This is where the crowds DON’T go in ITALY – 6 days off the beaten track!

Follow along in our 6-day central Italian food & wine tour to Umbria & Le Marche.
This is a tour that we run every year in June (so that we can see the flowering in Castelluccio di Norcia) and it is limited to max 8 people.

You can see all of our special trips here:
https://www.tuscan-wine-tours.com/grapetrotters

#umbria #lemarche #italianwine #italianfood #traveltoitaly #winetour #travelvlog

good morning fine folks um I’m in Florence as you can see but today we’re starting a great Trotter’s tour of the wines and Villages of Umbria and l Mar and I’m really excited because in just half an hour I’m going to meet the seven participants that we’ve got I was going to bring you along so I’m going to do a little bit of some vlogging um to show you the Fantastic villages wonderful wine makers and awesome fantastic foods that we’re going to be tasting and we are ready for departure and this is how clean the van is before we [Music] start we’ve arrived [Music] in is a medieval village in and this is our first stop flowers a special significance in Sp in particular during the flower festival called inita Where the streets become incredible flower spell is considered one of the most enchanting Villages OFA the origins of the town are much more ancient than what makes the eye Romans were certainly here and subsequently other people and then the town was sacked in the 12th century SP became an independent municipality and experienced a period of intense artistic activity but I [Music] do uman Ceramics are renowned for their exceptional craftsmanship and artistic Heritage these Ceramics have a rich history and are celebrated for their distinctive Styles and high quality I love dilani from duta their Ceramics feature a blend of traditional and modern styles with intricate patterns vibrant colors and elegant forms their pieces are designed to be both decorative and functional suitable for everyday use and for special occasions this is all D Ceramics here’s the more traditional kind but they also have very much more abstract oh my God I love this for wine kind of neat that don’t I like that whole table with the olives it’s gorgeous I adore ESP spellow and so do our guests but now it is back inside our wine mobile and onto the adjacent wine region one of central Italy’s most renowned sakurano de monco Gog said we’ll do a little tour of the of the winery how the wine is actually made and what we’ll do here just to present a bit of the actual grape and also the wine you will be tasting and then do the actual tasting taste all the wines we of your some food too much can change so it’s we’re now at a three generational family-owned Winery led by Dan look at the grapes he is a passionate grape grower and a fantastic wine maker we’ve been visiting and following his wine making for years oh my God exactly [Music] thank you IDE so cute of course are you all in it are we all in it okay this is video I’ll do I’ll do a picture too but it just looks like a painting doesn’t it I mean it’s just so crace pictures don’t do any justice monal overlooks the beautiful umbrian plain it is surrounded by centuries Old Olive Groves from which a high quality olive oil is produced and Vineyards of the Native sagrantino one of Italy’s most tanic grapes so this is the oldest line there’s a plaque on the wall here [Music] 1850 it’s time for [Music] [Music] Appo this is my my friend [Laughter] Mark excellent wow this is egg with black TR yummy carbonara and the petta should be crunchy looks good okay [Music] BTO my wife warn me about men like you that is amazing it’s called poron of course really because Italian isn’t a language not such thing as Italian how we do this and not just a drizzle no you need a good amount okay I’ll do it that much that’s perfect this is the bacho Pina so it’s not it’s not origal Bop it’s the owner here’s idea of it is it’s so much tastier than the original bath trop O It’s a beautiful morning so we’re staying in this little bar and it’s time for breakfast well today A beautiful day yesterday was a little challenging it rained a lot at times and um when we were arriving at our a ation um I had to drive all the way up to the reception which was not exactly uh large enough for the van so I made a little dent in the back of the van which um I’m really sorry for cuz it ain’t pretty but what can you do by the way it’s kind of funny the dent was caused by an olive tree branch uh which is a little ironic because I love olive trees and I didn’t see it it was just raining so hard anyway um today is day two um we’re going to depart from Monte Falco where we are right now in Umbria and we’re going to visit um spto beautiful Hilltop Village then we’re going to go to a restaurant H in a tiny little village in the mountains um that specializes in cheese and after that we head towards ncha uh which is a little higher lying and an area famous for truffles black truffles um famous for um prut and so we’re going to check into our um Countryside in in the afternoon then we’ll go and have an up table in Nota and then we’re going to have dinner at our in I wanted to show you the dent in the [Applause] van so don’t know if you see it’s up there bad oh well happen yeah I was just going to say anybody else want to sit in the front I don’t mind so this is taking engineering skills I think we got it yeah perfect there we go guys want FR of your I’m okay okay cuz you can stretch your legs too right yeah all [Music] righty going to take the escalator up you’re really oh they’re going to be faster than us come on at some point [Laughter] P deori was built in local Limestone and supported by nine pillars connected to each other by arches it’s 230 M long and 80 M tall its dating is still uncertain but its present aspect is usually agreed upon to belong to the 13 or 14th centuries it worked as an aqueduct bringing water to town through a canal placed on top of it Spoleto is one of the most fascinating locations in Umbria it offers a mix of architectural Styles and sites from diverse historical eras the medieval Fortress is the highest point from which you can get the best views over the town and surrounding Countryside oh CP [Music] so we are at the Fortress of spto and the town beneath us it is lovely just to walk around and enjoy the amazing views that you have from M over the valley and the mountains the wine region all the olive Groves it’s [Music] marvelous includes a Cathedral of spolo whose Bell Tower Rises majestically over the beautiful square with its elegant staircase [Music] [Music] this is a neat shop they have they have some they [Music] edible yeah that’s the outside Che Salam a b is hazel nuts and like milk chocolate this is my granita with kiwi and two other things that I already forgot looks fantastic [Music] see it souen ears [Music] oh my goodness that looks ridiculous commercial who else got the rav you get the RAV yeah your hand modeling that looks awesome I love it this medieval bco or Village has just 300 inhabitants it’s incred incredibly well-kept and full of paintings that cover the gas and electricity shutters so [Music] cute you like to go up oh you could oh it’s like a maze I don’t know [Music] ah the cheese in the wine [Music] it is healing crazy right so we’re going to go down to nor chop and we’ll see um if we can get there absolutely crazy [Music] wow in 2016 a series of earthquakes hit Central Italy in NAA the 6.6 magnitude in October was particularly damaging bringing the cathedral down into rubbles and leaving thousands of people to take temporary shelter [Music] oh wow they’ve actually done a lot of the church it was completely Fallen apart yes here that one yeah yeah that’s crazy [Music] oh W yeah it’s pretty cool so they have their own pigs that are roam around actually close to where we are at the [Music] kaleii so these are the lanto that you will see tomorrow that um grow up in the high mountains in Casto and this is how it looks this time of year so this is a typical Salam that is very soft and we’re going to we’re going to taste it um in the next few days yes this is the seasoned picina this is the [Music] Truffle TR sauce you going to try it’s um there it is all right up at Evo time good morning the sun is coming out it was a very Misty morning as you can see you can’t see much of the valley yet so today our third day we’re heading over the mountains which um are behind me up here so the appenines and um we’re going to go to Castilla which is a beautiful Valley up high around 1,600 M of High um where they grow lentils then we’re headed to a Michelin start restaurant for a tasting menu and then we’re going down into lar on the Adriatic side we’re going to be spending three days exploring the foods the wines The Villages so really looking forward to that [Music] [Music] it is such a special treat to be here in cuch you can see the village behind me it was leveled To The Ground by the earthquake in [Music] [Music] 16 cast [Music] [Applause] yeah that [Music] one [Music] IEP here it is [Music] yes okay you can [Music] open can open [Music] lemon and butter right traditional lamb and too of time and [Music] tomato getting [Music] [Music] perfk you thank you so much bye okay awesome giving you a tour of the lovely hotel room at the panoramic Winery Resort where we will be staying for the next 2 days we are in the area of Ida one of lar docg wine region for both red and and whites so we actually plant it oh so we plant we har oh yeah yeah I’m okay with good morning from lar it is a clear day the first we’ve had so far it’s our day four and today is about cheese Villages and wine so we’re going to be roaming about visiting a wonderful cheese maker we’re going to visit asol picino and Aida and then this evening we’re going to do a winery tour here where we’re staying and we’re going to have a I think five or six course dinner um paired with wine here at our Winery Resort have to take a picture too H this activity start to make she around uh the 2000 but my family is a farmer that that what we know that always like my granddad my grand Grandad my dad I try to be a farmer [Music] too for [Music] [Music] we we start to int we introduce the frea before was like you know when sometime when the everyone going one way before go in another way you look like a crazy people you know so my but my dad my Grandad decide to okay no stop with Marana I mean we have some Marana but I want more fra for produce more milk so the best cow arrived to make like around 50 60 for days so around 1 30 and another nice thing is this all the food they heat the cow all the food is the food we produce by ourself we have corn we have Oro hav Haven grains grains barley her Med R yetto so we have different type of thing for can full diet the ones work like very yeah on the heels yeah and we don’t pasturize the meal so it’s uh row meal it’s row meal and we started to produce the old cheese from The Zone and later my dad start to make other and other and other with different technology technology and now we have around 30 different type of [Music] cheese okay this Chee I give in this direction because we need to start that the more the less strong for go to the more strong [Music] P poo in asip picino is considered one of the most beautiful squares in Italy it features a harmonious blend of medieval and Renaissance architecture on P Delo we go to the historical Cafe MTI established in 1907 the cafe also serves as a showcase for MTI products in fact MTI started as a distillery in the 19th century and is now a prodct Oliva Lasana is a famous local dish consisting of large green olives stuffed with meat breaded and fried oida we’re in oida and you’re about to see a dying art is the traditional craft of lace making a tradition that has been practiced for centuries and is renowned for its detailed patterns and skilled craftmanship [Music] [Music] fantastical [Music] [Music] spee [Music] speee speee [Music] someone made broken one over [Music] time what do you do in Italy when it gets warm during the day but you want to keep going you cool yourself down with some local artisanal gelato it’s fun to try local flavors as well like this very specific funo gelato made with a local Anis flavored cookie I got coffee with almond on top I know granita time another Pleasant Refuge from the heat is the cool churches and there are trillions of those in Italy open to peek around this one sits on a rock at one end of the village and is a 14th century Church of Romanesque Gothic architecture inside there are beautiful frescos and a Serene atmosphere the lower level features a crypt with more fresco so bright yeah it’s hard to see the camera can’t yeah no can’t do what our eyes can nope [Music] [Music] beginning of the dinner beginning of the dinner we’ll do it before and after dangerous my hours so you grow rice here sorry H yep got before I go of cheese AR and Eno what are we going to do we’re going to eat it that’s all YY to document [Music] on oh thank you shortly but here we have anry Dish so it is a guine f here we have a possibly [Laughter] [Music] possibly it’s another beautiful bright day um really bright I’m going to put on my sunglasses okay so look at this view behind us it is gorgeous and sadly we have to leave our wine Resort today um nobody wants to leave it’s fabulous uh but on we go today is day five and we’re going to cono to taste some mtio Chana wines and more we’re going to have lunch on the beach of the Adriatic Sea and we’re going to go and check into our last accommodation which is an olive oil producer then we’ll visit um a winery in morala a specializing in a specific grape called lacrima and then we’re going to do a slow paced um easygoing pizza night tonight with a few bottles that we’ve picked up along the way [Music] [Music] [Music] we’ve arrived in the cono National Park which is also a docg wine region of L maret so we’re visiting a boutique Winery with the wine maker and the owner Luigi possibility to drink another and another you don’t feel uh you don’t feel strong M this is a very small seller yeah and uh is a lot a lot of things are handmade the label of every wine are uh written and uh numerated By Hand by hand to grapes this is because we want an high standard quality and so the every single plants don’t want to produce a lot they are long and uh the grapes are very distant one from another in the in this moment we are doing the green cat it’s called so we eliminate all the leaves and all the parts of the plant with don’t need it’s a very uh very particular and specific operation that not all the wine sell are do then is kot deino that’s also typical from Mar region and the other one is a seasoned uh cheese and it’s very strong [Music] yeah there was three or four you should be very proud [Music] s we are headed to lunch after a fantastic wine tasting we’re going to have lunch on the beach we’re almost there [Music] what does it taste like it’s it do start off fishy it inss kind of fishy which I don’t really care for it’s not it’s not inedible for me oh you’re good [Music] [Music] and this is where we’re spending our last night a prized olive oil mill owned by my friend Paula n [Music] around here pretty much it’s roughly about 7 hectares of land of O Brook so far it’s actually very hot right now very very hard climate change is a thing andal warming is a thing uted ol oil comes out from here um we do not do it on filtered olive oil we only do filtered olive oil because you know some people think that it’s more um it it’s it’s more packed with um health benefits in the sense that it’s more if it’s un filtered which might be true but in at the same time um with time the um all the elements tend to settle at the bottom and once those go bad then the oil in itself goes back so we prefer to you know remove all the substance out all the extra s and then leave it as pure as possible we now proceed to tasting four different Olive cultivars and the reason why this one is actually much more intense than this one I mean that you feel that’s much more [Laughter] [Music] [Music] intent morod dalba is a medieval village famous for its well preserved defensive walls and the unique elevated covered walkway that encircles the town [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the town is especially famous for an aromatic red wine made from the Native grap variety laa which means tear it is deep in color with floral and fruity notes this is Valentina who co-owns and manages this 40 hectare Winery after her father bottled the first 200 bottles in 1990 today the production is around 100,000 bottles [Music] with machine for cut the her this a grass grasses yeah herbs grasses grass yeah so you can imagine vectors okay [Laughter] 40 more complicated there are some kind of [Music] delicious you can try is a seed inside so pay attention but taste because you have the idea what oh sorry and these are the fruits that goes in fermentation with the wines Vino is a wine made with sour cherries cherries ferment with sugar and then the rich syrup is mixed with red wine the result is a sweet wine with a strong cherry flavor that is both fruity and complex like pizza night back at our [Music] Inn goodbye goodbye our last evening it was wonderful to have you this week thank you for [Music] coming Dave can’t Dave can’t wait to go home that is not true I I’m like I just stay here I’m happy yeah Amber you keep working [Music] day six of our Uria and L maret Adventure our very last day we will head back to Florence but on the way we’re going to visit my friend Ricardo who produces fantastic verical wines then we’re going to go to another Michelin star restaurant and have a fantastic lunch to wrap it up and then we’ll head back to Florence this evening thank you so much for following along as you can see this is a great trip for people who love to visit Villages and drink lovely [Music] [Music] wines Ricardo is a young young and dynamic wine maker who has gained significant attention for his dedication to organic farming practices and his skillful wine making his small Winery is well known for its high quality Dei wines from the ASO B so from the seaside to the botom of sto everything is quite flat then when we arrive close to the vill of St the he come up to 450 M so we are uh we are we can see all this Ino Val and so we see very well we feel very well the influence of the seaside but also from the influence of the mountain this is our in our sh so the beautiful stuff is that we are in the middle between these two big microclimate and we are able if we are able to balance everything well we are able to make a perfect wine with a good part of the tast it okay drink [Music] okay of meat of the regular Salam has a very thick skin that is very bitter if you have a bounch of Verio um the tasting of the skin is very bitter if you have a bunch of malvasia or trano the is very sweet so in the past H the only way to make a white wine was to make the fermentation on the skin like the red wine because in the past red wine and white wine were made at the same way so we they Ariz the grave they the stem everything they crush it they put everything inside the tank skin and must all right we have wine not going to buy any more why but you did I [Music] did this was an awesome wi revisit thank you thank you Ricardo thank you thank you so much you so much thank you so much pleas thank you so much thank you guys see you in Chicago thank you don’t know much about history don’t know much biology science B French I but I do know and know Wonderful World would be don’t know much about don’t know much triom don’t know much about what R but I [Music] do I don’t claim to be an a student but I’m trying [Music] to the the castle this is the tower is called Tor Trin so the Trin was the the Lord of fho down so they build this castle for protect the aquad which is still here and still [Music] deserve the city of so this is 1,200 was buil and this the the meal 1,400 so the water came from here they create these stairs to accelerate the the flow of the water for move the the wood down and uh and me the the wheat first and then the olive most recently so um un means water in ancient uman language yes because um I mean we are in kodaka we are in capod aqua so there is this spring and uh everything it’s about the water no about this so this is why we call the restaurant like this we open in uh 2021 August 2021 and uh this last year in November remember we had the the mission start so we very happy thank you very happy and proud our last fantastic meal of the week thank you so much Julio and that’s a wrap on our Central Italian grap Traders trip a special thanks to the awesome participants hi I’m anrath and I’m from Chicago hi I’m Amber Barry and I’m from Charleston South Carolina hi I’m Dave Barry and I’m from char South Carolina hi I’m Emily winmore and I’m from De Mo Iowa hi I’m Jeff winmore I’m from De Mo Iowa hi I’m Tracy and I’m from Jacksonville Florida hi I’m d Ray I’m from Jacksonville [Music] Florida please like this video and hit the Subscribe button for more videos like this yeah e e for