Our Journey.
We established Antica Travel Co. in September 2022 as a natural and timely extension of our award-winning Ciociarian cultural dining experience - Antica Australis - which opened in the historic 19th century village of Carcoar, Australia in March 2022.
We are now in the process of opening another Antica Australis pop-up in the 16th century heritage village of Al Jazeera Al Hamra in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE - as part of the annual Ras Al Khaimah Fine Arts Festival each February.
The original vision for Antica Australis was for it to serve as a platform for attracting likeminded and curious food & cultural explorers, who would then follow us to Ciociaria for a genuine and immersive culinary and cultural travel experience. As a way to ‘gather our tribe’.
Prior to the global pandemic, for three glorious years from 2016-2019 we hosted our Wild Heart of Italy food & wine cultural adventures through our former boutique food & wine tour company, Silver Compass Tours - which unfortunately didn’t survive the initial impact of the pandemic.
Our mission from March 2020 has been focused solely on successfully navigating Antica Australis through choppy waters, keeping the north star of our original vision as our guiding light.
In 2023, we know it’s now finally time to make our vision reality.
Antica Travel Co. incorporates the re-designed Wild Heart of Italy Cultural Travel Experience packages to the ‘hidden’ regions of Ciociaria & Molise in central Italy, as well as the newly-designed Antica Arabia Travel Experience package to the remote and enchanting emirate of Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Our signature Antica Australis Cultural Dining Experiences in the villages of Carcoar, Australia and Al Jazeera Al Hamra, UAE will continue as part of our Antica Experience overall portfolio.
We envision commencing our personally hosted and inspirationally curated cultural travel experience packages from September 2024. For the truly brave and adventurous, in future we will be combining our UAE and Italy experiences into the signature Antica Quest.
As a new initiative, we only open reservations for our exclusive & experiential cultural travel adventures to members of Antica Australis, followers of the Antica Travel Journal and for private groups on request. It is a pre-requisite for all Wild Heart of Italy guests to have first joined us for one of our Antica Australis cultural dining experiences.
Our focus has always been on providing truly unique ‘behind-the-scenes’ access and insight into remote and ‘undiscovered’ regions brimming with ancient history and vitality, and in supporting local artisans to continue their traditional practices into the future.
While we design and curate our itineraries ourselves from on-ground lived experience, we engage local guides in each respective region to collaborate in hosting our guests. Our local guides are experienced academics, archeologists and artisans - and our very good friends.
We can’t wait to introduce you to the wonders of Ciociaria & Molise in central Italy and the unparalleled Ras al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates.
We invite you to follow us off the beaten path and into the extraordinary.
Paolo & Kelly Picarazzi. Founders, Antica Travel Co. and Antica Australis.
Ideal for curious explorers & the wild at heart.
“Kelly & Paolo take you deep into the heart of central Italy and immerse you in the incredible history of the Ciociaria region to understand the great civilisations that inhabited this area of Lazio between Rome and Naples over the centuries.
You will be delighted to meet local producers passionate about the revival of traditional foods, wine and production methods - all in the unspoilt natural beauty of the Valle di Comino and the Apennine Mountains.
It’s just perfect for the adventurous, the curious, those who are tired of crowds and tourist restaurants, and for those who dislike moving from hotel to hotel to make the most of their vacation.
It's a great fit for those who want to learn more and appreciate more, and who want to extract the very essence of life from every day, and who are flexible enough to confidently do so.
- Janette Davis, Wild Heart of Italy cultural travel experience guest 2018.
Years of research & relevant experience.
We have spent over ten years researching in-depth into the ancient history of the Ciociaria and Molise regions, including seven years of on-ground exploration with the help of an individual team of local academics and archeologists.
Paolo is a Ciociarian native and is descended from the Ernici & Volscii tribes of the original land of the Samnite civilisation, Víteliú (now known as the regions of Ciociaria & Molise in central Italy) and as such he is deeply connected to the land.
As the culinary creative behind the revival of the ancient and traditional cuisine of Ciociaria at Antica Australis, Paolo is a genuine and passionate foodie.
He was awarded an AGFG Chef Hat for his artisanal craft at Antica Australis in 2021 and Antica was awarded a Bronze in the 2022 NSW Tourism Awards in the tourism restaurants category in recognition of its’ contribution to the local community and the economic revival of the historic village of Carcoar.
Kelly has a background in global tourism with a focus on cultural heritage and just prior to the pandemic she was included in the global Travel Massive ‘100 Inspiring Women Travel Founders’ list for 2020.
Both Kelly and Paolo have lived experience in the United Arab Emirates, with Kelly working within the original team of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority which helped launch Abu Dhabi on the international tourism stage.
Passionate & visionary.
We re-design our on-ground itineraries bespoke for every single tour. No experience is ever the same. This is born from our passion and belief in the continual evolution of the regions we are visiting and to align with the personal adventures our curious travellers are seeking.
