Our Picnics

Our picnics are legendary. Could anything be more rewarding than a repast with a view after a gorgeous walk? We take pride in surprising and delighting our hikers at midday with beautiful tables laden with varieties of cheeses, cured meats, crusty breads, local wines, refreshing salads, fresh seasonal vegetables, desserts, fruit, and much more…

We seek out the specialties of the places we travel in so that our hikers can learn more about the areas they are visiting — the foods mirror the land, the climate and the traditions — and change quite a bit from place to place! For example, in Tuscany a large, soft salami is made using fennel seeds, where in Naples the weather is much warmer, and their salami is smaller, spicier, and drier. The same applies to cheeses: Tuscany has terrain that sheep are better adapted to: therefore, pecorino is our prevailing cheese. Cows graze happily in the north, and so this is where the famous cows milk cheeses like parmigiano, asiago, fontina and gorgonzola are produced. We enjoy sharing the stories, legends and processes behind the food; it is part of learning a new culture. And it is quite common to discuss a previous or an upcoming meal while savoring another.

As the saying goes: “Not everyone in Italy knows how to cook, but everyone knows how to eat!”