Hi! I’m Gabriele 😊

I grew up in Reggio Emilia and have lived in Bologna for the last ten years, so I know this part of Italy from both sides - the food capital everyone rushes through, and the quieter province behind it that almost nobody sees.

My real passion starts where the city ends. I’m a climber and alpinist, and most weekends I’m on rock somewhere: the Apennines an hour from home, the Alpi Apuane, or a multi-pitch route in the Dolomites. That’s shaped how I see this region. Bologna isn’t just tortellini and porticoes , it’s ridgelines, mountain huts, and villages that still feel like they belong to the people who live in them.

I’m not a chef or an art historian, and I won’t pretend to be. What I do have is a list, built over ten years and a lot of dinners, of the places worth your time and the ones that only look like they are. Family-run trattorie, the osteria where I take friends when they visit, the bar with the best espresso on my street. What I can give you is the perspective of someone who lives here: where the good days are, where the crowds aren’t, and how to put a trip together that’s worth the flight.

Day hikes and multi-day treks across the Emilian Apennines, the Alpi Apuane and the Dolomites - matched to your fitness, the season, and your appetite for exposure

• The Pietra di Bismantova and the Parco Nazionale dell’Appennino Tosco-Emiliano: dramatic, uncrowded, and almost entirely off the international radar

• Via ferrata: which routes suit beginners, which absolutely don’t, and what gear you genuinely need

• How rifugi work - booking, etiquette, what to expect when you get there

• Climbing and outdoor sport more broadly: crags, seasons, and what’s realistic in a short trip

The cities, when you come down

• Bologna and Reggio Emilia at a normal pace: which piazzas, porticoes and museums are actually worth your morning, and which are just on the list because they’re on the list

• Where locals eat - trattorie and markets rather than the places on the main squares. I’m not a food expert, I just know where I’d take a friend.

• Day trips that make sense: Modena, Parma, Ravenna’s mosaics, or an Apennine borgo nobody’s heard of

• Scenic Apennine routes and passes (I ride most of them regularly on my motorbike)

• Trains, car rental, and how to combine city days with mountain days without losing half the trip in transit