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Meet Your Fiber Summit Series Abroad (FSSA) Director and Guide
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For the last 37 years, these skills have given me profound pleasure and serenity. I identify myself as an avid knitter, hand spinner, crocheter, quilter and dyer...a dedicated fiber artist! I happily am owned by several Satin, French and German Angora bunnies. We created the "Fiber Summit Series Abroad (FSSA)" to enable enthusiasts of fiber arts to convene several times a year in exotic and beautiful settings. FSSA's homebase is located in the Italian Tyrolean Alps, Venice, Italy, and Washington D.C. Knitters, crocheters, hand spinners, weavers, quilters, dyers, students of Kumihimo, and enthusiasts of Temari, embroidery and other needle arts all belong to an extended fiber community that enjoy a wonderful comraderie and understanding of each other based in a shared passion. It makes me extremely happy to provide unique environments where we can share each others' creativity while visiting some of the most beautiful and breath-taking locations on Earth.
As a bi-lingual Italian-American, who has shared a lifetime between the Italian Alps, Venice, the French and Italian Riviera, and the United States, I am in the perfect position to organize and host this special fiber arts series because I take you over as a member of my family in smaller, intimate groups, and not as a tour operator herding a group in a mega-tour environment. I immerse you into Italian culture in towns that have not been destroyed by commercial tourism and where my life-long friendships with the townspeople of San Martino di Castrozza allow our groups to go to special places and participate in unique activites not offered to the casual tourist traveling on their own. You truly are welcomed in the places we visit with open arms and enjoy a very personalized experience on our trips. Like many other enthusiasts of creative arts, I have a diverse background in several different interests. My professional and educational background in Tourism, Fiber Arts, Fine Arts, Art History, the Culinary Arts and Linguistics enables me to gift our guests with our unique, professionally organized events, workshops and vacations as well as lead these tours as a licensed guide in the regions we visit. I have worked as a docent, fine arts instructor and tour guide in respected art galleries and museums in PA, MD, VA and Washinton D.C. I cut my teeth on tour guiding at the age of 15 working for the Smithsonian Institution, where I led a variety of demonstrations for visitors to the Museum of Natural History as well as the National Zoo. I totally fell in love with teaching and working with groups of all ages, and have continued my involvement in this environment throughout my adult life. I also have organized and run art programs and cooking schools both for children and adults in New York and Pennsylvania. I hold a B.A. in Fine Arts and Art History focusing on the restoration of 15th century Venetian frescoes found in Venice and the Palladian villas (16th century) in the countryside nearby, and the Sistine Chapel in Rome. I minored in Italian language and literature and Russian Literature.
Having grown up bi-lingual, I started tutoring and teaching Italian grammar and conversation back in college, and one of the most enjoyable activities which I incorporate into all of our vacations in Italy are the optional, fun evening sessions I personally lead on "Italian for Travelers." It is a great chance to get together after dinner in a relaxed atmosphere, share an espresso or other refreshment, and learn some basic Italian! In addition to speaking fluent Italian from birth, I also have studied Latin, French and Russian. In addition to our existing fiber arts vacations in Italy, we currently are developing instructor-led workshops and immersion-rich fiber/textile tours led by internationally respected knitting instructors, local artists and experts in other parts of the world. Locations for future workshops currently in development include South America, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, Russia, the Netherlands, South Africa and Scandanavia. These trips are being scheduled over the next 4 years. I look forward to sharing my beloved mountains and Italy with my fiber family and hope you will join us soon for one of our Fiber Summit Series Abroad 2012 workshops or fiber/textile vacations. The 2012 trips will be online by mid-October 2011. We invite you to sit and indulge in your favorite fiber activity for a while...we can't wait to meet you! A presto, -Daniela
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 Daniela examing Italian Cashmere in a LYS (local yarn shop) in Rapallo (near Portofino) during our annual yarn crawl and fiber/textile tour along the French and Italian Riviera. |
 Daniela, Beth Brown-Reinsel and some of Beth's students enjoy lunch at the famed Caffe' Florian in Piazza San Marco in Venice during Beth's knitting workshop in the Italian Alps and Venice. |
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Daniela enjoying an exquisite lunch with Galina Khmeleva and her students during Galina's Orenburg Russian Knitted Lace Workshop in the Italian Dolomites (Alps) and Venice.
Daniela and Myrna Stahman enjoy a moment of universal knitter's camaraderie with Gianna Tavernaro during Myrna's Faroese Knitted Lace Shawl workshop. Gianna is a fiber artisan who raises Cashmere goats at her high mountain dairy in legendary Val Canali in the Italian Dolomites. Gianna's family has had a presence in the area for centuries. Most of our fiber workshop groups visit Gianna during our trips to this region of the Dolomites.
