top of page
Search

Italy's Best-Kept Secret: A Cook's Journey Through Undiscovered Molise & Abruzzo

  • Jun 8
  • 3 min read

Italian cook and educator Adele Ursitti returns to her Adriatic homeland for a third intimate "La Dolce Vita" culinary and cultural retreat, 25th – 30th September 2026. 


While the crowds head for Tuscany and the Amalfi Coast, one of Italy's most quietly extraordinary corners remains almost untouched by international travellers. This September, London-based cook and educator Adele Ursitti returns to Molise, her home region, to guide a small group through five days of hands-on cooking, slow living and genuinely off-grid discovery along the wild Adriatic coast and the hill towns inland.

Running from 25 to 30 September 2026, La Dolce Vita "Undiscovered Italy" is the third edition of a retreat that has built a loyal following on word of mouth. 

Based in the historic fishing harbour of Termoli, with excursions across both Molise and neighbouring Abruzzo, it is capped at just 14 guests and hosted from start to finish by Ursitti, a born-and-raised local opening doors that ordinary travellers rarely find.


The region the guidebooks forgot

Molise is famous in Italy chiefly for being overlooked, so sparsely visited that Italians joke it doesn't exist. For travellers seeking the country before mass tourism reshaped it, that is precisely the appeal: wild Adriatic coastline, golden beaches, ancient hilltop villages and a deeply rooted food culture that has never been packaged for visitors.

Termoli itself is the anchor. Its old town, the Borgo Vecchio, sits on a promontory ringed by sea walls and crowned by the 11th-century Castello Svevo; the old lanes include some of the narrowest streets in Europe, a few measuring barely 38 centimetres across. Guests stay scattered through the old town in a boutique albergo diffuso, fishermen's houses restored in soft pastels, and gather each morning for breakfast in the Piazza Duomo.

"Molise is my home, and Italy's best-kept secret. This isn't a tour you watch from a coach window; we cook, we taste, we sit at long tables with people who feel like family by the end of the week. I want guests to see my Italy through a local's eyes."                 Adele Ursitti, founder of MammaLina Cookery School


Inside the week

The itinerary balances cookery, culture and rest, and is timed to coincide with the September grape harvest. Highlights include:

  • Hands-on cookery classes and market visits with local chefs and Adele, from Adriatic fish soup to regional pasta

  • A farm-to-table day among the olive groves, with an EVOO tasting and family-farm lunch

  • A working vineyard visit during the "Vendemmia" harvest, with tastings paired to local cheeses and salami

  • A day in the hill town of Agnone to visit the Pontificia Fonderia Marinelli – the world's oldest bell foundry, casting bells for the Vatican for around a thousand years

  • A "Caciocavallo" cheese-making workshop with an artisan producer

  • A coastal walk in the Punta Aderci nature reserve, named by National Geographic among Italy's most beautiful beaches for hikers

  • A meal on the Costa dei Trabocchi's iconic "trabocchi" – historic timber fishing platforms built out over the sea

  • Gelato-making, sunset aperitivi in dramatic settings, optional morning yoga on the beach, and unhurried free time


THE ESSENTIALS

  • What: La Dolce Vita – "Undiscovered Italy", a six-day culinary and cultural tour (third edition)

  • Where: Based in Termoli, on the Adriatic coast, with excursions across Molise & Abruzzo

  • When: 25–30 September 2026 (5 nights)

  • Who: Hosted throughout by founder Adele Ursitti; maximum 12 guests

  • Price: From £1,500 per person, full board, boutique "albergo diffuso" accommodation


About MammaLina

MammaLina is a premium Italian culinary brand founded by Adele Ursitti, built around her cookery school in Wanstead, East London, and her Southern Italian retreats rooted in Termoli, Molise. The school runs Italian cooking and pasta-making classes, supper clubs and private events, while the retreats take guests to Adele's homeland for immersive, host-led culinary travel. The brand's ethos is warm, personal and unmistakably Italian: real food, real places and real connection, the way Adele grew up with them on the Adriatic coast.


Notes to editors

  • This is the third edition of the La Dolce Vita retreat, following editions in 2025 and earlier.

  • Group size is deliberately small, with a maximum of 12 guests and a minimum of 8 for the trip to run.

  • Prices range from £1,500 per person (Borgo Vecchio, double occupancy) to £2,250 per person (Deluxe Sea View, single occupancy), full board across five nights. Flights, travel insurance and alcohol beyond the itinerary are not included.

  • Interviews with Adele Ursitti, and high-resolution imagery from previous retreats are available on request.


GET IN TOUCH:

Adele Ursitti, Founder, MammaLina Cookery School

Phone: 07979 240300 

Instagram: @adeleursitti 

bottom of page