Local Couple Plans Italian Getaways

Written by Shayda Windle

Italy is about much more than checking famous sights off a list for Lindsay Brancato and her fiancé, Fabrizio Serpicelli, of The Plains, Virginia. Whether lingering over a meal, wandering through a market, sharing a bottle of wine with friends, or simply slowing down enough to notice the life happening around you, they believe Italy is a place to be experienced — not just visited.

That philosophy is at the heart of the couple’s latest venture, Sapore di Vita Italiana, which, translated into English, means “taste of Italian life.” They created the travel business to offer guests a more intimate way to experience Italy, with itineraries built around food, wine, culture, and the connections that make a place memorable.

Serpicelli, born and raised in Rome, spent more than 25 years in the city’s restaurant industry and brings an insider’s knowledge of its people, food, and wine. For the past three years, he has been part of the team at Café Milano in Washington, D.C.

Brancato offers a complementary perspective. A clinical psychologist focused on the mind-body connection and certified in the psychology of eating, her work has given her a particular interest in the relationship between food, culture, and everyday life. 

“Fabrizio knows the Italy you won’t necessarily find in a guidebook. He understands the people, the wine, the hidden places — he’s opened a world to me I never would have known as a tourist, and now we want to give our guests that same access,” Brancato says. 

For her part, she has always been drawn to the slower side of Italian life: dolce far niente, lingering over long meals, wandering without an agenda, and the simple pleasure of not being in a hurry.

Together, they realized they could offer something different from a typical tour: an experience built around real relationships, meaningful connections, and the freedom to experience Italy at a slower pace.

That vision became a reality this past June and July, when Sapore di Vita Italiana welcomed its inaugural group to Italy. Guests spent time in Rome and Tuscany, staying at Donna Camilla Savelli in Rome and the relais at Casanova di Neri in Tuscany, properties chosen as much for their sense of place and history as for their beauty.

“Staying in places with that much layered history is exactly the kind of experience we want our guests to have,” Brancato says. “It was a small group, and it went even better than we hoped.”

In Rome, guests experienced familiar landmarks in a different way. A sunrise tour allowed guests to see the city before the crowds and traffic arrived. At open-air markets, they discovered where the produce and meat for their evening meal was sourced before sitting down to enjoy it that night.

But perhaps the most memorable experience came over dinner in Tuscany.

“If you ask anyone in the group about their most memorable meal, they’ll all say the same thing: our wine dinner at Casanova di Neri.” Brancato recalls, “It was a perfect evening, with a private room and exquisite food, including lasagna made to perfection and top-notch wine.” 

Partway through dinner, an unexpected guest wandered in: Thor, a golden retriever who belongs to the winery owner’s family.

“That mix of world-class quality and warm, familial feeling really captures the essence of Sapore di Vita Italiana,” Brancato says.

The inaugural trip also gave the couple a chance to see what they want to build on for 2027. For next year’s trip, they’ll spend their first two nights in Rome before heading to Casanova di Neri in Tuscany for four nights and then on to the Castelli Romani region, just outside Rome.

“Each year, we do our own annual trips, but we’re adding a region every year,” Brancato explains. “So in 2028, the base will be Castelli Romani, and then we may travel to Sardinia, or another corner of Italy.”

“We want to know each place, not just see it,” Serpicelli says. “This area has old villages, volcanic lakes, good food and wine. You need time to really live and experience the life here.”

The region includes Castel Gandolfo, home to the pope’s summer residence, and is particularly known for Frascati and other local wines. Next year the group will spend four days exploring its villages and lakes, dining everywhere from simple family-run restaurants to fine dining establishments, before heading to Tuscany for the second half of the trip.

“It’s a chance to go even deeper and more local while keeping the trip intentionally small and personal,” Brancato says.

The itinerary will include visits to local farms, wineries, artisan shops, and off-the-beaten-path museums, with wine woven throughout rather than treated as simply another stop.

“That mix of world-class quality and warm, familial feeling really captures the essence of Sapore di Vita Italiana.” –Brancato

Casanova di Neri, the family-run Montalcino estate founded by Giovanni Neri and now operated by his son Giacomo and his family, is one of Italy’s celebrated producers of Brunello di Montalcino. Its Cerretalto bottling has earned a perfect 100-point score.

But for Brancato, the real value of a wine experience goes beyond what’s in the glass. It’s about the setting, the culture, and the experience as a whole.

Alongside the small-group trips that will be held annually, Brancato and Serpicelli are also launching fully private, custom itineraries for travelers who know they want to experience Italy, or a specific region, but aren’t sure where to begin. To tailor the trip, the couple will sit down with each traveler to understand their style: how much downtime they prefer, how full they like their days, and how active they want to be, whether that means biking and hiking or being driven from place to place. 

“People come to us already dreaming about Italy, but they’re not sure where to start or how to navigate once they’re there,” Brancato says. “We handle everything. And because Fabrizio is there speaking the language and reading the room, nothing gets lost in translation. If something needs to change, it can happen seamlessly, and no one is left trying to figure things out on their own.”

And that, ultimately, is what Brancato and Serpicelli hope guests take home from Sapore di Vita Italiana: not just memories of where they went, but memories of the people they met, the tables they shared, and the moments they never could have found in a guidebook. For more about the couple’s next adventures, visit saporedivitaitaliana.com or follow them on Instagram at @saporedivitaitaliana. ML

Featured photo courtesy of Casanova di Neri.

Published in the October 2026 issue of Middleburg Life.