Scot and Rina from Loving Italy
In our travels we often meet with private tour guides that we later recommend to our clients. Scot gave our family a terrific tour of the Vatican when we were in Rome in 2006. Scot and his wife Rina now offer personalized custom tours in Italy. We recently chatted with Scot and Rina about Italy and the services they offer.
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FamilyTravelGurus: Many of our readers only have a short time to visit places in Italy on a cruise. What types of cruise tours do you offer and how are these tours different than what the cruise line may offer?
Let me answer the second question first. With us there is no such thing as a fixed itinerary. All of our tours are customizable; you can change them to include your favorite restaurant or store, or anything else you’d like to do. Time is short and our priority is fitting in as much as we can to make your trip memorable.
You guys at “FamilyTravelGurus” know how much you can see if you plan things right or put yourself in the hands of someone who “knows the ropes”.
A lot of our “cruisers” are seeing Italy for the first time, so they want to see as much as they possibly can in 7 hours. We always try to find a balance between the different aspects of what an excursion can offer — art, history, geography, food, local traditions — so regardless of individual tastes everybody will find something for them.
FamilyTravelGurus: Tuscany is a popular area with Americans (the movie “Under the Tuscan Sun” was a hit!) What tours do you provide in Tuscany? Can you help with places to stay?
Tuscany’s popularity grows every year, and we can’t complain about that! It’s an easy place to keep coming back to for so many reasons, from the breathtaking countryside drives to the great food to the fact that it’s well connected with Florence and Rome by train and road. We have plenty of thematic tours for tourists with an interest in a particular face of Italy: wine tours (guided visits to exclusive wineries, lunches in historic castles etc), tours that focus on the Etruscan culture, or ceramics, or Renaissance gardens and villas. And, of course we have
tours to all the great art cities of Tuscany and Umbria: Siena, San Gimignano, Lucca, Pisa, Assisi, Perugia….
Can you help with places to stay? sure, you can stay with us! ( really. we have a guest bedroom here in Chianti and clients have stayed with us in the past). We also have a list of charming relais, boutique hotels, castles and historic villas, many of which are not available to the general public. With a little advance notice we can find a perfect match for almost any family.
FamilyTravelGurus: When we think of Italy I think of wine and food! Do you have tours that feature wine tasting and wonderful meals?
We’re focusing more and more on “slow food”. We do a lot of research to find exceptional food that doesn’t appear in the guidebooks, little restaurants and trattorie which are a great value because you’re eating incredibly fresh and well-prepared food, in a beautiful setting, that you wouldn’t have found about otherwise. We also do a lot of tours that focus on wine and food products — Brunello, Chianti, the “Supertuscans” of the Tuscan coast, olive oil pressings, honey and cheese making. Many of the wine tastings and cellar visits are at renowned producers, and often include lunch.
FamilyTravelGurus: Italy is a popular Honeymoon destination – what services do you provide for newlyweds?
Most of the Tuscany and Amalfi Coast tours are already so romantic in and of themselves that we don’t need to do much to adapt them for newlyweds. There are also lots of fun things that are perfect for honeymooners: a drive through chianti in a vintage car and lunch in a castle, ballooning or horsebacking riding in the Tuscan countryside. And we’re happy to help with hotel and restaurant reservations to make the trip even more special.
FamilyTravelGurus: As the name of our website implies, we specialize in family vacations. Is Italy a good destination to bring the kids? What areas are especially good for families to visit?
Of course it is! if you remember, the italian constitution is founded on the idea of the nucleus of the family, so won’t be surprised how central the idea of family is. italians love children so travelling with small children is a delight. many of the cities have museums that are geared to children and much of what you’ll want to do is outside, which means that it’s “climbable” and walkable. in general, the bigger cities like Rome and Florence and Siena, and the coast, with its beaches, offer the most for children.
FamilyTravelGurus: How are your tours different than what your competitors offer?
1. Commitment is the word that comes to mind first. we love people and making sure that everyone has a great time is our main goal. it’s easy for us because we do more than 90% of the tours personally, so we can handle things “on-the-fly” where a big company doesn’t have that flexibility.
2. we don’t try to offer too much; instead we focus on what we’re best at, and if
it’s outside of what we do we hand it off to someone else.
3. and, since most of our business comes from referrals, we tend to attract clients who have similar tastes to ours. i’ve always been a big believer in building business around happy clients.
FamilyTravelGurus: How did you get started in providing tours in Italy?
Rina:by chance! I had just taken my major in Foreign Literature and Language
at the University of Florence, and was so ready to face the “New Brave World”
either as teacher in the secondary school or as whatever job gave me the
opportunity to share my knowledge and be with the people. Well, of course,
one other thing I had always be dreaming about was traveling..
I started at the information desk for the Toyota group at the Excelsior hotel.
The result was so successful that my second job, from the American Company
in charge of the organization of the Toyota, was a..TOUR of EUROPE as tour
guide onboard of a 50 seat tour bus!!! And, incredible but true, saying “yes”
was the most natural thing for me to do in the world. That was in 1995.
Scot: I grew up in an Italian neighborhood and had always been fascinated by the
art and food, so I took a leap and moved herein 2000. I discovered that it was
easy to find fellow english speakers who wanted to know more about the same things that I was excited about, so I started by giving walking tours of Rome, and things just snowballed from there.
FamilyTravelGurus: Finally tell us some of your favorite places to visit in Italy?
Scot: for me Rome is at the top of the list, unconquered and unconquerable.it’s the most beautiful city in the world and has so many layers and colors facets that you’ll never see it all. rina and i both love the amalfi coast, that magical stretch of cliffs and cobalt waters between positano and ravello is one of the most dramatic in the world. where we live in chianti is a favorite, or else we wouldn’t be here. man and mother nature really collaborated here to create harmony and balance in just about everything.
Rina: I totally agree with Scot about Rome and the Amalfi Coast. In my list there is Sicily too because it is impossible to visit that island without falling under the spell of its varied charm: natural beauties, centuries of history piled up in the shape of hundred civilizations who added more and more splendor and richness to it. The food is the best, the people so warm and welcoming and all seems like an orchestra directed by a single excuisite “maestro”. (once we got rid of the mafia, exporting it a few years ago..!)
My love for Tuscany is too obvious to need an explanation: it’s my second home! Some other places I love in my Country are Bellagio, Bergamo, the Isola Bella, the little “promontories” called 5 Terre, and last but not least, Sardinia.(is it so obvious that for me choosing is a problem??)
FamilyTravelGurus: Thanks Scot and Rina. We may just take you up on that offer to stay with you on our next trip to Tuscany!