Cyclist Seeks Puglian Cheese and Curious Cows
Selecting a bonus “theme” to take with me on my ExperiencePlus! cycling trips has always enhanced my excitement and sense of discovery about an area. When I found out I ...
A Taste of Aphrodisiac Diamonds on Tour
By ExperiencePlus! Tour Leader Pia de Richemont What did Marilyn Monroe, Mussolini and President Truman have in common? Fame? Certainly. Insomnia? Quite likely. But the three of them also sharedFull Story
Discover a Whole New Tuscany
We have a secret to share — there is a little corner of Tuscany that has remained undiscovered where the bicycling is fantastic, far gentler than in the rest of ...
Bicycling the Italian Lakes
Several years ago a friend gave me a fridge magnet featuring the Madonna del Ghisallo – the Patron Saint of Bicyclist. I was thrilled and immediately affixed the magnet to ...
Accommodations We Love – Part 7
If our itinerary descriptions have whetted your appetite and you’re starting to daydream, let us help you set the stage with these splendid backdrops. Proudly announcing Accommodations We Love Part ...
Machiavelli By Ross King
Reviewed by ExperiencePlus! traveler Bill Giovinazzo. When our ExperiencePlus! bike tour passed through Florence I happened to notice the statue of Niccolo Machiavelli outside of the Uffizi Museum. He had the ...
40th Anniversary Bike Across Italy
By ExperiencePlus! traveler Tamsen Granger I just got back from the ExperiencePlus! 40th Anniversary Bike Across Italy Tour – Pisa to Venice- what a trip! It was 12 days of extraordinary ...
Spring Salad
This recipe comes to us from our friends at Cooking Vacations Italy and takes advantage of the spring harvest including fava beans, lemon balm, mint, chives, radishes, spinach, lettuce and ...
Accommodations We Love – Part 6
We’ve chosen several multi-night stays in this edition of Accommodations We Love. We don’t stay longer at these hotels because we fear you’ll never want to leave! Read up on hotels ...
A Healing Journey
By ExperiencePlus! Traveler Sally LaVenture Our dream had been to ride bikes through the Italian countryside on my 60th birthday. But life got in the way, or really I should say, ...
Nearly Gone
Picture this – you know that you are going to take a bicycle tour with ExperiencePlus! this year, you’ve even honed in on where you want to go, you might ...
Via Emilia – road to Italian culinary history
By Jeff Greenwald. Writer Jeff Greenwald joined ExperiencePlus! on a combined and modified version of our Bicycling Venice to Florence and Cycling Italy’s Culinary Delights: Emilia Romagna Plus! Bologna itineraries that ...
The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior
by Paul Strathren. Reviewed by ExperiencePlus! traveler Bill Giovinazzo. When we rode across Italy we cycled over roads and through towns that were thousands of years old, areas that have seen ...
How I Bicycled Across Italy In 12 Days
By ExperiencePlus! traveler JR Meda June 11: My wife, Cheri and I had waited a year to finally fly from Denver to Frankfurt, Germany on the 1st segment of our dream ...
The Tigress of Forlí
The Tigress of Forlì: Renaissance Italy’s most Courageous and Notorious Countess, Caterina Riario Sforza de’ Medici By Elizabeth Lev, 2011 Review by Paola Malpezzi Price I grew up hearing the story of ...
Adventures in Tuscany
June Wheeler and her partner Peter Herzog hail from the flatlands of Minnesota and completed their 7th ExperiencePlus! tour, Bicycling the Best of Southern Tuscany Plus! Florence in September 2011. ...
Simplicity In Italy
Photographer Rebecca Brown is not a cyclist, but was excited to accompany her dad on our 2011 Cycling Coastal Tuscany and made the most of her opportunity to capture the ...
Cotechino Sausage with Lentils
Cotechino Sausage with Lentils Though our recipe is a little late for your New Year’s celebration, we thought we’d go ahead and share this traditional New Year’s dish that combines ...
Panpepato or Pepper Bread
Though the origins of Panpepato aren’t certain one theory is that Sister Berta adapted a Panforte recipe when Siena was under siege and instead of using fresh fruit, she used ...
Accommodations We Love – Part 3
Bicycling Chile’s Wine Country Plus! The Pacific Coast: In the Chilean hills with an expanse of vineyards in view sits Tabonko, a wine estate with rustic guest houses, which serves as ...
Accommodations We Love – Part 1
ExperiencePlus! has added one more piece of information to our itineraries to enhance the fun and excitement of choosing your next bike trip – you can now check out the ...
Risotto with Pear, Gorgonzola, & Walnuts
This month’s recipe comes to us from tour leader Enrico Dal Monte who you may have met on tour in Belgium, Italy, France or Spain. Pears are in season so ...
New Culinary and Cycling Tour in Italy
If we’ve learned one thing at ExperiencePlus! over the past forty years it is that our cyclists love to eat. So it was no surprise in 1991 when a group ...
Exciting Cycling Opportunities in the Italian Lakes
Tell your friends that you are going bicycling in the “Lake District” and most of them will think of England and the romantic English poets like Coleridge and Wordsworth. But ...
40th Anniversary Bicycle Tour of Italy
Back in 1972 ExperiencePlus! offered the first-ever commercial bicycle tour in Italy and on June 6 – 17, 2012 we invite you to help us celebrate our 40-year anniversary with ...
Piadina or Flatbread
Piadina* or Flatbread Ingredients: 5 cups (500 grams) of unbleached flour, soft flour if you can find it 2 teaspoons (10 grams) salt 5/8 cup (70 grams) of rendered lard (or scant half cup ...
The Leopard by Giuseppe Di Lampedusa
Reviewed by ExperiencePlus! Traveler and regular contributor to the Rambler Newsletter, Bill Giovinazzo. In May of 1860 one thousand “Garibaldini”, or Redshirts, sailed from Genoa to Marsala to free the idyllic ...
Strawberry Lasagna with Cream
Serves Four Sponge Cake: 3 egg yolks 1/3 cup sugar pinch of salt 3 egg whites 3/4 cup flour Zest from half an orange The Filling: 1 cup of fresh strawberries 2 tablespoons of lemon juice 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar 3/4 ...
The Italians by Luigi Barzini
Reviewed by ExperiencePlus! Traveler Bill Giovinazzo. I know there is a God. I know that he/she is good, kind, and loving. There is no doubt in my mind about this fact. ...
Bicycling Italy’s Veneto and the Dolomites – ...
Each year at least one or two of our travelers registers for a bicycling trip that they’ve done previously. With so many places in the world to bicycle, we wonder, ...
Celebrate Italy’s 150th Birthday
As the ExperiencePlus! Italia 150 bicycling expedition begins May 7th in Marsala, Sicily we thought it would be the perfect time for all of us to acknowledge Italy’s unification. Unfortunately ...
Per la Cena or What’s for Dinner?
An interview with Bea Tassinari who coordinates meals on ExperiencePlus! Bicycle Tours in Italy. Bea can you tell us a little about the process of deciding what’s for dinner on a ...
Soufflé of Parmesan Cheese
Sformato di Parmigiano or Soufflé of Parmesan Cheese We often receive requests from customers who have eaten something fabulous on tour and are hopeful that we can find or have a ...
Bicycling the Best of Southern Tuscany Plus …
Wanting to share some of the best of Italy, the ExperiencePlus! Italian tour leaders and I desired to develop a cycling tour that would combine the most exciting areas of ...
The Italia 150 ExpeditionPlus! Bicycle Ride
Covers the Length of Italy While Italians may continue to bicker over whether Giuseppe Garibaldi made a huge mistake 150 years ago in uniting the South of Italy with the North, ...
Ragú Pasta Sauce
Ragú is comfort food Italian style for the Malpezzi Price family. Simple ingredients combine to form a delicious sauce for your favorite pasta. A dinner mainstay (leftovers are even better!) ...
Brunelleschi’s Dome by Ross King
Reviewed by ExperiencePlus! Customer Bill Giovanazzo. She lay there, basking in the sun of a Tuscan August. Her beauty is beyond any of her kind. She is the queen of the ...
A Bell for Adano by John Hersey
Reviewed by ExperiencePlus! Customer Bill Giovanazzo Italy, Italia, is unique in the world. From the voluptuous bosom of the Tuscan hills to the fishing towns on Apulia’s Adriatic coast, the culture ...
Potato Soup with a Mediterranean Twist
The common potato is a simple winter vegetable that makes an innovative, warm and creamy soup if paired with a tangy Mediterranean fruit like the olive. The best type of ...
Bicycle through History in Sicily in Preparation for ...
Sicily looms large in the minds of Americans when they think of Italy because this, the largest island in the Mediterranean region, sent something like a million and a half ...
Summer Couscous with Seafood
This recipe comes from the kitchen of Paola’s nephew, Claudio Malpezzi and the staff at the Titon Restaurant in Cesenatico, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Some of you may be interested in the ...
Cycling and Eating through the Piedmont Region of Italy
When people ask me what my favorite bike tour in Italy is, I always say Venice to Florence or Venice to Pisa because I think it is such a great ...
What To Do With 36 Hours in Florence
We’re often asked how to make the most of a brief opportunity to see Europe’s cities. This month, Rick provides a detailed answer for one of the best: Florence. (If ...
What to do with 36 hours in Turin, Italy
What to do with 36 hours in Turin, Italy We’re often asked how to make the most of a brief opportunity to see Europe’s cities. This month, we provide a detailed ...
A Day at the “Farm” the ExperiencePlus! ...
by Sylva Florence Aperitivo: espresso. Someone – half awake – spilled espresso grounds everywhere. Waking up just like the rest of us, the little black espresso machine groans and sprays a fine ...
How to Spend 36 Hours in Venice
A local recommends how to spend 36 hours in Venice ExperiencePlus! tour leader, Sara Verlicchi shares her secrets on how to get the most or your 36 hour stay in Venice. We ...
Panforte with Hazelnut & Almonds
“Panforte” means “tough bread” in Italian. It is somewhat similar to a Christmas fruit cake, American-style. Panforte and Panettone are the ultimate Christmas or holiday Italian dessert. Panforte is originally ...
Salame al Cioccolato
(literally translated as Chocolate Salami) ExperiencePlus! is proud to share this recipe from the Agriturismo il Rigo located in Val d’Orcia near San Quirico d’Orcia. ExperiencePlus! stopped there for dinner on ...
Parmesan and Radicchio Salad
Parmesan and Radicchio Salad Radicchio is a very prevalent Italian winter vegetable (mostly grown October through February in north-eastern Italy) and comes in several different shapes and sizes—almost always red and ...
Acquacotta or Tuscan Soup
Acquacotta or Tuscan Soup Literally, ‘acquacotta’ means ‘cooked water’. This is the Tuscan version of ‘Stone soup’. This was once a very humble soup made out of a little tomato, onion ...
