The Franja Partisan Hospital

One of the most memorable visits we make on our Slovenia and Friuli tour is to the clandestine Franja Partisan Hospital, buried deep within the Pasice gorge.

Read more

Cremona - City of Music

The small town of Cremona, which lies south east of Milan between Piacenza and Mantua, may not immediately ring any bells.  However, it has a unique musical heritage being home to the world-famous master violin-makers of the 16th to 18th centuries.

Read more

Paestum - City of Temples

Anyone spending a few days in Southern Italy might like to take some time to visit the impressive Greek temples at Paestum.  This remarkable archaeological area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and lies about a mile inland, on the Mediterranean side, south of Naples and the city of Salerno...

Read more

The Art of the Aperitivo

The people of Italy, along with many of their European neighbours, have long enjoyed a pre-dinner drink known as the "aperitivo". Typically these drinks are low in alcohol and more often than not have a dry and bitter or spicy flavour.

Read more

Hiking in Southern Italy

The southern part of the Italian peninsula, even in 2017, is much less visited by tourists than the north and remains mysterious and often misunderstood. But to ignore the south is to miss a genuine Italian experience and the warmest possible welcome from the people you will meet there. Hiking...

Read more

The Importance of Being Insured

Many people, on booking tours with us, ask if they really need to buy Travel Insurance and our response is always yes. In fact it is a condition of travel with Hedonistic Hiking and we always ask you for your insurance company details.

Read more

More Books for Cooks

It seems that the world cannot have too many cookery books and our fascination with the Italian kitchen and Italy's bounty of delicious fresh ingredients continues apace.  More and more books on the subject of food are published each year and here are three that have recently caught our eye...

Read more

The Heart of Hotel Corte Gondina

Every now and again we like to shine a light on some of the places we stay on our hiking tours, and to introduce you to the people who are at the heart of these wonderful hotels.

Read more

A Look Around Rotonda

Rotonda is a small medieval town located in the heart of the Pollino National Park in Basilicata, with a population of around 3,500 people. In 2017 a change to the accommodation on our Southern...

Read more

The Villa d'Este in Tivoli

The first stop on our Wilds of Abruzzo tour is Tivoli, just on the eastern side of Rome, and a visit to the world-famous Villa d'Este and its astounding gardens. A UNESCO world-heritage site, this former palace of Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este dating back to the 1500s remains today an incredible...

Read more

Pages