Italian Food & Wine Walking Tour in Boston's North End

Explore Boston’s North End with Paula, who created this food tour in 2012 and leads every outing herself. Get to know the neighborhood through her experience living and working here and relationships built over 20 years with small, family-owned businesses.

• Stroll just 4 blocks at a leisurely pace while exploring the neighborhood
• Trace how the North End became Italian and why people emigrated from Italy
• Discover the parallels between two peninsulas through the geography, history, and food of Italy and the North End

Itinerary

Off the Eaten Path is a leisurely 3 hour walking tour that has the structure of a progressive lunch, with each course focusing on a particular region of Italy. We begin by starting our journey in the Deep South of Italy, Sicily. We try regional delicacies such as arancini, Panzarroti, and Sicilian pizza, we then push up to Naples where we experience authentic Neapolitan Pizza in the only certified oven to come from Italy, we also make a slight detour to the Amalfi coast, to Sorrento, for authentic gnocchi alla sorentina.

From there we venture to a beloved neighborhood wine shop, where you will learn all about the process of wine making, from the influence of soils and weather, what the Italians call ambiante, to how wine gets its color, and how Italian drink it with a meal. You will never think of wine the same way again. Next we will unlock some of the ancient secrets of the Mediterranean diet. Learn about the history of Olive oil, and learn how to buy real extra virgin olive oil, vs the fake oil being exported from Italy to the unassuming masses. We will continue our journey to Umbria, and Modena. Where we will try 12 year aged balsamic vinegar, hop next door to Parma for the best prosciutto outside of Emilia Romagna, and the go to the other great Island, of Sardina. There we will have a special sheep’s milk cheese, all while being in the best Italian market in the city.

We will experience a coffee and spice shop, that will take us back in time, as it’s the oldest retail shop still standing. We will meander down a back alley and discover an artisan bakery, where they brought a starters dough yeast all the way from Naples that’s over 160 years old. Just when you thought this tour could not get any better, I will up the ante and take you to my personal hang-out, a caffe! There we will end with the trifecta! The espresso, cannoli and gelato, all of them the best in the neighborhood. At this point, I hope to leave your bellies, hearts and minds full.

What's Included

• All food and drinks

Important details

• Ages 11+ only