Recipes & Railways: Northern Italian Cruise Extension

For those joining as a post-cruise extension, a private transfer carries you directly to the train station, where your Business Class seat aboard the Frecciarossa awaits. For those choosing a pre-cruise extension, your private transfer delivers you straight to the heart of Florence, where the first of many carefully considered experiences is already waiting.

Day 1: An Edible Introduction to the City

Florence has a way of making every first impression feel considered, and this afternoon is no exception. A flavourful walking tour through the historic centre weaves together centuries of art, architecture and culinary tradition into a single, unhurried experience. Wander through pedestrian streets past iconic landmarks, pausing along the way to taste the city as much as see it, hearty panini fiorentini, freshly baked schiacciata, a glass drawn from one of Florence's ancient buchette da vino, and perhaps a scoop of artisanal gelato to carry you through the final stretch. Between each bite, the stories, characters and heritage that give this city its irresistible character gradually reveal themselves.

Day 2: A Market Morning and a Private Cooking Class

There is no better introduction to a city than its neighbourhood market. Accompanied by a local chef, you will move between stalls where colour, aroma and the sounds of daily Florentine life weave together into something entirely authentic. Ingredients chosen with care, the freshest produce, fragrant herbs, everything that gives Tuscan cooking its character, are carried back to a private kitchen, where the art of pasta-making is passed on through simple, unhurried gestures. Understanding not just technique but the tradition behind each dish, you will sit down to a long and satisfying lunch made entirely by your own hands, a meal that tastes, above all else, of place.

Day 3: An Introduction to Europe's Oldest University City

Bid farewell to Florence as you board your Business Class Frecciarossa high-speed train and glide through the magnificent Italian countryside towards Bologna. Once settled, your guided city walk becomes a slow and considered immersion into a place shaped by centuries of ideas, encounters and reinventions. Pause at the imposing Fontana del Nettuno, contemplate the lean of the medieval towers and stand before the immense Basilica di San Petronio, whose vastness seems to hold the full weight of the city's history within its walls. The walk follows the thread of taste as well, stopping to sample regional specialities and uncover the culinary traditions that have made Bologna a true touchstone of Italian gastronomy, from its prized balsamic heritage to the local delicacies rooted in generations of craft and pride.

Day 4: A Morning Among the Producers of Emilia-Romagna

Some mornings are best spent in pursuit of something deeply, unapologetically Italian. The day opens at a traditional balsamic vinegar producer, where the slow and patient evolution of must through wooden barrels gives rise to one of the region's most extraordinary creations, tasted, at last, with the reverence it deserves. From there, a visit to a celebrated salumi factory offers an insider's view of the methods and traditions that shape Emilia's world-famous cured meats. The morning comes together over an authentic Emilian lunch, where local specialities are paired with the very ingredients you have just encountered, a meal that feels less like a restaurant and more like a conversation with the region itself.

Day 5: A Walk Through the Ancient Heart of a Royal City

The Frecciarossa carries you onwards once more, this time westward to Turin, a city of quiet grandeur that rewards the curious and the unhurried in equal measure. Your introduction begins in the Quadrilatero Romano, where cobbled lanes still trace the precise geometry of the ancient Roman castrum, the past etched into every stone and façade with an unusual clarity. The route leads to the Sanctuary of the Consolata, long regarded as the spiritual heart of the city, a luminous jewel of Baroque architecture where ornate detail and soft light conspire to create an atmosphere of profound stillness. From devotion to abundance, the walk continues to Porta Palazzo, home to Europe's largest open-air food market, a vivid, breathing stage of colour, scent and voices that has animated Turin's daily life for over a century. Here, encounters with local producers and a tasting of regional specialities bring the afternoon to a fitting close, the city's culinary spirit distilled into a single, authentic moment.