After the two previous years spent walking up very big mountains in Spain and Albania, it was lovely to find ourselves back in Italy for the first time since before the pandemic. Although there were some lung-busting walks uphill and some steep descents on rocky paths with scree at times, they were shorter and on trails instead of what felt like giant steps up and down mountains! This trip is graded medium to high fitness and I think that is probably fair. The walks are not long – we averaged around 3-4 hours per day but the terrain is varied and you probably need to have a good sense of balance – more about that later!

The itinerary had told us what to expect but there were still a couple of surprises along the way. The first was discovering that our guide Domenico was also our host for the first four nights. He and his wife Nargisa collected us from Bologna airport and a couple of hours' drive later we were welcomed into their B & B Lupinview close to Urbino, our walking base for La Marche region over the next few days. Our rooms all faced the valley, which was the perfect spot to sit on a bench with a cup of tea watching the sun come up over the hills before a good, plentiful breakfast and setting off.

Our walks in this region ranged from coastal paths in the San Bartolo Natural Park to alpine trails in the Cesane Forest either picnicking on home made food prepared by Nargisa or ending up in a town for lunch or dinner depending on which half of the day we were walking in. The rest of the days were spent exploring the cities or towns of the region – the Palace of Urbino for example and the world of Dante Alighieri (poet who composed the Divine Comedy) in Fiorenzuola di Focara and the medieval town of Gradara where legend has it that the castle was the scene of the famous and tragic love story of Francesco and Paulo immortalised in Dante’s work. I had not long ago taken an evening class in his work so I was very excited! Domenico’s daughter Noor joined us on a few occasions and her stories about the palaces and castles, history of art, all added to Domenico’s already extensive knowledge.

Our second walk ended with a wine tasting at the family-run Guerrieri vineyard who pride themselves on being not just vintners or olive oil producers but also true farmers who oversee the entire supply chain from the ground up to ensure that all their products are genuine. Sitting outside on their beautiful terrace surrounded by olive trees and grape vines, we sampled reds, whites and rose, a couple of which were prize-winning and their delicious olive oil. My only suggestion to improve this trip would be to add a similar experience to this in Umbria as the wine from that region was also delicious.

The second surprise was the spectre of Storm Boris which had been battering central Europe over the previous couple of weeks and was now circling its way back to Italy. It was stalking us for a couple of days in the middle of the week, hitting the Emilia-Romagna region just after we left dumping a month’s worth of rain in just three hours in the area around Bologna causing much chaos and distress for residents. We did manage to avoid it but had a couple of afternoons when we got rained on for at least half of our walk.

Our two wetter walks were definitely adventures! The first one led us from Mount Pietralalta through a misty, Furlo Gorge finishing a bit wet and soggy at the most amazing Agritourismo restaurant Ca’Maddalena for dinner. Luckily we had prepared with a change of clothes and got dry and showered in the stables next to the restaurant before the most delicious meal of ravioli with ricotta and aubergine, yellow tomatoes and almonds.

The second adventurous walk came on a village to village walk - Piobbico to Bacciardi - alongside what should have been a gently flowing river. The rains had raised the water slightly and the path took us across the water 17 times – and only two of these crossings involved bridges! After trying to balance with our walking sticks on the protruding rocks from the water for the first few times, several of us gave up and just waded through the water succumbing to having wet feet for the remainder of the walk!

But what a walk it was – despite the wetness, this was my favourite walk. Plus walking up the final steep path to the tiny village of Bacciardi in the heart of Monte Nerone, with only 7 houses was worth it. We almost doubled the population with our presence! We were welcomed warmly by our hosts and the quirky Slowcanda guesthouse where we had another delicious dinner (course after course kept appearing) and any dampness was quickly forgotten. After a pasta making demonstration the next morning, we headed over the mountain for our final two days in beautiful Gubbio, Umbria, the storm firmly behind us.

This tour is called ‘walking and wine’ and much as I enjoyed both, for me the food was the star! We are vegetarians and Italy is always a good food choice for us but oh my goodness, this was deliciousness on another level. I had so many different types fresh pasta either cooked by Narguisa or in restaurants with such an array of vegetables or unusual ingedients either in the pasta or accompanying it – the ravioli described earlier, spaghetti with tomatoes tasting like sunshine, striachi with green vegetables, tortellini with pear and pecorino plus nettle and hazelnut lasagne.

I think it’s fair to say that Domenico is not your conventional guide! This man has lived a life of adventure. The stories of his travels and adventures were truly amazing and fascinating and kept us entertained all week. He was a generous host, fiercely knowledgeable about what is going on in the world and made us laugh constantly as we tried to keep up with his train of thought as he made our arrangements. The details are all in his head rather than on a piece of paper. So, if you want a guide who is going to go through a detailed step-by-step itinerary with you every morning then this trip may not be for you. He will always tell you if you ask but may well get distracted with another story halfway through. However, if you want an expert, knowledgeable guide who knows this part of the country and walking trails like the back of his hand, has friends in every village, leads you safely through walks, finds the best local restaurants and will make you laugh endlessly on a magical trip, then book this one!