The Italy That Comes Back To You

What are Insider’s Italy travelers enjoying this autumn and winter?

Two special back-to-back nighttime visits to Padova’s Scrovegni Chapel, so you can see Giotto’s glistening stars overhead and be pulled deeply into the early Renaissance vision that was the masterpiece he painted in 1303.

A fully hands-on class in traditional agriculture and heirloom fruits and vegetables, led by a family who own and run what may be the best restaurant on the Amalfi coast, followed by a cooking class with a menu that celebrates the seasons and traditional flavors.

And then lunch — on all that you have cooked yourselves — with this view.

A private mosaic-making class with a celebrated mosaic artisan in Ravenna…

or a children’s course in traditional paper-making…

or a pizza-making class with a true pizzaiolo, using a wood-fired oven and extraordinary ingredients, with instructions so that you can make something similar once at home.

Each of these is so far from the “trophy” or “bucket list” experience.

Remarkable local tuna that has been cooked carefully by the fishermen who caught it, and awaits bottling in extra virgin oil. You will take home ten jars, the best tuna you have ever had.

Train seats chosen so you are on the right side to see this view, one that, no matter how many times I have enjoyed it, moves my heart: the Arno River, just north of Arezzo, inside the Ponte Buriano and Penna Nature Reserve, and the place where in The Divine Comedy, Dante famously described the river turning its course away from the “foul hog-like” people of Arezzo with scorn.

Being greeted by Mauro, who knows you by name in Rome, and who receives you in one of the most traditional of the few remaining true old Roman trattorie. You will eat very well and have the nicest table.

A reading and movie list tailored to you, with children’s suggestions and the very best printed maps that exist. I typically send a favorite book that I think you will enjoy.

Swimming easily through November, with the crowds gone and the beaches largely to yourselves.

Following in the footsteps of Ulysses, and the Italian places where he came ashore.

Picking olives and partaking in the entire process, from tree to bottle. This — like everything I suggest — is not a tourist event, but taking part as a member of the family in one of the most important agricultural events of the year.

The most extraordinary travels are those measured by the moments that still come back to you months, years, or often decades later.

And the trick is Insider’s Italy.