Earth, Heart and Spirit Tour
Springtime in Southern Italy
April 5 - 14, 2011
Now is the time to place your deposit to hold your space for next year's trip. The tour is limited to six participants.

Spring Tour to Southern Italy in April 2011 with Herbalist Gail Faith Edwards and Family.

Our base camp during the Earth and Spirit Tour will be a fully modernized stone house in a remote and friendly medieval village at the base of our mother mountain, Mount Cervati, the largest mountain in the area. We'll be in the midst of the Cilento National Park, one of the largest intact wilderness areas of the world and also a World Heritage site. Our location puts us in very close proximity to the Grotto of Vallicelli, which was a thriving Bronze Age community, inhabited since the Paleolithic era, and home to some of the original inhabitants of this mountain area.



From time immemorial its unique geographical position has made this land a natural crossroads for the cultures that developed on the Adriatic, Ionic and Tyrrhenian coasts. The ancient culture of Villanova, Lucanian civilisation and the later Greek colonisation all met here. It is a most magnificent place!



"We all loved your village and especially the people. They were all so welcoming!" L. Brainerd

From this pristine, magical, and centrally located place in the region of Campania we will visit several of the world's best preserved archaeological sites and hilltop villages, make pilgrimages to ancient as well as modern shrines and meet many of the earliest Mediterranean Gods and Goddesses as they are still portrayed, though perhaps renamed, in their original locale. We'll have many opportunities to learn about the lineage of the Blessed Mother and to understand the depth of her roots in human culture. We'll pay homage to her in her many guises throughout these lands, including offering our prayers before an 11th century Byzantine Black Madonna.



All the while we will be surrounded by the local flora, the mountains will be awash with thousands of wild orchids and an amazing array of springtime color. The wonder and abundance of a great diversity of wild medicinal herbs, flowers and trees will be all around us and permeating all we do.



We'll visit the Certosa di San Lorenzo, the second oldest monastery in Italy which took over 400 years to build and holds an extraordinary collection of art and artifacts and lovely gardens. In a nearby village we'll enter an ancient Aslepian Healing and Dreaming temple, in use for centuries before Christianity, transformed into a Catholic Church and now a remarkable museum. Next to the Dreaming temple is the Museo d'Herbe which houses a collection of the rich botanical diversity of the region and explanations of their traditional uses.



You will be awed by the natural wonders of the Amalfi coast, the inland mountains, the Cilento Parco Nationale, the villages that climb into the sky, the olive groves and gardens, as well as the proliferation of magnificent art and architecture everywhere we go.



The people of Campania, descendants of the indigenous people of the Apennine mountains, are among the most generous, loving and hospitable people found anywhere in the world. You will have plenty of opportunities to associate with and learn from these inspiring people. We'll visit a few of their well tended organic gardens, Village women will be on hand to personally guide us through local shrines and share their history and meaning. Our village design and archetecture is outstanding. It was built in the 9th century.



"Your people are so beautiful, and I just wish we had more time to spend with them. I definitely want to go back again" D. Zawalik

We'll spend one day relaxing on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world and most certainly gather some wild rosemary before we head back home.



We'll also spend a day or more wildgathering medicinal herbs on and around Monte Cervati, our mother mountain. We will no doubt bring home a few "made by our own hands in Italia" herbal medicines.



"I had such a great time! I especially loved the herb gathering and putting up herbal medicines. I am still enjoying my rosemary oil!" C. Perry

Cost of the entire 10 day tour is $4,900. This includes airfare from Boston to Naples and return, all transportation while on tour and all lodging. All meals are also included and will be prepared by excellent cooks using the freshest, and for the most part organic, ingredients. You will be provided with the makings of traditional Mediterranean breakfast and both your lunch and dinner will be prepared and served to you. Our meals are guaranteed to be a highlight of every day. You will need your own spending money, of course, for purchasing what goods you will want to return home with, and any other personal items, including food and drink, that you choose to buy.

The Earth, Heart and Spirit Tour is being led by Gail Faith Edwards who has traveled this area extensively. The village that will host us is her family's ancestral home. Gail will be accompanied by her daughter, Rosa Fangboner and fiancé Adam Rosario who are also well traveled in this area. Rosa and Adam are our support crew - they will do our cooking, caring and transporting.

Because we have ancestral roots in this area, and know it well, we can bring our guests to amazing places off the beaten tract. Most of these places are virtually unknown to "outsiders." We can also introduce you to local inhabitants, facilitate communication, and make it easy for you to have an intimate experience, well beyond the scope of a large travel tour.



"I had a wonderful time and congratulate you, Rosa and Adam for your hard work, long hours, and dedication. Everything you did was aimed at our pleasure and you sure hit the mark...this trip was exactly right and I treasure every minute of it." J. Cohen

"You have a magnetic personality and a very calming presence. Your village and its people are absolutely amazing and inspiring. I predict the Earth, Heart & Spirit Tour will blossom beautifully. It certainly deserves to! We all had a fabulous time." N. Lovelace

We'll no doubt be joined from time to time by our neighbors: Rosina will ask a thousand questions and Carmella will give us a tour of her amazing garden. Our milk will be delivered fresh by Antoinette, whose brother's farm is up on the mountain and the fruit man will come by on a daily basis, tooting his horn from a truck laden with the freshest fruits and vegetables imaginable.

The Spring 2011 Earth, Heart and Spirit Tour is intended to be a secure space where we can come into meaningful contact with our common, ancient spiritual history and inheritance. It is a time to immerse ourselves in and hopefully resonate with the language, art, artifacts and customs of our Old World ancestors, still vibrantly alive and actively celebrated in Southern Italian culture.

The tour is limited to six participants per year. A $500 non-refundable deposit will hold your place for this once in a life time experience in southern Italia. Deposits are due by October 31. Full payment must be made by February 1, 2011.

Approximate Itinerary - depart Boston 7 PM April 5, one stop in Munich, arrive next day in Naples 10:45 AM.

2 -Arrival day, traveling to the village & getting settled in the house, resting time from a full day of traveling, dinner together with Rosa and Adam in the evening.

3 - A day in the village, walking the cobblestone passageways, meeting people, visiting gardens, hiking to the lookout, picnic lunch, rosary and mass at Sant Giacomo church for those who choose in the evening, dinner at home with Rosa and Adam.

4 - Pompeii archeological site, one of the best preserved ancient cities in the world, Temple of Venus, House of Mysteries & Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii, traditional Italian dinner at local trattoria.

5 - Paestum archeological site and museum where we'll see over 2,000 year old amazingly well preserved temples, walk the temple grounds and examine close up original Goddess images in stone and fresco. This is the home of Hera and Ceres. A visit to an ancient temple outside the Paestum walls, now an active Catholic Church. Dinner at home with Rosa and Adam.

6 - The Certosa Monastery in Padula, Aslepian Dream Temple and Museo d'Herbe in Teggiano, The City of Art, founded in approximately 600 B.C. Drive around Sassano. Dinner at home with Rosa and Adam.

7 - Drive along the Amalfi Coast where we will enjoy the most incredible vistas imaginable and visit Vietri Sul Mare, a village known the world over for its beautiful ceramics - walk the cobblestone passageways of Positano, a haven for artists and intellectuals for thousands of years and where the shops are bursting with the very latest fashions, most of them hand made. It is here that we will visit and make offerings to the Black Madonna in the evening. We'll have the opportunity to shop, and will most likely eat dinner here too.

8 - A trip up Cervati Mountain, wildgathering & visit to the ancient Grotto de Vallicelli(cave with several rooms, carbon dated to at least 60,000 years of habitation.) Medicine making and dinner at home with Rosa and Adam in the evening.

9 - Marina de Camerota and the Arch of Polinuro, an exquisite landmark and beach the ancients wrote about, famous for their sheer beauty and wildness. Our last dinner all together at home with Rosa and Adam. We'll most likely be joined by the friends we have made here. Time in the evening to gather our things for tomorrow's departure.

10 - Traveling home day. Early breakfast send off in the village. You'll be back in the USA by tonight.

"I had the most incredible, magical, life-altering trip. Thank you!" C. Perry

Here's a link to a photo album of people, places and plants from the village and surrounding areas:

Earth, Heart & Spirit Italia photos

Link to information & photos of Pompeii:

www.pompeiisites.org

Here's a link to description of Paestum and its archaeological treasures, including some photos.

www.paestum.de/en/paestum.html

Visit small villages in Southern Italia via this website created by my friend Claudia Cardello in the village.

www.visitandoilmondo.it

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