When in Rome … BlackGirlTravel.com and Bella Italia Founder Fleacé Weaver Makes Her Italian Move
Relocation allows African-American travel guru to expand her Italy expertise and tour offerings for Black female globetrotters
ROME—For BlackGirlTravel.com Founder Fleacé Weaver, all roads do indeed lead to the Eternal City. And now that the “Pied Piper of African-American female travel” has relocated from Los Angeles to this legendary metropolis, she’s doing as the Romans do as she immerses herself in this rich Mediterranean culture. It’s all about enhancing her already-strong credentials as an expert on Italian travel for Black women.
A cultural ambassador of sorts, Weaver—a former fashion model and founder of the L.A. lifestyles site BlackWeekly.com —already knew Rome well thanks to constant back-and-forth planning trips for her popular Roman Holiday and Bella Italia, BlackGirlTravel.com’s annual whirlwind signature tours of Italy. But this entrepreneur—whose company and staff are still based in Los Angeles—decided to make the move because “each time, it became harder and harder to return home. To me, it’s an incomprehensible connection. I just felt deep in my spirit I belonged in Rome. Whenever I was away from this Rome, it would beckon me with the intensity of a great lover.”
“There’s no city like Rome. To me, it offers a little bit of everything. When I’m walking down the street, it feels as if I am in an open-air museum. There is beauty and history around every corner. Rome is magical, and incredible moments happen for me all the time. It’s a daily thing.”
Weaver transplanted herself here in mid-October to “become even more of an African-American expert on Italian culture. I now have a more intimate knowledge of Italy because I live here.” This daily, on-the-ground presence allows her to not only enrich her current Italian tours including Roman Holiday in July and Bella Italia in September (2013’s tour will be her seventh), but also to expand the number of Italian tours and excursions to border countries like Croatia. The company will now also offer private Italian “Concierge Tours” for family or friends groups of six or more.
“We’re not a travel agency, we’re a travel club,” Weaver says. “Our primary goal is empowering Black women, and travel is our means of doing that.”
Thanks to technology, she says, “I can live here in Rome, but still stay in touch with the day to day operation of the company. I still interview every single person before signing-up for a tour, just as I did in L.A. All my clients can still reach me personally by email or a special Los Angeles Skype2Go telephone number which transfer the caller to my phone in Rome.”
Through BlackGirlTravel.com experiences, Weaver has helped inspire a legion of ladies to fall in love with international travel. About 80 percent of the women who take these tours have never before traveled outside the United States. But once they hit the road with Weaver, they’re hooked.
“We specialize in Italy; it was our first destination,” says Weaver, whose grandfather came from the southern Italian city of Bari. (“The Italians say moving here was in my blood—the country grounds me and was simply calling me home!”) “There’s a welcoming my girls get here that they don’t get anywhere else in the world. Italians appreciate the aesthetic of brown skin. Tanning is still big here, and we’ve got that natural, year-round tan going on. And then we come from America. They really embrace our culture, and maybe it’s an extension of that.”
Now that Weaver is living la dolce vita, or “the sweet life,” 24 hours a day, “The girls on the 2013 tour will really be the lucky ones.” “By the time our Italian tour season starts in July, my knowledge of this country will be much greater. Plus, the friendships and professional relationships I’ve made will be even stronger. I am always on the lookout for ways to enhance our tours.
“I was recently on a date in this small town, and all I kept thinking was, ‘I can’t wait to bring my girls to let them see it!’”
For Weaver, globetrotting is transformational. “When people travel, they have an opportunity to explore and be more open to new possibilities that may be unthinkable back in the States because of social pressure or societal expectations,” says Weaver. “When you start traveling outside the country your mind opens, you start learning new things about yourself and the world.”
Since moving to Rome, she’s created “"A Black Girl in Italy",” a private and already-popular Facebook blog offering a for-women-only glimpse into her life and sometimes romantic adventures in Rome. “A smart Black girl will understand the position she’s in here,” she says. “Living here, I am not dateless—that is the never a concerns.” (Women can read the blog at www.facebook.com/groups/ABlackGirlinItaly.)
Weaver’s new home base in Rome allows her to strategically expand her company’s offerings. “My living here positions me to be an even greater resource and expert on Italian travel for Black women. Because of that, I’ll be able to offer tours to some of the beautiful lesser-known regions like Apulia, known for its culinary delights and the Marche with amazing medieval villages that remains unspoiled by the ravages of mass tourism. It’s my hope to start exposing the girls to all of Italy.”
Among BlackGirlTravel.com’s newest tour concepts:
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Divas & Daughters in Italy: Bellas and Divas aren’t born, they’re made. Weaver created this eight-day tour—which makes its inaugural Rome-Florence-Venice trip in August 2013—so grown-up Divas can introduce 8-to-17-year-old young women in their lives to Italian culture and the joys of international travel. Scheduled for Aug. 2-8 and Aug. 9-15, these inter-generational tours offer female participants a unique chance to bond, visit world-class sights and build lifetime memories in Italy, a country that passionately celebrates “family” unlike few others. (BlackGirlTravel.com also is offering an “all-adult” Divas & Daughters tour over Mother’s Day 2013.)
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Bella BootCamp: Introduced for the first time in September 2012, this 10-day exercise in “cultural fitness” brought four curvaceous women wanting to shed a few pounds to Rome. And lose weight they did! Combining the whirlwind pace of the Bella Italia and a structured weight-loss program created in tandem with fitness professionals, Bella BootCamp takes advantage of Rome’s stunning scenery. Morning yoga, walking, bicycling and climbing the legendary Spanish Steps fit into the mix, as do Italian experts who offer tips on deliciously living a healthy Mediterranean lifestyle. Billed as “the tour where you can bring home a better body as a souvenir,” Bella BootCamp 2013 is scheduled for May and September.
From living la belle vie during intimate 10-day “April in Paris” trips, first-class winter excursions to South Africa, Egypt and Dubai,
to culinary tours of Italy’s Puglia region spiced up with BlackGirlTravel.com’s unique flavor, 2013’s tours will continue to focus on empowerment through exploration.
It’s all about Weaver’s belief in the power of global travel to radically reshape Black women’s lives, both while they’re on the road and when they return home.
About BlackGirlTravel.com
BlackGirlTravel.com is an upscale travel club created by and for extraordinary, fun-loving Black women. Its goal is simple: to expose Black women to the beauty of the world and the world to the beauty of Black women. BlackGirlTravel.com creates unique, customized tours and meeting programs for groups and individuals. These global excursions are designed for young-at-heart, well-heeled urbanites interested in exploring new lands while indulging in international cuisine, “retail therapy,” and exciting nightlife. There are no cookie-cutter itineraries here, as each tour is custom-designed for the group and its participants. Everyone from seasoned globetrotting travelers to international travel virgins seeking the security of a group will feel at home on the road with BlackGirlTravel.com, whose website is a one-stop resource for travel-related information specifically targeted to Black women. These are “NOT Your Grandmother’s Tours.”
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