This phenomenal Christmas tree resides in the elegantissimo Hotel Danieli, just off St. Mark’s Square in Venice. I’ll never forget 13 years ago, when I spent a night at this hotel with my 3-month-old daughter and a friend who had come along to nanny while I led a trip. We were upgraded to a suite and the crib for Morella had the most beautiful linen sheets. She’s never slept on anything so fine since…..!

I have many memories of Venice and the Veneto region. The love affair started my junior year in college, when I took advantage of the Wake Forest University study abroad program. From the safe windows of Casa Artom, a modest “palace” situated next to the oh-so-elegant Peggy Guggenheim Museum (we lived in the white house to the left of the museum in that link), my 19-year-old eyes watched as the tourist numbers dwindled and the charm of Venice emerged. The Grand Canal quietened, the market vendors with their brilliant persimmons and roasting chestnuts took the time to help us along with our fledgling efforts to speak their seductive language. I recall that some of our group even attempted the sing-song Venetian dialect. Fast-forwarding several years, this is the airport we always flew into when my husband and I lived in Italy (just an hour north of Venice). He occasionally picked me up after a business trip, and we stopped in the countryside just off the Adriatic Sea, for yet another unforgettably fresh seafood tasting.

A longing to return to a region that is filled with so many memories prompted the creation of a new 2016 tour. In Veneto Veritas, which will run from October 4-11, 2016, will highlight all that is best about the Venetian countryside.

Settle into a deluxe Relais across from Juliette’s Balcony in Verona; explore the city from top to bottom

Delve into the food, wine, and scenery of stunning Lake Garda

Be one of the few to visit Giotto’s revolutionary early Renaissance frescoes at the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua

Take ownership of the prettiest hilltown in the Veneto. We’ll stay 4 nights at the five-star Albergo al Sole in Asolo. Our time will be spent in private villas and gardens; working with a pizzaiolo to create the perfect autumn supper; and wandering the Prosecco hills

At the end of the trip, if you have time, we’ll drop you in Venice so you can explore La Serenissima in the relative calm of the crisp autumn days.

We hope you’ll consider In Veneto Veritas — the “true Veneto” — in fall 2016. In the meantime, for the cooks among you, Lauran Piscitelli does an excellent job of covering Venice at Christmastime in this article Taste of Italia Magazine. Enjoy! And, the happiest of holidays to you all.

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart. Wishing you happiness.” – Helen Keller