Road Trip to Northeast Italy: Wineries, Architecture and Sea

Today you begin your unforgettable journey to one of the most beautiful and little-known regions of northern Italy. Let yourself be enchanted by the scenic beauty of Tyrol during a leisurely drive. Today's final destination is Innsbruck. This city is a little jewel waiting to be discovered. Innsbruck is the capital of the Alps and lies in the middle of a valley framed by mountains. Stroll through the Gothic-Baroque old town and visit the "Goldenes Dachl" – Innsbruck's landmark. History fans can look forward to the five themed museums in the Hofburg.

You’ll leave Innsbruck this morning and drive through the impressive mountains to Udine, today's destination and the provincial capital of Friuli. Friuli – or Julian Veneto – is the region on the border with Austria and Slovenia. It’s bordered by the Alps in the north and the Adriatic Sea in the south. The Karst Plateau formed by barren rocks is impressive, and the views of the Eastern Dolomites and the Carnic and Julian Alps are spectacular. The diversity of the landscape also corresponds to a rich cultural heritage, which has been shaped by different peoples who today coexist peacefully with their different traditions.

Ready to make your palate the happiest on earth? Today you're going to be immersed in the area of Italy best known for its extraordinary wine traditions. It’s time to get to know the local attractions and immerse yourself in the peculiarities of this region’s cuisine.

Today, a gorgeous road awaits you to Trieste, a city that has only belonged to Italy for the last century. Before that, it was both part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and an Imperial Free City. You’ll get to know its historical past through the architecture and have a memorable walk along the sea coast.

The city on the programme today is the stronghold for gourmets and “bon vivants”. Look twice and then fall in love: Treviso, Venice's little sister, will become a favourite place of everyone who appreciates Italian flair, wide skies, and cities shaped by water. “City of waters”, Italians affectionately call Treviso, which is located 30 km from Venice and has a Venetian charm but with a slower pace of life. Along the banks of the river, there are avenues and parks. Here you can find some cosy cafés and restaurants, buy souvenirs, or simply picnic in the shade of the trees.

Today is dedicated to the discovery of historic cities and the Prosecco region. Both well-known and lesser-known towns are waiting to be discovered. Castelfranco Veneto, Bassano del Grappa, and Asolo are real treasure chests with a huge amount of history. The Prosecco region, on the other hand, has grown in just a few decades from a small wine-growing area in Veneto to leading Italian supplier of sparkling and semi-sparkling wines: 3,500 hectares of cultivated land, 15 villages, and 30 million bottles per year. Originally, Prosecco was the name of an ancient grape variety from Veneto whose history dates back to Roman times. Today, Prosecco is grown in eight Italian provinces. However, the most important cultivation area is and remains the province of Treviso in the Veneto region – more precisely, the vineyards around Valdobbiadene and Conegliano. Prosecco comes in different varieties: a still, non-sparkling wine, a sparkling wine (frizzante), and a fermented sparkling wine (spumante). Because the good Lord has not only given Trevisan winegrowers an ideal wine climate. He’s also given them a landscape in the foothills of the Alps that’s made for viticulture like nowhere else! Marl and sandstone soils in the northwest, mineral-rich soil in the southeast, plus a whole chain of hills that stretch up into the clear sky, hungry for the sun. The soil composition of sandstone and clay and the particularly mild microclimate allow the grapes to reach their fullest ripeness here until late October. Moderate altitudes between 50 and 500 metres do the rest, so that a superlative sparkling wine can mature here quite leisurely. The "Strada del Prosecco” or Prosecco Road, winds its way through the vineyards for 50 kilometres between Valdobbiadene and Conegliano. Everywhere it leads, it offers you the chance to have a pleasant break, and again and again you’ll see beautiful views over gently undulating hills and picturesque, small wine villages.

Since you have a long journey today, it’s best to start right after breakfast. The cosy Italian alpine town of Bolzano and its charming streets await you, as well as a scenic drive in a national park.