Are you looking for a family, club, or private group heritage tour to Italy?
My Bella Vita Travel, llc is the original Calabria heritage tour company, successfully executing hundreds of private heritage tours since 2007.
If you are traveling to Italy with a group of 10+ travelers, we can organize a family, club, or private group heritage tour to Italy. We will help you set a budget, choose base cities, hammer out transportation details, book you with one of our expert heritage specialists, and accompany you throughout your trip.
And most importantly – your custom heritage tour will feature unique experiences you won’t find anywhere else.
We work with you or your preferred travel agent to plan all of the details of the land portion of your trip, offering destination recommendations and route suggestions.
To explore your heritage, we will arrange special entrance into city archives, organize local meet-and-greets, and plan exclusive experiences that are related to your group’s Italian ancestry.
We organize all of your land transportation and airport transfers.
Your expert tour guides are booked and confirmed prior to your arrival and are waiting to show your group the best of Italy.
Your group will be met at the airport by Cherrye Moore, owner of My Bella Vita Travel, LLC or by one of our highly trained bilingual heritage specialists.
She will escort your group throughout the trip, offering you 24-hour access to a bilingual coordinator.
For larger groups, an assistant accompanies the tour, providing members 24-hour access to an additional bilingual escort and Italy expert.
Your group leader will receive a link to the full itinerary and information packet to distribute to travelers.
If requested, each of your group members is also invited to attend a live webinar with our team prior to the trip to discuss any questions or concerns and to gain a better understanding of the group’s itinerary.
Our team members live in both the US and southern Italy. We understand the importance of your heritage journey and love sharing your wins with you.
We have visited the main attractions many times and have contacts throughout the country offering even more localized recommendations for your group tour. We often work directly with professional travel planners to assist with their clients.
We know what this trip means to you. Many of our clients travel to Calabria searching for their family heritage and we understand the emotional impact this trip will have on you.
We promise you a truly customized, fully private tour. We won’t add other travelers to your excursions or encourage you to go where you don’t want to go.
Your tour will feature exclusive experiences! We created many of the experiences in our tours, so you won’t find them available anywhere else – and we love adding in fun surprises once you are in Italy.
You will arrive at Lamezia Terme Airport where you will be met by Cherrye Moore, your Calabria travel host. You will drive north approximately 40 minutes to your hotel in Cosenza. After settling in, you will enjoy a leisurely walk through the new town before feasting on a traditional Calabrese dinner, complete with live, local folk music. Overnight in Cosenza.
After breakfast, we will set out for your heritage tour to Belsito and Rogliano. You’ll visit the city hall, the local churches, and cemeteries, and will meet the people your heritage specialist met during his advanced research. We’ll detour to Dipignano – to one of our favorite trattorias in the region – where our friend, Cesere, and his mamma will create the best meal you’ve ever had! Return to Cosenza. Dinner on your own. Overnight in Cosenza.
We will have a light breakfast, then will head out to a farm house, located just outside of Morano Calabro – a town listed as one of Italy’s “100 Most Beautiful Villages.” We’ll have a welcome drink upon arrival, then will push up our sleeves for a hands-on cooking class with Adriana, one of my oldest friends in Italy. We’ll feast on our creations before heading into the historical center for an afternoon passeggiata. Gelato optional. We’ll return to Cosenza. Overnight in Cosenza.
This morning we will skip breakfast at the hotel and head out with our guide for a typical Calabrese breakfast in the piazza. You’ll choose to either stand barside – like the locals do – or you can grab a seat and people-watch from this historical bar.
Following breakfast, we will drive the short 20-minutes to one of our favorite vineyards in all of Italy. This boutique vineyard is owned by a pair of brothers who together with their mom and dad, bought a piece of land and a plow and set out to make some of the best Calabrian wine you’ll ever taste.
After the tour, one of the brothers will prepare lunch for us, a menu chosen particularly to go with their wines. In the early evening, we will return to Cosenza for a rest. We’ll meet up in the evenings for a group passeggiata and wine.
After breakfast we will check out of our hotel in Cosenza and will drive south to Reggio Calabria. Along the way, we will stop in Pizzo Calabro for a visit to the intriguing Chiesetta di Piedigrotta cave church. We’ll have a seafood lunch at my friend Bruno’s restaurant whose delicious food awarded him one of the “Top 30 chefs under 30 to watch” while you have views to die for. We’ll skip dessert, then head into the piazza for a behind-the-scenes look at how tartufo di Pizzo gelato truffles are made. We will check into our centrally-located 4-star hotel. In the evening we will enjoy a short guided walk and group aperitivo. Overnight in Reggio Calabria.
We will have breakfast and free time this morning to visit the famous bronzi statues at the museum, shop along the main shopping street, or walk along the romantic lungomare.
Then, will set out for Scilla – a town that is considered one of Italy’s most beautiful hamlets.For lunch, we will enjoy a swordfish feast, complete with crisp white wines, overlooking the Strait of Messina.
We’ll return to Reggio Calabria. Overnight in Reggio Calabria.
This morning we will check out of our hotel and head north towards Catanzaro, via an excursion to the fairy tale-like mountain village of Serra San Bruno. We will visit the enchanting pine tree forest, Saint Bruno’s charterhouse, and have you choice of a mounain picnic or mushroom feast.
We will continue to Catanzaro where you will check into your hotel. Overnight in Catanzaro.
You will have a light breakfast, then set out for the “Green Heart of Calabria” – La Sila Mountains. There, you will visit a small, Alpine-like town that is home to 22 year-round residents and a guide visit the City of Art – Taverna.
You will feast with the Bianco family at their generations-old restaurant. After a walk through the park’s botanical gardens, we will return to Catanzaro. Overnight in Catanzaro.
You’ll skip the hotel breakfast today and visit our favorite bar in Catanzaro Lido, where you’ll meet the owner and have a private gelato-making lesson. After a breakfast of sweet brioche and gelato, you will visit the nearby ruins of Scolacium, Greek and Roman ruins that may have been discovered by Ulysses. You’ll tour the small, interesting olive mill museum and have a light lunch nearby. You’ll return to the hotel to rest and pack, then will meet up again for a private farewell antipasto and wine pairing send-off at a local wine bar. Overnight in Catanzaro.
After breakfast, you will depart for Lamezia Terme airport and say arrivederci to bella Calabria!
Even if you aren’t planning a trip to Calabria, My Bella Vita Travel can bring your ancestral roots to life!
With our Heritage Picture Pack, one of our Calabrian Heritage Specialists – who is also a professional photographer – will spend a day researching your heritage and photographing his discoveries.
He will visit the City Hall, look for your family’s neighborhood, streets, homes and churches and talk to locals about your family.