If you love Italian food and wine - and also want to explore the Italian countryside, there are several package tours worth considering in 2007.
One tour operator is offering specialist Jazz and Wine Tours of Tuscany. These feature luxury places to stay, wine tasting, and daily guided tours of Tuscan cultural and culinary highlights. In the evening, guests will be taken to see world-class jazz performances. The tours have been set up to complement three August music festivals and summer schools that will be held in Tuscany: the Tuscany Jazz Vocal Summer School and Festival of Voice and the Rhythms of the World – Brazil and the Samba (12 - 17 August 2007) and the Tuscany International Jazz Summer School & Arts Festival (20 to 25 August 2007).
The new venture is the brainchild of Global Music Foundation, which has assembled a world-class line-up of jazz musicians for the tours’ evening concert performances set in the castle courtyards, piazzas and palace gardens of Certaldo Alto. Certaldo is a hilltop town, perched in glorious Tuscan countryside between Florence and San Gimignano.
Only 15 places are available on each tour. Excursions will include a trip to the wine region of Chianti, wine tasting in San Gimignano, a visit to a farm to learn about the making of olive oil, and a visit to the hill town of Montalcino – home of the famous Brunello wine.
More information about Jazz & Wine tours
If you prefer a more active holiday, then one of Headwater’s new walking or cycling tours in Piedmont should suit you (and give you a chance to work off all those calories). These are independent holidays in which you follow a tried and tested route through the countryside. Your accommodation (3 and 4 star hotels) is booked and you’re given a map and detailed itinerary to follow each day. You don’t have to worry about your luggage, as that’s transferred for you – so when you arrive at your destination each night, it will be waiting for you.
Piedmont’s a largely mountainous region of Italy – it borders France and Swizerland and includes the busy city of Turin. The Langhe area – focus of these two tours - is the gastronomic heart of the region and an important wine producing region (robust Barolo, sweet Moscato and smooth Barbaresco). It's also noted for hazelnuts and white truffles. It’s a lovely area to explore with fields of sunflowers, vineyards, oak forests and ancient Savoy castles.
Headwater’s walking holiday starts and ends in Benevello, in the hazelnut-clad Alta Langa hills. The route continues to Castiglione Falletto, and beautiful Monforte d’Alba, where you’ve got a chance to visit Barolo, home of the eponymous wine. Distances are reasonably short, so there’s plenty of time to stop and explore the villages and to try (and buy) the many regional specialities.
The cycling holiday mainly follows quiet country roads, and includes a ride alongside the meandering Tanaro river. Again there are opportunities to visit local wine producers, and try cheeses and truffles. Highlights include tasting wine in Barbaresco’s lively piazza, exploring Alba’s cobbled streets (and trying some local chocolate), bathing in Acqui Terme’s thermal spas and strolling amongst the tangle of streets in Monforte d’Alba.
More information on Headwater's Vineyards of Barolo Walk and Barbaresco to Barolo Cycling.
Read about Cookery Holidays in Italy
