At Hedonistic Hiking we are lucky to have a great team of Tour Managers who support us on the tours in Italy. They are all friends of ours who have worked in the tourism and hospitality industries for many years and we thought it would be interesing for our guests to...
Wining and Dining in Naples Our newest tour in Southern Italy starts and finishes in the exotic city of Naples and our hope is for Hedonistic Hikers to take a couple of days either at the start or end of the tour to explore this chaotic but...
Giacomo Puccini, composer of some of the world's favourite operas, was born in the city of Lucca in 1858 and lived almost all of his life in this part of Tuscany. Born into an established musical family in Lucca, four generations before him had held the position of...
Ten things you may not know about The Palio If you've not yet joined one of our annual Palio tours in Siena every August your ideas about this horse race might be a little sketchy. As race day approaches (August 16) we thought you might like to...
The region of Basilicata in the southern part of the Italian peninsula is wild, dramatic and sparsely populated. Its geography has something "other worldly" about it, with majestic mountains, bare clay hills and dark forested valleys. But it is the...
The first tour of our Italian season took us to the wild landscape of Abruzzo, in the central Apennine region of Italy. Abruzzo is home to many National Parks but the Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise itself is home to some very special...
The island of Elba sits opposite the coast of Tuscany, about 20km from the town of Piombino, where the ferry leaves to connect the island to the mainland. It has a population of about 31,000 residents but is incredibly popular with visitors during...
As we (that is Jackie and Annabel) were sitting in a restaurant in Parma one evening, we thought how good it would be to recognise some of the people who help to make our Italian walking holidays so much fun. They are people who always say "yes" when we have strange...
The Australian passion for coffee must be almost equal to the Italian, but we often notice on our tours that the differences in terminology can catch a visitor out, and lots of great coffee-drinking moments are getting lost in translation! We have designed this...
Very close to our headquarters at Porepunkah in north east Victoria lies the magical Mount Buffalo National Park. It was one of the first National Parks in the region to be established in 1898 and today covers some 31,000 hectares, encompassing the entire granite...
Perhaps less well-known to the many visitors who come to see Florence, Pisa and Siena, Lucca is a cosy and civilised Tuscan city totally encircled by its historic walls. The walls were orginially built in the 1500s as fortifications for the city defenses...
Our Italian Lakes tour starts in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. Whilst the Lakes and Italy's economic powerhouse Milan are perhaps best known to a global audience, the region is also home to some historic towns which are well worth a...
Nestled in the stunning peaks of the Majella National Park is the charming town of Sulmona, one of the prettiest in all of Abruzzo. Framed by dramatic mountain scenery Sulmona has a population of around 25,000 but has a reputation across all of Italy and...
The great Gold Rush of the 1850's was revolutionary in changing Victoria's social and political landscape and many of the most historically important mining towns such as Beechworth, Bright and Omeo can be visited whilst on our walking tours...
A glass of crisp chilled sparkling Prosecco is one of Italy's best-loved aperitifs and, in recent years, it has gained a huge following in other parts of the world too. President Obama is said to have celebrated at his inauguration dinner back in 2009 with many...
Whilst much of Italian life centres around the local bar, in Turin it is the city's café culture which keeps the population going. The city has a wonderful selection of places to eat, from focaccerias to pasticcerias, gelaterias to osterias but it is perhaps the most...
Our Parma, Tuscany & Cinque Terre tour takes us to the Slow Food town of Borgotaro in the hills of Emilia-Romagna at the time of year when the locals are celebrating the Sagra del Fungo Porcino. This is an annual festival (2012...
Abruzzo is arguably one of the regions of Italy least known to foreign visitors. In spite of lying just one hour driving time to the east of Rome, the area is unspoilt and tranquil, home to stunning Apennine peaks, silent valleys and ancient villages. It is a...
Clinging to the steep slopes of the Monte Ingino, Gubbio appears an imposing and aloof city. Its Gothic stone buildings rise up the windy hillside and the waters of the Camignano gorge run down through its centre. The surrounding countryside is...
On the final day of our Slovenian tour in June we walked through the land between the Italian and Slovenian borders which is known as Brda. The region is an agricultural paradise and many fruit trees prosper in these fertile hills. But the most...