Claudia Harris' touring business takes small groups on culinary and wine-tasting tours through northern Italy. The trips cater to travelers who want cultural immersion. Visit the Photo Place

View the Stafford County community page

Tours focus on regional cuisine

Stafford County woman introduces travelers to culture and cuisine of northern Italy

By MARTY MORRISON

Date published: 4/21/2004

By MARTY MORRISON

LAUDIA HARRIS discovered northern Italy during a semester abroad in college nearly 20 years ago.

Today, the Stafford County resident returns several times a year to introduce travelers to the unique culture and cuisine with which she fell in love.

Through her tour company, La Forchetta, Harris takes small groups to a picturesque corner of Italy along the Adriatic Sea that fuses Latin, Germanic and Slavic customs.

"The area is magical," Harris said. "The cuisine is very different from the typical middle European fare."

Next week, she'll guide travelers on a seven-day excursion to Trieste, the capital of the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region in northeastern Italy.

Harris became familiar with the region during a semester abroad in Venice while she was a student at Wake Forest University.

"I had the best meals of my life there, sipped heavenly wine, stumbled onto unforgettable sites and made friends for life."

She returned to the U.S. and got her law degree, then practiced law in New York City. While with the law firm, she spent time in Finland, Budapest and London as well as Italy.

She and her husband, Noel, were married in Italy and lived in the Friuli region for five years while he was stationed in Italy with the Air Force reserves.

"We spent all our weekends finding new restaurants and undiscovered towns and small wineries," Harris said. "I thought other people would enjoy sharing our experience."

During the tour next week, guests will stay in a family-operated hotel, hike along a dramatic trail overlooking the Adriatic Sea, and dine on favorite seafood delicacies prepared by a Croatian-born chef.

Another day, they'll join a local chef in her Friuli-style kitchen and learn to prepare local specialities such as porcini mushroom crêpes or an appetizer mousse with prosciutto and grated horseradish. They'll sip wine at the vineyard of a renowned Friulian winemaker. He makes it as the Romans did thousands of years ago by aging wine in simple clay urns.

The following week, she'll meet another group in Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera. The name is given to five picturesque fishing villages perched above the sea. They are accessible only by train or on foot. The region is isolated from the rest of Italy by mountains.

Follow us on

Date published: 4/21/2004