The trip in Piemonte exceed my expectations.
The countryside was more beautiful than I could have imagined. This was my fifth trip to Italy and still I was overwhelmed with the beauty of the landscape. We’ve seen vineyards before, but nothing like this. The villages were picture-postcard charming, with their colorful stucco buildings and tiled roofs. It was so nice to leave everything in Bluone’s hands. We had no responsibilities except to sit back, eat, drink, and enjoy.
The highlights of the tour were several: the dinner at Gianni and Graziella’s home was delightful. It felt like a wonderful family dinner. I also loved the visit to the honey place. What lovely people they are. And I’m now addicted to acacia honey! With my need for authentic parmesan cheese and, now, acacia honey, I’ll have to make an annual trip to Italy to stock up!  And, of course, the personalities of Raffaella and Marcello are always the highlights. It’s so wonderful to leave everything  in the capable hands of two such lovely, intelligent, kind, charming, wonderful people. We love you both!

I have traveled with Bluone three times and loved each trip. Marcello and Raffaella are warm, friendly, caring and delightful people, not to mention totally knowledgeable about the areas visited and Italian food and cooking.  Their trips are well planned and executed. We had a full range of experiences: food growing, harvesting, production, according to region; we had cooking classes for foods of the area visited; we did some sightseeing, stopping in local places for gelato or coffee, and did some shopping (we requested it). Everything is organized but at a comfortable pace. Everything and  everyone was ready and waiting for us when we arrived - what did we ever do before cellphones?

Our accommodations each trip were lovely. It is very pleasant to stay in one place for the whole tour, unpack only once, and do our forays out from that base. We went to places off the beaten tourist path and had wonderful meals with a wide selection of courses. Each of the trips featured tasting menus where we learned how to prepare the dishes that were later served to us. We always had wonderful, local wines as well as visits to wineries.

The trips I did were Emilia-Romagna, Le Marche, and Piemonte.
They specialize in custom tours, so a particular group could have a different emphasis within the general structure or have a completely customized tour. My group was the first to experience the Le Marche and Piemonte tours, and they were fabulous. We would never have known we were the first group if they didn't tell us.

The trip was fantastic. My older, teen-age son and I had a great chance to bond while enjoying the beauty and learning about the great wines of Piedmont. Our experience was enlivened by the joie de vivre of Marcello and the variety of unique (and delicious) visits he packed into our daily itineraries. I can't wait to visit Emilia Romagna.