Join me
The way to experience the Italy I love is in your body — with all your senses. By sharing a meal with the woman who chose to stay on the slopes of this volcano to make the glass of wine in your hand. By shaving the truffles you find in the oak woods onto the pasta you make with your own hands. By pressing your thumbs into the dough of Pane di Matera bread beside the man whose family has worked the ovens for four generations.
At numenvia, we build week-long tours around experiences like these — around the people who choose to make a region their home. That’s my work: finding those people. The owners of the farmhouse, villa, or masseria where you’ll stay. The private driver, the local guides. The woman who chose raising Podolica cows over a doctorate.
I hope that one day you’ll join a numenvia tour — and let us take care of everything. For now, join me as I search for experiences for my tours: I post a new story about Italian makers every two weeks. — G.
The Spirit of a Place
The goats, the goat farm, the natural surroundings, all the ancient buildings and traditions that are still in use, all together really went right into my heart and made me feel connected, as if I had belonged to that land in some past life.
I.Basilicata
Over the last two centuries, hundreds of thousands of Lucani left for the Americas, Australia, and Northern Europe, creating one of the largest diasporas in the world. Now, people are choosing to stay, to come back. Elena Fucci chose to stay on the slopes of Monte Vulture, an extinct volcano, to save her grandfather's vineyard. People like her are what draw us to Basilicata.
Pane di Matera, Aglianico, Mantenera olive oil
6 nights/7 days. $4,400 double / $5,000 single
Or join us for a special edition for the Feast of San Vincenzo in Craco
October 20–26, 2026
II.Val d’Orcia
Everyone knows the landscapes of Val d’Orcia, from The English Patient to Russell Crowe running his hand through fields of golden wheat. But what draws us to Val d’Orcia is people like Pamela Sheldon Johns, who moved here from California over forty years ago and has been cooking at her stone farmhouse above Montepulciano ever since.
Flowers and lunch under the olive tree, Brunello, pecorino di Pienza
7 nights/8 days. $5,000 double / $5,400 single
III.Chianti
Valentina Gadotti gave up an academic career in political science to raise goats and teach herself how to make cheese in the French raw-milk tradition. I grew up not far from here, and it was a place to live, and work — the tourists stayed in Florence.
Truffle hunting in the oak woods and a wine-maker married to my sister’s best friend
7 nights/8 days. $5,000 double / $5,400 single
IV.Sicily
Coming in 2027
Podere le Fornaci — Goat Cheese Farm
Valentina left academia to make goat cheese in Chianti. She learned everything the hard way. "Milk talks," she says. "I just had to learn to listen."
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Puscina Flower Farm
Nobody expects the flower farm to be one of the most moving experiences of the week. Three sisters, 200 species of organic flowers, and a morning in the fields with clippers picking whatever speaks to you. Then lunch under the olive tree. Unexpected, magical joy.
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Poggio a Campoli — Truffle Hunting
As a teenager, I hated truffles. It took Daniele, his truffle dogs, and the lunch we cooked together to change my mind.
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Poggio Etrusco
Pamela Sheldon Johns moved here from California over forty years ago. She chose to make this place her home. You'll pick produce from her organic garden, then cook a full Tuscan meal with a woman who has published 17 cookbooks.
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Azienda Agricola Elena Fucci
Her family was about to sell the vineyard. Elena said no — and turned six hectares on an extinct volcano into one of Italy's great wines.
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Gelateria Caruso
Pina Caruso's family has been making gelato since 1956. Her signature Acheruntino — milk cream with vin cotto, toasted almonds, and Matera bread — won first place at the Gelato Festival World Masters. Located in Castelmezzano.
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Erta di Radda Winery
Diego was twenty-four when he bought 5 hectares on the steep slopes above Radda. He's married to my sister's best friend, and his Chianti Classico has won Tre Bicchieri twice.
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Il Forno di Gennaro
A family bakery in Matera since 1890. You knead, shape, and bake your own Pane di Matera with Patrizia, Sabrina, and master baker Enzo. In the Sassi, women made five-kilo loaves and stamped them with their family's initials before carrying them to the communal ovens.
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Azienda Agricola Mantenera
Andrea was riding his motorbike across Italy looking for a place to start over. A country road led him to an ancient olive grove with a Vendesi sign. Some of the trees are 350 years old. He stayed.
Read →Most travel is forgettable. You see famous things, eat good food, and post it all to Facebook or Instagram. Then you go home—and it blurs into all your other vacations.
At numenvia, we believe it can be different. The register will be familiar—from the high-end accommodations to the private drivers. But our tours are something you experience in your body. You'll knead Pane di Matera with your hands among the stones of the Sassi. Dig black truffles from the earth of the oak woods of Chianti.
A vacation you'll remember.
2026
2026
2026