Zeneba & Matt
“In the fall of 2019, musicians and travelers Zeneba Bowers and Matt Walker traded their careers as professional musicians (playing with symphony orchestras and performing/recording as soloists and directors with the Grammy nominated ALIAS Chamber Ensemble) for a simpler life living in Italy. They now live in a small town north of Rome, where they organize concerts, perform, and help travelers experience off-the-beaten-path European driving adventures.
Zeneba and Matt started LittleRoadsEurope.com in the fall of 2013. Since then they have published four award-winning guidebooks and created itineraries for hundreds of clients, sharing their vast experiences with travelers who want to find authenticity and memorable experiences in their travels.”
When we lived in the US, we traveled to Europe four or five times a year, focusing most of our time on Italy and Ireland, with some excursions into England, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. We were frequently asked how we afford to travel, and how we found the places we visit.
The answer is: Travel for us is an integral part of our lives. We forgo a lot of material luxuries for travel experiences, a set of priorities we have held for many years. We find places to visit based on intense scrutiny of detailed maps, exhaustive research, and experience of stumbling on these places ourselves - that kind of “accidental discovery” itself is made possible by our style of travel.
Now that we live in Italy, it is much easier for us to keep our knowledge and expertise current.
Our vast base of knowledge of affordable but luxurious lodgings, authentic eateries, and little-known, off-the-beaten-track sights has enabled us to craft hundreds of itineraries for travelers. Most of our travelers are honeymooners, couples on their anniversary trips, and families wanting their kids to experience a “real” Europe that the big tourist crowds miss. We we work with each client personally and extensively, to create custom itineraries for all types of small groups with different travel objectives.
Wherever we go, our goal is to fit in with the locals in the town; to experience life there beyond the surface one might find as a random tourist; to slow down, and take time to actually see and experience what is around us; and to learn about the food, culture and history of the area - all without getting bogged down in the big tourist crowds.
Let us help you plan your trip, and save yourself dozens of hours of research. We’ve already done it! We know when great restaurants are open – and when they’re closed for a day, or for months; the last thing you want to do is travel so far just to find that a sought-after place is closed. We have spent hours finding information about hundreds of places, often from websites that are only in Italian, or by talking personally with the proprietors. We know where to eat and where to stay, and where you can do both – so you can eat and drink to your heart’s content and then just walk a few steps to bed!
We can put together an immersive, memorable, interesting, relaxing plan for you that will be the trip of a lifetime.
Zeneba & Matt - “concert Unforms”