We will be met at the airport by a bus and taken to Ascea, the seaside town adjacent to Velia, where our hosts will be the Fondazione Alario and the nearby Albergo Elea. The Fondazione provides a classroom and has a guest house with five spacious, double, dormitory-style rooms with big desks and bookshelves, as well as rooms for group study. Other rooms will be at the Elea, run by the Greco family of Mario, Giovanna, and their son Gennaro. The Elea has simple, clean beach-resort like rooms with private baths, where we should also have double occupancy, though some of the rooms are large enough for three or four if you like. Mario makes all his guests feel that they are his special friends. All meals included in the course fee are at the Elea and cooked by Giovanna. The ample breakfasts are buffet-style and usually include fresh-squeezed orange juice. The family-style evening meal is the traditional Italian home-made pasta followed by a course of fish, seafood, or meat. Vegetarians who are happy to eat cheese and eggs are also easily and well accommodated. One eats well and heartily at the Elea. For lunches there are also another restaurant, several bars serving light food, and a pizzeria.
We move by bus from Ascea to Pompeii, where we will stay at the Hotel Villa dei Misteri, a three-star establishment a short walk from the excavations and the Villa dei Misteri stop of the Circumvesuviana commuter rail, which we will use for getting to Naples, Vesuvius, Herculaneum, Sorrrento, and Capri. It has a dining room and a nice conference room as well. Rooms are doubles or triples.
In Rome, we will be at the Luciani, 8 via Milazzo, a friendly, family-run place within a hundred meters of the main rail station, where we will arrive and depart. The area is also the hub of public transportation in Rome. We will be in large triple or quadruple rooms. Light breakfasts are provided. You may well wish to supplement them at a tavola calda just around the corner, where you can also get very reasonably priced evening meals. There are are good laundromats nearby. Two internet connections are available in the lobby for 1 euro for 15 minutes.
In Florence, we will be at the Hotel Eden, 55 via Nazionale, which is in the heart of the city, convenient to the rail station, the Duomo, major museums, many restaurants, and several laundromats. As in Rome, we will have triple and quadruple occupancy. The hotel has been recently remodeled and meets all norms of the European Union.
Right, our hosts in Ascea, Gennaro, Giovanna, and Mario Greco, in front of their establishment, the Albergo Elea.
