The 2024 tour season is over so I wanted to share the best of Wild Sage's "other half," my friend and business partner Manu!
She does our Dolomites hiking tours, and unlike me she doesn't have knee problems (curse you, meniscus!), so she can do a lot of hikes that I'm afraid to try these days:
It's no wonder the Dolomites mountains are a protected UNESCO World Heritage site!
She also did some tours in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy, known for its amazing food and wines, like Barbaresco and Barolo (here below, walking towards the town of Barolo and its castle, which is now -- of course it is -- a wine museum:
Piedmont is famous for its hazelnuts, which can be crumbled over all sorts of dishes:
Barolo is also home to one of our all-time favorite dishes: one big raviolo filled with a soft-boiled egg and topped with truffle shavings and a dusting of cheese. OH MY. 😍
The city of Alba holds an annual White Truffle Fair and Manu and her group were lucky to be there that day to take part in the festivities!
There's another UNESCO site in the area, the group of cellars known as the "Underground Cathedrals" which produce some of Italy's best Spumante (a type of sparkling wine):
Did we organize a visit and tasting lunch? Of course!
Say a prayer at the wine chapel and this delicious Barbaresco could be yours! 😋
Or maybe you need a chocolate tasting to brighten your day!
In the valley the vineyards were green and recently harvested:
Manu and our good friend Melissa had a wonderful group of women on tour for the week:
We loved showing off our new Wild Sage swag 🌞🍃
While up in the mountains by mid-October it was fully Fall and the colors were turning:
Piedmont also has a rich history going back to Roman times (and beyond). Here are two amazing Roman arches from when the region was on a major trade route:
The food in the Dolomites is much different, as you can imagine, with heavier fare like these canederli, or dumplings.
Half of our Dolomites tours are in the South Tyrol region, which was part of Austria until 1917, so you get hearty dishes like goulash, polenta, risotto, and delicious strudel.
In May Manu led a new tour that visited Tuscany and neighboring Umbria (see that tour HERE) with a start in Florence and an end in Rome. They visited the dramatically perched Civita di Bagnoregio, which Rick Steves says is "his favorite... of all the Italian hilltowns"
This younger group (20-30s) did some easy walking and visited the cities of Orvieto, Siena, San Gimignano, and Lake Bolsena.
They learned how to make the traditional "Bronze Cut" pasta, and of course ate like kings!
They did a truffle hunt and enjoyed the springtime greenery.
In early 2024 Manu joined me in our inaugural tour in Cuba, which was SO MUCH FUN. You can read all about it in my blog post from last spring.
In the fall she spent a week with a group of women celebrating a big birthday. First up: Pisa!
Their home base was the charming small city of Lucca, famous for its spectacular cathedral, bustling cafes, and as home to opera composer Giacomo Puccini (see below the gorgeous costume for a production of Turandot!).
They had a beautiful hike in our old stomping ground, the Cinque Terre, despite some stormy weather:
And they went to my home town! :-)
And a day-trip to the town of Vinci (as in "Leonardo da'...")
They also visited some elegant palazzos. We love putting together customized tours for private groups as it gives us a chance to go new places and come up with new itineraries!
One of the things I look forward to every year are Manu's pictures of animals -- especially the donkeys! 🐴
It's a special art getting a selfie with them!
There were also these two shaggy bovines, a sort of cow version of me and Manu (one brunette, one blond).
Working in the Dolomites isn't always easy, like when she want up in JUNE and still found it totally SNOWED IN!
But it's all in a day's work!
In complete contrast, last January she took a holiday to Kenya to do a safari:
It looked AMAZING from my wintery vantage point in Florence...
We're thinking of offering a safari tour in the future, possibly Namibia and Botswana! So let us know if you're interested!
Mostly, though, she likes to spend her free time hiking in the mountains around Rome (well, not "around" but over the border into Abruzzo):
Last summer she climbed the famed Gran Sasso!
There's a lot of great nature and hiking just a few hours' drive from Rome!
All in all we both had a great year, together with our friend of 25 years, Melissa. It's wonderful and so satisfying to work with people you love and respect, and we're already hard at work on the 2025 season! See our website for updates or contact me to set up a tour for you and your friends.
We're still a tiny company, and we can't hope to match up to the Barolos and magnums of the travel world, but we're enthusiastic and we love what we do, so we hope to age well, like a fine wine, and become a great vintage. 🍷🍷🍷
My great thanks to Manu for being in this adventure with me AND for tackling all of those mountains while I wander around Greek and Roman ruins. That's why we make a good team! 😍 💜 💚
🎊💃 Happy 2025 to you all, let's hope it's a good one! 🕺🎈