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Founder & Tour Guide of Italia Sweet Italia
Founder & Tour Guide of Italia Sweet Italia
Trace your Abruzzese family
Discover your ancestors’ homeland
Meet your lost relatives
Live like a local
Enjoy unique experiences
Enjoy amazing landscapes that spread out from the sea to the mountains
A vacation in Abruzzo that combines our personalised ancestry service to help you trace your Abruzzese family and visit the villages of your grandparents whilst experiencing the real Italy and exploring its food, wine, art and language.
Italians have famously settled all around the world, and Abruzzo has seen many of its children travel to the rest of Europe, America, Canada and Australia in search of adventure or alternative employment over the last 100 or so years. If you are looking to find out more about your Italian family history and Italian roots, trying to trace family in Italy, or simply want to know more about your Italian Heritage, and think Abruzzo might be involved, then our Ancestry & Genealogy Vacations in Abruzzo should be perfect for you.
Our personalised ancestry services include research into your family tree, sourcing documents such as Italian birth, marriage and death certificates, and where possible arranging meetings with your relatives. Not only will you be tracing family roots in the land of your Italian forefathers, you will be able to experience first hand one of the most incredible regions of central Italy at the same time.
This Abruzzo vacation will also allow you to indulge in wonderful Italian wines and local, traditional cuisine via local providers, and we suggest you to join to one of our cultural and culinary tours that you can discover here. We think that these kinds of tours are the best ways to let you discover (y)our culture, traditions and food and to be connected with your ancestors’ lifestyle and souls.
Under the Abruzzo Moon. The Joys of Finding Family in Italy’s “Green Region” (Andiamo – Colorado’s Italian Community Newspaper) Read more >
Travelers stories: Michele looking for her family roots in Abruzzo, Italy Read more >
Italia Sweet Italia (ISI) is a small incoming tour operator specialised in organizing vacations around Abruzzo Italy, our home. ISI is a fully licensed company covered by insurance policy no. 402485101 by Axa Assicurazione S.p.A. and authorised by the local government to create and sell tour packages from 2011.
Our mission is to show people from all over the world the beauty of Abruzzo and other Italian regions so they can experience our homeland, traditions, arts and folklore in a unique way, also demonstrating the benefits of sustainable tourism to everyone. In order to help you discover everything Abruzzo has to offer, we organise small groups (up to 16 people) escorted tours including cultural, culinary, active, pottery, Italian language and ancestry experiences. We are happy to create a tailored vacation around your wishes. Our tours provide you with the rare opportunity to be invited into homes and farms, as well as into the daily lives of locals.
Pick up
For all the small group tours listed in our calendar, the pick up at Rome Fiumicino airport is planned at 2:30 pm on day 1. Normally it takes 3-3,5 hours to drive to Vasto, our base on the Adriatic Coast for all the tours (except for The Abruzzo, Puglia & Matera experience tour in which we’ll drive for around 2 hours to Sulmona). The duration of the trip depends on traffic (on Sunday, when most of our tours start, usually there is no traffic) and if you need to stop at the motor service along the way for a snack or to go to the toilette. It is a beautiful and relaxing driving crossing three National parks,from where you can see many hilltop villages and the Apennines. A few weeks before the tour starts, we’ll send you a pdf with exact pick-up location and times. Please consider also this information:
Drop-off
For the drop-off to Rome we usually leave the hotel in Vasto after breakfast, at around 09:00 am so that we arrive at Rome Fiumicino airport at maximum 01:30 pm (if there is traffic, but it normally takes 3-3,5 hours). If anybody in the group has an earlier flight, we could leave 1-2 hours before (so at 07:00-08:00) but we make our evaluations from time to time. If there is any specific need, there are also public buses that shuttle from Vasto to Rome Fiumicino (or the city center) earlier in the morning and by night (take a look here). In this case we organize the taxi transfer from the hotel to Vasto coach station (3 minutes driving).
For the drop off to Bari for The Abruzzo, Puglia & Matera experience tour, we have this program: after breakfast, we will leave (usually at 09:00) for Bari airport or your next destination (45 minutes driving from Hotel to Bari airport and 40 minutes to Bari train station). When we’ll have information from all the people who will join the tour (about their programs on that day) we’ll finalize this. If there is any specific need, we can organize a private transfer (before or after the planned one) from the hotel to Bari airport or train station that costs € 90.
Private pick-up and drop-off for group tours
Of course, we are always happy to support you to organize a private pick up/drop off only for you to let you join our small group tours listed in our calendar. Please keep in mind that a private transfer (before or after the planned one) from Vasto to Rome airport or city center costs around € 300.
Connecting to or from another part of Italy
If you are connecting to or from another part of Italy we are happy to assist you in planning your pre and post trip connections. If your planned arrival or departure does not coincide with the specified meeting time we can assist you in booking a private transfer at an additional cost or some extra nights in Vasto or Puglia. .
Once a complete booking is made you may also contact us directly for further details and assistance. We are always here to help and have the insider knowledge and on the ground support to ensure you find the best option available to arrive or depart from your tour.
Make sure to arrive at the meeting point on time but don’t get stressed
Please note that all guests joining our tours are responsible for ensuring they make it to the meeting point by 2:30 pm at Rome’s Fiumicino airport. Those who are unable to be on time will not be guaranteed a transfer from Rome to Vasto and will have to seek other arrangements to participate in the remainder of the tour. Anyway, don’t worry, there are many daily public buses that with less than € 30 connect Rome Fiumicino airport or Roma Termini coach station with Vasto as you can see here.
All classes are taught in both Italian and English so you’ll have the opportunity to learn and practice a little bit of Italian