Welcome to the Italian Riviera!

Arrive in Liguria and check in at your five-star accommodations in Santa Margherita Ligure. The Santa Margherita Palace and Spa will be your home for the week. Relax and unpack, grab a drink at the hotel bar, or head to the spa or indoor pool before meeting the group. 

Get to know your fellow travelers and mix and mingle on the hotel’s terrace. Francesca, your full-time escort for the week, will welcome you with an aperitivo at the hotel, where you’ll meet your fellow travel companions and enjoy light bites. 

A group dinner with local wine awaits you tonight, where we will discuss the week ahead and start getting to know each other better. 

We will reach Camogli in a fun 5-minute train ride from Santa Margherita Ligure. Camogli is one of the most picturesque villages on the Italian Riviera, and you’re going to fall in love with this charming village immediately. Following our private guide, we will take a pleasant stroll in the town, from the spectacular promenade to the postcard picturesque fishing harbor to the oldest part of the village, perched on a rock. Camogli is the homeland of the Ligurian focaccia bread, a specialty of this area. We will stop at the most famous bakery and taste different kinds of freshly baked focaccia, such as plain, with olives, pesto, and the delicious cheese focaccia. 

After our time in Camogli, we return to Santa Margherita by train, which will only take a few minutes. Here, we will walk among painted facades and lush gardens in the elegant coastal town. During the tour, we will have a special tasting of local specialties, such as the famous pesto sauce and the typical vegetable pies. But we’re not yet finished; we will also try a unique local gelato, the “pinguino.“

Enjoy the late afternoon and evening at your leisure in town, or head to the spa, beach, or the hotel’s indoor pool!

Today, we will enjoy a fascinating private walking tour through the medieval “carrugi,” the alleys of Genoa’s historical center, discovering the “real” essence of this old town. Our culinary expert guide will lead us to ultra-centenarian food shops such as the old “friggitorie” serving friscieu (fried croquettes filled with herbs), farinata, fried fresh seafood, and the prestigious old pastry cafè where the famous composer Giuseppe Verdi loved to spend his time tasting the pastries. 

Then, our local culinary expert will welcome us in a noble palace to participate in a pesto making lesson with mortar and pestle, just as the tradition would have it. After the class, we will enjoy the fruits of your labor with pasta and some other local specialties. 

After lunch, we will spend some time in Genoa to admire all this beautiful city has to offer. Famous throughout the world as one of the most important capitals of northern Italy, Genoa offers cultural, character, and culinary delights. So often overlooked by the more glitzy Portofino, this will be the ideal town to walk off our hefty lunch!

Today, we explore three of the Cinque Terre villages with an insider’s touch. The Cinque Terre represents one of the most beautiful, unique, and incredible areas of the entire Mediterranean. This stretch of coast is about 7 miles long and is nestled between Genoa and La Spezia. There are five wonderful seaside villages surrounded by unspoiled nature, hence their name, Cinque Terre, or Five Lands. 

We will spend the morning visiting Vernazza and Manarola, two of the most iconic villages the national park offers. At lunch, we will reach a gorgeous wine estate nestled just above the village of Monterosso. It’s a true oasis of peace and tranquility surrounded by vineyards and olive trees. We will enjoy a delicious lunch with local specialties paired with the excellent Cinque Terre wines. Afterwards, we will take our time relaxing on the lawn, sipping limoncino prepared with the lemons you see around you. 

After lunch, we will take a walk through the narrow streets of the village of Monterosso until we reach the bright promenade and the Capuchin convent, from which we will enjoy a magnificent view of the bay. 

Be sure to have your camera charged for what is sure to be an Instagram-worthy day! 

After we meet our host and be welcomed with an aperitivo in Rapallo, we will head to his emporium filled with local specialties. We will then wander in the  narrow alleys of the picturesque old center of Rapallo and head towards the food market to learn about the ingredients of the local cuisine. We will then discover the traditional shops, from artisanal pasta, to focaccia, to many other bottegas that will delight our tastebuds. Finally, we will end our tour with a refreshing gelato.

We will then head towards one of Italy’s most adored villages, Portofino, for some time on your own to shop, relax or people-watch. Portofino is a favorite of stars and the rich and famous. So who knows who we might run into! 

Today, we return to the kitchen to cook! We will meet Valentina who has made the Ligurian culinary tradition her job as a writer and photographer of local cookbooks and we will learn directly from her to prepare some of the most famous Ligurian street food recipes. Valentina will welcome you in her cozy cottage with a magnificent view of the hills and the sea in the background.

Here everything revolves around the kitchen and we can breathe a very special atmosphere made of passion and love. From “focaccette” with cheese, to the Torta Pasqualina, to the famous Farinata made with chickpeas, you will discover the secrets of simple and delicious foods handed down for generations.

In the end, we will taste everything you have prepared accompanied by local wine for a fantastic lunch in the garden.

Today, you have some time on your own for exploring, relaxing, going to the beach or spa, packing or simply doing what Italians do best, enjoy La Dolce Vita! 

Later in the evening, we will meet as a group for our delicious farewell dinner.

Our time together is sadly winding down. Enjoy a leisurely breakfast at the hotel before checking out.