We went to Italy over the summer and I discovered the world of Agriturismo which translates, unsurprisingly, into agricultural tourism in english (it just doesn’t sound as good).
Some friends were coming to visit from Australia and rather than stay in London we wanted to go somewhere none of us had been before, so we went to the Dolomites in Italy.
Hiking in Italy was unlike any I’ve done in Australia or the UK – you stroll past grazing cows, wander through valleys, hike up a few steep rocky slopes and then you reach a bar! Well a refugio really, which I had expected to be low key shelters but were instead these amazing buildings, often perched on the edge of cliffs and serving housemade pasta, beer and ricotta cake.
Hiking also involves stumbling across Malga (what I later found to mean alpine hut), where you can stop, eat too much home-made cheese and speck (from a relative of the pig in the nearby field) and then work it off as you continue up the mountain.
We found this farm whilst hiking from Passo Sella, where a diversion in the path, a post with a menu attached and an arrow down the hill made our decision for us.
360° of cheese 