Two nights in Habsburg Trieste and three in the Collio, on a border that shifted four times in a century. Orange wines and white wines of real ambition, San Daniele prosciutto, frico, and a cooking lesson in a farmhouse kitchen above the vineyards.
Arrival by air to Trieste or Venice, with transfer to the hotel on the waterfront. The afternoon is free in a city that looks more Viennese than Italian. Welcome dinner in a buffet, the local institution where boiled pork and horseradish are the point.
Morning through Piazza Unita, the Serbian Orthodox church and one of the grand cafes, with the literary history from Joyce to Svevo told as it happened. Lunch at an osmiza on the Carso plateau, open only when the family has wine to sell. Afternoon at a Carso grower, working vines in red soil over rock.
Departure north through Gorizia, a city cut in two by a border for fifty years, and on into the Collio hills. Arrival at the base for three nights. Afternoon tasting at a grower working in amphora, with orange wines explained by the person who makes them.
Morning with two Collio producers, one traditional and one not, and the argument between them left standing rather than resolved. In the afternoon, a cooking lesson in a farmhouse kitchen above the vineyards, with what was bought that morning, eaten together afterwards.
Morning at San Daniele del Friuli, in the ageing rooms where the prosciutto hangs, with a tasting against its Parma rival. In the afternoon, a short crossing into the Slovenian side of the same hill, where the grape is the same and the paperwork used to be different. Farewell dinner.
Morning transfer to Trieste or Venice for onward flights, with a stop at Udine and its Tiepolo ceilings for groups with later departures.
Splendido private tours
