Aielli & Benevento

The winter is perfect time to enjoy a long weekend in one of Italy’s unforgettable cities: Rome, Milan, Florence and Venice. Aielli & Benevento offers a private, custom touring experience for couples who wish to experience the culture, food and cuisine of “Bella Italia”without having to fight the tourist hordes.  With one phone call, arrange a well-deserved break and let Aielli & Benevento handle all the details.

When:

Any four days in December, January, February and March.

Where and What?

A relaxing, weekend in one of Italy’s sophisticated urban environs. Your choice of Rome, Milan, Florence or Venice.  Your custom trip will include: private museum tours, guided walks, gourmet dinners and wine tastings.

How Much?

Price per couple includes Michelin class dining, private guides, private transportation and five star suite accommodations. From 3,000 euros per person, based on double occupancy.

More information: Email: info@aielli-benevento.it  | Call: +1. 212.695.1511

All fares are subject to change without notice, are non-transferable, and subject to cancellation and change fees Aielli & Benevento designs private trip experiences for serious travelers seeking ultra- luxury touring in Italy. We offer our clients two touring options: 1. Ambassador-Style Touring (semi-escorted) and; 2. Private Concierge Class(escorted).

> Learn more at: www.aielli-benevento.it

The Eternal City has never been a hub of youth hostels and greasy spoons, but if you aren’t afraid of really making use of that AMEX Black card, consider the Ultimate Anniversary experience offered by Aielli & Benevento.

With this over-the-top 24/7 concierge service, the sophisticated touring couple gets five fabulous nights in Rome, and what an incredible spree it is: a suite with 24 hour butler service at the St. Regis  that would make Italy’s billionaire Berlusconi envious, private ‘after hours’ tours of the St. Peter’s and the Vatican, a Mercedes S Class sedan, driver-guide, and  exceptional Michelin rated dinings at Rome’s award winning restaurants,(La Pergola, Vivendo, and Imago to name a few).

Each day has its own theme: a Fashion Day with a couture fitting at Armani or Dolce Gabbana, an Art Day with a private tour of the Borghese Museo or and after hours tour of the Sistine Chapel, and a Wine Day at three fabulous enotecas.

This touring experience can of course be 100% customized to client’s interests.  All expense included start at  15,000 Euros per person, based on one couple. Touring includes all Five star suite accommodations, breakfast in bed each day, First Class airfare, US airport transfers, private guides, daily masseuse, and personal driver throughout Italy stay.
> Email for details: info@aielli-benevento.it .

Romantic Escapes is a set of unique touring experience created for busy couples seeking an unforgettable getaway. Designed by Aielli & Benevento, these touring experiences are tailored 100% to the traveler so there are no fixed departure dates. Clients also choose among a variety of luxury hotel properties.  We handle every trip detail… A week before departure, the client will receive a detailed, daily travel schedule outlining all trip contacts /reservations/ arrangements, ensuring a worry-free, hassle-free travel experience.

Our favorite trips:

Milano Magic

This special program is designed for the couple wishing to experience the essence of Italian design sophistication in Italy’s New York City equivalent: Milan.

Roman Holiday

Five effortless, luxury filled days of “Rest & Relaxation” in Rome. Enjoy private touring through the Vatican museums, ancient Roman ruins and hidden walkways of the Eternal City.

Tuscan Escape

Explore the very best of the Renaissance city of Florence (or Firenze if you are practicing your Italian). Picture a suite overlooking the Arno River and the Ponte Vecchio. Spectacular sunsets, outstanding shopping, and fabulous dining.

Venetian Interlude

The romantic isle of Venice awaits the Aielli & Benevento client seeking the perfect, luxury filled long weekend. With an experienced guide explore Venice’s hidden alleys, its Byzantine Doge Palace, and its majestic palazzos.

************Clients can always select their date of departure.  Luxury accommodations subject to availability. Charges in high season will be higher. Call 212.595.4171 and ask to speak with an Aielli & Benevento travel specialist for a complete list of services/charges.

Private Guides/ Optional Services… customized IPODs, private photographer, personal masseuse.
 Unlike recommendations from hotel concierges (whom invariably pick their friends based on a “business relationship”), we choose guides solely on the basis of reputation, years of experience and proven excellence.     > Email us for touring details at: info@aiellli-benevento.it.

Custom-tailored Honeymoons in ‘Bella Italia’ … Designed for you … and  your special someone. With our travel experts, we can create the Italian dream honeymoon that fits your traveling party best. With Aielli & Benevento, travel and sight see at your own pace with a private guide and driver…or gondoleer.  Our experts will design  ‘perfect day’ itineraries built around what you want to see and when, ensuring an unforgettable getaway .

Aielli & Benevento’s industry leading private travel service offers newlyweds the freedom to choose a flexible itinerary that can be altered at your whim. You and your spouse choose the dates and decide where you want to go, what you want to see and how much time you wish to spend at each venue.
 With one phone call, we can commence an error free trip planning process, and introduce you to all facets of Italy’s seductive landscape, culture, and rich history.

> Contact: info@aielli-benevento.it

In case you missed this recent NYT piece on one of our favorite of Rome’s hidden streets…

“OVER the years, an impressive array of artists — Fellini, Picasso, Stravinsky, Puccini — have lived, found inspiration and created masterpieces on the Via Margutta, a tiny street in Rome barely the width of an SUV and tucked just away from the Spanish Steps. Then Joe Bradley moved in. Gregory Peck’s character in “Roman Holiday” had a flat there, and apparently nothing elevates an address in the public consciousness better than Audrey Hepburn lilting, “Via Margutta, 51.” Presto: a real estate star was born.

But as often happens with arty neighborhoods that grow too costly for actual artists, the Via Margutta soon became better known as a place to buy expensive art than as a center of creativity. Recently, however, the street has reinvented itself again — this time as a design destination.

“Years ago, there was nothing but galleries and studios,” said Alberto Moncado, owner of the new, exquisitely chic Hotel Margutta 54 (via Margutta, 54; 39-06-699-21907; romeluxurysuites.com). His newest project continues a family tradition. In the 1800s, the Moncados, patrons of artists like Caravaggio, turned what had been shacks and gardens into artists’ lofts, helping to create the present-day Via Margutta. “Now there are all kinds of shops, but you don’t find the big Louis Vuittons here,” Mr. Moncado said. “These are high quality, elegant brands, but they’re small with a local flavor. Everything is done the way it was years ago.”

Take Saddlers Union (No. 11; 39-06-321-20237; saddlersunion.com), a sleek storefront that whacks you over the head with the smell of leather when you walk in. Open since October, this is the place for handmade belts, wallets, bags and briefcases — cobbled in the studio in back. The prices are high (handbags start at around 600 euros, or $800 at $1.34 to the euro), but so is the quality.   A few doors down is Flair (No. 55B; 39-06-326-52067; flair.it), a vintage furniture shop only a few months old. Flair’s specialty is home design circa mid-to-late 20th century — a well-edited collection of home furnishings refurbished in supple shades and glossy finishes, like an early ’70s, funky brass and black plexiglass lamp for 950 euros.

At the end of the street is Enigma (No. 61A; 39-06-321-8358; enigma.it), a high-end jewelry store owned by Gianni Bulgari, son of Italian jewelry royalty of the same name. The store, designs and prices are all appropriately lavish. But unlike some Fifth Avenue boutiques, the pieces, like a silver lion pendant for 300 euros, feel special, not mass produced.

Not everything is high end and reinvented, though. A holdover from an earlier era is La Bottega del Marmoraro (No. 53B; 39-06-320-7660), a tiny shop overflowing with small marble plaques, art fit for Barbie’s Ancient Roman Dream House. For 15 euros, Enrico Fiorentini, the boisterous owner, will chisel any words you want into a piece of marble. Once the work is done, Mr. Fiorentini has a charming habit of serving a bowl of warm pasta to his customers while regaling them with stories about the street’s glory days.

Mr. Moncado, for one, thinks that the glory is still intact. “Via Margutta started as a place for artists,” he said. “Whatever happens over the years, I think it will always retain that piece of its character.”

[Source: From NYTimes Travel, 02/28/2010]

Our “Ambassador Style” touring services are tailored 100% to the client but every so often we are presented with a package ‘deal’ that’s too good to pass up.  Recently the newest and most luxurious resort on the Sicilian isle made us  an offer even we simply can’t refuse.  So for the months of April and May, Aielli & Benevento clients can enjoy an all inclusive spa & golf experience in the always sunny, always chic and always romantic Sicilia…(the least tourist trampled region of Italy.)

This exceptional luxury experience includes…

• A Five star suite for five perfect nights
• Daily buffet breakfast
• Two spa treatments
• One  grand Sicilian dinner
• Complimentary green fees for unlimited golf
• Private limousine transfers to/from airport
  

Cost: $4,750. per person.

For complete details, email: info@aielli-benevento.it.

Note: Offer not available to travel industry professionals.)  Guests benefit from A&B Suite Experience programme which includes complimentary packing and unpacking, complimentary use of a mobile phone for all local calls, in-room check-in as well as other benefits such as complimentary internet access, in-house movies, One or two baby cots are available on request at no extra charge. Extra bed available on request at EUR 60 per night.

Set in the tranquil beauty of Italy’s Lake Como, screened by topiary and lush red geraniums, the Villa Oleandra nestles in paradise. The setting is so perfect that when Brad Pitt first saw it on a visit to Italy, he immediately thought of his close friend George Clooney, and urged him to take a look at it.

Clooney did more than look – he fell in love with the 18th Century villa with its old world charm and peaceful seclusion, and paid $7 million for it. As there was a lot of restoration work to be done, Clooney also bought the nearby Villa Margherita in 2005, which was immediately habitable. Lake Como is one of the jewels of northern Italy, a crystal clear, tranquil glacial lake surrounded by lush Mediterranean vegetation and overlooked by tall snow capped mountain peaks. Just a half hour’s drive from Milan, Lake Como has long been a favorite spot for Europe’s rich and famous.

Designer Donatella Versace, who first invited Brad Pitt and his former wife Jennifer Aniston to the lake, lives near by. It is hardly surprising that Clooney fell in love with the area and the beautiful Villa Oleandra, but it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for him, even on the lake’s placid waters. Locals were outraged when they learned that he planned to privatize the beach that fronted his two homes, and Villa Margherita was vandalized, with graffiti scrawled on the walls and windows broken in protest at the star’s plans to make the 48 square meter public beach his own.

After some local councilors blasted the plan, a majority decision was reached to allow him to go ahead. The reason for the change of heart was Clooney’s assurance that the beach would not be closed off to locals, and that it would be improved under his stewardship. The beach in question was neglected and Clooney wrote 400 letters to his neighbors explaining his position.  “Let me maintain the beach and if that is done and you still want me as your honorary citizen I feel privileged to accept this honor,” he wrote. Clooney also wrote letters of apology to his neighbors when filming of Ocean’s Twelve disrupted their peaceful hideaway. The residents reacted angrily when filming closed off streets in Laglio, the local town, and the lake was overrun with eager fans trying to catch a glimpse of Clooney and Brad Pitt. “I am writing this letter to say thank you for accepting me into your community,” Clooney wrote. “I am sorry for the inconvenience that I have brought.”  In spite of that, residents are growing fond of him, and Laglio Mayor Guiseppe Mantero is a huge fan, calling Clooney has shown himself to be an “an honorable man”.  Having one of the world’s biggest Hollywood stars on your doorstep does create problems, especially when the paparazzi are swarming all over the place to get shots of the star in residence, but it has positive benefits too. Local traders like the fresh interest in Lake Como that Clooney has stirred, and the resulting improvement in business. Clooney’s legendary kindness has shown itself in many ways, among them a donation ten specially equipped scooters to Rome’s Emergency Services Unit. Laglio locals are getting used to the quiet, self effacing star in their midst, and report that he is often to be found helping grandmothers with their shopping, or shooting basketball with the local youngsters.  Described as “good and kind” and “a good person”, Clooney has shown himself determined to be accepted into his new community. He is learning to speak Italian from language CDs, which he laughingly says will “take an eternity!”  But his desire to be able to communicate with his neighbors is stronger than his struggle with the language. “It’s embarrassing to live in a country where you don’t know the language.”  — Source: From LifeInItaly.com

Call us the incurable romantics.  But before you know it Valentine’s Day will be upon us.  Here are six wonderful expressions of love for you to speak to your significant other. Start practicing.

• Ti penso sempre – I always think of you.
• Mi manchi / I miss you.
• Come sei bella / How beautiful you are. Come sei bello (for a woman talking to a man)
• Voglio vederti stasera / I want to see you tonight.
• Tu sei una stella…la mia stella / You are a star…my star.
• Cara mia, ti voglio bene / My darling, I love you.

We are biased but we think these thoughts sound so much better in Italian.