The tour

A numenvia tour is about recharging through conviviality and beautiful, participatory experiences — making cheese or pasta, finding truffles in the woods. And the best guides are the creators who do these things not as a performance, but because it is who they are.

At Fattoria Bistecca, near Cortona, you’ll make cheese by hand with Ilaria and her father Lapo — the same Lapo whose sheep appeared in the movie, Under the Tuscan Sun. Then Ilaria prepares a lunch with hyper-local products from the farm, including the cheese that you made.

At Podere il Casale, Ulisse and Sandra produce pecorino exclusively from their own sheep and goats. No shortcuts. Ulisse is a shepherd, but he’s a teacher too.

Pamela Sheldon Johns moved to Val d’Orcia from California over forty years ago and settled at Poggio Etrusco, near Montepulciano. She’s the internationally-known author of 17 cookbooks, and an expert on cucina povera — the traditional peasant cooking of the region, with seasonal, simple ingredients.

The three sisters at Puscina started their flower farm in 2014, when nobody was growing seasonal, organic flowers in Tuscany. After collecting and arranging beautiful flowers, we have lunch under their old olive tree, and it’s a highlight of the entire tour.

The week ends at Azienda Tornesi in Montalcino, a small family winery where Valentina, Elisa, and their father Gino pour Brunello and Elisa’s mother cooks the farewell lunch.

In between, there’s Pienza — the Renaissance “ideal city.” Bagno Vignoni, where a thermal bath sits in the middle of a medieval square. Castiglione d’Orcia, a hilltop village that’s one of the last true hidden gems of the region. And the ancient Abbazia di Sant’Antimo.

My tours are never rushed — you have space to breathe, to talk, to soak in the silence.