Hi! and welcome to Via Oltra, a cultivation of elegant travel and design. I am Caroline Feiffer, the author of Via Oltra — a travel journal featuring the way beyond. I am a brand consultant, creative director and founder of Via Oltra, plus a freelance travel and design editor, for some lovely publications — a passion path which finally led me to start this Substack. I am a bonne vivante and keen traveler with an unappeasable appetite for discovering and sharing new places and or enlighten about established gems that all share the common of being way beyond. I started Via Oltra from a desire to share travel notes of incredible places with a dedicated following of truly devoted travelers seeking the way beyond. The features are all curated and experienced from a subjective angle and can’t help but evolve around my interest in fine hospitality.
Via Oltra litterally translates into Way Beyond
Falling in love with a word: “Oltra” — during a lunch under the shade of wine leaves, in a glorious garden by the cliffs in Praiano, a tiny town set on the Amalfi coast, I read the menu which had a dish that intrigued me; Oltra pasta, I asked our waiter with curiosity, “please, what is Oltra?” — expecting an ingredient of some sort to be described, however the wonderful middle age gentlemen of a buttler looked at me, with his charming smile and silver grey hair, as he stood there with a perfectly ironed crisp white shirt — appropriately buttoned in the summer heat, “Oltra means, Beyond in Italian” he said with a subtle laugh while he blushed as if it was embarrassing to be self acclaiming the pasta to be beyond. I immediately fell in love with the word, the sound of it, the meaning of it, the self acclaiming blush, and thought to myself, I think I found my word, it simply resonated with me, how I like to travel, seeking the beyond, how I source objects, seeking the beyond, how I consult with clients, pushing for the beyond, but mostly I loved how the open O sounded, the roll of the R, the reminiscence to Ultra and the resemblant sound of the O in “old” pronounced in American — perhaps it helped the case that the pasta was in fact beyond or Oltra. Via was added to explicit the beyond with way beyond, litterally describing a direction or path of a journey or the intel from a friend “I got this hotel tip via…” Via takes inspiration from the classic roman stone cut street signs, which inspired the logo design.
Why Subscribe to Via Oltra newsletter?
Subscribers will get an email directly in their mailbox when there’s a new post with recent travel notes, finds, tips, etc. there’s no prefix template or agendas, but as I am always seeking the way beyond readers can expect travel features to include; aesthetically pleasing, cultural inspiring and authentic places, classic elegant design, history, magnificent nature, natural food and wine as well as packing tips, good reads, …and just about everything I find important to experience a place via a friends travel notes.
I write for a few publications but these are my personal travel notes, some from solo traveling but most from family travels with my husband and 5y old daughter. We aim to travel like we’ve always done, just with our daughter by our side, educating her the best possible way, with as much travel as we can — the greatest gift and forming of a cultivated little human being. We’ve made little to no compromises, and I am a firm believer that traveling with kids, is only as complicated as you let it be. I hope to inspire your travels seeking Via Oltra — The way beyond — with or without kids.
