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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.
Tell Me More!

tuffo amarone bike wine tours italyOn a trip to New York City, I found this reasonably priced Amarone at a wine shop. It was a new producer to me, and my quest to learn something about the winery itself came up quite empty. I guess I will have to do my research in person, on my next trip to the region!

This Amarone is a blend of 65% Corvina, 25% Rondinella, 5% Corvinone, and 5% Negrara. The grapes are cultivated in vineyards located on the hillsides of Valpantena, in the northeast corner of the Valpolicella region. Valpantena is a valley running from Verona, north up into the Lessini mountains. Tuffo also produces Valpolicella and Soave wines, as well as a Pinot Grigio.
 
Tuffo first released an Amarone in 1959. Their Amarone is obtained from the choicest bunches of grapes, which are harvested by hand, separated as not to touch and left to dry in wooden racks for 90 days. During this drying process, called appassimento, the water within the grapes evaporates, leaving concentrated fruit extract inside each grape. After this raisining, the grapes loose up to 30 - 40 % of their weight, and increase their sugar extracts by 25 - 30%. At the end of January the grapes are pressed and left to ferment for 25 - 30 days.

After the final press the wine is racked into stainless steel tanks where malolactic fermentation takes place. Afterwards, the wine is aged for 18 - 20 months in a combination of small French oak barrels and Italian cherry wood casks before going into bottle. Once in bottle, with wine ages another 2 - 4 months before being released.

The Tuffo 2008 Amarone is deep ruby-red in color. The nose is lively with scents of dark berries, currants, vanilla and almonds. An elegant, full-bodied wine with both a robust fruitiness and nicely structured tannins, followed by a persistent finish. An excellent pairing with roasts, braised meats, and rich cheeses.