This is not what I planned to write this week, but several enquiries and bookings for 2027 have prompted the change. Although the dates for seven tours scheduled next year are on the website, this is a good time to let you know that the Matera/Amalfi Coast Tour scheduled for the first two weeks in May has been replaced with the Matera/Puglia Tour. Not because I don’t love the Amalfi Coast, but it’s time to tweak the tour a little with some new places I researched earlier this year, so it will be reintroduced in 2028.

Life is exciting when you can look forward to your next travel adventure! Even the planning and preparation is fun! Believe me , it’s never too soon. If there is a wish list floating around in your head, now is the time to turn your travel dream into reality. But first, let’s consider what your perfect holiday looks like.

Italy is a country travel was invented for. There is an endless list of iconic, must-see attractions, but Italy is also full of hidden gems and lesser known spots begging to be explored. This has been my journey for sixteen years that has no end in sight, I’m happy to say. Even when I return to places that were on the first tour in 2009, there are always more secrets revealed.

To fall in love with this country is to experience the culture; learn the history; meet the locals; eat nonna’s recipes passed down through many generations; stay in accommodation with a fascinating story shared by the owner; meet the artisan who is justly proud of his craft. It’s about your own spontaneous discoveries as you are left free to wander a medieval hill-top village for a few hours.

There are so many gorgeous small towns that epitomise why we love Italy so much. Sometimes they are off the tourist radar; sometimes there simply isn’t enough time when there are more famous places to see and sometime you have never heard of these hidden treasures. Wherever possible , they will be on a Ciao Italy itinerary. The only way this can happen is to travel in small groups with no more than twelve people with private transfers.

Italy captures your heart and soul and has you dreaming about it the minute you leave until you return. Believe me, this is a country you can return to time after time.

The sunny, crisp morning walking past olive groves in the rolling green hills of Tuscany; an engaging conversation with the local barista; an act of kindness from the fruttivendolo when he gives you an overflowing punnet of delicious strawberries; getting lost in a labyrinth of cobblestone streets; observing Italian life at its most authentic in the local piazza; eating the best food you’ll ever eat . . . every day. This is the Italy I have loved from day one.

You don’t need to be a history buff, but suddenly you want to rush to a bookstore to dive deep into the history of Rome. You may not be a shopper, but how exciting to meet a third generation artisan making the most exquisite jewellery or visit a tiny boutique with the sewing machine in the shop making beautiful dresses in fabrics handpicked from Florence. You may not like classical music, but to attend a concert in an historic church in the centre of Rome is something else. You may not see yourself on a vespa in Rome, walking around craters on Mount Etna, learning how to cook traditional orecchiette in Puglia; walking through flower filled meadows at an altitude of 2300 metres in the Dolomites or crossing a swing bride over a ravine in one of the oldest places in the world, BUT this is what happens on a Ciao Italy Tour.

Unforgettable travel is about experiences, not ticking off destinations. It’s about embracing local culture and traditions and stepping out of your comfort zone to try new things. It’s about being open and spontaneous and total immersion into a way of life that may not be familiar. This is why it is so important to have three days in nearly all of the places we visit to ensure there is time to enjoy, experience and remember every town, every meal, every new friend you’re going to make in Italy.

April to June in the spring and September to November in the autumn are the optimum months to travel.

Tuscany/Italian Riviera/Lake Como kickstarts the season in the last two weeks of April. This tour is dear to my heart as it was the first tour ever created. Over all these years, there have been so many wonderful relationships formed in every place we go that promise a warm welcome and intimate experiences.

Matera/Puglia follows in the last two weeks of May. Even twelve years on, Matera fascinates me and is a place that leaves everyone awestruck. Puglia is a magical region filled with irresistible white-washed towns that are a joy to explore and fifty million olive trees!

Sicily/Aeolian Islands in the first two weeks of June is a sensory overload with an intoxicating mix of stunning mountain high resort towns, active Mount Etna; beautiful Baroque towns, the tiny island of Ortigia and an archipelago of seven islands sitting off the north coast of Sicily.

Verona/Lake Garda/Dolomites in the last two weeks of June takes my breath away. Every single time. Romantic Verona is enormously appealing with so much to see. Riva del Garda nestled into the northern tip of Lake Garda takes everyone by surprise as the most delightful village to stay for three days. Our small village of Selva with 2,500 locals in the middle of the Dolomites is simply breathtaking with five days to be utterly spellbound by all that surrounds us.

In the autumn, Tuscany/Italian Riviera/Lake Como happens again in the last two weeks of September, followed by Matera/Puglia and Sicily/Aeolian Islands in October.

The four tours in spring run back to back, as do the three tours in autumn, providing the perfect opportunity to put two or more tours together.

All of the tours in 2027 have people booked, but none are booked out yet. Just let me know if you would like to see any of the itineraries in full detail.

Ci vediamo la prossima settimana.

Deb