The number of people taking a solo holiday each year continues to rise. While many of these are taking once-in-a-lifetime adventure tours, special interest trips such as solo walking holidays are fast becoming a popular option. The simple fact is that if your friends...
Keeping your cool on a walking holiday in Italy One of the questions that pops up repeatedly from our guests is when is the best time to go walking in Italy. No-one wants to walk in sweltering heat, but some mild sunshine is always welcome! All of our walking...
This month I finally had the chance to visit FICO Eataly World just outside the city of Bologna. Billed as "The World's Largest Agri-Food Park" the site has 22 hectares of fields and stables, 40 farming factories, 45 restaurants or eating stations and a market space....
Volterra is one of the oldest towns in Tuscany having a history which can date its earliest settlements to the 8th century BC. Founded by the Etruscans, who named it Velathri, the town lies on the top of steep hill in the centre of the...
Italy’s best hiking routes: planning your holiday One of the questions that crops up time after time is which is the best region in Italy for walking. Not surprisingly, there’s no simple answer. Italy is hugely varied, not only in terms of landscape and geography, but...
The Albergo Diffuso is a relatively recent concept in Italy based around the idea of restoring old houses and buildings for the purposes of tourism. The phrase translates literally as "scattered hotel". This hospitality model was developed by tourism...
We have specialised for over ten years now in tailor-made hikes for small private groups (minimum 8 people) along the Great Ocean Walk, Australia's world-famous coastal trail which is a three-hour drive east of Melbourne. The route...
The European Capital of Culture scheme was first introduced in 1985 and the idea behind it was to unite the continent of Europe and celebrate the richness and diversity of different European cultures. The first city to win the title was Athens, followed by...
The real secret to a good risotto is the stock and I recommend making your own, depending on the flavour of the risotto you have chosen. For your stock: 1 carrot1 onion2 celery sticksFlat leaf parsleyCracked pepper and sea salt For chicken stock: add chicken...
At Hedonistic Hiking we like to get off the beaten tourists trails and explore hidden gems which are usually ignored by the majority of other visitors. Saluzzo is just such a town, lying to the south west of Turin, in the shadow of Monviso, Piedmont's highest...
If you have not travelled in Piedmont, in north west Italy, you might not be aware of one of the region's greatest culinary treasures: the prized white truffle of Alba. This famous fungus, or tuber magnatum pico to give it its latin...
2017 marked the tenth anniversary of Hedonistic Hiking. Ten glorious years of hiking in some of the most beautiful parts of Italy, Slovenia, France, Austria and Australia and meeting countless wonderful people along the way. So how...
Right over on the Western edge of the Italian Lakes, where Lombardy meets Piedmont, lies the flawless and beautiful Lake Orta. Much smaller than its closest neighbour Lake Maggiore, Lake Orta is tranquil, restful and has a picture-perfect island in the centre,...
Anyone joining our new tour next year in Northern Tuscany and Ravenna will have the chance to visit this extraordinary city. Ravenna is a treasure trove of exquisite art and culture and has ancient origins and a glorious history. It was a capital three...
Chianti Rufina is one of the seven subzones that fall under Italy's famous Chianti DOCG. The wine-growing area is one of the smallest in Chianti, concentrated in the foothills of the Apennines to the east of Florence. The vineyards have a more continental...
One of the most memorable visits we make on our Slovenia and Friuli tour is to the clandestine Franja Partisan Hospital, buried deep within the Pasice gorge. It is a collection of wooden cabins, the first of which was built in 1943, which housed...
Finding ourselves with a couple of days between tours in the north of Italy we decided to spend 24 hours in the small town of Cremona, which lies south east of Milan between Piacenza and Mantua. The name may not immediately ring any bells but the town has a unique...
Anyone spending a few days in Southern Italy might like to take some time to visit the impressive Greek temples at Paestum. This remarkable archaeological area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and lies about a mile inland, on the Mediterranean side, south of...
The people of Italy, along with many of their European neighbours, have long enjoyed a pre-dinner drink known as the "aperitivo". Typically these drinks are low in alcohol, which helps to stimulate the appetite, and prepare the consumer for the meal which lies ahead....
The Secret Splendours of the South The southern part of the Italian peninsula, even in 2017, is much less visited by tourists than the north and remains mysterious and often misunderstood. People might assume that there is not much there to attract the modern-day...