Hidden Italy Walking Tours

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Sydney, NSW
Hidden Italy Walking Tours

Guided and self-guided walking tours to Italy since 1993, from the Dolomites and Lakes in the north

Hidden Italy is based in Sydney, Australia, with our operational manager based in Tuscany. We have booking agents in Australia, New Zealand and the USA.

27/05/2025

Masseria Torcito is a fortified 17th century farmhouse built around a 12th century lookout tower in the Salento (southern Puglia) not far from Otranto. It was part of a defensive system designed to resist the raids by Ottoman Turks. It is surrounded by a beautiful forest crisscrossed by walking trails.

26/05/2025

Evening stroll in Otranto (southern Puglia) on the 2025 Puglia guided tour.

25/05/2025

A sailing day in the Salento (southern Puglia). Too cold for a swim but still a great day sailing with Silvia and the Capitani Coraggiosi (Captains Courageous) who also prepared some wonderful food!

23/05/2025

A coastal walk in the Salento (southern Puglia)

22/05/2025

For various reasons, Puglia doesn’t have a lot of important art, but hidden away in Galatina, a small farming town in the Salento district, the south of the region, is the second most extensive fresco cycle in Italy (after the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi). It was painted in the first half of the 1400s. It’s unexpected and fabulous!

21/05/2025

After two nights in Lecce (southern Puglia) we are heading to the coast for four days. Lecce is quite a grand town: its lanes and streets paved with travertine and its buildings intricately in a style known as Leccese Baroque. There no marble down here, so they developed a tradition of papier mache to portrait their saints. It’s still going strong.

18/05/2025

The Portoselvaggio Natural Park is eight kilometres east of Nardo in the Salento district of southern Puglia. I wrote about it our newsletter last, and here I am now in person!

It a beautiful stretch of coastline back by pine forests, one of the rare stretches of unspoilt coastal land in the Salento. In 1975, Baron Angelo Fumarola, who owned the property, proposed the tourist development of the area. This was hotly debated.

In 1984, councillor Renata Fonte, leader of the No vote, was shot dead outside her home. Although the murderer was never found, the killing was enough to galvanise support and the development was stopped and the parklands declared. The park is dedicated to her memory.

Lucky for us, because it is a very beautiful area with a network of walking trails and some lovely swimming places.

17/05/2025

“Thank you Gabriela for guiding us through your wonderful Sardinia with such knowledge, passion and enthusiasm. We will be back!” Carolyn, Sardinia guided tour (May 2025)

Places are still available on the 2026 Sardinia tour (8 to 20 May, 2026)

14/05/2025

Fava bean puree, tossed chicory and a glass of Negroamaro, it’s nice to be back in Lecce (Puglia)!

It was an epic 36 hour journey to get here: 14 hours from Sydney to Dubai; 4 hours in Dubai; 6 hours Dubai to Rome; 2 hours in Rome; and then 6 hours on the Frecciarossa train from Rome to Lecce, but, it was all worth it!

07/05/2025

Day 4 on the Trails to Freedom hike (in the Italian Alps) is a big day (12 kms with a 1400 metre climb) but the rewards are great - you get to stay at one of my favourite places on the planet: Rifugio Rivetti. Sleeping conditions are a bit ‘cosy’ but the food is fabulous, the vibe exhilarating and you just can’t beat the views!

Trails to Freedom (10 days hiking in the Italian Alps, 24 August to 2September, 2025)

06/05/2025

“We loved each town we went to. The castle at Sperlinga was especially memorable. We loved the beautiful countryside that the walks took us through. The people we met at each stop were also a highlight. There was nothing we didn’t love!”

Leslie W, Sicily 1 self-guided walk: the mountainsin the heart of Sicily (7 days/6 nights, from Nicosia to Petralia Soprana)

05/05/2025

Umbria is known as the ‘green heart of Italy’ for good reason. Our Umbria 1 tour is a gorgeous walk from Assisi to Spoleto. It takes you through classic Umbrian countryside of rolling hills covered in forest, olive groves and wheat fields and staying in beautiful medieval towns and villages. Of course, no visit to Umbria would be complete without savouring their porchetta, slow roasted pork.

Umbria 1 is the first section of the three week ‘Cammino of St Francis’ tour, which starts in Assisi and finishes in front of the Vatican in Rome.

“We have just come to the end of our walk and we have loved it all the way.” Julie A, Umbria 1

Address

PO Box 1091
Sydney, NSW
2010

Website

http://www.hiddenitaly.com.au/

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Hidden Italy walking tours has been organising small walking groups and independent walkers in Italy (and now Australia and New Zealand) since 1993: fine food, boutique accommodation, exceptional walking...

Italy: Staying in 4-star boutique hotels, our nine, all-inclusive, two-week, guided walking tour explore the south (Sardinia, Campania, Sicily and Puglia) in the spring and the north (Valle d'Aosta, Piedmont, the Italian Lakes, the Dolomites and Fruili Venezia Giulia) in autumn. Click here for details. Our twenty-two, one-week self-guided walking tours explore all of Italy, from the Lakes in the north to Sicily in the south, and are available all year round. Click here for details.

Australasia: Given the difficulties with international travel at the moment, we have developed some Australasian-based, all-inclusive, one-week ‘gourmet escapes’: 4-star, boutique, accommodation; great walks; fine food and wine; good company, all with an Italian twist. The tours include: Wollombi and the Hunter Valley (NSW); King Valley and the Victorian Highlands (VIC); McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills (SA); Adelaide and Flinders Range (SA); and Auckland and Waiheke Island (NZ) - and more to come! Click here for details.