In December 2006, I participated in Giuliana's
La Contadina New Year's eve tour. This is our 
group after a day spent savoring the Umbrian town of Assisi. We arrived in Rome and transferred to Siena, where we experienced fabulous Tuscan food and wine and where we toured the Campo and the enjoyed exploring the historic city center. One of my biggest adventures was finding the yarn shop I'd identified on-line before my trip, and I did find it, and I bought many beautiful skeins of Italian yarn! The shopkeepers were very kind and quite amused at my excitement over finding them :-)
After a side trip to Monteriggione, a true Tuscan gem, we left Tuscany for Umbria and settled into a lovely "castello" (a beautifully-renovated farm house on extensive and well-kept grounds) on the outskirts of Assisi. What a fabulous place for a New Year's Eve celebration, and a great home base for excursions into Assisi and Todi.
The end of our tour would find us in Spoleto, a hilltop town in southern Umbria featuring an ancient Roman theater, the impressive Ponte delle Torri, and the site of our cooking class - a memorable afternoon and evening indeed! Here is a picture of us in our cooking class:
