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 but, today,...

This week we went with our group on the Tuscan Harvest tour to one of our very favourite restaurants in the heart of Chianti Classico. 

At the end of our tour of Parma, Tuscany and the Cinque Terre we arrive at the charming coastal town of Lerici which sits on the famous Gulf of Poets to the south...

I've just been staying with my friend Caroline on the stunning coastline of East Lothian, to the east of Edinburgh, on the Firth of Forth.  It is a really beautiful and unspoilt part of the UK with some great walking on the fabulous wild and empty beaches.  Caroline is a professional...

The Night Before The Palio

Last night we went with our Hedonistic Hiking group to witness the unique events of the evening before the famous Palio horse race in Siena.  The build up to the Palio is of equal importance to the race itself and by tradition all the different...

If there is any fresh herb which transports me in an instant to high summer in Italy then it is basil. The word comes from the Greek basilikos, meaning royal, and the herb is grown throughout the Italian peninsula, although its associations are perhaps strongest with the...

Our Italian Lakes tour starts in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. Whilst the Lakes and Italy's economic powerhouse Milanare perhaps best known to a global audience, the region...

One of the highlights of our stay in Saluzzo on our Jewels of Piedmont tour is dining at the fabulous Il Sigillo restaurant next...

The Albergo Sextantio in the tiny village of Santo Stefano di Sessanio in the heart of Abruzzo's Gran Sasso National Park is a truly unique hotel experience.  Its owner, the visionary entrepreneur Daniele Kihlgren, calls it an "albergo...

As winter comes to Australia spring has sprung here in Italy and we have finished our first tour in the beautiful Maremma region of Tuscany. We have been enjoying all the wonderful green spring vegetables along the way: blanched asparagus drizzled with olive oil and parmesan shavings, wonderful...