Campania: Secret Wineries & Volcanic Adventures

Arrive in Naples, a city where traffic lights are regarded as decorative suggestions and crossing the road requires the confidence of a Roman gladiator.

After checking into your hotel, we'll gather for our welcome drinks and introductions. You'll meet your fellow mystery adventurers, discover who's travelled furthest and identify the person who has already asked whether Prosecco grows on trees.

Tonight we're heading out for a proper Neapolitan welcome, featuring legendary pizza, local wine and a lively introduction to a city that appears to have been built entirely around eating, drinking and shouting affectionately at relatives.

We'll explain the rules of the mystery tour. There aren't many. Don't ask where we're going tomorrow. Don't interrogate the driver. And if we disappear down a suspicious alleyway, it's probably for something delicious.

Tonight's mystery: Why has your guide just received a phone call from someone claiming to know a man with a cellar?

Today we're heading towards Mount Vesuvius, a volcano with one of the worst customer satisfaction records in European history. Its most famous eruption in AD 79 resulted in several complaints from Pompeii, none of which received a satisfactory response.

Fortunately, the volcanic soils produce some wonderful wines, so we're visiting two carefully selected wineries for tastings of local specialities, including the magnificently named Lacryma Christi, or Tears of Christ.

Quite why anyone was crying is unclear, although we suspect someone had just received the restaurant bill.

Expect beautiful vineyard views, generous hospitality and a leisurely lunch featuring enough Italian food to make your trousers reconsider their career choices.

Then comes our first genuinely peculiar mystery experience. We can't tell you what it involves, but it has nothing to do with identifying twelve different types of oak.

Back in Naples, the evening is yours to explore the city's excellent bars and restaurants.

Today's mystery: What exactly has been buried around here, and why is our guide looking so pleased with himself?

We're leaving the bustle of Naples behind and venturing into Irpinia, a glorious region of mountains, vineyards and villages where everyone seems to know everyone else's grandmother.

This is serious wine country, although we're making absolutely no attempt to behave seriously.

Our first secret winery introduces us to the mighty Aglianico grape, responsible for Taurasi, one of southern Italy's most celebrated red wines. It's powerful, elegant and capable of making a £9 supermarket Merlot look deeply embarrassed.

We'll visit a second hidden winery, meet the people behind the bottles and enjoy a delicious regional lunch. Somewhere along the way, there'll be another completely unexpected stop. It might involve an ancient tradition, a peculiar local attraction or somebody demonstrating a skill that really should have its own television programme.

And yes, we'll be tasting more wine. We haven't driven into the Italian countryside to inspect the hedges.

Today's mystery: Why does everyone keep mentioning a particular village, and should we be concerned that the driver is laughing?

Today we're heading west into the volcanic landscapes of Campi Flegrei, where the ground has a complicated relationship with staying still and the local wine is considerably more reliable than the geology.

We'll visit two more secret wineries, sampling crisp Falanghina and the wonderfully named Piedirosso, which translates as "red feet". Apparently, naming a grape after its feet was perfectly acceptable but calling a wine "Barry" was a step too far.

Expect atmospheric cellars, extraordinary local characters and a delicious lunch somewhere you would probably never find without a local guide, a detailed map and a suspiciously well-connected Italian grandmother.

Then comes our biggest mystery experience yet. We're not revealing the location, the activity or why your guide has suddenly started grinning. All we can promise is that it will be memorable, unusual and entirely unrelated to standing in a queue for a cathedral.

Tonight we'll enjoy a relaxed evening in Naples, where anyone still capable of eating can investigate the local restaurants.

Today's mystery: Why are we going somewhere that sounds suspiciously like the entrance to the underworld?

It's our final day and there's still one secret winery waiting for us. We're not telling you where it is but we can confirm that the wine will be considerably better than the stuff served in those tiny plastic cups on aeroplanes.

We'll enjoy one final tasting, raise a glass to five wonderfully unpredictable days and attempt to remember everyone's name without referring to them as "the bloke who liked the red".

By now, you'll have discovered magnificent Italian wines, met some unforgettable characters and experienced a side of Campania that most visitors never get near. You'll also have developed a healthy suspicion of anyone who announces, "We've just got one more little surprise."

After our final adventure, we'll arrange transfers back to Naples for onward journeys, depending on flight times.

You'll leave with extraordinary memories, a few new friends and the unsettling realisation that you now know more about Aglianico than your own pension.

Final mystery: How exactly are you going to fit all those bottles into your suitcase?