Italy

Between what is buried and still alive

A Sicily Specialty Small Group Program

Come and immerse yourself in Sicily — the great crossroads of the Mediterranean, where more civilizations have risen, ruled, and vanished than almost anywhere on earth. For three thousand years this island has been conquered and reconquered — by Greeks and Phoenicians, Romans and Arabs, Normans and Spaniards — each leaving a world that the next would build upon, bury, and half-forget. Over eight unforgettable days we travel across Sicily to uncover those lost worlds: Greek temples standing alone in the hills, a Phoenician island reached by boat, an Arab bath the Normans could not bring themselves to destroy, a Roman villa swallowed by the earth for seven centuries, and a cathedral built inside a Greek temple that is still in use today. Everywhere, the great theme of our journey: the tension between what is buried and what is still gloriously alive.

This is an island where every conqueror left his mark on a single building, where a Norman king commissioned Arab craftsmen and Byzantine mosaicists to work side by side, and where the dead of a 2,500-year-old battle were found lying exactly where they fell. We will stand beneath golden mosaics in Monreale, walk among the unfinished Doric columns of Segesta, cross a shallow lagoon to a Phoenician island to meet one of the most beautiful Greek statues ever found, and end beneath the smoking summit of Etna in a Greek theater carved into the rock. Sicily forgets nothing — it simply builds the next world on top of the last.

And we will taste all of it. Sicilian food is the most layered in Italy — every dish an accident of conquest. We will eat arancine and eggplant caponata born of Arab spice routes, fish couscous carried across from North Africa and still made on the island's western coast, cassata and granita that the Arabs invented from the snows of Etna. In Palermo we will taste freshly filled cannoli at a centuries-old convent bakery, where the nuns' secret recipes were nearly lost and then revived. We will raise glasses of Sicilian wine — the volcanic reds of Etna, the Greek-rooted whites of the west, and the fortified Marsala that Lord Nelson's British fleet once drank. There will be a welcome dinner, a farewell feast, a wine tasting, and long convivial lunches all along the way — and, as always, a few surprises.

Get ready for an adventure beneath the surface of Italy. This is a journey for the curious and the bold — for those who want to climb down into the buried, submerged, and forgotten worlds of ancient Campania, and then come back up to eat and drink like the ancients who built them. Over seven unforgettable days we explore the volcanic landscape of the Phlegraean Fields and the Bay of Naples, where Greek colonists, Roman emperors, and the wrath of Vesuvius each left an entire world entombed beneath the next. We will walk Roman tunnels and Greek cisterns hidden beneath the streets of Naples, sail in glass-bottomed boats over a sunken city of emperors at Baia, stand on the shore of the crater lake the Romans swore was the doorway to the underworld, and step into cities frozen in time by the ash of 79 AD.

And we will taste it all. We will raise glasses of Lacryma Christi on the very slopes of Vesuvius — the wine grown from the same volcanic soil that Pliny the Elder wrote about and that the Romans prized above almost any other. We will eat true Neapolitan pizza in the city that invented it, pull fresh mozzarella di bufala by hand on a working farm, and toast our final evening with an Aglianico, the noble red the ancient Greeks are believed to have carried to these shores nearly three thousand years ago. Throughout, the thread that ties our week together is the tension between what is buried and what is still gloriously alive — a journey that ends among Greek temples more complete than any still standing in Greece itself. And as always, expect a few surprises along the way.

Come and immerse yourself in the forgotten kingdom — the great, lost south of Italy that most travelers never see. This is the Mezzogiorno, the land the guidebooks skip on the way to Rome and Florence, and yet it holds some of the most extraordinary buried history anywhere on earth. Over eight unforgettable days we journey from Naples all the way down to the very toe of the Italian boot, traveling backward through time as we go — from the lost Bourbon kingdom that Italian unification erased, through the Norman conquerors who first forged the Kingdom of Sicily, past abandoned ghost towns and cave cities carved from the rock, and down at last into Magna Graecia, the world the ancient Greeks built here long before Rome was ever an empire.

Few realize that this corner of Italy was once the beating heart of the Mediterranean — that Greek philosophers, Norman kings, Lombard dukes, and Spanish viceroys all left their mark here before history moved on and left their kingdoms buried and forgotten. We will descend into the Bourbon tunnels beneath Naples, stand inside the haunting cave dwellings of Matera, walk the silent streets of a medieval ghost town, and meet two Greek bronze warriors who spent two thousand years on the floor of the sea. And everywhere, the great theme of our journey: the tension between what is buried and what is still gloriously alive.

And we will taste that living history at every turn. We will eat our way through the bold, sun-soaked cooking of the south — fiery 'nduja, fresh Lucanian bread, buffalo mozzarella and silky burrata cheese, and seafood pulled from two seas. We will raise glasses of Aglianico del Vulture, the noble red grown on a dormant Basilicata volcano, and of Cirò, the ancient Calabrian wine the Greeks brought to these shores almost three thousand years ago and once poured for the victors of the original Olympic Games. We will sip the golden, herb-scented Strega liqueur in the very town of Benevento where it has been made for generations, taste the celebrated Amarelli licorice — the 'black gold of Calabria,' crafted by the same family since 1731 — and close our journey with a special farewell dinner. There will be wine tastings and long convivial lunches all along the way — and, as always, a few surprises.

Roma, Castelli Romani, Pompei, Sorrento, Napoli, Gaeta, e molto altro ancora!

Un mosaico è composto da molti piccoli pezzi di pietre colorate per formare un bellissimo disegno che è intero, unico e notevole. Questo programma unico è condotto dall'esperto dell'Italia Joseph Walker ed è chiamato un mosaico italiano perché visiteremo molti luoghi unici che sono dentro e fuori dai sentieri battuti che raccontano la storia d'Italia in modo divertente ed emozionante. Vedremo le glorie dell'antica Roma, prima di visitare il suo vino e il suo olio d'oliva. Poi ci sposteremo a Sud lungo la costa italiana, in una terra di mito e storia, dove spesso sono la stessa cosa. Visiteremo la Costa di Ulisse dove, secondo Omero, egli passò durante i suoi viaggi nell'epopea dell'Odissea. Saranno visitati splendidi borghi medievali sul mare con radici antiche, insieme a piacevoli opportunità di degustazione di vini. Successivamente passeremo alla Baia di Napoli per visitare una delle regioni più vulcaniche e mitiche d'Italia, dove le leggende greche cedono il passo alle fondamenta dell'Impero Romano stesso. Infine, vedremo la bellezza di Sorrento, percorreremo le antiche strade di Pompei e vedremo i suoi edifici appena aperti e restaurati, esposti ora per la prima volta. Tutto questo e molto altro sarà goduto insieme ad alcuni dei migliori cibi e vini d'Italia. Questo programma mette l'Italia nel contesto, come un mosaico.

Discover the Italy few travelers ever truly see — a land of storybook hilltop towns, vineyard-covered valleys, artistic treasures and deeply rooted culinary traditions. In Umbria, known as Italy’s “green heart,” life unfolds slowly among medieval stone villages perched high above enchanting landscapes of olive groves, cypress-lined roads and rolling countryside.

Here, every hilltop tells a story. Wander through atmospheric towns where time seems suspended, admire Renaissance frescoes glowing inside ancient chapels, and lose yourself in cobbled lanes scented with fresh bread and woodsmoke. Beneath the surface, underground cities and Etruscan remnants whisper of civilizations that shaped the very soul of Italy.

Umbria is also a celebration of the senses. This is a land of extraordinary culinary traditions — earthy black truffles hunted with expert foragers, handmade pastas crafted with generations-old techniques, robust olive oils, and recipes that reflect the rhythms of the land. Pair these flavors with fine local wines, from elegant Sagrantino to crisp Orvieto whites, enjoyed in family-run wineries overlooking sun-drenched vineyards.

Artistry extends beyond the table. Discover workshops preserving the legacy of Italian ceramics, where hand-painted masterpieces reflect centuries of craftsmanship and vibrant regional identity. Each piece tells a story — of tradition, patience, and beauty shaped by hand.

Travelling in a carefully curated small group allows you to fully immerse yourself in this authentic Italy. Share discoveries in quiet piazzas, toast to golden sunsets from panoramic hilltops, and gather around long tables where conversation flows as freely as the wine — the true Italian way.

In Umbria, landscapes enchant, flavors linger, and hilltop towns capture your heart — slowly, deeply, and forever.

Step into the quieter, more authentic side of Italy on this carefully crafted journey through Tuscia and southern Tuscany. Far from the crowds, this is a region that rewards the curious traveler with volcanic lakes and thermal waters, hilltop villages that seem frozen in time, forests and tufa gorges that feel almost otherworldly, and a food and wine culture deeply rooted in the land. From the medieval streets of Viterbo to the surreal gardens of Bomarzo, the fragile beauty of Civita di Bagnoregio, and Etruscan strongholds dramatically carved into stone cliffs, every stop carries its own atmosphere and story. Add to that the local whites of Montefiascone, the bold flavors of Pitigliano's cucina povera, and the warmth of communities that rarely see tourist buses — and you have a week that nourishes more than just your wanderlust. This is Italy beyond the postcards, designed for travelers who seek depth, beauty, and a genuine connection with place.