Epicopia

A Food & Wine exploration of an Italian region

Staying in Montefalco, visiting Bevagna, Norcia, Deruta, Perugia and Spoleto

The Umbrian region produces some of the finest natural produce in Italy. You experience the flavors in our selection of cooking classes based on a variety of recipes rooted in ancient tradition. In Visits to wine cellars, private homes, villas and farmhouses as well as specialist tastings -- whatever the ingredients -- the accent is always on genuine flavors and aromas arising from pure, nurtured produce.

Piemonte is best known for its wonderful red wines such as Barolo, Barbaresco, and Barbera - known the world over. Ideal for wine lovers who like superior wines Piemonte is also known for the bounty of "antipasti" that characterizes every meal. You will enjoy a week with a lot of wine tastings and food, surrounded by outstanding views of the vineyards. Visit Torino (Turin) the home base for the last Winter Olympics. Have you ever tasted tuma cheese from the high Langa?

In addition to Torino you will see and visit such fabled towns as Alba, Neive, Barbaresco, Canelli, Rocca D’Arazzo, Murazzano, Carru, Serralunga, La Morra... and many tiny countryside hamlets. Visits to famous and local wineries that we cannot name ... they like their privacy!

Black truffle, mushrooms, extra virgin olive oil, cereals and legumes, the superb Sagrantino wine and other excellent red wines are the most known products of this region just east of Tuscany. Home of St. Francis and many other saints, Umbria has plenty of art, history, and culture. Numerous lovely hilltowns surrounded by beautiful scenery.

This 7 day food and wine travel experience will include visits to Bevagna, Montefalco, Assisi, Spoleto, Perugia, Deruta, Trevi, Norcia, and the Plain of Castelluccio - home of the finest legumes in all of Italy.

Live like the Bolognese! Stay in a private apartment 6 nights in the city center; enjoy three cooking lessons... and much more!

Immerse yourself for a week in an Italian cooking experience in the vibrant atmosphere of Bologna, the most important city in Italy for food, and learn about Italian traditions and the local way of living. You will enjoy cooking together with your hosts both simple and more elaborate family recipes. Enjoy shopping the central market, buying fresh food and vegetables of the season! Your three hours guided walking tour of central Bologna will open your eyes to this historical and beautiful town center. Enjoy local performances of opera, musicals, symphony, theatre... visit the art galleries... or even visit Florence by train for the day. Lots of options to take advantage of. Or better still, relax, read a book, enjoy the cafes, coffee shops... watch the world stroll by! Ahhh!

Our wine tours are truly gourmet and select wine experiences, but they are certainly not stuffy. Sure, you will dine at Michelin starred restaurants, but we don’t chase stars. We’ll take you to the good ones, not the stuffy ones. No impressive, formal restaurants where eating sometimes turns into an exam! We prefer the more contemporary "younger" ones. Forget the snobbery that is the enemy of true wine and food lovers. For us wine is fun and is to be enjoyed and shared with friends. We love wine and hate snobbery, so there you go.