A Path Less Taken

Time and again our clients request the Cinque Terre — a destination in the Liguria region consisting of five seaside towns connected by historic walking paths. Alas, time and again, we must tell them that the best of the walking paths here have been closed and will remain so for sometime into the future due to disastrous rain and landslides one year ago.

Fortunately, the Cinque Terre is not the only place affording magnificent long-distance walking along the Italian coast. Indeed, the best coastal walking in all Italy is on the Amalfi Coast — especially for those who are accompanied by this man, whose hands you see below

who brings along his own home-grown, organic appeso tomatoes

as a succulent mid-morning snack for the lucky individuals who have joined him on one of Europe’s great mountain trails.

The walk on which he will take you, as an Insider’s client, will last about four hours and is never rushed. It is not a difficult walk.

Even in peak summertime, you will find few people here. You will hear the sound of goat bells (not the noise of tour groups) and the faint whoosh of the wings of the rare falcons who circle around the mountain cliffs. You will see a remote monastery with its terraced olive groves and vineyards.

And as you walk, smell wild herbs underfoot.  Last weekend the early autumn cyclamen were everywhere.

There are ample opportunities to stop, gaze, listen, think.

Or dream.

Or read.

Like all of the concierges, hotel owners, restaurant owners and artisans to whom we will introduce you, this man is a dear friend.  And we would be so pleased to share with you the program of special Insider’s Italy adventures, including this most remarkable passeggiata in the mountains above the Amalfi Drive.

Every trip we plan has at its heart the idea of sustainability — developing a real feel for each location, its landscape and its people — and avoiding fast, senseless travel where thoughtless consumption of a place and its resources sets the agenda.

No place do we feel this more than on the Amalfi coast, where our travellers, with our help, develop a real ”sense of place”, and in so doing, have a trip that is significantly more delightful and memorable.