! Moving into 2009 and beyond, we will begin to offer our guests the opportunity to lease their own row of vines or olive orchard and follow its progress for the year leading up to the harvest. We're also working on integrating new, larger tours, that will bring even more of Italy's culinary tradition with excursions to Pasta, Prosciutto & Parmaggiano factories in Parma, The Perugina Chocolate Factory, as well as excursions to Bologna, Cinque Terre, Pisa and Venice.

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Wonderful site and job.
written by Peter, June 20, 2008

Hi Michael and Paola,
I feel its amazing job that you had done.I am also so inspired with your site and work.
I am also getting some of the work in Nepal(South Asia).I am operating tour and treks around Nepal,Tibet,India and Bhutan.
My desire is to see most of European and American people real natural beauties.Because of the globalization and crowded population ever body are feeling unpleasant.
So how can I success in my intention?Will it possible to associate with your site?If it will be happen it will be my pleasure and honor.
I will do anything according to your rules and regulation of the site.
Looking forward to hearing you by soon.
Peter.
Secretary regional of European and American.
Omega Treks and Expedition (P) Ltd.
http://www.omegatreks.com

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