What happens when you combine a hillside wine cave, a hands-on cooking class, and a medieval osteria built into ancient town walls? One of the best days I've had in Italy — in a village most travelers drive right past.

Ascoli Piceno is older than Rome — and after twenty years of visiting, we finally stopped calling it a trip. Here's why we now live here part time, and why it might be exactly the Italy you've been looking for.