Five-Day escape to Tuscany’s tufo Maremma

This corner of southern Tuscany looks like nothing else you've seen in the region. No Val d'Orcia hills, no cypress-lined avenues, no wineries set up for yet another group tasting. Between Pitigliano, Sovana, and Sorano — villages that seem to grow straight out of the tufa cliffs beneath them — the land is still deeply tied to the trades of the soil. Small olive oil producers, winemakers working a few hectares, cheesemakers, farmers, cooks who prepare what they find. Food here is the thread that connects past and present, keeping traditions alive and telling a story.

This package is built around that reality. It starts at the olive press of a family farm, where the olives are still crushed within hours of harvest and the result is an oil that's unique and different every year. It continues in the shops of Pitigliano, picking ingredients for the cooking class, and then in the cellar with an independent winemaker who produces Bianco di Pitigliano DOC — one of Italy's earliest designated origin wines (1966), yet still virtually unknown outside this area. 

Then you walk the paths the Etruscans walked, through their necropolises, with a guide who knows these places so well she could almost be a direct descendant. You wander through Sorano, still untouched by mass tourism, and end up sitting at a table in an organic estate where the Maremma kitchen tells the story of families and traditions: acquacotta (the local bread soup), pici (hand-rolled pasta), wild boar, and Morellino di Scansano — a DOCG red made from Sangiovese.

Your base is a small, family-run farmhouse in the Pitigliano area, restored with local materials, surrounded by olive groves and vineyards, with a private pool that'll have you diving in the moment the sun hits the water. Breakfast with the farm's own produce is a reminder of how much it matters to slow down. Savour the flavours of your Tuscan breakfast and enjoy a peaceful morning. The pace is slow, the group small — 2 to 8 guests. Mass tourism is a world away from here.

What you will do during your visit to the Maremma area:

• Cooking class with ingredient shopping in the village and lunch included.

• Guided extra virgin olive oil tasting with visit to the artisan olive press, paired with cheeses and homemade preserves.

• Visit to the Etruscan necropolis at Sovana with local wine tasting and light lunch in the cellar.

• Afternoon in Sorano: one of Tuscany's most intact cliff villages, nearly free of mass tourism.

• In Montemerano: craft beer tasting and light lunch with a traditional Maremma soup.

• Cascate del Mulino at Saturnia: natural thermal pools at 37.5°C, free access.

• Communal dinner at a certified organic estate: authentic Maremma cooking, farm-to-table produce.

• Based in the Pitigliano area; transfers available on foot, by bike, e-bike, or private car on request.