First, the important stuff: Maria Gabriella Landers is the best travel agent we’ve ever worked with. Period. She is deeply knowledgeable, thorough, and attentive. And she carefully vets all the hotels, guides, drivers and special service providers who work with her. Importantly, anytime we’ve had questions or issues arise in the middle of a trip, Maria is always quick to respond with answers and solutions.
This is the second trip Maria has designed for us. Though I didn’t think it possible to surpass the first trip to Italy that Maria she put together for us, it did. Big time.
I’m sorry to say that we put Maria through her paces with a false start this time around.
After she had already orchestrated a complete, two week itinerary in Umbria and Rome for us, we pulled an about face and asked her to organize an entirely different trip. Our new plan was to start out in Rome, and then head on to Paris and Amsterdam- with tours and custom tailored experiences along the way.
Maria never batted an eye. She simply collected our input on what we wanted to see and do and got to work.
The end result was beyond magnificent. Maria only works with the best suppliers. One of our tour guides in Rome was the author and art historian, Alessandro Celani, whom we met on our first trip with Maria. Alessandro is superlative. My wife and two adult sons and I are hard core art junkies who love learning new details and backstories about works of art and their creators. As with our last visit, Alessandro didn’t disappoint.
Maria’s hotel selection in Rome, The Villa Spalletti Trivelli was magical. The lavishly appointed villa has only 14 rooms, and a wonderfully kind and attentive staff. On the morning of our twin sons’ birthday, the kitchen staff brought out a surprise, freshly baked birthday cake.
Our stay in Paris, at the beautiful Relais Christiane hotel in St. Germain de Pres was also exceptional. Here again, we had excellent tour guides. And a private cruise along the Seine.
From Paris, we took the train to Amsterdam, staying at the Hotel Pulitzer on the Prinsengracht in the city center. Because we had lived in Amsterdam several years ago, we relied on Maria only for our transport from and to Schiphol. And yet, as always with Maria’s hand picked car services, the drivers were friendly, courteous, highly professional and waiting for us prior to our prearranged meeting times.
We love to travel, in Italy especially, and we would not think about going back without first reaching our to Maria.
I can not recommend Maria more highly. As far as traveling in Italy goes, Maria is simply the best.
