Experience Authentic Tuscany with Access Culinary Trips + Special Offer

Our TV series relies on underwriters to make our programming possible. A very special thank you to Access Culinary Trips for supporting the new Dream of Italy: Tuscan Sun Special on PBS. Award-winning Access Culinary Trips creates one-of-a-kind vacations in the world’s most exciting places. They’re passionate about food because cuisine is the best way to authentically experience other cultures, connecting us to the people, traditions, and history of the places we visit.

I’m excited to tell you about their popular Tuscany vacation. It’s based in enchanting Cortona, the picturesque town at the heart of my Tuscan Sun Special and home to author Frances Mayes and her beloved Bramasole.

Savor Iconic Tuscany with Access Culinary Trips

The reason I’m so excited about this culinary tour is that it’s a Dream of Italy itinerary come to life. Just imagine your favorite parts of my Tuscan Sun Special, and that’s what you’ll experience on their 5-day Tuscany culinary vacation. 

You’ll walk along the same ancient cobbled streets of Cortona and its surroundings, a timeless journey through timeless medieval villages. You’ll take in the iconic Tuscan tapestry of rolling hills, vineyards and villas, meandering roads, endless sky. And because this is Access Culinary Trips, you’ll be tasting and sipping and savoring all the while. A visit to Talosa winery’s cellars takes you to a wine-tasting accompanied by local pecorino cheese and bruschetta in an ancient Etruscan cavern below the town square of Montepulciano.

View Tuscany Itinerary

Remember the brilliant chef, Silvia Baracchi, featured on our PBS special? Access Culinary Trips guests can stop in and say hello to her. Your itinerary includes a special four-course dinner at Silvia’s beautiful Michelin-starred Il Falconiere restaurant. Foodies will be in heaven.

Of course, it’s all about the food with Access Culinary Trips—but not just fancy food. You’ll meet greengrocers, butchers, beekeepers, and farmers. You’ll spend the day with a truffle farmer. You’ll go out into the woodlands with him and his special truffle-hunting dogs to find delicacies for dinner. Back at the farm, he’ll put on his chef clothes and cook up the tastiest lunch of farm-milled pasta with truffle and brown-butter sage. Paired with his own lovely wines, grown and produced on site.

It’s making my mouth water just thinking about it!

You don’t have to take my word for it. Access Culinary Trips is top-tier, experts in culinary travel with accolades coming from all corners: The New York Times, Forbes, TripAdvisor’s SmarterTravel, Fodor’s, and National Geographic Traveler. But between you and me, the most important measure is this: consistent 5-star customer reviews. They care about every detail of their unique itineraries, from the boutique accommodations to the way food connects you authentically with local people and traditions.

Europe and Beyond with Access Culinary Trips

The folks at Access Culinary Trips know food is about more than just cooking and eating: It’s a way of life. Certainly that’s true for Tuscany, but also other places in Europe, and beyond.

A sampling of the dreamy destinations Access Culinary Trips can take you to:

Sicily: 6 days in the romantic towns of Val di Noto, a region doubly blessed with a thriving food and wine scene as well as epic scenery—baroque architecture, ancient ruins, and unspoiled beaches. The traditional foods of the surrounding countryside are having a renaissance.

View Sicily Itinerary

Spain: 7 days in magical Catalonia. From the bustling markets and tucked away neighborhoods of Barcelona, head north along the Costa Brava to medieval hill towns and seaside villages, where generations of food producers introduce you authentic, intimate Spain.

View Spain Itinerary

Croatia: 9 days exploring the old-world traditions that mingle with European sophistication within Croatia’s ancient stone walled cities. Exciting, urban Dubrovnik, as well as sleepy, atmospheric villages showcase abundance from the Adriatic—oysters, lobsters—as well as lush vineyards and farms of the hills.

View Croatia Itinerary

Thank you again to Access Culinary Trips for their support.