A Luxury Tuscan Hotel
The beautiful Hotel La Suvera sits in the rolling countryside of the Montagnola hills just north of Siena and is the first hotel where we stay on our Tuscan Harvest tour. This is one of our more gentle itineraries and...
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...
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.
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...
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...
Il Palio della Balestra
At the end of our Medieval Umbria tour we find ourselves in the stunning town of Gubbio. Next year it happens that we will be there on the final Sunday in May which means we will witness one of its most historic and spectacular events.
Piero della Francesca
We have updated the itinerary for our Medieval Umbria tour in 2017 to include a guided visit to one of Italy's most famous fresco cycles, painted by Renaissance artist Piero della Francesca. The tour will now start and finish in the attractive town of Arezzo, home to the church...
Bolzano's Famous Frozen Man
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.
Ravioli del Plin
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...
Les Routes du Sel
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.