Saffron in Tuscany: The Fragile Flower Behind the Golden Spice
There is a flower that always makes me smile: the saffron crocus. It looks almost too delicate for the job it has to do, with pale violet petals and three fine crimson stigmas, yet every autumn it manages to push its way through the hard clumps of Tuscan soil. Fragile in appearance, surprisingly stubborn in […]
The People and Traditions Behind Our Tours: Farmers, Artisans and Makers Across Italy
There are places in Italy that I remember for their beauty. But, after many years of guiding, I have realised that the memories that stay with me longest are very often connected to people. The local experiences in Italy are the difference: a lunch prepared in a farmhouse kitchen. Someone showing us how a chair […]
Sicilian Cannoli: Her Majesty of Sicilian Pastry
I challenge you to go to Sicily and not stop in a traditional pastry shop. Don’t even try. You will lose. I often go to Sicily for work and pleasure, and over the years I have learned that resisting its pastry shops is largely pointless. There are simply too many temptations: cassata, granita, almond cookies, […]
Bagno Vignoni: A Geologist’s Guide to Tuscany’s Most Unusual Village
Bagno Vignoni: A Geologist’s Guide to Tuscany’s Most Unusual Village There are many beautiful villages in Tuscany, but Bagno Vignoni is unlike any other. You arrive expecting the familiar ingredients of a Tuscan hill town — stone houses, narrow streets, perhaps a small piazza — and instead find yourself standing in front of a large […]
The Plaster Casts of Pompeii: What You See — and Feel — on a Walking Tour
There is a moment during every visit I make to Pompeii when the ancient city suddenly stops feeling ancient. Until then, I have usually been walking with our guests through Roman streets, entering houses and public buildings, looking at frescoes, fountains and shops. As we move through the site, I like to draw attention to […]
Coffee Chronicles: Unraveling the Italian Espresso Odyssey and the Enigmatic Absence of Kettles
Dear Walk About Italy Explorers, today we will guide you through the intricate paths of Italian coffee, a kind of mystical journey rich in symbolism and complications for those unfamiliar with the territory. Let’s also delve into the mystery of the absent kettle, a lack that, for some reason, seems to baffle foreign visitors.Coffee, […]
Discover Italian Alps & Dolomites delicious food
Have you always thought that Northern Italian cuisine is dull and boring??? No NO NOOOO….you are wrong!Take a look here, these are just a sample of the large selection of gourmet food we offer during our Alps and Dolomites tour Canederli (Knodel)These are rather large gnocchi made with stale bread, soaked in milk, then enriched […]
Laundry in the sun. A timeless habit.
Clothes hanging on the drying racks of the balconies. Clothes hanging on ropes pulled under the windows or on the terraces. Clothes hung even in the narrow alleys on ropes suspended from one end of a house to the other. They have been placed there in an accurate and well-studied way: all the laundry must enter that […]
Yellow May in Italy
Spring has started for a couple of months now in Italy; the sun gives us long and warm days and nature has awakened! It is an explosion of colors and scents of blossoming flowers and sprouting plants, it is an explosion of noises with the animals that now have finished their winter rest and move, crawl, chirp …Something amazing […]
When a paper sheet is a piece of art. The paper mill in Amalfi
I am a technology enthusiast: always looking for web applications that can help me in my work and in my passions. I like to communicate quickly and effectively; I am interested in everything related to photography and video. I must admit it: I am a 51-year-old geek. There is a moment, however, when I feel like […]
A plant that has seen a lot – Story of a millenary olive tree
Where has everyone gone? This might be what the thousand year old olive tree of Bovara, a small fraction of the Umbrian municipality of Trevi, is wondering. You got it right … a thousand year old! It is called the Olive tree of Sant’Emiliano because it seems that the bishop of Trevi Emiliano was tied to […]
Why should I take an organized walking tour? What’s behind a tour production
There is no “best” way to take a trip: there are those who love to move from city to city with their camper van and those who book a single seafront hotel to relax on the beach. There are those who love to climb mountains by camping and those who prefer the spas. There are […]