We recently returned from a 10-day research trip in some of the northern regions of Italy, much of which we spent exploring several of its wonderful subalpine lakes. We use this fact-finding to increase our breadth of knowledge, adding to the offerings to our client travelers who engage our itinerary crafting services.

Baking here in Italy is very different than it was in the US. The products are different (baking powder, flour, butter), so something I learned shortly after we moved here is that I couldn’t reliably turn out cakes and cookies like I used to in Nashville.

Engage Little Roads’ new “Explorer Service” to investigate a place in Italy that’s important to you…

As our Little Roads readers know, we typically avoid large towns and big tourist hot-spots. But for the past two years we’ve made an exception to this “rule”: We’ve taken a room at a hotel in Florence with a balcony right on the main Piazza Duomo, to enjoy the chaos and celebrations of New Year’s Eve – but from high above it all.

My old friend John was visiting Italy this week, and we carved out a good chunk of time for the two of us to explore a few ancient places near our home town of Soriano nel Cimino. We went to a few places that Zeneba doesn’t want to go to - either because it’s a scramble up and down muddy paths, or it’s a tunnel so far underground that she fears imminent collapse - despite having held up for millennia.