Slow trip
14 slow days: Montescudaio, Spoleto, Bardolino, Menfi, and Castagnole delle Lanze
September through five regions means five distinct wine calendars, five separate harvests, five different reasons to be there at precisely this moment. You'll begin in Tuscany's hills around Montescudaio, move through Umbria's river valleys near Spoleto, climb into the limestone plateaus above Lake Garda near Bardolino, descend into Sicily's wheat country around Menfi, then finish in Piedmont's Langhe hills near Castagnole delle Lanze, where the moscato grapes are already heavy on their vines and the first morning frosts arrive in whispers.
14 days · September · food & wine-first · easy walking
Montescudaio
Montescudaio, 4 days
Base yourself in Montescudaio and make these your day trips.
7 towns · qualifying pool of 9 from 58 candidates
Coastal towns in the provinces of Pisa, Firenze, and Livorno. Borghi Più Belli d'Italia, wine territory, and olive oil country.
Getting around
Montescudaio, your base, has no station, so plan to arrive by car. 4 of the 7 towns here have a station; the rest need wheels. A rental car makes this corner simple, a rail-plus-taxi version takes patience.
Your timing
September sits in this corner's best window: open, temperate, and short of the crowd months.
Day 1 · Arrive in Montescudaio
Settle in. Montescudaio is your base for the next 4 days. Take the afternoon to walk the centro, find your bearings, eat something local.
Day 2 · Day trip to Castagneto Carducci
First outing. Head to Castagneto Carducci for the day. Take the slow road, leave time to wander, be back in Montescudaio for dinner.
Day 3 · Day trip to Campiglia Marittima
Out again, this time to Campiglia Marittima. Same rhythm: leave after breakfast, return for evening in Montescudaio.
Day 4 · Day trip to Pisa
Last day trip in this corner, to Pisa. Make a day of it, then back to Montescudaio.
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Montaione
Province: Firenze
A medieval glassmaking and truffle borgo at 341 meters above the Valdelsa, with a Franciscan replica of Jerusalem in the woods nearby.
Picked for: food and wine · hill town
Piombino
Province: Livorno
A promontory port facing Elba across the channel, founded by refugees from Etruscan Populonia and now the Tuscan archipelago's ferry capital.
Picked for: food and wine · coastal
Suvereto
Province: Livorno
A stone borgo at 127 meters above the Val di Cornia, named for the cork oaks of its forests and ruled from the Rocca Aldobrandesca since 973.
Picked for: food and wine · plain
Spoleto
Spoleto, 2 days
Base yourself in Spoleto and make these your day trips.
4 towns · qualifying pool of 5 from 55 candidates
Hill towns in the province of Perugia. olive oil country, wine territory, and Borghi Più Belli d'Italia.
Getting around
Spoleto, your base, is on the rail network. 2 of the 4 towns here have a station; the rest need wheels. A rental car makes this corner simple, a rail-plus-taxi version takes patience.
Your timing
September sits in this corner's best window: open, temperate, and short of the crowd months.
Day 1 · Arrive in Spoleto
Settle in. Spoleto is your base for the next 2 days. Take the afternoon to walk the centro, find your bearings, eat something local.
Day 2 · Day trip to Bevagna
First outing. Head to Bevagna for the day. Take the slow road, leave time to wander, be back in Spoleto for dinner.
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Campello sul Clitunno
Province: Perugia
Springs of the Clitunno and the Lombard Tempietto on the valley floor at 290 meters, the temple inscribed by UNESCO in 2011.
Picked for: food and wine · hill town
Torgiano
Province: Perugia
A walled river town at 219 meters at the confluence of the Tiber and the Chiascio, the first DOC and DOCG zone in Umbria.
Picked for: food and wine · hill town
Bardolino
Bardolino, 3 days
Base yourself in Bardolino and make these your day trips.
5 towns · qualifying pool of 7 from 14 candidates
Lakeside towns in the provinces of Trento and Verona. wine territory and olive oil country.
Getting around
Bardolino, your base, is on the rail network. 2 of the 5 towns here have a station; the rest need wheels. A rental car makes this corner simple, a rail-plus-taxi version takes patience.
Your timing
September sits in this corner's best window: open, temperate, and short of the crowd months.
While you're there
- Rovereto — Festival Oriente Occidente, SeptemberInternational contemporary-dance festival since 1981, held early September across Rovereto's theatres, gardens, museums and squares with bodies-and-cultures meeting theme.
Day 1 · Arrive in Bardolino
Settle in. Bardolino is your base for the next 3 days. Take the afternoon to walk the centro, find your bearings, eat something local.
Day 2 · Day trip to Lazise
First outing. Head to Lazise for the day. Take the slow road, leave time to wander, be back in Bardolino for dinner.
Day 3 · Day trip to Rovereto
Last day trip in this corner, to Rovereto. Make a day of it, then back to Bardolino.
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Riva del Garda
Province: Trento
The north tip of the lake at 73 metres, where the Trentino mountains close in on the water and a Habsburg port town stayed bilingual into the twentieth century.
Picked for: food and wine · lakeside
Trento
Province: Trento
The Alpine capital on the Adige at 194 metres, where the Council that reshaped the Catholic Church met in a castle still standing above the city.
Picked for: food and wine · plain
Malcesine
Province: Verona
The northernmost Veneto town on Lake Garda, where Goethe was nearly arrested for sketching the Castello Scaligero in September 1786.
Picked for: food and wine · lakeside
Menfi
Menfi, 2 days
Base yourself in Menfi and make these your day trips.
4 towns · qualifying pool of 6 from 26 candidates
Coastal towns in the provinces of Agrigento and Trapani. olive oil country and wine territory.
Getting around
Menfi, your base, has no station, so plan to arrive by car. 2 of the 4 towns here have a station; the rest need wheels. A rental car makes this corner simple, a rail-plus-taxi version takes patience.
Your timing
September sits in this corner's best window: open, temperate, and short of the crowd months.
Day 1 · Arrive in Menfi
Settle in. Menfi is your base for the next 2 days. Take the afternoon to walk the centro, find your bearings, eat something local.
Day 2 · Day trip to Castelvetrano
First outing. Head to Castelvetrano for the day. Take the slow road, leave time to wander, be back in Menfi for dinner.
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Sambuca di Sicilia
Province: Agrigento
An Arab-founded hill town in the Belice valley, still called Zabut in living memory before 1923.
Picked for: food and wine · hill town
Sciacca
Province: Agrigento
A terraced fishing harbor on Sicily's southwestern coast, built on a spa town of the fifth century BC and a ceramics center since the fourteenth.
Picked for: food and wine · coastal
Castagnole delle Lanze
Castagnole delle Lanze, 4 days
Base yourself in Castagnole delle Lanze and make these your day trips.
7 towns · qualifying pool of 9 from 49 candidates
Hill towns in the provinces of Cuneo and Asti. Tartufo Bianco d'Alba, Barolo DOCG, wine territory, and Spighe Verdi.
Getting around
Castagnole delle Lanze, your base, is on the rail network. 4 of the 7 towns here have a station; the rest need wheels. A rental car makes this corner simple, a rail-plus-taxi version takes patience.
Your timing
September sits in this corner's best window: open, temperate, and short of the crowd months.
While you're there
- Santo Stefano Belbo — Pavese Festival, SeptemberSeptember festival since 2001 in Cesare Pavese's birthplace blending literature, music, art and theatre across the Langhe UNESCO landscape.
- Barolo — Festa di Barolo, SeptemberAnnual celebration of king of wines with tastings, market stalls and Piedmontese specialties
- Bra — Cheese, SeptemberBiennial Slow Food festival celebrating raw milk cheeses with 500 producers worldwide
Day 1 · Arrive in Castagnole delle Lanze
Settle in. Castagnole delle Lanze is your base for the next 4 days. Take the afternoon to walk the centro, find your bearings, eat something local.
Day 2 · Day trip to Santo Stefano Belbo
First outing. Head to Santo Stefano Belbo for the day. Take the slow road, leave time to wander, be back in Castagnole delle Lanze for dinner.
Day 3 · Day trip to Guarene
Out again, this time to Guarene. Same rhythm: leave after breakfast, return for evening in Castagnole delle Lanze.
Day 4 · Day trip to Canelli
Last day trip in this corner, to Canelli. Make a day of it, then back to Castagnole delle Lanze.
More options in this corner
Alba
Province: Cuneo
The Langhe capital at 172 meters on the Tanaro, world reference for white truffle and Nebbiolo, headquarters of Ferrero.
Picked for: food and wine · plain
Barolo
Province: Cuneo
A Langhe borgo at 301 meters whose Castello Falletti gave its name to the wine the Marchesi turned dry in the 1830s with Cavour's help.
Picked for: food and wine · hill town · Festa di Barolo, September
Bra
Province: Cuneo
A Roero town at 290 meters where the world's first gastronomic university now teaches food systems.
Picked for: art and history · hill town · Cheese, September
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About this plan
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