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With the summer travel season approaching, the tourism offices of Tuscany held a conference in Livorno on March 21 for their 'Benvenute in Toscana' or 'Tuscany Welcomes Women' program promoting female-friendly travel.
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The head of Tuscany tourism, Annarita Bramerini
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Annarita Bramerini, the head of tourism for Tuscany, presented a status report on the campaign to date and the benefits of using 'Benvenute in Toscana' to reach out to a growing market. Essentially, the program invites female travelers to enjoy special stays and services around the region geared specifically to their needs and interests. Whether traveling solo or in groups, women now make up a significant part of the travel industry, and that presence means the battle for the hearts and charge cards of those travelers.
Women have created a trend that is growing to a tidal wave without realizing that they are doing anything but their own business - for work or for pleasure. A professional heading to a conference. Sisters deciding on a a getaway with just 'us gals.' Women friends leaving the men to tend the house and heading out for their equivalent of the time-honored all-male hunting and fishing parties. Best friends who provide each other with a reason to indulge in a spa experience or simply a do-absolutely-nothing girlfriend getaway.
The world of business travel is no longer an exclusively male domain. Yet hotels whose bread-and-butter is the business traveler often have a decidedly masculine design sense that presents itself as 'neutral' similar to the way 'he' and 'man' have traditionally meant 'anyone' and 'everyone' both male and female. Benvenute in Toscana - the 'e' ending is exclusively female and so refers to women only without being specifically exclusionary - cleverly turns the restrictions of gender language to its advantage by allowing the program to specifically invite women and women only.
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Grange Hotels shared their expertise in female-friendly accommodations
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Individual hotels have begun to offer special women friendly programs in response to this demand. Mary Doogan of Grange Hotels in London was invited to the conference to share her chain's tremendous success at catering to women and their particular needs and preferences. Women often have safety concerns that affect policies from check-in to eating in and therefore paying a premium for room service. The Grange hotels offer women-dedicated rooms with softer, more cushioned places to sit, more color, more pillows, professional quality hair dryers, more appropriate selections in the minibar, and rooms in separated wings to produce the image of a safe haven or domestic nest, and the women are devotedly returning.
At the conference, the afternoon breakout groups looked at a variety of topics for travel providers and gave them help and tips in catering to the needs of women. Dr. Roberto Cucco gave an effective seminar on websites and web marketing. The web is underutilized and poorly understood by many Italian operators because high-speed internet access is still so spotty and not a part of daily life in Italy. Some charming and unique hotels and restaurants are either not on the web or their websites do not do them justice. In another breakout group on marketing, some of the most effective advice for catering to women travelers came from Rosanna Capitani, whose Eliotropica Travelling agency has been at the forefront of woman-welcoming travel in Italy.
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After the conference, a stroll along the Livorno seaside for Eliotropica's Rosanna Capitani and friends
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Some of the more interesting programs and destinations that are women-smart are run by smart women. The Castello dell'Aquila is a magnificently restored 12th Century castle above the medieval town of Gragnola.
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One of the rooms at the Castello dell'Aquila
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The owner, Gabriella Girardin, has spent almost 10 years restoring the ancient edifice. The property has nine rooms, each named for one of the marquesas in the castello's history, that look and feel like a waking dream. Meals are shared in the owner's stunning personal apartment, making the experience more like a stay with a friend.
In the famous art town of Pietrasanta, the Albergo Pietrasanta is a sumptuous and elegant hotel filled with museum quality modern art and antique furniture that gets every detail absolutely perfect.
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Each room in the Albergo Pietrasanta is unique in design and feel
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The sales and marketing director, Barbara Pardini, herself a woman who travels a good deal, has brought her personal experience as a guest to inform her hospitality as a host. Drinks are served in the lobby, but there is no bar per se. This creates an atmosphere more like a private country villa. In a nice touch, the hotel has published a book of short stories written by women in three languages which is put in every room as a gift so that guests have a bit of bedside reading in case they find themselves awake.
For those craving a spa experience, the choices in Italy with its very active volcanic mantle are legion. On the Tuscan Riviera in Cinquale near Viareggio is the Hotel Villa Undulna and the Terme della Versilia spa offering the best of all the water possibilities - thermal, sea, and swimming pool.
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The lobby of the Hotel Villa Undulna
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The hotel is a seaside town resort with spacious rooms in wood and marble designed with Scandinavian lines and an Italian palette. The Versilia Spa in the hotel offers a unique peat wrap using the peat from Lake Massaciuccoli made into a paste with the Versilia hot spring waters for a one-of-a-kind experience that both heals and beautifies.
For those whose dream is a seaside villa experience, the Hotel Maremonti in Ronchi occupies a princely Tuscan edifice from 1900, with gardens and decor right out of a magical fable. A family-run hotel, the Maremonti was purchased in 1970 and lovingly restored by painter Paola Donati Siciliano and her husband, Enrico. Her evocative landscapes adorn the walls and the antiques and artifacts that decorate the villa make you feel as if you were staying in a home instead of a hotel. The views are either of the sea or the Apuan mountains, and many of the rooms have terraces that overlook one or both of these vistas.
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My large terrace at the Hotel Maremonti overlooked the sea
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The gardens are enormous, with a pool and tennis court and several outdoor sitting areas so that even when the hotel with its twenty or so rooms is full, the feeling is still one of being in a private back yard. And while the grown children now manage the day-to-day running the hotel, their mother still makes most of the aesthetic choices that give the place its unique allure of welcome.
The major tourist towns are also organizing events to appeal to women travelers. For example,
Lucca has a music festival, Lucca Jazz Donna, or Woman Jazz, in March that features performances by celebrated female jazz musicians from around the world. The four-star Hotel Ilaria not only offers a very attractive package for the event, it also does not charge the single room supplement for women traveling solo. The hotel, located withing the ancient city walls, is within walking distance of all the sights in one of the safest and most pleasing cities in Italy. One of the great things about the hotel is that most of its packages include a meal at the excellent Giglio restaurant. Giglio ('lily' in Italian) is as beautifully elegant as its name suggests, and the food is exquisite. Even the biscotti that came with our coffee were wonderful - the best that I have had in years.
A surprising fact I learned at the "Benvenute in Toscana" conference was that the largest slice of Tuscan tourism 'pizza' is what the Italians call 'agriturismo.' When I first saw the term I thought it meant that kind of vacation we took in college where we went and picked grapes for a 'life experience.' In fact, agriturismo refers to the rental of apartments and villas, usually but not always out in the country. The Tuscan rental vacation is a special branch of Italian tourism, and especially of interest to women who like to feel "at home" even when they travel.
Often they have done the grand tour of Italy and seen all they want to see of the monuments and museums. They want Tuscany for the pleasure of its intoxicating and restorative self much as one feels in the company of dear friends. Books to read. A journal to write. Feet up. No appointments, not obligations. A beautiful view. An afternoon nap. Dolce far niente.
For more information on Tuscany travel for women, go to:
www.benvenuteintoscana.it
photos by Susan di Rende
Albergo Pietrasanta photo provided by the hotel
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