Little-known destinations, forgotten villages and whole regions to discover before everyone else does. The antidote to overtourism, one guide at a time.
The Matese massif, straddling Molise and Campania, is one of the wildest and least trodden mountains in the Centre-South: high-altitude plateaus, sinkholes, Lake Matese and peaks such as the Gallinola and Monte Miletto. Off the tourist routes, it offers silence and boundless pastures just a few hours from Naples and Rome.
Jun 30, 2026
In inland Molise a stretch of the Pescasseroli-Candela droving trail survives, the ancient grassy route along which for centuries the flocks descended from Abruzzo to Apulia. Walking between the Samnite theatre of Pietrabbondante and the Roman city of Saepinum, you cross an almost unknown rural archaeology, in a region that mass tourism ignores entirely.
Jun 30, 2026
The Monti della Laga, on the border between Lazio, Abruzzo and Marche within the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park, are the only sandstone and marl mountains of the central Apennines: for this reason they hold water and fill with streams, waterfalls and beech forests. They stay deserted because everyone rushes to the nearby Gran Sasso or the Sibillini.
Jun 30, 2026
The Cammino delle Terre Mutate runs for roughly 250 kilometres across the earthquake-scarred lands of the central Apennines, from Fabriano to L'Aquila, through Marche, Umbria, Lazio and Abruzzo. A slow, solidarity-driven journey among the villages struck by the quakes, far from any tourist route.
Jun 30, 2026
In the Maiella Park, in Abruzzo, rock hermitages cling to the cliffs where Pietro da Morrone, the future Pope Celestine V, once lived. Among wild valleys and solitary trails, an itinerary of eremitic spirituality still little frequented, far from the better-known religious destinations.
Jun 30, 2026
The Cammino di San Tommaso crosses Abruzzo from the slopes of the Maiella to the apostle's tomb in Ortona, on the Adriatic. Among hermitages, drovers' tracks and hills, it is a still little-trodden pilgrimage, a silent, wholly Italian alternative to the more crowded great routes of faith.
Jun 30, 2026
Campo Imperatore, in the Gran Sasso Park in Abruzzo, is a high-altitude plateau nicknamed the little Tibet: endless prairies at around 1,800 metres, wild horses and isolated shelters. A landscape of absolute solitude that remains little visited by more beaten mountain tourism.
Jun 30, 2026
Italy's Trans-Siberian is a scenic railway that climbs to almost Alpine altitudes between Sulmona, the Altopiani Maggiori and Roccaraso, in Abruzzo. Saved from closure and travelled by heritage trains, it crosses high plateaus and Apennine villages in a slow, spectacular journey far from the more beaten tourist destinations.
Jun 30, 2026
The Cammino Naturale dei Parchi links Rome to L'Aquila, crossing seven protected areas on foot through the Sabina, the Cicolano and the Gran Sasso. A recent and still little-known green route, it avoids busy roads and passes through villages, valleys and mountains far from the main tourist flows.
Jun 30, 2026