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We are committed to planning tours that minimize environmental, economic and social impacts; we are committed to planning tours that fosters intercultural understanding and respect for local customs and culture. This tour has been designed to explore the Southern Italy, out of the beaten track. You will have the opportunity to discover less “touristic” art cities and villages that we believe are as precious and gorgeous then the most popular ones. You will have the opportunity to get closer in touch with local people and the Italian culture, to discover the reach history, art and traditions these “jewels” have to offer. On this trip we use very nice locally owned accommodation, eat local fresh food in typical local restaurants and shop in local artisans workshops. This will allow you to really enjoy the “true” Italian style, delicacies and handicrafts; in the meantime you will support the local economy.
Environment
All the hotels we select are locally/Italian owned and managed. We have visited them, we know the people who manage them and they have proven their sense of style, a fondness to detail, and an elegance typical of the Italian character; at the same time they are very attentive to the quality of service and to sustainability principles. We only use small hotels that have a much lower impact on the environment. We prefer accommodations that formally adhere to the sustainable tourism principles or that can demonstrate efforts to reduce their environmental impact.
We have chosen to employ local guides: our small group formula allows us to give every group the support of more than one local guides, depending on the complexity of the itinerary. The local guide will be really capable to make the traveler understand not only the art, but the true culture of each place visited, making a much more in depth experience. Our local guides agree with our responsible tourism principles and will help the travelers to respect the environment while enjoying their visits (encourage travelers not to litter, by indicating the proper way to recycle waste, even in public areas, and encourage travelers to respect the places they visit: art pieces, architecture and environment.
Our office building is solar powered: 100% of the energy we use for our office operations is produced by solar panels. We strive to have a paperless office. We are very careful not to waste any paper for our prints (and we always use both sides of each paper sheet); we try to minimize the use of paper brochures. We recycle all our waste (paper, plastic, organic). We drink “filtered” tap water instead than bottled water, that allows us to reduce of 95% the use of plastic bottles.
Community
We participate in local Chambers of Commerce Programs aimed to sustain the tradition and the work from small local artisans and in every Tour we include visits to local artisans workshops: this enables travellers to understand the tradition and buy true handmade crafts from local artisans; and enables artisans to show their talent and get a fair reward for their valuable work.
For all the meals we include in our Tours we have chosen the traditional cuisine using local products: form the small typical “trattoria” to the elegant gourmet restaurant, they are all locally owned and they guarantee the use of the best local/Italian fresh products. In every tour we include one or more “Slow Food” Restaurants (Slow Food is an Italian Association, founder of the international “Slow Food” movement, whose aim is to combat fast-food globalization by promoting local products, traditional cuisines and ways of life).
Most of the guided visits in the places included in our tours are “walking guided tours”; we think that is the best way to appreciate the architecture and the atmosphere of most of our cities centers and villages; furthermore, many of the historic Italian cities do not permit motorized vehicles in their centers and we strongly support these local government initiatives.
We also plan our Tour calendar to coincide with local events and celebrations. Special events open windows into the local culture, and the money spent on food and crafts stays in the community.
Our Tours are designed exclusively for very small groups (from 6 to maximum 12 travelers). Small groups allow travelers to get in close contact with the places visited, easily interact with local people, while not overburdening them with visitors. This means greater opportunity for cross-cultural understanding. Small groups have a much “softer” impact on the environment: less pollution (they travel by small bus and public transportation rather than by a large coach; walking tours can be more easily organized); less waste (it is easier to give waste guidelines and control a small group of people).
On this trip we use very nice locally owned accommodation, eat local fresh food in typical local restaurants and shop in local artisans workshops. This will allow you to really enjoy the “true” Italian style, delicacies and handicrafts; in the meantime you will support the local economy.
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
