News from Elizabeth: July 2025
48 Hours in Sardegna, Recipes and Links
Like a lot of you, I’ve been using AI to handle the small stuff - checking emails for grammar, translating texts, organizing my calendar. It’s a lifesaver. You’d be happy (or maybe slightly alarmed) to know that my emails in Italian now read like I not only grew up speaking the language but possibly have a graduate degree in Dante.
On the virtual assistant side of things, it’s also been incredibly helpful. Just the other day I took a blurry photo of a half-written recipe from an Italian nonna (handwritten in regional dialect, oil stains and all) and fed it to ChatGPT. Out came a neatly formatted recipe in English, with both metric and cup conversions. Amazing.
But you know what AI still can’t do?
It can’t cook that dish.
It can’t sit next to that nonna in her kitchen, watch her roll the dough, listen to her tell stories about how her grandmother made the same dish without measuring a thing, and then linger for hours over a Sunday lunch in her family’s dining room. That’s the magic.
I recently read a comparison that stuck with me: this stage of AI is a bit like the early wave of fast food. Fast food was cheap, efficient, and everywhere — but it also triggered a counter-movement: farm to table, slow food, local and seasonal. A return to the real.
That’s how I feel about travel — and about the work I do here in Italy.
Yes, AI might be able to help you find the top ten restaurants in Rome (although I think there is a lot of hallucination going on there!), translate a menu, or plan a route. But it can't give you that deeply personal connection that happens when you're sieving ricotta with a shepherd, learning family traditions from a cheesemaker, or sharing a bottle of wine with someone who’s been making it for generations.
And honestly, that’s the stuff that matters.
While my techie friend is currently building an AI-powered robot for an automotive factory line, I’m not losing sleep over machines replacing what we do here. Because what we offer — especially through our food tours — is human. Messy. Emotional. Sensory. It’s stories, smells, textures, conversations. It’s culture in its purest form.
AI can help me send better emails. But it will never replace the moment someone tastes house-made pecorino for the first time while standing in the field where the sheep grazed.
And that, to me, is all the more reason to fight to protect these experiences — and to keep showing up for them.
WHAT’S NEW
Looking Ahead to 2026
We’ve begun rolling out our 2026 schedule, and so far we’ve announced tours to Sicily, Florence, Parma, and Puglia. You can find the full list here - but fair warning: most of these sold out almost immediately and are now waitlist-only.
If you'd like early access to upcoming tours in Umbria, Sardinia, and Sicily, make sure you're subscribed to the paid version of this newsletter. That’s where we share first dibs on new dates. There are more tours coming in the next few weeks!
A Few Spots Still Available
That said, we do still have a very limited number of spots open for our tour to Sicily in the spring with Meryl Feinstein:
Tours with Friends & Guest Hosts
We’re also expanding our guest-hosted tours — and have some exciting friends joining us next year! Upcoming collaborations include:
Justine Doiron (@Justine_Snacks)
Zoë François (@ZoëBakes)
Shereen Pavlides (@CookingWithShereen)
Corre Larkin (@CocoLarkinCooks)
Jenny Rosenstrach (@DinnerALoveStory)
Erin O’Brien (@Erinobrienn)
Marissa Mullen (@thatcheeseplate)
Since our guest hosts typically announce their tours directly to their followers, spots go fast. Make sure you’re following them on Instagram and/or Substack to stay in the loop.
And if there’s someone you follow and would love to travel to Italy with — let us know in the comments. We’re always looking for new voices and collaborators to bring into the fold.
WHERE WE’VE BEEN
I’ve been happily holed up in Umbria with not much to report - just long walks, evening swims, and slow dinners with friends. Sophie, on the other hand, took a quick trip to Sardegna - which, surprisingly, is an easy getaway from Rome. Here’s her guide to 48 hours in Sardegna:
I spent a quick 48 hours in Sardegna and it turned out to be just the right kind of escape from Rome’s heat and crowds. A 7:00 AM flight out of Fiumicino got me to Olbia in under an hour, and from there, it was a beautiful drive north to the coast. Here’s how we spent our weekend.
✈️ Day 1 – Saturday: Arrival & Beach Time
7:00 AM: Flight from Rome Fiumicino to Olbia (just under 1 hour)
During summer months several low-cost airlines offer flights
8:00 AM: Picked up a rental car and drove ~1.5 hours north to Santa Teresa di Gallura
Beautiful drive, glimpses of the sea, empty summer roads.
Stay
🏨 Mangia’s Santa Teresa Resort
Quiet, with its own rocky beach
Sandy beach just 10 minutes away
Too early to check in, but breakfast was a win
Beach
☀️ Spiaggia Rena Bianca (15 min drive — stunning and popular)
Reserve ahead — you can’t enter without a reservation
Lo Squalo Bianco Beach Club: €50 for 2 chairs + umbrella (our pick — very nice)
Free public area also available
Note: Bring a “stuoia di legno” (wooden beach mat) — it’s required to protect the sand
Dinner
🍽️ Da Battino Antonio in Porto Pozzo (20 min drive)
Simple seafood spot right on the beach
Wooden tables, plastic chairs, grill vibes - a dream come true
Reservations essential via phone: +39-334-852-9981
Don’t skip the French fries — legendary
🏝️ Day 2 – Sunday: Island Adventure
Morning
Big breakfast at hotel
30-minute drive to Palau
Ferry to Isola della Maddalena
Car ferry every 30 minutes (€22 round trip)
Super easy and scenic
On the Island
Explored by car, asked locals for beach recs
Swam at:
🌊 Cala Portese
🌊 Spiaggia del Relitto
(both offer free and rental chair options)
Lunch
We skipped it, but heard Locanda del Mirto is a must
Evening
Returned to the mainland around 7:30 PM
Stumbled on a local town fair — sausage sandwiches, cold beer, and live music
✈️ Day 3 – Monday: Departure
Quick breakfast
Drove to Olbia Airport for our 11:00 AM flight back to Rome
🍷 Bonus: Restaurants We Wish We Tried
Tegghja – Farmhouse Sardinian cuisine
Saltara – Sophisticated farm to table.
Surrau Winery – Wine tasting and food pairing in amazing setting
Agriturismo La Colti – Rustic, home-style Sardinian dishes in gorgeous setting.
In Short: Sardegna gave us everything we needed — turquoise beaches, fresh seafood, local charm, and a total reset from Roman summer chaos.
WHAT I’M READING
This is the type of article that infuriates me. No other country in the world has more dietary issues, and no other country in the world seems to eat more boneless, skinless chicken breast than the USA. Chicken breasts, coming from chickens raised in huge poultry farms, is not a part of any traditional diet anywhere and should not be promoted as ‘healthy.'
Is food really better in Europe?
Did you know you can sleep in a lighthouse on the Hudson river? And it’s just a short train ride from NY.
In theory this article is about the state of artisan cheese in the USA, but it’s really a fascinating read about so much more. For instance I had no idea that the current young generation has a fear of interacting at the deli counter.
Just finished Michael Connelly’s The Waiting which is the kind of dependable summer mindless read I needed. Kind of like the book version of watching Law & Order re-runs.
Next up on my Kindle: Dissolution by Nicholas Binge. I loved the last book I read by him and am looking forward to getting lost in some other world.
In case you missed it, Yolo’s latest post is ALL about Italy. (And if you are not subscribed to Yolo you should be).
📚HELP: Currently taking any and all suggestions for summer reads below in the comments.
WHAT I’M EATING
I’ve been saving so many recipes lately, for summer cooking ideas:
This potato salad full of green goodness from Jenny Rosenstrach
Peanut, Cabbage & Tofu Salad from Hettie McKinnon
Love the idea of this brothy tomato/pasta dish from Pasta Social Club.
In case you missed it, a round up of my favorite summer pastas
I know this yogurt soup sounds weird to a lot of people but trust me on this one (the recipe is in the caption)
AND FINALLY….
We are so happy that Real Simple featured Via Rosa in the Summer issue of their magazine. It’s not online, but you can pick up a copy. In the meantime here is the gorgeous spread they dedicated to our tours:
I hope you are having a good summer so far. Domenico and I are headed someplace cold this month and I’m having a very hard time wrapping my head around packing a fleece jacket, hats and gloves while we are currently experiencing a heat wave here in Italy. Make sure you are following to find out where we are headed. Also: it’s a 17 hour flight plus layovers so PLEASE recommend shows and movies to download below in the comments.
x,Elizabeth
Poker Face & Your Friends and Neighbors are both fun, perfect for plane viewing. And Ghosts (both the UK and US version) are silly. I miss the UK ghosts desperately. It took me a minute to adjust to the US version, but now I love them too.
About to embark on our annual Puglian month. I love the low tech in the southern tip that AI can’t help with. It’s fun to discover in real life!