By Jake Rupert
Wayne (Larter) Mason was born six weeks after his father, Josh Larter, left Canada to fight for freedom during World War Two's Italian campaign. Wayne's father died in 1943 during the Battle of Ortona when Wayne was 20 months old. This is the story of Wayne making the trip to his father's grave more than 80 years later to say goodbye to the father he never met. The blog was written by Wayne's sister Lynn (Mason)Tarzwell, who accompanied Wayne on his journey.
In the lead up to our first week at our second location, I was a ball of nerves, but everything went great thanks to our co-workers and contractors. The guests loved the place. There was only one shitty situation, and in my books, that’s just fine.
During the sprint to finish the Baron’s Estate, our second location, my nerves caught up to me last week. I had to remind myself that my wife, Lisa Grassi Blais, and I had done this before eight years ago and have had great success since then. Everything got done. The first guests arrived yesterday, and they love the place. All is good. I got this.
Two internet/wifi service companies tried to rip me off last week whewe n asked for estimates on how much it would cost to wire up the Baron’s Estate, our new location. I think there might be a picture of me beside the word sucker in the Italian-English dictionary.
We’re at the end of our project turning an old Baron’s Estate into a great vacation destination, and it’s a good thing, because I’m getting pretty tired of being all consumed with the details. I’m hapy to say we’re ready for our first guests April 13. Still, I’m at the end of my rope.
Can a building change somebody’s life? I can definitively say yes because Villa d’Abruzzo has impacted my wife’s and my lives greatly from the minute we saw it 12 years ago.
After getting a 5000 euro quote to clean the Baron’s Estate pool, which hadn’t been touched in five years, I decided to do it myself. It was just my latest unwise decision spurred by my cheapness.
In Italy, there are two types of time: There’s real time, the one most people in the world follow, where a minute has 60 seconds, an hour has sixty minutes and a week has seven days. Then there’s Italian time, followed mostly in Southern Italy, where five and 10 minutes are both half and hour of real time, 30 minutes is between 51 and 73 real time minutes, and things that take a week take roughly 16 days. It’s really tricky when you are working on a construction project with a finite deadline.
Due to the hard work and dedication of our groundskeeper Angelo, an 18th Century romantic garden has emerged in the massive back yard of 160-year-old Estate we are turning into Amazing Abruzzo Tours’ second location. There’s also a garden, greenhouse, gazebo, fruit trees and an olive grove. It’s pretty sweet.
I had a plan for the yard area around the pool. It was simple and cheap, like me. Then my wife, our operations manager and our Italian landscape designer and project manager explained to me that the plan needed to change. I’m glad they did. It’s going to cost more, but it’s a good investment for our guests and ourselves. Also, I’m not a chump.
We were going to reveal all the rooms at Amazing Abruzzo’s new location closer to the date of opening in April, but once I saw the nearly finished Duke’s Room, I had to share. Actually, I share a bit too much in this blog. Such is life without an editor!
Last week, in the thick of the drive to open our second vacation destination location in Abruzzo, Italy, somebody asked me where my wife, Lisa Grassi Blais, and I get our confidence. I had to think about it a bit, but then it occurred to me: We are both undaunted by challenges because out histories. This blog explores that theme.
There’s something really satifying about breathing life back into the Baron’s Estate, our new location. Not just for the Amazing Abruzzo crew, but for people in our town too. It’s a renewal project in more ways than one.
When we first told our business agent that we were going to open an all-inclusive, small-group tour company in the Abruzzo region of Italy, he literally banged his head on the table. He’s now a good friend who has steered us to success and is anthusiastically managing our expansion to a second location. Meet Francesco Volpe.
When we decided to expand to a new location, we wanted as few projects as possible. When we got a shot at a Baron’s Estate, we decided a couple projects were OK. This is what we are doing.
After demand for bookings at our villa started overwhelming our supply of rooms, the question of expanding or not became one we needed to answer. It wasn’t as straight-forward a decision as you might think. It took years for us to finally decide. This is the story of who we got to yes.
Our area’s wine makers are finally getting the highest quality designation possible in Italy - the coveted DOCG. With it, the wines get their own name. Remember the name CASAURIA. These wines are great and they are ready to take their rightful place at the top of the wine world.
Eva Budaiova is the glue that holds Amazing Abruzzo Tours together. And her inventive use of the English language is as sweet as she is. She also loves squirrels.
Ten years ago my wife and I sold our home in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to finance the startup of our toursim in Abruzzo, Italy. Since then, we lived like hobos in a series of temporary arrangements while focusing on the business. Two months ago, we closed the deal on a place of our own, and it feels great to have a home again.
The Mutz are the roughest, toughest, most catfighingest, deerchasingest, treatbeggingest gang in Torre de’Passeri, Abruzzo, Italy. We rule the streets and foothills around our town. Our headquarters is a swish villa with a steady supply of suckers who give us treats.
