Privacy Policy

Italian Backroads (“we”, “us”) operates italianbackroads.ch. This page explains what information we collect when you use the site, why, and who we share it with. We're based in Switzerland and aim to meet both Swiss data protection law and the EU GDPR for our European visitors.

What we collect

Searches: the destination and number of days you search for, so we can generate or retrieve an itinerary. We also count searches per IP address (anonymous visitors) or per account (registered users) to enforce the free-tier limit.

Feedback: if you report an issue on a stop, restaurant, or place to stay, we store the itinerary, day, item name, and the text you write.

Email address: if you register (magic-link, no password) or sign up for the newsletter. Registered accounts are used to track your monthly free-search allowance and, if you opt in, to send you the emails described below.

Payment information: if the paid tier is active and you buy a single itinerary or Day Pass, Stripe processes your payment directly — we never see or store your card details.

Technical data: your IP address (for rate-limiting and fraud prevention) and standard browser information collected automatically by our hosting and security providers.

Cookies & local storage

Essential — used to run the site: your login session, and a local counter of today's free searches. These are set regardless of the choice you make in the cookie banner, since the site can't function without them.

Analytics — only set if you accept “all cookies” in the banner. Google Analytics counts visits and shows us which pages are read, in aggregate; your IP address is not stored in full.
Advertising — only set if you accept “all cookies” in the banner. Google AdSense may set cookies to show and measure ads; you can change your choice at any time by clearing your browser's site data for italianbackroads.ch.

Security — Google reCAPTCHA sets a cookie to distinguish humans from bots on search submissions. We treat this as essential, since it protects the site from abuse.

Who we share data with

We use the following services to run Italian Backroads. Each processes only what's needed for its role and has its own privacy policy:

Anthropic (itinerary generation) — your search destination and day count are sent to generate an itinerary when one isn't already in our database.
Supabase (database & login) — stores itineraries, feedback, and account data.
OpenStreetMap & OSRM — map tiles and driving routes for the stops shown on each itinerary day are loaded from OpenStreetMap's and the OSRM project's servers, which receive your IP address and the map area you view.
Unsplash — supplies the hero photo for each itinerary.
Google reCAPTCHA — verifies searches aren't automated abuse.
Google Analytics — measures visits to the site, only after you accept the cookie banner.
Google AdSense — shows ads, only after you accept the cookie banner.
Stripe — processes payments, if and when the paid tier is active.
Resend — sends account, newsletter, and alert emails.
Vercel — hosts the site.
Affiliate partners (via CJ Affiliate) — when you click a Booking.com, Hotels.com, Trip.com, GetYourGuide or similar travel link, the click is routed through CJ's tracking service to the partner. They receive the click and may set their own cookies to credit us for a booking; we do not send them your name or email.

We do not sell your personal data to anyone.

Your rights

You can ask us to access, correct, or delete the personal data we hold about you, or object to a specific use of it, by emailing info@italianbackroads.ch. Registered users can also unsubscribe from emails at any time via the link in each message.

Data retention

Feedback reports and search-count data are kept as long as needed to keep itinerary information accurate and to enforce fair usage, and are periodically reviewed for deletion. Account data is kept until you ask us to delete it.

Children

Italian Backroads is not directed at children, and we don't knowingly collect data from anyone under 16.

Changes to this policy

If we make material changes, we'll update the date at the top of this page. Continued use of the site after a change means you accept the updated policy.

Contact

Questions about this policy or your data: info@italianbackroads.ch