As an addendum to a May 2026 trip to Italy, I decided to add a food and wine tour at the end in Emilia Romagna, which is famous for its culinary excellence. Unfortunately, my husband was unable to join me at the last minute. Our group was nine in total (my husband being the absent number 10), all of whom had found this tour via the same route: highly recommended by a friend or relative who had done it previously. Six guests were a family of adults; the other two were women, one of whom was a culinary-trained chef. All were from the US.
The tour was offered by Bluone in Italy (bluone.com) run by a Bologna-based couple, Marcello and Raffaella Tori. Marcello is a travel agent who dreamed up the idea of sharing his native Emilia Romagna cuisine with travelers many years ago. They are deeply loved and well-connected residents of Bologna and are genuinely lovely people who instantly become your friends. The tour was reasonable: €3,290, which covered transfers, hotels, most meals with wine, and all guided tours for seven days. We were free to pick our entrees from the menus and order a cocktail, appetizer, and dessert, if we desired. Often the group shared their dishes
Bluone runs a variety of tours like this one in other regions like the Veneto, Abruzzo, Umbria, and Puglia. They can customize your group tour, too. Marcello accompanies guests on all excursions to ensure that everyone has an enjoyable time.
Bologna, Dozza, and Forlimpopoli
We stayed at the lovely and gracious Phi Hotel (phihotelbologna.com), which, while conveniently located steps from Bologna’s main square, was on a quiet street. It had a wonderful restaurant called Atipico Osteria, which was connected to the lobby and offered local specialties. The pasta was homemade and the restaurant sells it in a nearby shop. I found it fun to explore the many small streets near our hotel where delicious food was available from small cafes, delis, and vendors selling fruit, vegetables, pasta, and fish. These streets were filled with people either grazing or having an aperitif or gelato. We were advised to buy our gelato only from cremerias, where authentic gelato is made as many inferior versions are sold nowadays.
The tour started on a Sunday with a group meet and greet in the hotel lobby followed by a guided tour of historic, downtown Bologna. All our breakfasts were at this hotel. The choices were vast and cheerful baristas prepared fresh orange juice or coffee to order. Mornings started early, but rarely before 7:45am. Transportation was on small private buses. The drivers seemed to be good friends with Marcello as did the cabbie who greeted me at the train station.
Monday morning our destination was a family-run olive grove (saporidelpodere.it) in the lovely hills surrounding Bologna. In this bucolic setting, we had an olive oil tasting and snacks on the terrace overlooking their olive grove. We learned how to recognize fine, authentic olive oil and many of us bought bottles of the Caparbio extra virgin organic olive oil. Next, we visited the tiny village of Dozza, considered to be one of the most beautiful small towns in all of Italy. It’s famous for being an open-air museum of murals painted on the outside of the buildings all over the city, each signed and dated by the artist who created it. Like many neighboring towns, it celebrates its historic fortress.
Lunch was a picnic under the pine trees at a family-run, third-generation winery featuring Albana, Sangiovese, and Trebbiano wines. We were welcomed by the young couple who run the Giovannini Winery (vinigiovannini.it) and their son who served us lunch--more friends of Marcello. The vineyard had fabulous views, and we were invited to visit the cellar.
The final destination of the day was Forlimpopoli, with its 16th-century castle, for a pasta-making class. The Casa Artusi (casartusi.it) is a restaurant and cooking school made famous by a visit from Stanley Tucci. We each had our own helper to assist us in learning the techniques. Later we were served a delicious dinner using the pasta that we had made
Cheese, Parma, and Vinegar Tastings
Day three began with a visit to a caseificio, (dairy processing plant) where we learned about the production of Parmigiano Reggiano, the King of Cheeses. This was followed by a Lambrusco wine tasting paired with Parmigiano Reggiano of different ages.
Next, we visited Parma and a small producer of authentic Prosciutto di Parma, owned and run by another personal friend of Marcello. We learned how a fresh pork leg becomes a perfectly aged prosciutto. Lunch featuring prosciutto and other local specialties was in nearby Langhirano at Trattoria della Gallina (trattoriadellagallina.com).
In the afternoon we took an interesting walking tour of historic Parma, which included a visit to the main church and the opera house where we sat in on a rehearsal. Dinner back in Bologna was at Marcello and Raffaella’s favorite pizza parlor, Incrocia Montegrappa (no website).
On day four, our destination was the Modena region where we visited a family-run producer of the famous balsamic vinegar. Villa San Donnino (villasandonnino.it) is on the grounds of a family villa, and we saw many barrels of vinegar at various stages of aging and tasted some aged two, six, 12, and 25 years. We learned how to recognize the real product and couldn’t resist buying several bottles.
Then we traveled to Castelvetro, in the heart of Lambrusco Grasparossa, to the Fattoria Moretto Winery (fattoriamoretto.it) where we were greeted by the owners, toured the vineyards and cellar, and had another Lambrusco tasting with snacks.
Next, we dined at the wonderful Ristorante Zoella (ristorantezoello.it) in nearby Settecani. It had many patrons and a shiny, new red Ferrari parked out front. We did not visit it, but the Ferrari Museum is near Settecani, and one can visit the factory and even drive a Ferrari.
We were on our own for the rest of the afternoon and evening. During our Bologna walking tour on Sunday, we visited the Jazz Walk of Fame, which featured jazz greats who either lived or performed in Bologna. Some in our group chose to visit a late-night jazz supper club.
Truffles, Gelato, and Touring
The next day we were driven through the hills and canyons to Agriturismo Il Munino (agriturismoilmulino.net), a small family-run restaurant. After a truffle hunt with their dogs in the nearby woods, we enjoyed a delicious meal featuring truffles on their lovely patio. Marcello and Raffaella’s daughter, son-in-law, and young granddaughter, joined us for this wonderfully relaxing afternoon.
Later we continued on to Ravenna, an Adriatic town that is world-renowned for its Byzantine mosaics. We visited three of its eight UNESCO World Heritage sites and some chose to shop in the main square afterwards. Dinner was in Ravenna at one of the oldest osterias in Italy, Ca’ de’ Ven (cadeven.it).
On day six we journeyed to Carpigiani to visit the Gelato Museum (gelatomuseum.com). This is primarily a school where courses are held at its Gelato University. All courses are weeks long and are for professionals. We attended a shortened class about how to make artisanal gelato and sorbetto, which included recipes. Then we formed teams and made four different flavors of gelato ourselves. This was lots of fun and not as judgmental as the pasta making! Lunch was light so that we could save room for our special farewell dinner.
The afternoon was free for us to continue exploring Bologna. Many chose to visit the famous Sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin of San Luca (santuariodisanluca.it) on a hill overlooking the city. To get there, you could take the tram from the main square or walk under the nearly 2.5 miles of portico, as one couple ventured to do. This is the longest such portico in the world with over 600 archways; Bologna is renowned for being a city of shady porticos with over 33 miles of them!
Marcello grew up in Imola and dinner was at the town’s elegant, two-Michelin-star restaurant, San Domenico (sandomenico.it). The owner, Valentino, is a childhood friend of his. Valentino welcomed us with a champagne and an hors d’oeuvres tasting in his vast but charming wine cellar, which we were told is one of the largest in Italy. His nephew Massiliano (Max) Mascia is the current chef. We dined upstairs on many amazing courses and concluded the day with a late-night drive back to Bologna.
Day seven, Saturday, was breakfast and farewells to this fun group, so inclusive of me as a solo traveler. Once again, Marcello provided a cheerful driver to the nearby train station or the airport.
All in all, I give this relaxing and interesting tour five stars! It was so different from other, mostly sightseeing trips to Italy that I have taken.