Planning guides: what is in season, which region to choose, and how to get there.
How orecchiette are made and eaten, the pasta ladies of Arco Basso in Bari Vecchia, the 2025 authenticity investigation, and the best cooking classes to make them yourself.
Tank versus bottle fermentation, Glera versus Chardonnay, price and taste compared, and which sparkling-wine day trip to take from Venice, Milan or Paris.
Bacaro, cicchetto, ombra: the Venetian bar culture explained, the cicchetti to order, how to behave at the counter, the best neighbourhoods, and when a guided crawl is worth it.
The ten things that make up Palermo street food, what each one is, the arancina versus arancino question, the three markets and their hours, and how to eat it like a local.
What Etna Rosso and Etna Bianco taste like, why the volcano is compared to Burgundy, when the harvest is, and whether to book an Etna wine tour from Taormina or Catania.
Piedmont white truffle season runs late September to January with the peak in October and November; the Alba fair runs 10 October to 6 December 2026. Month by month, how a hunt works, what it costs, where to stay.
Istrian truffle hunts compared: a family hunt above Motovun with a truffle meal, a ninety-minute walk from Livade, the top Viator option, and what to do without a car. Plus when white truffle season really is.
Three Naples pizza classes compared: the three-hour pizza and tiramisù class, the two-hour family class with gelato, and the class taught by a working pizzaiolo at his own oven.
Five Chianti wine tours from Florence compared: three-winery days with lunch, the Vespa tour, a seven-wine tasting in the city, and what to book if you are in Siena or have a car.
Which Slovenian wine region to visit from Ljubljana in a day: Goriška Brda, the Vipava Valley or the Karst, with drive times, what you'll taste, tour prices and a sample day.