On a sunny day in September 1991, two German hikers enjoying a walk in the Ötztal Alps, close to the border between Italy and Austria, made a discovery in the ice that would soon become a worldwide sensation.

These tiny pasta parcels are a traditional dish from Piemonte and something which we learnt to make in our cooking class in Cuneo, as part of our brand new France & Italy tour. Cuneo is a wonderfully elegant city lying to the south of Turin and here we met up with the Fontanta sisters who...

Our brand new 2016 tour in France and Italy has got me thinking about salt!  This is because our route takes us along some of France's ancient salt roads from the Mediterranean over the Maritime Alps and into northern Italy.

The Pollino National Park is the largest in Italy and straddles both the regions of Basilicata and Calabria, in the instep of the foot of Italy. It covers around 1960 square kilometres and has the richest collection of flora and fauna in the whole of Southern Italy.

Many Hedonistic Hikers who have travelled with us in Italy will have happy memories of the famous after-dinner drink known as grappa!  It is a strong grape-based brandy usually taken at the end of a meal as a digestive and usually served in small decorative flute glasses or classic shot...

Hikers on our Southern Italy tour will have many opportunities to taste a wonderful local wine made from an ancient grape variety known as Aglianico. It's origins are a little unclear but the name probably derives from...

This ancient pilgrim path is one of Europe's most famous routes dating back to the early Middle Ages - a trail which connected Canterbury in England, via France and Switzerland, to Rome and the Holy See.

Our brand new tour for next year explores two stunning National Parks which are home to a unique European cultural and natural heritage. On the French side is the Mercantour National Park...

Whenever we are hiking on our Abruzzo tour, we spend an evening with the chef from the wonderful Locanda Sotto Gli Archi ...

The first stop on our new Southern Italy tour is a visit to the Barlotti cheesemaker, famous for producing buffalo mozzarella in the shadow of the ancient Greek temple at Paestum...