Meaningful cultural travel experiences for curious explorers.
Venture off the beaten path and into the extraordinary.
Immersive & sustainable small group tours for curious and cultured travellers, follow us to our favourite secret corners of the world.
Commencing with a series of personally hosted cultural travel adventures - as well as co-hosted gourmet cycling tours - to the undiscovered regions of Ciociaria & Molise in central Italy from 2024.
Inspirationally curated and personally hosted by Paolo & Kelly Picarazzi, founders of the award-winning Ciociarian cultural dining experience, Antica Australis, and its cultural travel experience subsidiary, Antica Travel Co.
Paolo is a Ciociarian native and is descended from the Ernici & Volscii tribes of the original Samnite civilisation of central Italy, and as such he is deeply connected to the land. As the culinary creative behind the revival of the ancient and traditional cuisine of Ciociaria through the Antica Australis cultural dining experiences, Paolo is a genuine and passionate food & local produce enthusiast.
Australian-born Kelly has a background in global tourism, with a focus on sustainable and cultural heritage tourism. She was noted as one of the global Travel Massive ‘100 Inspiring Women Travel Founders’ list for 2020.
Learn more about Our Journey
Follow us to the Wild Heart of Italy…off the beaten path, into the extraordinary.
Off the beaten path. Into the extraordinary
Off the beaten path. Into the extraordinary
Follow us to the Wild Heart of Italy…
to the undiscovered regions of Ciociaria & Molise in central Italy.
Meet the Ciociarian culinary creatives, organic producers & vignerons and local artisans who have been the inspiration for our Antica Australis journey, and explore the layers of ancient Samnite & Roman and Medieval history of Ciociaria in central Italy with us.
We have hand-crafted our itineraries from ten years of on-ground personal research and our groups are guided by our great Ciociarian friends who are local archaeologists, academics, culinary artisans, artisanal producers, hiking guides and art historians.
We re-design our on-ground itineraries bespoke for every single tour group. No experience is ever the same. This is born from our passion and belief in supporting the continual evolution of the regions we are visiting, to align with the personal adventures our curious & cultured travellers are seeking, and to revel in the glorious spontaneity of these ancient regions.
Sustainable & Immersive Small Group Tours.
Meaningful cultural travel experiences for curious explorers.
Our personally hosted Ciociaria cultural travel Wild Heart of Italy Experiences are fully booked for 2025. We are taking reservations for 2026 and enquiries for 2027.
Reservations are open for our co-hosted Bespoke Ciociaria Gourmet Cycle Tours for 2025 & 2026.