Girosole Italy Walking Tours - Denver, Colorado

Adrienne Nicholas

This review is for the trip I took through Girosole back in June of 2022. We went on the Maremma self guided hike and it was one of the best trips I have ever taken! Meticulously planned and thought out, excellent communication, very good hotels and amazing views. For those wishing to see Italy without only visiting all the touristy areas, I love that Girosole takes you through quiet but beautiful towns in the countryside off the beaten path. Already planning my next trip with them!

*(photos taken with my old film camera)

Jim Bredin

My wife and I had heard that the Amalfi Coast was beautiful and decided to spend our 30th anniversary there. We knew nothing about it. We saw on-line the Girosole walking tour and decided to check into it. We first contacted the main office in Denver, talking to Luciano. He was great. He gave us all the background, explained what their tours included and didn't include. He walked us through the process, looking at what we wanted to do each day of the two weeks we wanted to be there. He waited for us to arrange our airfare and then worked with us to set up the walking tour. Great service, thanks Luciano.

We decided to stay a couple of extra days in Naples, three additional days on Capri and an additional couple days in Naples at the end of our trip. Luciano and our guide Gianni set up the extra hotels and even arranged a great restaurant for our anniversary on Capri. They made it very clear what the tour package covered and then worked with us on the extra days. All of the hotels they arranged were excellent. One night we were at Hotel Agriturismo Nonno Tobia, this is a hotel where they derive over 50% of their annual salary from something related to agriculture, we had a farm dinner and breakfast with people from the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. Great experience.

My wife and I are walkers, not climbers (also, let me add that we're 64 years old). So the self-guided treks (that's what they call hikes over there) were new to us and we really didn't know what to expect. We started in Ravello (beautiful place) and out first trek took us to Amalfi. Great trek down many steps (loved the trek, Amalfi was too commercial for our taste). Our second trek was over a mountain from Ravello to Campora. This trek was absolutely beautiful, only saw 5 people the whole day. It was very challenging, we really didn't understand what Gianni meant when he wrote on the map 'up, up, up, up'. When we were finished we were exhausted but also were happy in ourselves that we completed the trek.

We then trekked the Path of the Gods to Positano. Beautiful but many more people. If you're in the area you have to do this trek, just realize you will not be alone. Gianni showed us a side trek to an arch that had many steps up, a beautiful view of Positano and a great walk down the other side. Positano was beautiful (Gianni lives there so had to say that, just kidding). Very nice place to stay.

Gianni gave us written descriptions of the treks, maps for each day and a phone with the treks on it with GPS. We really only used the written descriptions on our treks, we did use the maps a couple of times just to make sure we knew where we were. We only used the phone for contacting Gianni to check in for the next day's activities. All the trails were very well marked and we never really got off track.

Our last days were on Capri and my wife and I fell in love with the place. The main area was very commercialized but Gianni and our hotel manager gave us hiking tours on the island that took us to places that had fantastic views with few people.

We had a great experience, thanks Girosole, Luciano and Gianni.

Jim and Nancy Bredin
Spring Lake, Michigan

Jim Sloman

The short answer is we very much enjoyed our Girosole Sicily tour and have every intention of doing another.
A thing that stood out for me in comparison to other tours was the comprehensive and detailed maps Francesco
provided, Nora guided us like a Sherpa using them. The structure of the tour was well paced and we were glad we stayed in Noto the extra day.
The guide for Etna was outstanding as were the places we stayed. And while only needed the phone the last day it was a comfort having it.
Having experienced the accommodation levels we will be better able to select the appropriate level on our next tour.
We look forward to discussing your recommendation for a similar tour that is as well paced, with similar detailed mapping, shares the beautiful vistas, enjoyable accommodations, good dining choices and excellent guidance as was our Sicilian experience.

Andrea Thomas

We very much enjoyed our time on the Amalfi coast with Girosole. Giovanni did an excellent job in making us feel welcome, giving us plenty of local information and ensuring we had everything we needed to enjoy the hikes and the scenery. Once again the hike notes and maps were detailed and accurate and I don't remember getting lost once. It was amazing how, once one got out of the towns, we got away from all the crowds! Giovanni kept in regular contact with us, always arrived when he said he was going to, and really seemed to enjoy his role as Girosole rep. All the hotels were excellent - rooms were clean and spacious. Positano was our favourite but we also enjoyed the experience of the rural property at Agerola, especially the spa pool and the excellent cooking. Be aware that the weather on the Amalfi coast can be hot at the end of August for hiking - we completed all the proposed walks, but some people would find it too hot and uncomfortable.

Shelle Knutson

5 of us "girls" ( over 60 ) just returned from a delightful Walking Tour through Tuscany. It was beautiful and all went extremely well. With our map and GPS, we saw different scenery every day and each was beautiful. Our luggage was always waiting for us, no glitches at all. We took the Comfort level and were truly impressed with the lovely hotels and great breakfasts. Wouldn't change a thing!!! Thank You Girosole!!!

Roberta Reuben

For many years we have been hiking as a family, both in the U.S. and in Europe. After many years of carrying food and shelter on our backs, we have reached the age (my husband is 86 and I am 80) where we can no longer carry heavy backpacks. Our solution was to stay in one place and make day hikes from there. But we missed moving from place to place. The solution was obvious: join an organized trip where our luggage would be moved for us and we could enjoy the comfort of hotels and restaurants. Unfortunately we do not enjoy hiking in groups, and prefer the adventure of being our own guides. When I discovered Girosole, I realized I had found the perfect solution for us.

We just returned from the “Self-guided walk in Tuscany”, and enjoyed a fabulous experience. The accommodations were charming and comfortable, the food magnificent, and the local people very hospitable. Since my husband is recovering from a heart attack and I am recovering from a stroke, we believed our hiking days in parts unknown were over, but with the cellular telephone provided by Girasole, we had no concerns, knowing that we could call Gabriele or the Italian office of Girosole and get immediate help in case of a medical emergency. Particularly delightful was the GPS provided by the telephone which marked the trail in green and our location in blue. While the provided instructions for the hike were detailed and accurate and fun to follow, the few times we did lose the trail, turning on the telephone and GPS allowed us to put the blue dot (us) back on the green line (the trail). Hats off to modern technology! After a wonderful day’s hike through extraordinarily beautiful countryside, it was marvelous to reach a comfortable hotel with our luggage waiting in our room and the shower beckoning!! And then on to dinner.

Our extreme satisfaction with our Girosole-Planned trip can be emphasized by the fact that the day we arrived home we signed up for next year with Girosole, and plan to keep doing so for as many years as we can.

Roberta Reuben
Woodstock, Vermont

Joyce Chan

We just returned from our second trip w/Girosole. Our first trip was in Oct 2015 when we took their Tuscany self-guided hike. That was a 5* trip and led us to sign up for their guided Dolomites hike this year, June 30-July 5. Yet another 5* - slammed out of the ballpark, in fact!

As with our prior Tuscany hike, Luciano (in Colorado) and the rest of the Girosole staff (who made the hotel etc. arrangements) were helpful and wonderful. Hotels, meals, itinerary - everything was just about perfect! Our guide in the Dolomites, Riccardo, was absolutely outstanding: cheerful, accommodating, professional, good company, and a fountain of knowledge for all things Italian and relating to mountaineering, climbing, wilderness skiing, avalanches, etc.! (not that we will ever climb or wilderness ski, but it was very interesting nonetheless!) Riccardo's English was excellent, too (he went to high school in Texas for a year!), which was great as our Italian was limited!

My husband and I are nearly 69 and 65 years old, respectively, and we traveled with our friends, another couple, in their late 50's. In retrospect, this was the best way we could have done this Dolomites trip. Although there are marked paths, the signposts were not frequent and it was wonderful and stress-free to just follow Riccardo, rather than worry about whether or not we were on the right path. Also, the routes chosen were spectacularly scenic, varied, and do-able. Riccardo was very safety-conscious, checking on weather forecasts and also watching the skies. These are mountains and they create their own, very unpredictable weather. We had two days of off-and-on bad weather (luckily the worst of it happened while we were safely at our hotel) and it definitely would have been dangerous to have been in high exposed areas during a thunderstorm. Knowing that Riccardo was keeping an eye on things gave us a lot of comfort and security. Sometimes he would suggest carrying on (in spite of wind & rain) to get to a viewpoint - and we were always glad we followed his suggestion. Other times he pointed out that we were unlikely to see anything at our summit destinations because of the weather (rain and clouds), so he suggested turning back (which we were glad to do!).

All our accommodations were wonderful. Most meals were included for this trip and they were wonderful too. The scenery was amazing. The Dolomites were surprisingly varied in rock color and landforms. The alpine flowers were in bloom and they were also varied and beautiful. There were high lush green valleys or mountainsides with cows with cowbells jangling in a sweet and gentle chorus. One rifugio that we stopped at, on our last day's hike, had freshly baked bread (the BEST bread ever, 80% rye, 20% spelt, fermented for a day before baking) cooling outside its wood-fired outdoor oven. They also had homemade cheese and butter made from the milk and cream of the cows and goats wandering around nearby. I.e. there are beautiful mountains but they are civilized, too!

Thank you Girosole, Riccardo, Luciano, and staff for a wonderful trip - memories for a lifetime!!!

Lori Dubbin

We just returned from an awesome Girosole tour of Umbria. Luciano helped us plan an amazing itinerary that included all the stops we wanted to make. We spent a week walking, hiking, and eating (and cooking in a wonderful cooking class outside of Assisi) in the gorgeous hill towns of the area. With the help of our guide, Rudy, we learned and saw so much. The trip wouldn't have been as smooth or as fun without him. There were many highlights, but hiking from Assisi on Monte Subasio was quite memorable and gave us an unbelievable view of Assisi and the surrounding countryside every step of the way. It was also very nice to end our vacation in Orvieto, which has a fascinating underground as well as great shops! We can't wait to visit Italy again with Girosole!