Spring and early summer are the perfect time to lace-up walking boots and head into the hills. Inntravel will take your luggage on ahead so you can concentrate, with the maps and notes, on the walk and lunch. If you want to get away from the classic routes, consider walking the mountainous instep of Italy with Alternative Travel. Its escorted tour of one of Italy's most deserted regions begins at Terranova di Pollino culminating 55 miles of dramatic countryside later in Maratea. Hotfoot it further south, to Sicily, where walking becomes something of an extreme sport.
Flights are extra but can be arranged.
Rural retreats Long Travel has a wide range of properties in central and southern Italy offering an undiluted flavour of the countryside. Try Villa Magnolie, near Loreto Aprutino, half an hour from the Adriatic coast. Set among 6,000 olive trees, this family-run farm has won a coveted DOP ranking for its olive oil, one of only 28 in the whole country. The farm is a good base for exploring the seldom-visited Abruzzo region which boasts the highest concentration of national parks in the country. The highlight of the Abruzzo year is the Processione dei Serpari in the town of Cocullo on the first Thursday in May when its patron saint, San Domenico, receives the dubious honour of a live snake-draped effigy processed through the streets.