Italus: Calabria Edition 2026

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ITALUS is my way of sharing the living heritage of Italy with you through more than adventure. 

As its founder, it's important to me that I don't do three things:

1. describe these cultural experiences in the same way everyone else does, calling them "immersive experiences of meaning"

2. treat them as "tours" or "luxury travel" packages. 

and

3. not use trending terms like "dolce vita",  because what you'll experience - the authentic local life as its been lived for generations, has existed long before the word trend ever entered the dictionary.

What I'm sharing with you a rare opportunity. You'll explore places people traditions art and of course, cuisine of overlooked regions and what you'll experience is a return to what matters — and I’m the one to take you there, because I don’t curate experiences — I inherit them.

For nearly five decades, I have visited as a local returning home, documented, and shared the stories of Italy’s people, places, products, and dishes,  preserving and amplifying what might otherwise be forgotten, and I've collaborated extensively with regions, associations, consortia, artisans, producers and brands, so this experience is the Italy behind closed doors that only those with the same lived experiences could share: underground wine caves, spring baths, forgotten villages, kitchens that don't open for outsiders and a truly local experience you can only see and feel with a local. 

You'll walk ancestral lands with foragers and artisans who are carrying generations and centuries of knowledge, and we'll dine with exclusive chefs from Italy's Hospitality Excellence Association, an incredible association I act as Canadian President of. 

ITALUS is not for tourists. 

It’s for the few ready to go deeper — to connect with Italy’s powerful, lesser known corners.

And for me, ITALUS is a commitment to Italy;  its communities, and its living traditions.

It is my way of engaging with the country on its own terms, to witness the hidden forces that sustain its culture, to participate in the revival of its most authentic expressions - and to take you along for an experience you simply won't find anywhere else.