PATTY CIVALLERI Became An Unwitting Global Travel Author & Photographer Travelling To Deep Corners of the World In Search of Lost & Ancient Cultures. Sounds Wonderful & Easy – Think Again!

Mature Preneurs Talk with Diana Todd-Banks

Dubbed the ‘Indiana Jones in High Heels’ Patty Civalleri journeyed with some of the best historical, archaeological, and scientific minds in the world. During 17 years on the Director’s Council of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA, as writer/photographer Patty travelled to extraordinary places including the newly discovered Mayan caves in Belize. In 2013 Patty got a 1-month photo assignment to these Mayan caves - a wonderful experience, but listen to this podcast and you’ll glimpse how hard it was. Nothing glamorous. On her return to Long Beach, California, Patty says ‘she was kind of… messed up in the head. That trip was so excruciatingly difficult on me when I got back home, I couldn’t find my feet, my center.”

Not knowing what to do she decided “I just needed to get away with my camera and walk unknown streets and shoot to my heart’s desire without an assignment to drive me.” Which she did! Returning home, Patty began a project to create a ‘ShutterFly’ photo book. Starting to review the nearly 5,000 photos she shot while in Florence, her ‘inner historian’ kicked in and began asking questions sending her online to find answers. Listen to hear Patty describe what she did for 8 months to get answers and the surprising result she discovered.

As a high-tech forward-thinking entrepreneur at heart, Patty soon became disenchanted with the dying world of book publishing. So she and her husband started a new publishing company to create the books that were suddenly pouring forth from her fingers. Now at 59, Patty has won 9 awards for her work, both National and Global. She works closely with the Italian Tourism Bureau to find solutions for their ‘touristically’ over-crowded cities. Her ideas are gaining worldwide attention in the travel industry. Patty lives in California with her husband Roger, and enjoys being the Commodore of their local Duffy Boat Club. To contact her and learn more go to italytravelbooks.com - her ‘unabashed’ renaissance art history website.