Yesterday I bragged about my son Andy’s talents as a tour organizer and guide. Today I wanted to show him in action. In this clip, Andy is leading his Weekend Student Adventures gang from the Spanish Steps to their dinner stop. For many of these students, this is their first time outside the USA…and it’s clear that they’re having a fantastic time. Because it’s a special “Easter in Rome” tour, this is an unusually large group. But that can be a plus for college students, as the social fun grows with the size.
Having a Weekend Student Adventure in Rome
My son, Andy, runs a successful tour company that offers American students doing a semester abroad educational, economical, and efficient three-day tours for around €200. Andy and his guides lead his “Weekend Student Adventures” in cities all over Europe. While working in Rome this Easter, I got to join his group for an evening.
Here I am with one of Andy’s typical tour groups: lots of energy…and lots of girls!
Andy’s Easter tour is his biggest of the year: Three groups (two different weeklong tours, plus a three-day weekend tour) overlap so that everyone can be in Rome for the excitement of Easter.
Andy has a favorite student-friendly restaurant in Rome (Miscellanea, just behind the Pantheon) where his tour members can enjoy an affordable yet quality Italian meal. With a happy gang this size, Andy needs to stand on a chair to make announcements.
We took our kids to Europe every year for about 20 years. I didn’t realize Andy was paying much attention. And now, as a 28-year-old entrepreneur, Andy is employing guides all over Europe, developing an amazing website (WSAEurope.com), and giving literally thousands of American students great travel experiences. I am very proud of my son. And when I happen to cross paths with him in Europe and see the hard work and passion he puts into his Weekend Student Adventures, that pride swells.
Andy’s students (which, on this “Easter in Rome” tour, are mostly from Catholic universities) got up at 6:00 a.m. to line up for the best seats at St. Peter’s Square and see Papa Francesco. This photo was from Palm Sunday (shot from our press vantage point atop the colonnade). Sadly, Easter Sunday in Rome was a morning of pouring rain. And, while our TV crew was completely rained out, being there was a lifelong memory for Andy’s tour members.
Peace and Quiet at My Tuscan B&B
While filming in Tuscany, our TV crew enjoyed the company of a great guide, Roberto Bechi. And we also enjoyed staying at Roberto’s farmhouse B&B, Podere Casalciccia, perched on a bluff in the middle of pristine Tuscany (20 minutes south of Siena).
Roberto’s place has basically the same old fireplace that I have at my cabin back in the Cascades. This brought me unexpected joy as I spent each evening fireside, catching up on my writing late into the night. Something I never dreamed I’d take home from Tuscany: an appreciation for how beautifully oak burns. And each morning as the fire crackled, I’d watch the lifting fog slowly reveal the surrounding valleys.
Do you have a favorite B&B memory?
Discovering a Marche Church Choir
On Good Friday at the village church in Cantiano, we were so impressed with the choir’s performance. But I realized I had made a big mistake: We should have been recording their service to get tracks for the Easter CD I hope to produce along with our TV special.
I asked the choir director if, for a donation to their church, they’d sing for us in a private concert. They were thrilled to gather on Saturday morning and perform seven pieces for the CD.
As we film events like this for our Easter special, I’m so happy we’re complementing the big-city culture with rustic, small-town passion. Working with the people of Cantiano this Easter was a delightful experience in every way. What are some musical serendipities in your bank of travel memories?
Easter in Small-Town Italy Is a Passionate Affair
While filming in Italy for the Rick Steves’ European Easter special, which will air across the USA next year, my crew and I came upon some startling, amazing, and moving scenes. Check out these photos to see the fun we had in the totally untouristed and delightful Back Door town of Cantiano. A rugged and stony little settlement in the remote Italian region of Marche, Cantiano has a strong Easter tradition.
This Good Friday procession in Gubbio, a town near Cantiano, originally came three centuries before the Ku Klux Klan was born — and couldn’t be more different in meaning. Among the small towns of Italy, Gubbio and Cantiano are renowned for their Good Friday processions. In Gubbio, we joined the townspeople for a centuries-old procession featuring marching groups in a scene reminiscent of an American KKK rally. Ironically, the original purpose for these cone-shaped white hoods is to make it clear that everyone — old and young, rich and poor (black and white) — is equal in the eyes of God.
Cantiano’s main square was set up to host a grand play telling the story of Christ’s last week — The Passion. In bitter cold and under a full moon, the entire village packed the square as they’ve done for literally centuries to witness their neighbors perform.
During the day, anyone was welcome to sit on Herod’s throne. I am a very lucky guy to have Simon Griffith as my producer/director and Karel Bauer as my cameraman. Together (along with our second crew working in Spain and Slovenia) we are crafting what will be an amazing public television special that we hope will add an extra dimension to Easter across the US in 2016.
For the finale of Cantiano’s Passion play, the huge cast was dressed in amazing costumes — led by Jesus carrying the cross — and marched the torch-lit path to the top of the hill. Far below, the people of Cantiano gathered to witness the spectacle.
I hiked up just before the cast (as we scrambled to figure out the best way to record the event) and saw the three crosses, laid back flat on their hinges, ready to be hoisted up as the Crucifixion was commemorated. Later, with grand music and lighting around the empty cross, the Resurrection was celebrated.
Following performances, the cast has a long tradition of gathering in Cantiano’s church for a kind of “Resurrection after party.” The priest, after explaining to us that it’s not scriptural but that he allows it, blessed the event from the pulpit. Afterward, I got to meet Jesus. This was a big Easter for this Jesus as he was replacing the man who had played the part for the previous 30 years. The general feeling after this Passion play: He’s a good one.
We were so impressed by the Cantiano church choir that we hired them for a private concert. They were thrilled to gather on Saturday morning and play seven pieces for the CD we’re making as a companion to our Easter TV special. You’ll notice here that the altar is covered in purple cloth (as were all the statues in the church), as this was the part of Holy Week remembering Christ’s crucifixion.
Our local guide and friend, Roberto Bechi (who worked wonders for our PBS Christmas special a few years ago), made sure that each day of this Easter week was filled with vivid culture (edible, musical, and religious) for our project. And this made for more than great TV production. With Roberto, moments like this breakfast with a passionate microbrewer and his mother left us with great travel experiences, too.
In the Marche, it’s been tradition for itinerant troubadours in colorful folk costumes to go from farm to farm singing songs of the Passion and evoking blessings on the coming harvest (for which they would be thanked with food). We filmed the music and then the rustic feast that followed.