Exclusive Tuscany Dance-Wine-Culture

October 24-30, 2021

To book your dance holiday.

Highlights of Tuscany Dance-Wine-Culture

• Perfect your dancing with daily classes provided by Argo Oblikas and Alessia D’Orazi.
• Dine and dance at our evening dance parties including 1 dress to impress, 1 Gatsby dance party and 1 casual dance evening at the pool (subject to weather)
• Stroll through the Renaissance town of Pienza where life goes on as it has for centuries.
• Meander through the ancient streets and alleys of the medieval town Montepulciano
• Taste home-made pasta, perfect wines, and outstanding gelato.
• Sip a glass of world-class Brunello wine in privately owned vineyards known to our guides.
• Walk in sweeping valleys vistas of the Val d’Orcia.
• Learn about the ancient Etruscans, founders of many of the Italian cultures known to us today.

Begin your journey to Peru with Eva’s guided tour to the Amazon and Machu Picchu. On March 12, 2018 join us for the trip of a lifetime as we visit Lima, the Peruvian Amazon and Puerto Maldonado, the Sacred Valley, Cusco, and the ever enigmatic Inca ruins at Machu Picchu.

Next Group Departure: begins in Lima May 9, 2019. Customized dates available as well.

Details in brief

Highlights

Highlights

• Walk the lush rolling hills and meander in the Tuscan countryside
• Discover medieval towns with their fortified walls and meandering streets.
• Visit a living renaissance town overlooking the Val D’Orcia and landscapes made famous by 14th century painters.
• Visit churches quietly hiding some remarkable art.
• Sip a glass of world-class Brunello.
• Savor traditional cuisine made with the freshest ingredients.
• Luxuriate in signature accommodations.

At the top of my list of fabulous things is walking through Tuscany’s network of white roads. These winding routes were originally carved out centuries ago by the enigmatic Etruscans, and later expanded by the Romans so that their war horses and soldiers could reach all parts of Europe from France to England. As a matter of fact, the sentence “all roads lead to Rome,” actually refers to this network of interconnecting trails. As cities grew they became neglected, left to be used by farmers and locals as they strolled from town to town.

While French wine tasters roll the wine around in their mouth and spit before tasting the next, this is definitely not the custom in Argentina. I spent a week cycling through Mendoza where lunch often included 5 or 6 wines, following which we’d cycle to another winery a mere 10 kilometers away, and begin the tasting process again. I managed one sip from each glass while watching others drain their liquid happily and with ease. I did learn how to check the colour or a red and the clarity of a white, inhale the bouquet, and differentiate between citrus, chocolate and tobacco flavours of a good Malbec.

Wine tasting etiquette. To spit or not to spit?

On a recent walking holiday in Sicily I took a group to the Etna vineyards for a wine tasting adventure. Lava rich soil nourishes the grapes yielding a distinctive – and strong – flavour. Our group of mixed neophyte tasters and experienced oenophiles wanted to know, “Do we spit the wine after tasting or swallow it?”