Ten Years of Amore Love

We are celebrating our 10th anniversary here at Onward Travel this year, and that means we are also celebrating ten years of partnering with Chef Jenna Arcidiacono of Amore Trattoria Italiana in Comstock Park, Michigan. Jenna was one of the first partners we worked with to plan a trip, and we are still doing tours with her to this day. 

Female Friendship Forms

Molly and Jenna met in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Molly had a food truck at the time, and Jenna was busy running her Italian restaurant that she and her husband Maurizio started 14 years ago. The women immediately bonded since they both love food, and they connected professionally since there were so few females in the local hospitality industry. 

When Molly started Onward Travel with her sister Kat, she reached out to Jenna about leading a trip to Italy. Jenna thought it was a fabulous idea, and they did not look back. To date, Onward Travel has partnered with Jenna for a total of fifteen tours, most recently in Emilia-Romagna. 

Jenna and Molly

The first trip was to the northern part of Italy, from Venice to Como and included a group of Amore patrons. “It was full of learning points, but Molly and Kat nailed everything down and tightened it up. Ten years later, we still offer that trip because it is so perfect. This year, we are offering a special reboot in honor of the 10th anniversary of our partnership. This one is new and improved from 10 years ago!” said Jenna. 

Kat and Jenna in Venice

So Much Love for Amore

Since the demand from Jenna’s audience is so great, Onward Travel now offers two different tours to Italy with her each year. “We can only accommodate fourteen people, so it is a small group, and so many people want to go on these trips that they typically sell out the same day they are announced. We are working on a different type of tour in 2025 that will allow more guests to join, so stay tuned for that!” said Jenna. 

Jenna enjoying cannoli in Sicily this Spring

Even though she has been to Italy countless times, it never gets old for Jenna. Plus, the tours are never exactly the same. “We went to Sicily in the spring this year and we did some repeat events from the previous trip, but not everything was the same, so it was nice to be able to compare this trip to the first trip to Sicily,” said Jenna. “Italy is so vast. Some of the excursions are repeats for me, but I do not mind at all. I learn something new each time!”

Jenna hosts a pre-trip dinner at her restaurant so that everyone can get to know each other. “Then we host a follow up dinner to review everything we learned and reminisce about our favorite moments,” said Jenna. Travelers get a Team Amore sweatshirt to represent Jenna’s squad when they travel together. 

Team Amore in Sicily in 2016… taken on windy Mt. Etna 

There are repeat travelers who have assembled a sweatshirt collection over the years. Jenna says some people have gone on four to five different trips with her. “Because we already know each other, it really feels like traveling together as a family,” said Jenna. 

Food is First

One of her favorite activities of any trip is taking a journey to a local market to shop for the best ingredients and then cook dinner together. “The travelers all become my sous chefs, and that’s a really fun night,” said Jenna. 

Jenna shops with travelers in Sicily

Food is the focus of any trip with Jenna. In this year’s tour to Sicily, the group dined in a Michelin-star restaurant. Jenna had a black truffle ice cream sandwich that blew her mind. “It was wild! The ice cream had truffles in it and with the crunchy cracker it was sweet and salty all at once. It was the craziest bite!” Jenna recalls. 

Black Truffle Ice Cream sandwich

In another trip to the Amalfi Coast, Jenna and her group toured a lemon farm and cooked together there right in a lemon grove. “The family has been there forever, and Kat is a friend of theirs. The owner’s cousin plays guitar and there is a lot of singing, dancing, and drinking limoncello, of course,” said Jenna.

Kat and Jenna in Amalfi

Other food highlights include gnocchi made from scratch in Sicily with a red pesto sauce of fresh tomatoes, almonds, sun dried tomatoes, and Pecorino cheese. Jenna brings back fresh food inspiration from all these trips to her restaurant and incorporates many of them in new dishes on the menu. “I usually host a wine dinner based on new ideas I got on the trip and dishes and ingredients I fell in love with while I was there,” said Jenna. “I’m always scrolling through my photos looking back at pictures of food from the trips for inspiration.”

Another highlight that stands out for Jenna was during the trip to Sicily where the boat captain had secretly arranged for his friends to drop a basket full of noshes and wine down a rope from the top of the cliff. “It was a surprise to everyone but now, this is the only way I want to have wine served to me,” laughs Jenna.

Jenna in Sicily this Spring

10 Years of Fun

Jenna loves working with both Molly and Kat from Onward Travel and considers them family at this point. They know her so well, it is easy to plan adventures they know her, and her groups will love. “They know exactly what kind of vibe people need on these trips. They are exceptionally good at researching and vetting activities. They know what I like because we have worked together so much. I love that our trips are heavy on unique food experiences. I am always up for anything!” said Jenna. 

Jenna appreciates that there is some free time built into Onward Travel trips. Her Sicily group this year happened to be avid shoppers, and she said there was plenty of time to explore the boutiques and shops everywhere. “It is not always go – go- go. There are activities each day but some down time, too,” said Jenna. 

Customers of Chef Jenna’s Amore Trattoria Italiana restaurant in Grand Rapids, Michigan can find more information about these tours at www.onwardtravel.co/amore. Please note spots on the tours are reserved for Amore customers and their friends.