Pranzo di Ferragosto

Check out the menu for the 4th Annual Italian Movie Night at the Vineyard, Saturday, July 23 at Balistreri Vineyards.

Antipasti

Salumi
Artisan Cheeses
Assorted Bruschettas
Frutta Fresca

Wood-Fired Pizza

Italian Sausage Sliders

Custom Gelato made with Balistreri Wine

Movie Popcorn
Parmesan Popcorn
Lemon Pepper Popcorn
Truffle Popcorn

One (1) glass of Balistreri Wine is included in your Ticket price.
Additional wine by the glass ($6) or bottle (list price) available.

PURCHASE TICKETS

Join Dream Italia & Balistreri Vineyards under the stars, for our 4th Annual Italian Movie Night at the Vineyard. This year we are pleased to present Mid-August Lunch, a delightful comedy about Gianni, a middle-aged Roman man who lives with his 90-something year old mother. The Ferragosto (Mid-August holiday) gets interesting when Gianni makes a deal with his landlord, and finds himself in charge of 4 elderly Italian ladies for the weekend.

Date: Saturday, July 23, 2011

Location: Balistreri Vineyards

1946 E 66th Avenue

Denver, CO 80229

Tickets: $39 – Non-Refundable – includes Italian Movie Snacks and a glass of Balistreri Wine

Time: 7:30-9:00 pm – Mingling and refreshments

Movie Begins: 9:00 pm, or dusk

Movie ends: 10:30 pm

The event will take place, rain or shine. We’ll be under the big tent for the movie showing.

Join Dream Italia & Balistreri Vineyards under the stars, for our 4th Annual Italian Movie Night at the Vineyard. This year we are pleased to present Mid-August Lunch, a delightful comedy about Gianni, a middle-aged Roman man who lives with his 90-something year old mother. The Ferragosto (Mid-August holiday) gets interesting when Gianni makes a deal with his landlord, and finds himself in charge of 4 elderly Italian ladies for the weekend.

Date: Saturday, July 23, 2011

Location: Balistreri Vineyards

1946 E 66th Avenue

Denver, CO 80229

Tickets: $39 – Non-Refundable – includes Italian Movie Snacks and a glass of Balistreri Wine

Time: 7:30-9:00 pm – Mingling and refreshments

Movie Begins: 9:00 pm, or dusk

Movie ends: 10:30 pm

The event will take place, rain or shine. We’ll be under the big tent for the movie showing.

Ticket price includes Italian movie snacks & a glass of Balistreri wine (wines will be sold by the glass after that).

PURCHASE TICKETS

At home in Florence

I got to thinking about what it is that inspires us to take a journey. I have been following the amazing journey of Zach, my wise and adventurous friend, who set out last January for a year long trip around the world. Another friend, Kate, just put her home in NYC on the market to do something similar.  My beautiful friend, Kate, who is about to embark, wrote a thoughtful entry on her AuthentiKate  blog about her pending journey and the meaning of home. Kate & Zach both happen to be in London at the moment, which made me think about beginnings and endings and how circular it all becomes.

These two paradoxes, travel/home, resonate and sometimes conflict in our hearts. While ‘home is where the heart is’,and where we retreat and feel secure, travel expands our hearts and vision, in fact, expanding the entire concept of home and security. Loving the two equally, home and travel, I pause to consider what lures Zach home, and what lures Kate to travel.

I am reminded by Kate putting her home on the market to travel, that I did the same many years ago. I sold my home in Denver in order to travel in Spain, France and Italy for an indefinite period of time. After my fabulous time in Spain and France, I arrived in Florence, fully hit with the impact of my decision to detach from my ‘home’ and travel and live somewhere in the world where I knew no one. As if to counter my doubts, within 2 days I bumped into 2 acquaintances from Denver who were as surprised to see me as I was to see them. As we had wood-fired pizza together that night in Florence, they were so encouraging and inspired by my courage to do what I was doing, that they effectively held my hands long enough to set me free.

After living in Florence for the first month, as I was walking down the street one morning, I nearly stopped in my tracks as I was suddenly hit with the overwhelming sensation that there was something for me there in Florence, the heart of the Renaissance of humankind, some long forgotten connection that was reawakened in my consciousness. I didn’t know then that I would return ‘home’ to Denver in time, and that some years later I would start Dream Italia tours, which also brought me back ‘home’ to Florence.

As I am deep in planning Dream Italia tours for 2011, I realize that Italy lures me like a beacon home. Every year as I plan returning to Italy, I realize it is also home to me, the place where I feel safe and secure and welcomed with open arms. My colleagues are my extended ‘family’ there.

I could walk the streets of Florence blindfolded, and still feel the energy of the Medici’s, Botticelli, Michelangelo, da Vinci and Cellini guiding me like some internal GPS. Travel and home are the same to me, expansive and secure, adventuresome and familiar. That is what I wish for Kate and Zach, and what I hope to share with those who travel with me.

Montefioralle, in the heart of the Chianti Classico wine region

Huffington Post published Dream Italia’s photo of Montefioralle for their article, Tuscany: Destination of the Day! You can vote for it as your favorite. Follow the link and cast your vote. While you are at it, have a look at the other beautiful photos of Tuscany. 

Our photo of Montefioralle photo was taken on the Rustic Tuscan Cooking Tour. Montefioralle is an extremely well preserved Medieval village situated above Greve in Chianti. Today there are no cars permitted in the village and it is home to a handful of families.

According to the official website of Montefioralle, 

 Montefioralle is rated one of the most beautiful villages in Italy
“Uno dei borghi più belli d’Italia”

The village of Montefioralle is probably one of the most ancient in Chianti and is still today enclosed within its original walls. These were initially two circuits but houses now fill the space between the original structures. The walls were octagonal in outline, with four gates, modifications of which still exist. During the Middle Ages it was one of the largest military and administrative centres of the area. The first notice of the settlement is from 1085. It belonged to the families Ricasoli, Benci, Gherardini and Vespucci.

Life Is Beautiful

Italian Movie Night!

Wine, Dinner, and an Oscar Winning Movie!

The Menu is finally set. And, yes! we are warming up the woodfired pizza oven as well as Italian sausage sliders and other delicious treats like Gelato made with Balistreri Wine and Truffle Popcorn. scroll down to check out the whole menu.  

BALISTRERI  Movie Night Menu

June 26th 2010

Wood Fired Pizza

Antipasti

Salumi

Artisan Cheeses

Bruschetta with Ricotta impastata

Bruschetta with fresh basil mint Tomatoes

Frutta Fresca

Wood Fired Pizza  

Italian Sausage Sliders  

 Custom Gelato made with Balistreri Wine

 Bittersweet Chocolate Port Gelato

Poached Pear Zinfandel Gelato

Double Cherry Almond Gelato

Movie Popcorn 

Parmesan Popcorn

Lemon Pepper Popcorn

Truffle Popcorn

One glass of Balistreri Wine is included in your ticket price.

Additional wine by the glass ($6) or bottle (list price)

Movie Menu 7:30-9pm

Film starts at 9pm

 

3rd Annual Italian

 Movie Night

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Private Viewing of Academy Award Winner

 Best Foreign Language Film 1998

Life Is Beautiful

Join us for a private screening of the Academy Award winning Italian film, Life is Beautiful (1998); directed by Roberto Benigni. The movie takes place in the city of Arezzo, Tuscany, not far from Umbria.

Synopsis: In 1930s Italy, a carefree Jewish book keeper named Guido (Roberto Benigni) starts a fairy tale life by courting and marrying a lovely woman from a nearby city. Guido and his wife have a son and live happily together until the occupation of Italy by German forces. In an attempt to hold his family together and help his son survive the horrors of a Jewish Concentration Camp, Guido imagines that the Holocaust is a game and that the grand prize for winning is a tank. Written by Anthony Hughes <husnock31@hotmail.com>

Roger Ebert says: “Life Is Beautiful” is not about Nazis and Fascists, but about the human spirit. It is about rescuing whatever is good and hopeful from the wreckage of dreams. About hope for the future. About the necessary human conviction, or delusion, that things will be better for our children than they are right now.”

View the film on the big screen.
Enjoy special Italian Menu.

Date:                   Saturday, June 26, 2010

Time:                  7:30 -8:45 PM  Special Italian Menu

                                9:00 PM – Life Is Beautiful (116 Mins.) Rated R

Location:          Balistreri Vineyards
                                 1946 E. 66th Avenue
                                 Denver, CO 80229

To see movie stills visit Dream Italia’s Blog

Tickets: $38 in advance, non-refundable, limited seating
Call Balistreri Vineyards at 303-287-5156 for Tickets and information. 

This event is presented by:

Balistreri Vineyards  and Dream Italia Tours

Smuggler's Return Tour

One of Dream Italia’s Italian based associates, Adventures in Northern Italy, is currently offering an early registration special on their beautiful October 2010 Smuggler’s Return Hiking tour. You can select the main 6 night tour and add on a pre or post tour extension.

There are just a few days left to get in on the early registration special!

Tell them Dream Italia sent you!