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Small Group Private Tour Specialist

Plan your Italy adventure with the small group private tour specialist. Escape overtourism and discover the back roads and authentic small towns with us. Kathy and Vernon create your perfect trip, with off-the-beaten path destinations, activities from walks and bike rides to city tours and shopping, and expert-led culinary adventures.

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Food and Wine

Any tour of Italy is incomplete without indulging in the amazing food and wine. But to truly appreciate It requires an understanding of the regional history, culture and geography. All become part of your adventure with Kathy, chef, food blogger, and Certified Italian Wine Professional, and Vernon, mountain guide, MS in European Literature and avid history enthusiast.

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Your Unique Adventure

Not all private trips are custom. Most tour companies don't have the flexibility to deviate from their set itineraries, so there are always compromises. With Kathy and Vernon, your adventure will be as unique as you are, and your itinerary will be personally designed us to meet the desires and varied interests of your group.

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The ItaliaOutdoors Difference


Truly Personalized Service and a Custom Plan for Every Trip

Kathy and Vernon

NO MIDDLEMEN

You communicate directly with Vernon and Kathy. We know your dreams for an Italy adventure, we’ll have it ready for you when you arrive.

No Group Too Small

SMALL FOOTPRINT

Our small footprint allows us to travel like locals and enjoy spontaneous adventures as we explore the path less traveled.

 

Custom Plan

UNIQUE ITINERARY

Each tour itinerary is unique and serves as a framework for an exceptional journey, where a thoughtful plan adjusts to your pace.

 

Authenticity

KNOWLEDGE

We focus on just a few select tours to provide an exceptional level of regional knowledge and an unforgettable authentic experience.

Travel after COVID-19: How do you wish to travel in Italy when we are able to return? In a small private group of your family and friends? Plenty of outdoor explorations? Off the beaten track destinations far from tourist crowds? Private cooking classes, wine tours, small intimate hotels? That's how we've been traveling for ten years. Plan your adventure in Italy with Italiaoutdoors Food and Wine, the custom tour specialist.

Customize Your Adventure - Food - Wine - Walk - Hike - Bike

With Italy's "Best Local Guide 2013"

Read about our tours in Adventure Cyclist August 2015

Our passion is creating intimate, personalized active food and wine adventures that explore an authentic Italy
- its outdoor beauty, its hidden back roads, its small family producers, its traditional wines, at your preferred pace.
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The Lugana DOC is located at the southern end of Lago di Garda, from Desenzano, across Sirmione, up to Peschiera and Possolengo and Lonato in the province of Verona. Shared with Lombardia, it is one of the smallest Veneto DOC zones, with just under 1,000 hectares of vineyards. Due to its lakeside location, it has a very fortunate combination of climate, grape varieties and soils, and produces some excellent wines. A few bottles of red are produced here, but the emphasis is on Lugana whites. These whites have a noticeable acidity and peak after a few years of aging.

Sirmione Italy Lugana wine bike tours italy
Sirmione, Italy in Lugana wine zone


This area has been populated since the ancient Romans, due to the plentiful natural resources here - the lake teaming with fish, and the ease with which grapes could be cultivated in the surrounding countryside. Originally called “Lucanus” by the Romans, because of the large number of lake inlets, the Ostrogothic and Longobard rulers praised the wines of this region, called Lugana. It was a favorite of King Theodatus, who referred to it as a ‘royal wine’, and made regular appearances at the Scaligeri Court.

The terrain of this region is glacial in nature. The soil consists of layers of separate sediments, several clusters of thin, calcareous clay layers with a first layer that is red clay.
In 1967, Lugana became one of the very first DOC wines. These wines are made from the Trebbiano di Lugana grape, known locally as Turbiana. Many experts have claimed that it is somehow related to Verdicchio, but it is actually completely different. Research has also discovered that it is not related to the Trebbiano grape either. The vine is not particularly vigorous. Three styles of Lugana wines were defined in the official DOC regulations:

brunello lugana wine private tour italy walk bike ski
Brunello wine from Lugana

Lugana DOC: A Lugana DOC wine must consist of at least 90% Trebbiano di Lugana grapes, and must not include any aromatic grape varieties. It typically takes on a bright straw yellow to greenish hue, turning more golden with aging. The bouquet is usually quite pronounced, with a dry and lively taste.

Lugana Superiore: A Lugana Superiore wine has been aged for at least 1 year. It will have a more intense structure, with a tasty and long-lived palate, and will age  well for several years.

Lugana Spumante: Lugana Spumante DOC wines are made from the Lugana grape. The Charmat-Martinotti process is used to produce the ‘spumante’; the same process used for prosecco, in which the secondary fermentation occurs on large pressurized stainless steel tanks. The abundance of salty acidic substances found in these grapes enhances this process, resulting in a lively and substantial ‘perlage’. These are somewhat yeasty, with some undertones of brewing, dry and full-bodied.