Our Italy Wine Adventure takes place in two
fantastic provinces: Tuscany and Umbria. Incredible pastas,
pizza, and bruschetta. Beautiful scenery with rolling hills
and waving wheat fields. Hilltop medieval towns with winding
streets and inviting shops. Country paths and roads you share
only with a few locals. And oh - the vino!
We start our tour with four days of hiking in Tuscany, the
province made even more famous by the book and movie "Under
the Tuscan Sun". The wines, including Vino Nobile and
Brunello, are some of Italy's best - and any Italian will
tell you Italian wine is the best available. The scenery is
spectacular and the historic towns provide the perfect excuse
to do a little shopping or sample the local delicacies. Perhaps
most importantly, Tuscany is hilly and hiking is a great way
to see the area's postcard scenery.
We then switch to Umbria and our bikes. Umbria is just as
beautiful as Tuscany, although less well known. In addition,
it boasts the Valle di Umbria, a flat valley that makes for
a perfect complement to rolling Tuscany. The short routes
during our biking days are generally flat with an occasional
climb to a worthy hilltop town. The long routes head off to
the valley's sides for more strenuous cycling. You choose
the route but, either way, you'll be rewarded with incredible
food and local wines, including the delectable Umbria Sagrantino.
Itinerary
Day 1: We meet you at 1:00 PM at the train
station in the town of Chiusi. Chiusi is a straight 1.5
hour train ride from Rome, so you can make it there that
morning or the day before. We will shuttle to the town of
Montefollonico and begin our first hike from there to Montepulciano.
We'll be in the heart of the Vino Nobile region and so will
have a chance to taste some of this delicious wine before
dinner.
Day 2: Today we have an absolutely classic Tuscan walk
on the way to our new home in the town of Pienza. The route
is mostly on white gravel roads (strada bianca) that wind
through incredible scenery. On the way, we meet our friend
Daria, a wine expert and cafe owner in the town of Monticchiello,
for lunch and a wine tasting. In Pienza later that afternoon
we check into our hotel and enjoy a tasting of Tuscan wines
before sitting down to a meal of the local pici pasta.
Day 3: Our destination today, Montalcino, is too far to
reach on foot and so we start and end with a shuttle. We
get dropped off in the Roman town of Bagno Vignoni to start
our day and, after a tour of the town's natural hot springs
pool, start our hike for the day. We enter the Brunello
wine region and stop at a local winery for a tasting and
tour. Continuing on, we reach our hiking destination, the
incredible Sant' Antimo abbey. Sitting in a valley, the
abbey is an amazing site as we approach. If we time things
right, we will hear the Benedictine monks chanting in the
central hall. After, we shuttle to our home for the night,
the beautiful hilltop top of Montalcino.
Day 4: Our final hiking day in Tuscany starts with a downhill
hike from Montalcino. We visit one of the few women-owned
wineries in Tuscany and continue on fantastic walking paths
to our lodging for the nice, Pieve a Salti. We have been
staying there for years and fun-loving Daniela will welcome
us to this agriturismo, a working farm now renovated to
host travelers. The view in the evening over the Tuscan
countryside is amazing.
Day 5: We shuttle in the morning to Umbria and the city
of Torgiano. There, we get acquainted with our bicycles
and have time to visit the local Wine Musuem, so you can
start learning about Umbrian wines. After lunch, we'll start
our biking through the flat Umbria Valley, with only one
hill for the day (unless you do the longer routes). Our
wonderful hotel (home for our next two nights) is at the
top of Spello, which will try your legs but please your
soul when you see the fantastic views you have earned.
Day 6: Our first stop of the morning is a tour of a small,
family-run olive mill where we finish up tasting the delicous
oil on toasted bread. Then, we get somewhat seriious, and
begin bicycling to the famous town of Assisi, home of Saint
Francis. Assisi boasts much more than this storied history
and is a perfect stop for lunch and a little wandering.
After lunch we cycle to the Arnoldo Caprai Winery, where
we have a chance to taste the Umbrian wines and compare
them to their Tuscan counterparts. We shuttle (or ride)
back to our hotel from the winery.
Day 7:We cycle through the flat valley floor to our next
town, Spoleto. Those wishing a little more mileage (and
a few hills) can choose to do extension loops that have
a bit more altitude gain, to the wine town Montefalco or
the olive oil town Trevi. We sit down to a final banquet
dinner in Spoleto.
Day 8: Our final day! We have a final morning ride and
then return to our hotel to shower, check out, and say good
bye!
Email
or call 845.485.7221 for more information and to reserve
your space
