Travel Articles By Margaret Cowan

A Little Appreciation Makes Big Italian Friends
Italian Cooking Tours Mirror Slow Travel Trend
Italian Family Business Wins Government Battles Twice: The Schuler Family's Victory in Sicily

A Little Appreciation Makes Big Italian Friends

Here's a secret for making people's faces light up when they see you or think about you.

Every Christmas I mail 50 personalized, typed letters thanking the wonderful restaurant owners, chefs, hotels, guides, food producers and farm families in Italy who work in our cooking tours there.

I thank them for contributing to the success of our tours. If someone really went beyond the call of duty, I give that person special thanks.

In fall 2001 we had a very nice, but demanding group of 14 Californians , wanting many itinerary changes, special requests and extra stops. At Gianni's restaurant in Vernazza in the Cinque Terre, some people wanted to split plates, others wanted no onions and so on. Our 30ish waiter, spoke great English, joked away with them and satisfied every demand.

In my Christmas 2001 letter to Gianni's, I wrote that with our Californian group's many requests, the young waiter who spoke English well was wonderful, so flexible, so willing. I added, "Unfortunately there were no nice woman his age in our groups for him."

In October 2002, I took some couples to Gianni's. I saw the same waiter, but he wouldn't know me from the thousands of people who dine there every year. I said to him, "Sorry no nice young women in our group this year either. "The letter", he exclaimed, "you wrote that letter!" A letter his boss had got 10 months ago.

"We really appreciated your help," I said. He beamed and beamed.

In May 2003 we took a group to Gianni's." Oh!" he cried, "My friend!" He threw one arm around my shoulder and gave me a squeeze. In June 2003 I ate at Gianni's alone. Same reception. A nice chat. He took 10% off my bill. "You're a VIP."

In May 2004 I was alone in Monterosso, five minutes by train from Vernazza. I sat down in a restaurant with tables outside at the port. There he was.

I waved to him. He ran up, shook my hand, kissed me on both cheeks. "It's so nice to see you!" He ruffled my hair. I have curly hair, so no hair style to ruin. "I'm working here now. I don't know anyone in Monterosso. You're a friendly face!"

He was my waiter so we chatted more. At the end of my dinner he gave me a glass of limoncello, a lemon liqueur. I shook his hand goodbye and got kisses on both cheeks. "Come back soon!" He waved, "Ciao amica! Bye my friend!"

My last few times in Cinque Terre, I haven't seen him. I wonder how many people have taken time to thank him for his kind acts. One little letter meant so much.

About five years ago a restaurant owner in a little Tuscan hill town gave extra nice service to a couple celebrating their 20 th wedding anniversary on our cooking tour. She'd made a lovely cake, "Happy Anniversary" and their table looked extra beautiful. That Christmas I wrote her a letter, giving special thanks for her thoughtfulness for the couple and saying it was always a pleasure to see her and dine well in her restaurant.

The following spring when I entered her restaurant, she ran up to me and gave me a big hug. "Thanks so much for your lovely letter," she exclaimed. "It made my Christmas. I cried when I read it." I thought, "What did I write--something extra special expressed in an extra special way?" Back at home, I re-read the letter--just a nice little thank you note. For her, it meant much more.

Last fall I took another group to her restaurant. In a quiet moment in a low voice she said, "I still have that letter." I've sent her thank you letters every Christmas, but we both knew which year's letter she was thinking of.

A worldly owner of a well known restaurant in Tuscany, has received many Christmas letters from me. Recently he said, "We really appreciate your Christmas letters. They go into our book of our restaurant's history."

Every time I go to Italy, someone mentions their Christmas letter. It's always a surprise who it is.

It takes only five minutes to write a little note thanking people for their kindness or a great job done. Few people make the effort. When you do, you'll stand out from the crowd, make people feel special and see their faces light up every time they see you.

Italian Cooking Tours Mirror Slow Travel Trend

The cover of the May 14-21 Newsweek shows a kyacker gliding on still waters under the headline “Travel 2007 Slow Is Beautiful”.

Some of the Newsweek slow travel articles could be talking about cooking tours in Italy where you share good times and conversation with a variety of local people from artisan olive oil makers, to truffle hunters to farm families in off the tourist track places like a restaurant specializing in mushroom dishes in a hamlet in Tuscan mountains.

You immerse yourself in Italian culture in the countryside through focusing on food and wine. You cook with chefs and cooks right in their restaurant and home kitchens but the cooking lessons form a small part of your whole cultural adventure.

The Newsweek article, “Taking Our Time Off”, (page 58) says “Just as the slow food movement encouraged diners to savor meals and the way they are produced, the trend towards slow travel promotes a more thoughtful style of vacationing. It refers not only to leisurely and environmentally friendly modes of transport, …but also to the nature of the trips: smaller in scope and more off the beaten path---a custom-crafted trek through niche sites rather than a top 10 group tour. It generally entails quieter, more intimate accommodations.”

Just like cooking tours in Italy! Cozy groups of 2-12 food lovers cook together, stay in smaller, often family run hotels or pensiones, dine for a couple of hours on their creations made of fresh, local ingredients as they share stories and laugh around tables, and go back to the sweeter, slower pace of days gone by.

The article (page 60) continues “Holiday makers (want to)…delve deep into a topic rather than skim the surface. Today's tourists want to interact with locals (sommeliers, artists, marine biologists) and experts…who can take them inside a particular world. The Newsweek article “Capturing the Niche” (page 83) concludes, “Tourists want to experience authentic local life---and do it more leisurely.”

Just like cooking tours in Italy where you eat, cook, drink, and have fun with local chefs, winemakers and food producers as you learn about food, cooking techniques, new recipes, kitchen layouts, wine tasting and local life. Your cultural immersion may seem to revolve around food—doesn't much of life in Italy? However, your local guides turn into new friends and you can also visit artists in their studios or hike around volcanoes with mountain guides passionate about vulcanology to expand your local life experiences beyond gastronomy.

The Newsweek article on page 58 could be describing cooking tours in Italy . “Today's tourists view travel as a form of self-expression. They don't want to come back with an object or even a picture. They want to come back with a story.” After you meet such a wide variety of local people such different places on your cooking tour in Italy , you'll have lots of stories to tell!

 

Italian Family Business Wins Government Battles Twice: The Schuler Family's Determination and Victory in Sicily

Imagine a villa set high on the hillside in Taormina, Italy on the east coast of Sicily. It's been your family's home and hotel property for generations, a villa with gardens full of hibiscus, roses and lemon trees, with magnificent 180 degree views of the Mediterranean and snow capped Mount Etna.

What would you do when the government took your home and business away from you not once...but twice?

This is the inspiring story of how through fierce determination the Schuler family won two battles against governments who confiscated their property in Taormina.

On our Mama Margaret cooking and volcano walking tour in Sicily, we stay at lovely, pink Hotel Villa Schuler in Taormina and are always awestruck by the colour and beauty surrounding us.

The present owner and manager, Gerhard Schuler is a quieter man, but on my first visit when I said to him, "This property looks like a historic building beautifully renovated. What's the story behind it?" his face lit up. "I'll give you our book."

I read "The One Hundred Year Story Of Villa Schuler" and felt like the property was taking off her beautiful overcoat and revealing her true heart and deep character underneath.

In 1886 Eugen Schuler left Germany for warmer Sicily for health reasons. In a few years he was running a successful jewelry and antiques store, was happily married to a German woman, Anna and had a son.

They bought a small villa on the present Hotel Villa Schuler property. In 1905 suddenly Eugen died at 39. What was a widow with a 12 year old son to do? She had a good business head and turned their home into a B & B.

Taormina was becoming famous among artists and intellectuals in Germany and northern Europe, looking to enjoy warm winters in the south for weeks or months. Soon they were staying at Villa Schuler. Beautiful Taormina became a mecca for the rich and famous like Johannes Brahms, Oscar Wilde, D.H. Lawrence, British kings, Greta Garbo, Christian Dior.

Anna had just got her business running well when World War I broke out. The government confiscated property belonging to enemy Germans, like Villa Schuler. Anna and her 22 year old son, Eugen fled to Germany where they spent the war.

After the war, Eugen took his wife and mother to Taormina. Villa Schuler was up for sale at an auction. However the local bidders got together and decided to withdraw their offers so the Schulers were the only bidder and could buy their property back. The Schulers had a good reputation and good friends in Taormina!

Soon Villa Schuler was doing brisk business again. In the 1920's Eugen's wife and one of his two children died, leaving him and his mother running Villa Schuler where loyal guests stayed for months.

World War II broke out. The now larger villa was expropriated again. The Nazis occupied Taormina and turned Villa Schuler into a liason centre for the German army. When the Germans left Taormina in 1943, following the Allies' liberation of Sicily, the British army occupied it. The Schulers fled to Bolzano in northern Italy.

The British turned it into a rest home for soldiers. They bricked in all the balconies so drunken soldiers wouldn't fall off them. Because it was a German house, before they left, they ripped out all the plumbing and wiring and smashed many rooms.

After the war, the Italian government owned the ruined property and housed bombed out and homeless civilians in the empty rooms. They raised chickens and rabbits in the gardens.

Eugen brought his mother and son back to Taormina and got a job managing a large hotel in a nearby town. He was 61 and didn't want to give up his parents' home or make a new life.

His luck came back in 1953. He convinced the Italian government to give him back the family home and hotel in ruins, this time for free. His mother had died, so he went back to his broken down house with his son and daughter-in-law. They were not interested in running a hotel and moved away. Restoring the building was too big a project for him. He spent a sad year all alone making little progress.

His luck was about to change again.

Meanwhile in Germany, a young nurse, Marta had got stressed out during the war and was in a sanitarium with persistent stomach ulcers. A doctor told her to change her life and got her a job as a private nurse to a lady in Taormina. Through this lady, this intrepid nurse met Eugen, 31 years older. They married in 1954.

With local workers, they restored the desolate house bit by bit. In the first five years, there were no electrical appliances. They opened Hotel Villa Schuler anyway. After all their guests had gone through in the war, they didn't mind staying in such a magnificent location in basic rooms with "hot and cold running water".

Word spread and the tourists came back, some of them children of guests in the 1920s. How to promote the hotel now that the days of long stays were gone? Eugen got German consulates and embassies around the world to recommend the hotel to diplomats, judges, politicians and actresses.

Eugen and Marta had two sons, Gerhard and Claudio. Marta ran the hotel with four staff. In such a family run place, they made friends with their guests and often celebrated their birthdays and anniversaries at the villa.

By the 1960s their business was booming and they added a third floor to the villa to make 27 rooms.

The 1970's saw the start of mass tourism and international guests arrived. Marta ran Hotel Villa Schuler as Eugen took a less active role in the business to pursue his passion, Mount Etna. Like his father, Eugen accompanied scientists up to the volcano rim. He became an acknowledged expert at the Volcanological Research Institute in Catania, the capital of his province. He died happy in Taormina at age 82. Eugen and Marta's son Gerhard, now manages Hotel Villa Schuler.

The Villa Schuler story inspired me in many ways. Over generations the Schuler family persevered through a series of hardships to keep and operate what was important in their hearts. They maintained vast social networks of people they treated well and worked together to build the lifestyle and business they love to this day.