Tour Tuscany and New Moon sets with seasoned Twilight fans

The Twilight Saga has inspired hundreds, if not thousands of people to take their new obsession to a higher level.

Twilight parents Lisa and Vanessa have done exactly that through their new venture, Novel Journeys. The 6 day tour whisks Twilight uber-fans through the cobblestone streets of Tuscany where New Moon filming took place.

Details of the tour include:

• • Meet and greet Cocktail Reception
• • Tour of New Moon filming locations lead by two of the movie's extras
• • Retrace Bella's journey through mystical Volterra as she races to save Edward from his imminent death
• • Wine tasting in the Volturi's "underground lair"
• • Guided tours of Montapulciano, Monte Oliveto, and Siena
• • Spend a day discovering Florence, jewel of the Renaissance
• • Twilight dinner on an organic Tuscan farm

Lisa says of her introduction to the Twilight world and infusion of the Saga into her family:

Everyone in my home has been hooked on the Twilight saga ever since I introduced it to them. My girls (aged 19 to 14) read the books, and we've even read some parts together and out loud to each other - that is such a special way to share the books! We've also watched the Twilight movie together a few times. They are very excited and supportive of my ability to really take my passions to the next level and a chance with something I love and believe in. It is not so common to find such devoted fans of something fictional but those who can find the real enjoyment and love for this series understand the true wonders of such a tale.

Vanessa has a four year old daughter, with whom she obviously doesn’t share her passion of the saga, but she and her husband have whittled out threads of morality within the novels to pass on to their daughter:

My husband and I wholeheartedly embrace the moral values set forth in Stephenie Meyer's books - specifically, the idea that girls deserve the utmost respect from boys and that promiscuous behavior isn't necessary to hold on to your boyfriend. It's such a refreshing message in our era of "in-your-face" sex and drugs. I really hope Twilight is having an effect on impressionable tweens and teens in that respect. My husband is supportive of our new endeavor and maybe even a little jealous that I get to take something I love and turn it into my work.

Their decision to turn their passion into a business was spurred by their visit to the New Moon set in Italy.

We didn't apply to be extras in the movie, in fact we were sitting at a cafe right on the edge of the main set at 5:30 a.m. to secure our spot for the day, and one of the security/crowd control guys came over and asked who wanted to be in the movie. Of course everyone jumped up, but it was a difficult choice - should we give up the valuable seats we had secured for the day? What would we do if we got to the casting area and didn't get picked? We took the chance anyway and a group of us was taken to the "castle" where the casting director picked 5 of us out of the group! We were ecstatic, needless to say! We were given our red cloaks and spent the rest of the day on set.

The area surrounding the set was teaming with screaming teenage girls, but they were kept at a distance by security barriers, and anyone who as much as talked during a take was removed by security. And every time Robert was brought to the set, everyone erupted. It was also funny to hear random screaming coming from another part of town when fans spotted one of the cast members walking around - Demetri, and Robert's Italian double were big crowd favorites.

Lisa and Vanessa’s passion becomes overtly apparent when visiting their website; the details of this well-planned, well-thought out tour is spelled out down to meals and specifics of each day.

Says the site about how the tour came to fruition and sharing it with generations of family:

"While they were in the region they developed relationships with the owners of the hotels, restaurants and motor coach company and their plans quickly fell into place. Twilight in Tuscany tours are simply out of the ordinary; these exclusive journeys will be like taking a friend to Italy says Vanessa. "I highly recommend mothers & daughters, girlfriends, or grandmothers with their teenage granddaughters think about coming with us - especially if they are Twilight fans!"
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