Touring with VAFeltre
Early in July, 2011, my wife and I spent 6 wonderful days touring with VAFeltre in Northeastern Italy. We had planned to arrive in Feltre via Trainitalia, but the train didn’t make it that far. It stopped a couple of towns short of Feltre without telling us. No problem, however, because Lorna and Dante (the owners of VAFeltre) had checked on the train schedule in advance, and met us at the train depot in whatever town it was that the train stopped.
What a blessing! And what a great way to begin our travels with them. Working with Lorna, we had set up an itinerary several weeks before arriving in Feltre. We knew that we wanted to see some of the Dolomites (a spectacular range of mountains bordering Austria and NE Italy), spend a day in Venice, and just play tourist in and around Feltre. Lorna and Dante live in Feltre and so are quite familiar with “the good stuff to see in the area” including all the local eateries, coffee shops, gelato dispensers, and, of course, great museums, churches, monasteries, etc. They also know about good places to stay in Feltre (at their suggestion, we stayed at Casa Ester, a lovely B&B with a great host family, ….Mara, Vinicio and Federico).
There is a lot to see in NE Italy but we wanted to keep the itinerary relatively simple and not try to cram too much sightseeing into too short a time. So, on the day of our arrival, they saw us safely tucked into the B&B, gave us time for a nap, and picked us up for dinner that evening. The next day, we spent the morning with a leisurely stroll through the “Tueday Market” in Feltre. In the afternoon, we took a short drive to the nearby towns of Asolo and Posagno to visit the museum featuring the works of Antonio Canova, one of Italy’s most famous artists. A highlight of that outing was a tour of the magnificent temple that Canova designed and funded. The day ended with a late afternoon nap at our B&B and dinner out with Lorna and Dante. 
On day three, we drove north into the Dolomites near San Martino di Castrozza. Lorna knew that my wife is a fiber artist with a passion for spinning and knitting interesting fibers. So she arranged to bring along her friend, Daniella Anderson, who is also an avid spinner. Daniella led us to spectacular views of the Dolomites, a superb lunch at an alpine inn, and the shop of a local master woodcarver. At the end of the day we enjoyed a fine meal in Feltre with our guides.On the fourth day, our personable guides took us to Bassano del Grappa, located on the lovely Brenta River. We’d never heard of this place, but our guides knew that it is a true gem in NE Italy, with two great museums, a lovely historic bridge, and (best of all) a tour of a local grappa distillery. Yet another great day ending with local Italian cuisine.
Day five took us to Venice. It’s a bit of a drive from Feltre, but Dante is an excellent driver and knew how to get us there and back along scenic and safe highways. Both Lorna and Dante know Venice well, so we were able to skirt the heavily touristed areas and concentrate on good, locally run restaurants and shops without “crowd hassle”. And, of course, Venice is always a great place to visit, particularly on a warm, sunny day. On the return trip to Feltre, we stopped at a nearby monastery to enjoy the chapel and views.
The original itinerary had scheduled our last full day in Padova.
But we opted to save that destination for another visit thereby giving us more time to enjoy the museums of Feltre and to make a last trip into the Dolomites. Our guides were very accommodating and took us to Valle de Cadore (not far from Cortina). We enjoyed great views and gelato (again). That evening we were treated to a panoramic view of Feltre from a restaurant overlooking the town with the Dolomites in the background. Due to construction projects affecting Trainitalia’s service to Feltre, we asked our guides to take us to Padova at the conclusion of our stay. They did so without hesitation, dropping us at the train station ahead of schedule so that we had time for a last coffee together. Their familiarity with Padova was a great help in locating the train station.
So, we had a great experience with Lorna and Dante, owners of VaFeltre. They met our every need for a wonderful tour of the area and did so with consideration and a happy countenance. We enjoyed their companionship, their knowledge of the area, their selection of restaurants, and the care that they took to see that our trip was safe and successful. Their communication skills in English and Italian took away all of our concerns about getting along in Italy with very limited language skills in Italian.
Dante loves to take photos and has posted photos of our adventure on their VaFeltre website. If you are interested, click the “photos” tab on their website and look for Franny and David’s Feltre Holiday. You might want to make some popcorn first and chill a beer…..there’s a lot of photos there. We look forward to another trip with VaFeltre at some future time, perhaps to Southern Italy and its picturesque islands. .
