PRIVATE GUIDES IN ITALY--MASTER LIST
 

I used to be firmly in the "use a guidebook; why spend the money for a private guide?" camp. But too much time spent with my nose in an often dry guidebook, and a couple of excellent experiences with private guides in other countries, have led me to understand how much a great guide can enhance a traveler's experience and appreciation of a foreign city.

So I would like to begin this thread so that we can have a "master list" of guides in Italy. Perhaps we can compile similar threads for other countries, if we have success here.

Please share your experiences with private guides in Italy. Give approximate dates, prices and any other details that you recall. Perhaps we should also mention guides that we would NOT recommend, as well as those who are in our files for the future.

Here is one to get the thread rolling, with more to follow:


ROME--Francesca Caruso. [email protected]

Together with another Fodor couple, my partner and I hired Francesca for a private tour in January, 2007. To use a hackneyed phrase, Francesca made the Forum come alive for me. She is fluent in English. Her price was moderate and I give her an enthusiastic recommendation.

I totally agree. Having a private tour guide our first time in Rome was so worth it.

ROME - Giulia Bernardini. [email protected]

My husband and I used her in 2002. We liked her so much we took two tours with her. Her knowledge really made Rome come alive for us. Since then, she received her Master's degree in Art History from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She lives here in the States but goes back to Rome for the summer. We were in Rome in 2007 but it was during spring so we couldn't meet up with her.

Even though it's been some time since we've personally used her, we keep in contact and gladly recommend her.

ekscrunchy - I think this is a MARVELOUS idea of yours. And I can happily and VERY enthusiastically recommend :

LUCA GARAPPA of
http://www.hillsandroads.com/

He is a very sweet. knowledgable and intelligent young man, based in the area around Siena. He does day tours (or half day also) and also private transfers between cities. He speaks many other languages besides Italian and speaks them WELL. English, French and Spanish, maybe others too.

He picked us up from our hotel in Firenze and took us out to the beautiful Tuscan countryside. We toured, talked, walked, got explanations and information, drank lots of coffee (bunch of espresso aficionados here!!) and had a great lunch together as well. At the end of our days he drove us back to the hotel in Firenze.

We used him about 3 years ago for two separate touring days in the Tuscan hill towns (my Mom sister and I) and he is a great part of the reason we fell in love with them. He is fiercely in love with his country and it shows. He is a wonderful guide, a gentleman, and a very safe driver.

We thoroughly enjoyed our 2 days with him and since I end up returning just about every year, we now meet for a fun day together, traveling somewhere, and we have become very very good and close friends!!

His prices are on his web site that I gave above and they are hourly prices, I think we paid about 33 Euros per hour when we used him. And something like 250 Euros for a private transfer from Firenze to Rome since my elderly mother did not want to have to travel in a manner that would not be suitable for her.

I know there are MANY people on this board who have also used him as a guide and sing his praises.

TORINO. SILVIA PELLEGRINO. Freelance guide; fluent in English.

I took the Citta di Torino tourist office's guided city tour, led by Silvia, in April, 2009. She is an excellent guide who interlaced history and architecture with amusing and interesting anecdotes.

I have no hesitation recommending her for private touring in and around the city.

Her e-mail address is: [email protected]

Great idea. Here is my favorite in Venice--especially Roberta Curiel who is a lifetime native of Venice.
http://www.walksinsidevenice.com/#/venice/home/

Thanks, everyone.

I have a link to a guide for Rome and Naples, but have not hired her, so cannot give first-hand comments:

http://www.katieparla.com/tour/

tt

Peter is excellent, a transplanted Aussie, very accomodating, creates a tour based on your interests, rather irreverent, great sense of humor, lives near Montepulciano and will train into Rome for your private tour.
http://www.peterkilby-touradvisor.com.au/New%20Bio.htm

Daniella Hunt of Mirabilia Urbis Tours, www.rome-tours.com.
She took us on a private tour of the Roman Forum and Colosseum
in 2006. She is knowledgeable, passionate, funny and fun.
Wouldn't hesitate to use her again.

bookmarking

Francesca is the regular local guide for Rick Steves' tours, and is reputedly excellent. But when we took our tour she was not available, and that was a disappointment. I'm glad to hear she also does private tours.

For a shore trip in Amalfi Coast: Carmine of See Amalfi Coast, private driver from Naples sea port to Pompei, Sorrento, Positano and Ravello. Full day tour : 350 euro for seven people.

This is who I would use. Great website for info about Rome too.

http://www.roninrome.com/

Avoid "Enjoy Rome."

They advertised a 3 hour walking tour, yet it ended in 2.5 hours.

The tour guide never even heard of the quote "The sun never sets on the Holy Roman Empire"

For Naples, Sorrento, AC region

Limousine Service Sorrento (Renato Cuomo) www.cuomonet.it

Francesco. http://www.francescomarrapese.com/

this is a keeper.

The quote is "The sun never sets on the British Empire" not the Holy Roman Empire. No wonder they never heard of it.

I mentioned the British Empire too. Still she never heard of it.

Why would you ask a tour guide in Rome questions about the British Empire?

topping to see if anyone has any new suggestions based on personal experience

well, bob the nav, I've followed your posts when travelling for two years; we used roberta curiel in venice last spring and just loved her. The website is most helpful. The guides (forgot her partner's name we had the second day, but she was wonderful as well) were professional, informative, sensitive and so personable. We (from 7 yrs old to 77) learned so much. Could never have gotten this well-oriented and comfortable in venice without them, so thanks.
now thinking about a trip to rome, so of course, I turned here first.
Also, last spring, we had a guide in Puglia who was nice; will come back with his name...penny

ttt

Thank you for posting this...I tried searching for just this info earlier and didn't get this thread...I don't know why.

Very much appreciated.

Another whole-hearted recommendation for Francesca Caruso!

We (family of 4, kids at the the time 9 & 11) also used her for our trip to Rome three years ago. She was fantastic and truly the highlight of our three weeks in Italy and France.

After our initial contact, she gave me a general idea of a tour of the ancient sites; I asked if we could also see the Basilica San Clemente, which she thought was a great addition. She helped us get our Roma passes and even bought some snacks for the kids to take with us since I had expresed some concern that we may need to get them something to eat along the way.

After the 4+ hour tour, we paid her including a healthy tip as we had gone over the alloted time, plus just thought she was so wonderful. We then said our good-byes and wandered around to find something to eat. Half an hour later she caught up with us - said we had overpaid her! We couldn't believe that she had spent that time trying to find us because she thought we had paid too much!!!

In 2007, her fee was 50e per hour; our booking for the ancient sites was for three hours. She does not charge if she goes over the agreed-upon time frame.

In a post from April of this year, someone said she has a new email address: [email protected]

In September 2009, we took our first trip to Italy, visiting Florence, Tuscany and Rome and my in-laws hired a guide who arranged our entire 10-day trip. He arranged tours of private wineries and museums, drove us all around Tuscany, made all of our lunch and dinner reservations, etc., etc. He told us the history of the places we were visiting and really made it one of our best and most interesting vacations ever! We enjoyed it so much we are returning in October for another 10-day trip of Northern Italy with him. I have his contact information if anyone wants it. We also hired Katie Parla for a Vatican/Pantheon tour and she was fantastic.

EKC: PLease post the name and contact information of the guide. That is the purpose of this thread. I am happy to hear that you enjoyed the tour with Katie Parla.

Friends, I would recommend Country Tours of Siena. A few years back I was staying at the Palazzo Ravizza (loved that hotel!) in Siena with my cousin. We had rented a car but found getting around frustrating. A guest at the hotel recommended Country Tours so we engaged Fabio Manicini to take us to Pienza, Montalcino, and Montepulciano (sp.?)for an excursion which included lunch. Don’t recall the cost but we both agreed it was well worth the price. Just checked their website and they appear to be going strong.

Great idea! Thank you so much ~

This is a great thread...not sure how I didn't see it until now. I have used Francesca Caruso on 2 occassions and agree she is fantastic. I do still keep in touch with her and amamax is correct her current email address is francescainroma at gmail dot com.

On another note, I am beginning the research for my November trip to Bologna, if anyone has a recommendation for a guide in Bologna I'd love to hear about it!

For small group (maximum 6) tours of ancient and renaissance sites, I have had excellent guides through ContextRome.com.
All were native english speaking university profs or PhD students in various fields of art history, classics, archaeology, etc.

Sorry ekscrunchy! His name is Guido Gambone and his email is guidogambone at gmail dot com.

I tried setting up a tour with Francesca Caruso but unfortunately she is already booked.
However, she recommended a few of her colleagues:

*Sonia Tavoletta at soniatav AT aliceposta.it
*Luca Capparucci at lucaguide AT gmail.com
*Alessandra Mazzoccoli at alemazzoccoli AT gmail.com
*Richard Bowen at rbowen AT libero.it

great thread! BKing

fantastic, bookmarking

I got excited to see this but didn't see any mention of guides for the Calabria Region. We are interested in finding someone who might know how to do some research for ancestors in the Catanzaro, Sersale area. We will be there in September looking for grandpa's roots.

ttt

FLORENCE (Uffizi & Accademia): I can strongly recommend Marzia Valbonesi of Walks Inside Florence (www.walksinsideflorence.it). This was the first time I had used a guide and the experience was absolutely wonderful - instead of (as in the past) running around trying to see everything and not really seeing anything, her very carefully crafted museum tours showed us that less really is more. By dealing in more detail with a smaller number of works selected to show the evolution of styles of art over time, we came away with a much better understanding of what the art was really trying to tell us. Marzia was perfect.

We were a group of 6; cost was about 300 Euro for 3+ hours, and well worth it.

We had an excellent winery tour day this past June with Paolo Ferrero of http://www.buongustotours.it/ in Piemonte. It turned into a 10-12 day, with stops at several wineries, an artisan pasta maker, a goat cheese farm, etc. I would highly recommend him, and look forward to another trip and another day with Paolo (in my dreams right now).

ttt

thanks for coordinating all of this information!