Matt Walker and Zeneba Bowers

Everyone knows a bit about Italy’s breadbasket, the Emilia-Romagna region, even if they don’t realize it. It’s the home of several of Italy’s most important foodstuffs: balsamic vinegar of Modena, stuffed pastas like tortellini, Lambrusco wine, and perhaps its most …

Before we moved to Italy, it was not uncommon for us to land at Rome’s airport, get our rental car, make a beeline for southern Tuscany, and weave our way up the mountain roads of Monte Amiata – all for …

Did you know that tour guides in Italy need to pass university-level exams in order to obtain a tour guide license?  Visitors to Italy often want a private tour of some of the historic and artistic sites throughout the country. We sat …

We drive our little Fiat 500 through the woods down a gravelly road just a few minutes from the small hill town of Radda in Chianti. One side of the track is lined by a fence, behind which a few …

Visitors to Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region typically visit Modena, home of the famous balsamic vinegar; or Parma, the source of the prized prosciutto and parmigiano-reggiano cheese; or Bologna, a famed “culinary capital” of Italy. But these are big cities by our …

Italian food, in general, is a celebration on the plate of what is seasonal and local. In Chianti, some of the best eating of the year is to be found in autumn, which is a very busy period, since it …

Matt Walker and Zeneba Bowers are Grammy-nominated classical musicians and recording artists who played in the Nashville Symphony for 20 years. During that time they also started a travel consulting business, Little Roads Europe, and wrote four award-winning guidebooks to small-town Italy and Ireland.  …

It was a clear, sunny March day in Castellina in Chianti: Spring had just sprung, but inside the town’s ancient church, we could see the fog of our breath hanging in the air. As we stepped outside, we saw Laura …

Our favorite time of year to travel is the “off-season”, and we do so frequently, but even we were surprised to find a castle hotel of this caliber for a mere $66. Off-season travel offers many benefits: lower lodging prices, …