Time out to reflect
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Food weirdos
[revised March 2026] Food can be a divisive subject, something so personal and “ancestral” that we immediately notice when somebody has different eating habits from us. So, it was fun to collect some of the aspects that make us, Italians, seem weird to the eyes of people coming from another continent: we usually eat lunch […]
How do we create a new tour?
[revised March 2026] Preparing new tours is one of the most exciting moments in our tour guide job! How do we proceed when we decide to introduce a new itinerary in our portfolio? (BTW, current portfolio already includes more than 90 tours/activities, but we love diversity, even when it comes to tours!) first of all, […]
Virtual tours? No, thanks
[Editor’s note: this post was written during the pandemic, in April 2020] Sometimes what better defines you, is what you are NOT. For instance: we do not lead big groups, we do not put strangers in the same tour, we do not offer segway tours or golf-cart tours, we quit the Vatican Museums. And now […]
How to start planning a trip to Rome: 5 tips
[revised January 2026] In time of Covid-19 we learnt that sometimes you cannot travel and you just have to wait and dream. But this is not necessarily a lost time. Have you ever heard of the “Grand Tour”? It was a “travel habit” of the bygone days, just reserved to upper classes (and mostly male travellers), […]
Lean thinking and tours
[revised January 2026] I just finished reading an essay about contracts and negotiations (“Extreme Contracts“). The main reason I read it – honestly – is because it was written by a friend, Jacopo Romei, but I’m always surprised by the way any source of new knowledge can be applied to any field, including the market […]
Why we are NOT on booking engines?
[revised February 2026] Some of our guests ask which button on our website they have to click on to book a tour. Well, no button, you have to write an email and we will discuss your plan first. Once we agree on a plan, we will give you instructions to: send a confirmation deposit (by […]
Tick the box
In 2005 I bought a travel magazine (ABTA Travelspirit) while I was waiting for my flight. I found this article by Pat Riddell so enlightening I decided to keep it and recently I found it again … I tried to find it online to share it, but I couldn’t find it, so I decided to […]
Travelling with a teenager (n°3)
[Written in 2017] Last “meditation” about travelling (see n° 1 and n° 2) is coming from my personal experience as a mother of a 14 year old boy and as a tour guide meeting a lot of families with children: when your travel companion is a teenager, you just have to keep in mind they […]
The guided tour guide (n°2)
As I anticipated in post n°1, I learnt a lot about vacationing just by doing it in the last 30 years (in the picture: a tour I had on Mount Etna, summer 2016). Of course my critical spirit was sharpened by working in the travel industry and especially by becoming a tour guide in 2009. […]
What I learnt about travelling (n°1)
My first trip alone was in far 1996, to Paris! It was the first summer I had a salary and few days of annual leave. I immediately understood my “holiday time” was precious and I had to plan the trip well. Now I’ve just returned from a wonderful trip to Bali, where I had time […]