Boutique agency offers Calabria heritage tours: Travel Weekly

My Bella Vita Travel, a boutique travel firm that works with travel agents to customize small-group or individual experiences in Calabria, Italy, is showcasing heritage tours that connect people to their Calabrian roots.

Founder Cherrye Moore personally oversees the tours of this relatively untouristed region of Italy, located in the toe of the destination’s boot.

A seven-night Small Group Heritage Tour, next scheduled for Oct. 9 to 16, for example, adds the services of a Calabrian Heritage Specialist to conduct family research prior to the tour. Then during the tour, the specialist will drive visitors to their ancestral town — a personalized daytrip for each participant or family — during which they can visit the city hall, see the record books and explore the neighborhoods, streets, homes, churches and cemeteries from their family’s past.

The tour also includes visits to three vineyards/cantinas, lunches and dinners of classic Calabrian cuisine, explorations of old villages such as San Giovanni in Fiore and Santa Severina, ceramics and gelato demonstrations and an excursion to scenic Sila Piccola mountain.

Clients who book by Sept. 1 can arrive a day early at Lemezia Terme Airport and receive a complimentary airport transfer, welcome drink and an overnight stay at a hotel.

The tour is priced at $4,400 per person, double.