Unexpected Italy promotes the concept of Less is more, saying no to overtourism and yes to promoting local culture.
The app connects travellers with local providers
Truly switching off in an age of constant connectivity is the luxury of reclaiming one’s own space and time. Unexpected Italy focuses on taking things slowly to promote mental and physical wellbeing and to highlight ethical destinations that reject the compromises of overtourism. The start-up uses its app to map authentic places that resist standardization and allow travellers to connect with local artisans, hosts, producers and small-scale hoteliers. The app is geolocated and targeted, and can suggest tailor-made itineraries, with the aim of making travellers feel part of the local community, whilst promoting responsible and inclusive tourism.
"True luxury is having the courage to strip away the superfluous"
Elisabetta Faggiana e Savio Losito Unexpected Italy
"True luxury today does not lie in adding services, but in having the courage to strip away the superfluous,- explains Elisabetta Faggiana, founder of the award-winning tech company. -With Unexpected Italy we also select places we call “inconvenient” because they refuse the compromises of standardization to protect something immensely rarer: silence, time and presence. These are not merely accommodation facilities, but bastions of cultural resistance that choose not to please everyone, preferring consistency over algorithms. In a world saturated with digital stimuli, slowing down is not a sacrifice, but an act of freedom.”
Farmhouse retreats and seaside hamlets
Unexpected Italy operates on the premise that, to be sustainable, tourism must return to being about connection and transformation. Their "relational algorithm" is not based on trends, but on passions and affinities, facilitating each person’s encounter with the places that best resonate with them. Some examples are Piedmont, and the Parco del Grep agritourism retreat, near Turin, is an old farmhouse offering treehouses without Wi-Fi, where food is served in gourmet picnic baskets. In Liguria, La Sosta di Ottone III, in the province of La Spezia, requires guests to leave their cars just below the village and cover the final stretch on foot or by a small electric monorail. With six rooms, each one different, and à la carte breakfasts that showcase small-scale producers, this seaside hamlet offers experiences to discover the Cinque Terre from above, surrounded by nature, whilst avoiding the crowds along the seafront.
Projects safeguarding heritage and local traditions
In Siena, Tuscany, Follonico is a stone farmhouse in the Val d’Orcia with four suites and two rooms featuring exposed beams, restored furniture, handcrafted ceramics and natural fabrics. Sextantio, in Abruzzo, is a scattered hotel with a carefully curated medieval aesthetic and period furnishings, where the atmosphere of days gone by can be savoured also at the breakfast featuring local produce and traditional recipes. Sextantio is a cultural conservation project created to safeguard the heritage linked to smaller villages, supporting the local area and its inhabitants. In Veneto there are two notable establishments. Cargador de Ron in Valdobbiadene is a mountain hut in the woods: once a refuge for shepherds and their animals, today it offers four spacious, light-filled rooms furnished in a rustic style. The Scuola Guesthouse on the Asiago Plateau, in the province of Vicenza, is a former school dating from the 1920s that has retained its original character, with rooms named after school subjects and an artisan ice-cream workshop, and is an invitation to rediscover the joys of childhood.
