Italian Delights Responsible Travel Policy

Italian Delights organizes tours in Italy, where we are from. We are particularly fond of our culture and landscape, we want to share with our travellers our cultural heritage and our food culture, that so much represent Italy!

We sell tours that will enable people to experience Italy like local people do, choosing accommodation run by local people which are interested in preserving local culture. We organize visits to local markets to taste food that is produced in Umbria or Tuscany, possibly no far than 40 km; wine tasting and oil tasting that will enable you to talk and share opinion with local farmers, particularly choosing those that utilizes organic and integrated agriculture, and use renewable energy resources; restaurants that are eager to present a menu with traditional recipes and dishes that enhance local products; shops where you can buy products from local artisans and in some case watch them while working.

We suggest combining your vacation with some walking and biking, even if you are not an expert. In Umbria and Tuscany there are a wide range of paths of different difficulty that will enable you to get in contact with our wonderful nature, meet local people, relax and enjoy your vacation. In such a way you will be able to see much more of the landscape! We suggest participating in local fairs and events where local people work all together to reply a traditional event or to present local food. Usually the earnings are used to improve some services in the village.

Furthermore, we give tips to be able to act as a traveller and not just as a tourist, explaining local culture and what to do and do not!! First of all, don't ask for a cappuccino during dinner!!! Our organization and policies are designed to give our traveller the most insight look on local culture, at the same time having the less impact on environment and local communities.

Here are some of our decisions that help us developing a responsible tourism in Umbria and Tuscany:

• We organize self guided tours and small groups guided by local guides, that know the environment and the local culture and can help you understand and respect them and get in touch with local people
• We select our accommodation preferring those, locally owned, that recycle waste, use renewable energy, use local products, and enhance local culture and tradition.
• We encourage and give information to use local transport or walk or bike
• We prepare our brochure and all documents so that they can be downloaded or just seen on your Pc, tablet or phone to avoid wasting paper.
• We volunteer in a local NGO in Umbria giving free advice and training on sustainable development, particularly regarding tourism, agriculture and handicraft. We know all our suppliers and communicate regularly with them to develop vacations and services that will sustainably enhance our territory.