We visited a small but very high quality olive oil company, Frantoio di Santa Tea. It has been a Gonnelli family business since 1585. We toured the production facility and had an oil tasting. Because of the way they organize production, they can produce oil from green olives, or from black olives, or from a mixture. Each has a different taste. Here are some pictures from the day.

Next up is a company that produces pieces of art from marble, bronze and mosaics.

I would like you to use the “Edit Page” function instead of the “Comment” button, if possible. I will save the comments for questions or my feedback that will not be part of the “final” version of the page.

When you enter something, start and end your comments with your name, like this:

[jeff]
blah blah blah
[jeff]

You can use colors to (or italics or bold) to set your entry apart, but try to choose ‘good’ colors. Use the button that has a capital A, and try to avoid the button with the picture of the highlighter. Also try to avoid the really light colors (like yellow).

The right side menu bar has “Company Visits” for each group as a page. There will be a link to a separate page for each company we visit. Put your comments on this page, not the “Company Visits” page. I will move misplaced entries, but it will be easier keep everything straight if you make comments on the right page. Thanks (and sorry for the confusion).

Let me know if you have other questions about this. I can meet you in the computer lounge before/after your M&M class if that would help. Just let me know what time works for you (send me an email).

Please feel free to give the website address for this blog (jeffrummel.blogspot.com) to your friends and family if you want. I’ll post some pictures and update a little about what we’re doing in the class.

People who are reading the blog are welcome to leave comments (with questions, for example) and I will try to respond to them as quickly as possible. To minimize the amount of “blog spam” the comments are moderated (by me) and so they will not show up immediately.

Most everyone seemed to have the idea for the trip, and the tour was pretty quick (small place). I’ll post some pictures later. There are now pages under the Company Visits tabs on the website where you can add your observations, analysis and questions about the visit (note that good questions are a positive contribution to the website).

The only potential hassle will be if two people edit the same part of the page at the same time. One of you will get a sort of error message from the website — just let me know if you do and I’ll go in and try to fix it. If you are just adding some text, it is sometimes easier to prepare the text off-line and then cut-and-paste it quickly onto the page. That will minimize the chances of two people saving at the same time.

You can also add comments, but I would prefer you use the Edit Page tool (top of the right menu bar). You can also upload attachments, but try to make sure the files are not too big. If I start to run out of space I may have to delete some files.

I would also like you to use the Edit Page tool for your individual journals — I will go through and fix some of your pages.

Remember that Wednesday is earlier (7:30 departure) because Pietrasanta is a bit farther away. The tour there may be slightly longer (we will see bronze, marble and mosaic production) and I’m hopeful we’ll break into two groups for this trip. We will stop for lunch on the way back at Viareggio, and you are welcome to stay there and get a train back to Florence or to ride back on the bus. I’ll see what time we arrive for lunch, but we’ll probably have the bus leave Viareggio around 2:30 or 3:00.

Thursday is a full day as well, up to Cararra with another 7:30 departure. You’ll be able to snooze a little on the bus if you want.

We will be going to Cararra on Thursday and there will be no class on Monday, so people are making travel plans to take advantage of the extra day. I hear there are some bus tours that leave Florence on Thursday at 7:30, and I wanted to let you know that we will be leaving the trade show in Cararra at 3:30 (or 15:30 if you prefer), so we should be back in Florence between 5:30 and 6:00 (17:30-18:00). So you will have plenty of time to catch your bus to Capri or Interlaken or wherever.

I will also make Monday June 16 and optional class meeting. For those that would like, I will be available to meet and talk about your journals and company visit contributions. But if you’d prefer to have one extra day for travel that weekend, you do not have to attend class that day.

We will meet at Palazzo Rucellai on Wednesday June 18 for class. Let me know if you have questions.

While we will spend most of the class “on the road” visiting companies, we do have a classroom at Palazzo Rucellai. It is most likely a bedroom in the old palace, but not the master bedroom (there are better, bigger rooms). To get there, students have to go along a twisty passage way because of the way that the palace was built originally, but also because the palace has been subdivided among the heirs through the years into sets of rooms that are not exactly contiguous.

btw, the fresco pictures on the walls are actually flat walls. The pillars and everything are done with painting the shadows to make it look three dimensional.

There seems to be a lot of information at the English Yellow Pages, including a section on accommodations with reviews. Let me know if you use it and if it works out. Safe travels this weekend (especially to football in Rome).

The strategy lecture note is posted on the website on the Syllabus page. This is another link to it. There is also a one page Strategy Checklist available for you to review before the visits.

Have a great weekend and meet me at the Santa Maria Novella train station no later than 8:30 on Monday morning for the trip to Santa Tea. You can come a little early and get a coffee at the train station, or even something from the McDonalds inside the train station.

On Wednesday we will stop for lunch in Viareggio along the beach after visiting the artisans in Pietrasanta (we will see marble, bronze and mosaics). The bus will leave to get us back to Florence around 3pm, but you will be able to stay out at the beach longer (if the weather is good) and ride the train back to Florence in the evening.

I am working to determine the time we will return on Thursday, but right now I am not sure. We should know more on Monday. Let me know if you’ve arranged travel for Thursday evening and we can make sure that your schedule is feasible with our trip to the marble quarry and trade show.

Here’s the article if you’d like to read it.

I would like for you to check one thing for me today: Can people in my class see if they can access the bios/pictures/phone numbers for the family business class student (BADM 2893)? And can the family business students see if they can see the same info for the students in OPIM 4893?

Send me a note or post a comment here. Thanks.

Another way to contact me is to go to one of the pages you can access and leave a comment. I have the website set up to alert me when changes or comments are made, and I will get back to you as soon as I can.