Win a 1-Week Stay at Brigolante Guest Apartments in Umbria: Passports with Purpose 2011
One of my very favorite things about getting involved in travel writing has been the truly amazing community of travel writers I’ve met. Four of my travel blogging buddies up in Seattle are the inspirational people behind the Passports with Purpose annual travel blogging fundraiser (if you’re not familiar with it, stay tuned for details below), and one of my spectacular Italy blogging pals runs the Brigolante Guest Apartments near Assisi. I’m just thrilled to be able to bring these things together by giving you a chance to win a week’s stay in Assisi as part of this year’s Passports with Purpose.
My friend Rebecca Winke has generously donated a week’s stay in one of the gorgeous apartments at Brigolante, her family’s restored farmhouse outside Assisi in Umbria. The Brigolante Guest Apartments are recommended on both TripAdvisor and SlowTravel, and extremely well-reviewed by past guests. The farmhouse is an ideal location from which to explore what Umbria has to offer, the setting is as beautiful as the Italian countryside you’ve seen in pictures, and Rebecca is unfailingly helpful and gracious with her Umbria travel advice. After a week’s stay at Brigolante, you’ll understand what all that “Italian hill town” fuss is all about.
Before I get to the prize details, here’s a bit of background on Passports with Purpose, how you can get involved, and how you can win awesome prizes.
What’s Passports with Purpose?
Passports with Purpose is an annual travel bloggers’ fundraiser, now in its fourth year. In previous years, with the help of a very cool community of bloggers and their readers, Passports with Purpose has raised money for Heifer International, American Assistance for Cambodia, and LAFTI International. In 2009, Passports with Purpose raised almost $30,000 to build a school in Cambodia, and last year we raised more than $64,000 to build a village in India.
The 2011 goal is to raise $80,000 for Room to Read in order to build two libraries in Zambia.
The way Passports with Purpose works is that participating bloggers (like me) procure prizes (like the one listed below). Readers (like you) buy tickets for a chance to win a prize – each ticket is a $10 donation (tax deductible) to that year’s beneficiary, and you can choose which prizes you want your tickets to be counted toward. You buy as many tickets as you like, donating money in $10 increments, and at the end of the fundraiser a winner is drawn for each prize.
This year, the fundraiser ends on December 16, and prize winners will be notified on December 23.
The list of prizes is pretty fabulous, and I encourage you to check them all out. You’ll find the list of all the prizes – including the week-long stay at a Brigolante apartment in Umbria – on this page, and you can read more about Passports with Purpose here.
One Week in Brigolante Guest Apartment in Umbria: Prize Details
This prize is for a week-long stay in a Brigolante apartment near Assisi in Umbria. The winner of this prize will get to choose between two of the apartments – La Loggetta or Il Focolare – for your stay. Each apartment sleeps 2-4 people, has a fully equipped kitchen, a small sitting area, and a completely modernized bathroom. There’s independent heating, satellite TV, a cell phone and WiFi in every apartment, and Il Focolare even has a lovely wood-burning fireplace in the kitchen.
Guests at Brigolante arrive to find a basket of goodies from the farm in the apartment they’ll occupy, including fresh eggs as well as homemade jam and wine, and you’ll find personal touches throughout the apartments in the form of things like fresh flowers from the garden and homemade soap. Not only that, I can’t stress enough how knowledgeable your hostess, Rebecca, is about traveling in Umbria. You need only read through some of the Brigolante guest reviews to get an idea of how much guests appreciate Rebecca as much as the apartments themselves.
One Week in Brigolante Guest Apartment in Umbria: The Nitty Gritty
- Prize is a one-week stay – from Saturday to Saturday
- Winner chooses either La Loggetta apartment or Il Focolare apartment
- Must be used between April-October 2012
- Subject to availability
- Note that it’s strongly recommended that you rent a car while you’re at Brigolante
- Value of prize: €600
For anyone who has dreamed of having a farmhouse in the hills of central Italy (i.e. pretty much everyone), this is your chance to have that experience for a whole week – without any of the renovation work.
Sounds good, doesn’t it?
Get over to the Passports with Purpose website and buy some tickets to win!
More Information About Rebecca & Brigolante Guest Apartments
Brigolante Guest Apartments is a 16th century stone farmhouse 6km from the pilgrimage town of Assisi that Rebecca and her family have turned into a dreamy agriturismo. The farmhouse is actually within the Mount Subasio Regional Park, and the surroundings are beautiful. You’ll have the benefit of peace and quiet at Brigolante, and still be within easy reach of most of the places on a good Umbria must-see list.
The three holiday apartments in the farmhouse are kitted out with all the modern conveniences, but everything was done with an eye toward preserving the historic look and feel that has kept people coming back to this part of the world for ages. Staying in one place for a week gives you a chance to settle in and enjoy that Italian “dolce vita,” and staying in a self-catering apartment at Brigolante means you can do more than just look at those fabulous food markets that spring up in every Italian town – you can actually buy some things and try your hand at Italian cooking!
As mentioned, Brigolante’s hostess – my friend Rebecca – is an expert on all things Umbria travel (she even co-authored an awesome iPhone/iPad app on traveling in Umbria!) – and she also happens to be a great writer. In fact, you may recognize her name as one of the members of the Italy Blogging Roundtable I’m a part of. For a peek into the mind of your hostess at Brigolante, I encourage you to check out her blog, “like” her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter.
all photos courtesy of Brigolante Guest Apartments and may not be used without permission