AIANTA, along with a multitude of tribal partners throughout the southwest, and support from U.S. Commercial Service Italy and Brand USA, recently hosted a 5-day familiarization tour around Arizona and New Mexico. During the tour, we showcased authentic Indian Country destinations and experiences to five Italian journalists.

With our partner hosts, Donovan Hanley of Navajo Nation Hospitality, and Emerson Vallo, from Acoma Pueblo and AIANTA Southwest Board Representative, AIANTA took the FAM participants through Southwestern Native America, with authentic tribal interpretation and explanation all along the way.

Donovan and Emerson provided a unique perspective and made the tour a once in a lifetime experience for the participants. We are eager to see the great media coverage that comes from this opportunity, and the visitors to Indian Country that the stories inspire.

With a packed itinerary, the group’s tour began in Phoenix, Arizona with a sunset dinner at the Orange Sky Restaurant in the Talking Stick Resort. The group then continued on the next morning to the Desert View Watchtower and Interpretive Center at the Grand Canyon National Park; had an interactive tour at the Explore Navajo Museum in Tuba City; participated in a campfire, dance and song experience in Monument Valley with Monument Valley Simpson’s Trailhandler Tours, and stayed overnight in a traditional Navajo Hogan in the Valley. Next, the tour headed to Canyon de Chelly, where they went on a guided hike through the canyon, stopped at the Hubbell Trading Post for a weaving demonstration and ended the day with a sunset hike at Window Rock and dinner at Dine Restaurant.

In New Mexico, the fam tour headed to Acoma Pueblo for a Sky City Pueblo tour followed by a traditional lunch of posole and pueblo bread. Next, the group headed to Santa Fe, New Mexico where they stayed at Hotel Santa Fe; took a tour of Native Arts museums throughout the city; enjoyed a New Mexican dinner La Fonda Hotel and Restaurant. To bring the tour to an end, the group headed to Pojoaque Pueblo to visit the Poeh Cultural Center and Buffalo Thunder Resort; took a tour of Taos Pueblo; and enjoyed a feast breakfast and fry-bread making workshop at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center and Pueblo Harvest Café in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Check out some of our favorite shots from the FAM tour below, and stay tuned here and on our social media accounts to see the stories published in Italy.