Episode #250: On Tour with Untold Italy - Our Hosts' Highlights Revealed

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Untold Italy Tours have crafted tours designed to offer a balance of exploring the wonders of Italy, time to relax and reflect, mixed with unique, unforgettable experiences and local connections. As the year comes to an end, we reflect on the triumphs and surprises of our boutique tours, spanning across various Italia regions. With new offerings including the Wine and Wellness tour in Southern Tuscany and experiencing the stunning sights and festive atmosphere of the Dolomites, to the established tours offering intimate, cultural and food-rich tours throughout Italy, our tour hosts share some highlights and special experiences that they and our guests will remember forever.

Contents

Summary

Wrapping up an incredible year of Untold Italy 2024 tours, in this episode, we go behind the scenes of the tours with tour hosts Olivia Windsor, Giulia Tamarri, and Henna Garrison, featuring surprise snowfalls in the Dolomites, spontaneous concerts in noble houses, and intimate farm-to-table experiences in Sicily. Learn about unforgettable moments, making connections and exclusive insights into what turns every tour into a once-in-a-lifetime journey! Untold Italy small group tours offer experiences throughout Italy including Sicily, Emilia-Romagna, the Dolomites, Liguria, Umbria, Piedmont, Tuscany, Puglia and beyond.

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What you’ll learn in this episode

We welcome some of our Untold Italy Tours hosts Liv, Giulia and Henna to reflect on their tours this year
With Untold founder Katy, Australian Liv who has lived in Italy for 5 years, has been involved in the tours from the start, creating the itineraries, making connections and contacts as well as hosting many of the tours in a variety of regions
Giulia has designed and hosted tours in her home region of Emilia-Romagna as well as tours in East and West Sicily, having worked for a variety of tour companies, Giulia is enjoying Untold Italy’s emphasis on smaller group sizes and unique local experiences
2024 was Henna’s first year with Untold Italy, hosting tours in Piedmont and Liguria. American Henna has lived in Italy for a decade now and splits her time between Sicily and Liguria, though she started her Italian life in Piedmont where she studied at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, near Turin
Liv’s highlights have been repeat guests, the creation of the new Dolomites and Tuscany Wine and Wellness tours – seeing how the inclusion of more downtime in the itineraries to allow relaxation and reflection time, has been successful and added to the guest experience. The exciting news that she and her husband, Italian Andrea, are expecting their first baby, doesn’t mean that Liv won’t still be immersed in the Untold Italy Tours
Despite having lived in Italy for 10 years, Henna has enjoyed discovering lesser-known wines like Arneis and being introduced to Vermouth. She has enjoyed meeting and learning about the tour guests and looks forward to discovering more local delicacies
Giulia has been in awe of the many artisans that you meet on the Untold Italy Tours – like the incredible ceramicists. She has experienced the benefits of smaller group tours and the flexibility that is built into the schedules. Due to some unexpectedly inclement weather, a diversion to a small immigration museum in Sicily turned out to be a highlight of the tour and felt the love for a 300-year-old olive tree named Sofia
There have been some fun, magical and pinch-yourself moments on tours – from a surprise violin performance, zipping around Tuscany’s Val D’Orcia in Fiat 500s, prosciutto and perfume making in Parma, the overwhelming aroma of basil farms for the delicious pesto in Liguria and experiencing the bond between truffle hunter and their beloved dog in Piedmont
Many guests have been sightseeing in Italy’s main cities, so have loved the change in pace moving from bustling cities to quieter countryside. They also love that Untold Italy tours offer access to hard-to-organize local experiences – in out-of-the-way areas, local artisans and unique family businesses
Soaking in thermal baths is a treat available in a variety of places in Italy and is included on our tours whenever possible – enjoy in the Dolomites after a hike, or in Tuscany’s Val D’Orcia where people have been taking the waters for centuries
We look forward to the launch of new itineraries in 2005 including a revamped Chianti tour to include some activities in Lucca and a tour in Umbria, centering around the Infiorate flower festival in Spello

Timeline Overview

08:26 Untold Italy Tours offered unique local connections and experiences, with intimate groups, untold experiences including meeting local artisans
12:44 Tour Magic: How the tours engage the 5 senses
25:23 Tours emphasize relaxation, wellness, and local experiences
35:33 Surprises to delight guests and tour leaders alike are part of each tour. From exploring lesser-known wines to un-expected connections
41:16 Enjoying passionate producers, guests, and sharing stories
45:33 Katy’s pride in her team and making tours vision a reality

LEARN MORE: About Untold Italy Tours here.

About our guest – Olivia Windsor

Olivia, an Australian who moved to Italy in May 2019, and is based in Rome. She has recently launched the Italian wine site Italian Wine Tales with her husband Andrea, where you’ll find not only the best wines to try, but also information on all the Italian wine regions, the best wine tours and wine clubs you can join.

Olivia writes a blog called Livguine, named after her love for pasta and her nickname Liv. She has explored the country south to north, working in agriturismi and organic wineries before settling in Turin, Piedmont for a time after meeting a local Piemontese Andrea. They are both now based in Rome and Olivia hosts various Untold Italy Tours throughout the year.

Follow Liv here

About our guest – Giulia Tamarri

Giulia Tamarri from Travel with Rezdora is a qualified Tour Manager, Food Guide, and Personal Itinerary Consultant, born and raised in Castelfranco, on the Via Emilia, halfway between Modena and Bologna.

After achieving her degree in Foreign Languages at the University of Bologna, she built an international career, living between Australia and New Zealand working as an English teacher and events organizer before going on to work in London working as a manager in the education industry.

After spending almost 10 years traveling and living abroad, she decided to move back to her region and chose the town of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar, Spilamberto, as the place to call home. The same year, she got her qualification as Tour Manager and has since led more than 40 tours around Italy and Europe and during the pandemic, she got the opportunity to attend a year’s course to become an expert and promoter of food and wine of Emilia Romagna.

Giulia loves to help people discover her charming region with the same passion and dedication of a rezdora in the kitchen. Tortellini, tagliatelle, cappelletti… a rezdora is the artist of these hand-rolled works of art. From the Latin “regere“ (to direct), she is not only a good cook but the real manager of the family. Like a rezdora in the kitchen, Giulia follows the same values and practical approach for travels. After a long testing of the best “ingredients”, she owns her personal recipes for crafting unique and memorable experiences for her clients.

Follow Giulia here

About our guest – Henna Garrison

Henna is a tour leader, educator and mindset coach. She lives between Liguria and Sicily where for many years she ran Cook the Farm, a food education program for international students as part of Anna Tasca Lanza and served as a founding board member of Food Heritage Association. Henna graduated in 2015 with a Masters degree in Food Culture and Communication from the University of Gastronomic Sciences and has a background in education and communication. She consults and creates content for educational and hospitality-related activities across Italy. Her favorite pastimes include drinking morning cappuccinos, searching for blue skies, and talking about what to eat next.

Follow Henna Garrison here

Italian places, foods and concepts mentioned

Tours

Places

Cefalù – charming town on then north coast of Sicily
Pollenzo – town in Piedmont, near Turin, home to the main headquarters of the University of Gastronomic Sciences
Alpe di Siusi/Seiser Alm – a Dolomite plateau and the largest high-altitude Alpine meadow in Europe
Val d’Orcia – valley in Southern Tuscany
Modica – Sicilian city in the Hyblaean Mountains.
Albenga – town in Liguria, known as the city of a hundred spires
Merano – spa town in the Dolomites
Bagno Vignoni – famous spa town in the Val d’Orcia in Tuscany
San Gimignano – famous Tuscan town popular with tourists

Food / Drink

Prosciutto di Parma – the famous DOP cured pork of Parma
Catarratto – Sicilian white wine
tartufai – a truffle hunter
Barolo – famous Piedmont red wine
Arneis – lesser-known white wine grape
Vermouth – an aromatized fortified wine that is with botanicals

Words / Concepts

Marie_Louise – Duchess of Parma. Napolean’s second wife
A Small Kitchen in Genoa – run by Ligurian-born and bred Enrica Monzani, food writer, educator and collaborator on our Untold Italy Liguria tours
Carlotta Mutti – from Torino Discovery, our fantastic guide in Piedmont
Bianca Modenese – the white cows of Modena
Untold Italy Tours on You Tube – find out more about our tours on YouTube
Infiorate – the flower festival in Spello, Umbria

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Experiences, Podcast episodes

Episode #250: On Tour with Untold Italy – Our Hosts’ Highlights Revealed