Food, wine, and thermal springs in the hidden Maremma
This corner of southern Tuscany looks like nothing else you’ve seen in the region. No Val d’Orcia hills, no cypress-lined avenues, no wineries set up for yet another group tasting.
Between Pitigliano, Sovana, and Sorano — villages that seem to grow straight out of the tufa cliffs beneath them — the land is still deeply tied to the trades of the soil. Small olive oil producers, winemakers working a few hectares, cheesemakers, farmers, cooks who prepare what they find. Food here is the thread that connects past and present, keeping traditions alive and telling a story.
This package is built around that reality. It starts at the olive press of a family farm, where the olives are still crushed within hours of harvest and the result is an oil that’s unique and different every year. It continues in the shops of Pitigliano, picking ingredients for the cooking class, and then in the cellar with an independent winemaker who produces Bianco di Pitigliano DOC — one of Italy’s earliest designated origin wines (1966), yet still virtually unknown outside this area.
Then you walk the paths the Etruscans walked, through their necropolises, with a guide who knows these places so well she could almost be a direct descendant. You wander through Sorano, still untouched by mass tourism, and end up sitting at a table in an organic estate where the Maremma kitchen tells the story of families and traditions: acquacotta (the local bread soup), pici (hand-rolled pasta), wild boar, and Morellino di Scansano — a DOCG red made from Sangiovese.
Your base is a small, family-run farmhouse in the Pitigliano area, restored with local materials, surrounded by olive groves and vineyards, with a private pool that’ll have you diving in the moment the sun hits the water.
Breakfast with the farm’s own produce is a reminder of how much it matters to slow down. Savour the flavours of your Tuscan breakfast and enjoy a peaceful morning. The pace is slow, the group small — 2 to 8 guests. Mass tourism is a world away from here.
PACKAGE HIGHLIGHTS
Afternoon arrival · Olive oil tasting · Dinner at the farm stay
Afternoon — Arrival at the farm stay
Arrival in Pitigliano and check-in at the farm stay. Transfers are quoted separately on request.
Late afternoon — Extra virgin olive oil tasting and olive press visit
The first experience of the trip is a deep dive into the flavours of the land.
First, a guided olive oil tasting where you’ll learn to recognise aromas, structure, and subtle flaws in the oil. Then time to sit down to crostini, local pecorino paired with homemade preserves (lavender jelly, green tomato jam, pumpkin and cinnamon) and a good local wine. During harvest season (October–December), the visit includes the olive press in action, cold-extracting in real time. Off-season, you visit the press at rest, with a full explanation of the process.
Evening — Dinner at the farm stay
The first dinner is at the farm stay, with products from the land.
Cooking class · Guided visit or Vie Cave · Dinner at your leisure (free evening)
Morning — From market to table
The day starts where every good dish begins: at the market stalls and local shops, with ingredients ready to be chosen and turned into something worth eating. A local cook walks you through the shops of Pitigliano to pick what you need — a small daily ritual for him, but for anyone unfamiliar with the kitchen, it becomes a lesson in the importance of choosing simple, seasonal produce. Back in the kitchen, you work on two or three traditional Maremma dishes. The class ends, naturally, at the table with lunch.
Afternoon — Guided tour of Pitigliano or hike through the Vie Cave
In the afternoon, a guide takes you out for around 3–4 hours. Two options: a tour of the old town of Pitigliano, known as Little Jerusalem — Orsini Fort, the Jewish quarter with its medieval synagogue, and the ancient Etruscan cisterns beneath the village — or a hike through the Vie Cave surrounding the village, ceremonial corridors carved into the tufa by the Etruscans. You can reach Pitigliano’s old town on foot, by bike, e-bike, or private car on request.
Dinner — Your choice, free evening in Pitigliano
Sovana necropolis · Wine and light lunch · Sorano with guide · Dinner included
Morning — Sovana: wine, history, and necropolises
Transfer to Sovana, officially one of Italy’s most beautiful villages, just 9 km from the farm stay. With your guide, you visit the monumental necropolises in the woods around the village — Etruscan tombs and Vie Cave where the silence is part of the experience, since crowds are few and far between. The visit ends at the winemaker’s: a tasting of local wines paired with a light lunch of cheeses, cured meats, and seasonal products. The wine carries the story of the volcanic soil you’ve been walking on all morning.
Afternoon — Sorano with guide
In the afternoon, transfer to Sorano with your guide. The village climbs a tufa cliff above a gorge: the narrow alleys of the old town are worth exploring slowly, crowd-free even in high season. Sovana to Sorano is 8 km of flat road.
Evening — Dinner at a traditional village trattoria
Dinner is included.Your guide will lead you to the places where Maremma cooking is still an act of love, where dough is kneaded by hand and the pots are left to simmer slowly.
Day 3 transfers available by own car, e-bike (rental on request), or private car. The return to the farm stay after dinner is about 13 km.
Montemerano · Craft brewery · Cascate del Mulino · Dinner at organic estate
Morning — Montemerano: medieval village and craft brewery
Transfer to Montemerano, one of the best-preserved medieval villages in the Maremma. A visit to the old town with its intact walls and 15th-century church housing artworks rarely mentioned in guidebooks. Then a stop at the village’s craft brewery — the only one in the area — where you taste three house-brewed beers. The morning concludes with a light lunch: seasonal Maremma soup and homemade dessert.
Afternoon — Saturnia: the Cascate del Mulino
From Montemerano to Saturnia. Your guide takes the group to the Cascate del Mulino: natural travertine pools fed by sulfur springs at 37.5°C, free to access. One of the few thermal landscapes in Europe that remains untouched and free for all to enjoy, though the Etruscans and Romans got there first! We ensure there’s plenty of time for a dip too.
Evening — Communal dinner at a certified organic estate
Dinner ends the day in the right place: a 420-hectare organic estate near Saturnia, AIAB-certified since 1994, where they raise Maremma cattle and Cinta Senese pigs (a heritage Tuscan breed), and grow ancient grains milled in the farm’s own stone mill. On the table: acquacotta, pici all’aglione (hand-rolled pasta with garlic sauce), wild boar stew, old-fashioned desserts, and homemade amaro — all paired with Morellino di Scansano, the local DOCG Sangiovese red. Dinner is served at long wooden tables with the other guests of the estate.
Day 4 requires your own car or private driver: the distances aren’t bikeable. The only section on foot is Montemerano to Cascate del Mulino, on the nature trail.
Check-out · City of art or direct return
Check-out from the farm stay. The fifth day is left free to suit each guest’s plans.
Option A — Stop in a city of art
Option B — Direct return
All Day 5 transfers are quoted separately on request.
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