Welcome to my space dedicated to Italy
A country I consider my homeland, even though I have happily built my life in Switzerland.
I am Stefano. I grew up surrounded by the colours, flavours, and contradictions of the Italian peninsula, and no matter how many years pass, that attachment never loosens. If anything, distance has sharpened it. Living abroad forces you to see your own country through new eyes — to notice what makes it irreplaceable, and to seek it out with a kind of deliberate attention you rarely bother with when something has always been there.
That attention is what drives every itinerary on this site.
Why Italian Backroads exists
Travel platforms are full of itineraries. Type any Italian destination into a search engine and you will find the same five things to do, the same three restaurants to try, the same photographs that everyone else has already taken. None of that is wrong — but it is not what this site is about.
Italian Backroads exists because there is another Italy, one that takes a little longer to reach and rewards the effort enormously. Medieval villages that have not changed in five hundred years. Wine valleys that produce bottles celebrated around the world, but where the winemaker still walks out to meet you in dusty boots. Coastlines where the only sound is the water. Thermal springs visited by the Romans and still almost entirely unknown to foreign travellers.
I have spent years mapping this Italy — not from a desk, but from the road, the table, the breakfast room of an agriturismo at seven in the morning. Every itinerary I write here has been lived before it was written.
How the itineraries work
Each route is designed for independent travellers who want to move at their own pace. I choose a starting point, a rhythm, and a set of places that genuinely repay the visit — then I tell you honestly what you will find there, where to sleep, where to eat, and what to look for that you might otherwise miss.
The recommendations are personal. I have stayed in the hotels I suggest, eaten in the restaurants I mention, and driven the roads I describe. When something does not meet the standard, it does not make the list. Every detail — from the best hour to visit a vineyard to the table closest to the window — comes from direct experience, not from a press release.
Stefano's itineraries, and the ones the AI writes
I cannot drive every road in Italy myself — not yet. So the site works in two layers. The itineraries marked Verified ✓ are mine: written from my own trips, and the first thing you will see whenever there is one near the place you search for.
For everywhere else, an AI writes you a first draft of a route, following the same rules I follow — no mainstream hotspots, no chain hotels, no Instagram queues — and it is labelled as AI-generated so you always know which is which. Treat those as a good starting point, not a guarantee. If you find a place that has closed, a road that has changed, or a spot that has become too touristy, tell us right on the page: enough reports and we quietly stop suggesting it.
About Stefano
I am Stefano, the founder and sole voice behind Italian Backroads. Born and raised in Italy, I now live in Switzerland — which gives me both the insider knowledge of a local and the fresh eyes of someone who returns to Italy with intention and curiosity. My professional background combines a long experience in the travel industry with a lifelong obsession with regional Italian culture: its food, its architecture, its wine, and above all its people.
Over the years I have built a personal network of trusted hotels, agriturismi, restaurants, and hidden corners across every region. This network does not come from sponsorship agreements or press trips — it comes from going back, again and again, and paying my own bill.
Get in touch
Questions, suggestions, a trip experience you want to share? I read everything. Write to me at info@italianbackroads.ch.
