The Keepers Itinerary

Growing Together

Langhe-Roero, Italy
Italy

The Keepers

For The Keepers of Langhe-Roero, a pocket of rolling hills and forests in northwestern Italy, food represents a deep relationship between the community and the land that sustains them. And it comes with a lot of well-deserved pride.

It’s something you can feel in how they talk and the energy they radiate – through the produce they farm and forage to the animals they care for and nurture. Across vineyards and hillsides, this new generation of Keepers follow a way of life that’s part of a long and far-reaching tradition, where every hazelnut, truffle and pail of milk is produced with passion. And a library of inherited knowledge.

But they’re also making it new – taking what’s “past” and anchoring it to a future of organic and regenerative farming. In so doing, they’re reviving this quiet corner of Italy into a center for the Slow Food Movement.

And this trip invites you to see how they work, live and think – understanding what it means to rely on the land. In the words of Paolo, one of the Keepers you’ll meet, the food they grow and eat here “is a postcard of the mountains, the woods, the territory”. You’ll walk away with a totally recalibrated appreciation for the food we eat and the natural landscapes we depend on.

When

April - October

Price

From $7,000pp excl. flights
Price includes all accommodation, experiences, guiding and transfers. Based on travelling off-peak and may increase if travelling over peak season. Price excludes international flights but these can be arranged on request. See here for more information.
(based on 4 ppl sharing)

How long

5 nights
Ideal length

Roero

Roero sits on the northern bank of the Tanaro River, directly across from the better-known Langhe wine country (which you might know for its Barolo wine). This is a region still defined by the people who work the land: small-scale wine producers, organic farm families, hazelnut cultivators, truffle hunters and goat-herders following methods of production that haven’t changed for generations.

Day 1
Arrival

Landing in Milan, we’ll bring you by private transfer to your private home, in the heart of the Roero hills, where you’ll be settling in for the full five nights of your trip. You’ll be at the center of everything.

Tonight, you’ll be getting your bearings with dinner at a much-beloved local trattoria. The kind of family-owned, family-run restaurant that’s been serving Piedmontese locals for years. This is your first proper taste of the fruits of the land. Over the following days, you’ll be meeting the people who, quite literally, put the food on your plate.

Day 2
The Roots of the Land

Your day begins at sunrise in the company of Elettra – a cultivator of hazelnuts. Sharing breakfast together, you’ll learn, and taste, how this deceptively simple nut, a symbol as much as an ingredient, occupies a central place in the local diet. Following breakfast, you’ll venture to Elettra’s orchard, which has been in her family for generations. She’ll show you the trees that grow these small but essential nuts and teach you about the patience and intuition required to farm them. Together, you’ll find your way to the heart of her orchard underneath a 400-year-old chestnut tree whose fruits have fed locals for generations.

Day 2 continued

Leaving Elettra behind, you’ll spend the afternoon learning about the wines that have made this region famous, guided by a local who has a special passion for its distinctive terroir. Talking and walking and tasting alongside them, you’ll see how soil, climate and time produce wines of rare character. It’s a process that dates deep into the past, long before the first days of the Roman Republic. Every sip you’ll take is a testament to this living river of knowledge.

Day 3
The Treasures of the Earth

Truffle-hunting isn’t industrious, extractive or especially fast. For the Aloi family, who’ve been doing this for generations, it all comes down to patience, intuition and the alert senses of their truffle-seeking hound. The trifulau you’ll walk with today, Martina and Luca, will induct you into the rituals, knowledge and handiwork that’s been practiced in Roero, where some of the world’s most prized truffles thrive beneath the forest floor.

Truffle hunting works up an appetite. Coming back from the forest, you’ll find a table set for lunch prepared lovingly by other members of the Aloi family. Over lunch you’ll taste different truffle preparations – from cheese pairings and honey infusions to local pasta and other delicacies. All of it stemming from a single simple and, most importantly, local ingredient.

Family spotlight: Identifying truffles hidden in the forest floor isn’t easy. Working and learning together, you’ll find yourselves relying on your collective instincts and newfound knowhow.

Day 4
Into the Forest

The animals of the Roero are treated with a deep respect and a lot of understanding. Rising early, you’ll spend your day folding into the rhythms and routines of Paolo and his herd of goats, learning how the age-old way of making cheese that he practices, organically, authentically, follows deeply rooted rhythms of soil, season and climate. To make sense of it, you need to walk with his goats.

Family spotlight: Families will love walking with the goats and learning how their milk is turned into delicious cheese.

Day 4 Continued

Having spent time with the herd, you’ll now taste the produce that Paolo so thoughtfully prepared. Soft and hard cheese, yoghurt and other tastes and flavors that are closely bound up with the region. What you realize is that everything he doesn’t make comes from a neighbor, somebody he knows, another name in the community. This is why, in Paolo’s words, every meal is a “postcard”.

Leaving the herd behind, lunch is a picnic in the surrounding forest: with local specialties, freshly made goat cheese varieties and regional wines.

Luxury Holidays in Piedmont, Italy
Day 5
Through the Grapevine

Your morning begins with a locally prepared breakfast at the villa before driving into the Roero hills. Guided by a member of the Moretti family, you’ll explore a selection of the family’s distinctive wines, learning how soil, exposure, and time shape their character. Later, you’ll share lunch and an afternoon at the family’s home, farm and restaurant including a leisurely walk through their vineyard – drinking up a richer understanding of their connection to the land.

Day 5 Continued

This evening, your senses filled with the textures and tastes of the land, you’ll sit down for a private dinner at your Roero villa – masterminded by a local Piedmontese chef. With the rolling hills and vineyards of the region surrounding you, this is a moment where everything you’ve seen, felt and tasted comes beautifully together – from Elettra’s hazelnuts to the Moretti’s bottles.

Day 6
Departure

A slow breakfast – and a last chance to appreciate this soft and rolling land at the foot of the Alps. For the past week, you’ll have deepened your connection with a place, and a people, where sustenance is treated with real and enduring reverence.

It’s one thing to read about “farm to table” cooking, and the seasonal textures of organic farming, and another to learn about it from people who live it. There’s a slowness and sensuality to the land, and its Keepers have spent their lives leaning into it.

And now you’ve felt it, too. Crouching at the foot of an ancient chestnut tree, scenting the crisp morning air, you’ve begun to see the world as the Keepers see it – where food isn’t just “food”, but a singular source of pride that connects a community. Coming home, you’ll look differently at the food you eat and the meals you prepare – looking all the way back to these hills in northwestern Italy.

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