About Us

Italy-101 was initially created as a support for a planned trip to Tuscany with side trips to other parts of Italy. It is intended to be a learning tool for us to learn about Italy and to help make connections with others interested in Italy: it's people, history, products, culture, etc.

Several years ago, after reading "Under the Tuscan Sun" Annette (my wife), put together a group of 17 friends and rented a villa in Tuscany above the town of Sinalunga. It truly was a trip of a lifetime. This year, in June, we took another group of friends and friends of friends (27) to stay in the same villa (San Giustino) in Tuscany and to travel from there to see various cities and medieval towns in the area.

Part of the intention of this site is to connect with people in Italy who can supply Italian products that may not be otherwise available in the United States and provide a way to make them available. Also, to provide easy access to information about Italy that may be interesting and useful to anyone interested in traveling there or just in learning more. Out of the recent trip to Tuscany, we have a number of small shops that can ship local items. We will be publishing links to these shops on this web site in the near future.

Steve and Annette Lansdowne