Maria helped plan the details of our Italian trip to Tuscany and Rome May/June 2017. The guides were excellent! One highlight was a behind the scenes visit with a multi-winning jockey from the Palio (Sienna). My kids loved seeing the track where he trains the horses, and he and his wife were charming. Our guide was fantastic with the kids and was a Sienna resident who provided us with not only the history but the current gossip as well. Hugely entertaining! We also took a day trip to visit the Carrera marble quarries. Recommended by Maria, this side trip was unique and yet another “insider” experience of Italy. We had a very knowledgeable guide in Florence who was able to tour our families in the first half of the day and then give an in-depth Medici tour for my husband during the second part of the day. Again in Rome, we experienced excellent guided tours, of food/gelato as well as history/monuments. We felt like we toured Italy with locals (who also happened to hold degrees, etc, and/or had intimate knowledge of the subject matter). But beyond the excellent guides, what really sold us on Maria was the level of service. We had professional drivers everywhere we went. Never had to worry about a thing, where to park, where to eat, etc — the decisions were always made for us so we could just enjoy without a worry or hiccup. We enjoyed amazing meals, adored our hotel that Maria recommended, and relaxed! Our flight arrangements home had a small issue and the air concierge service immediately responded to us, and watched over us until we safely returned. I would highly recommend Maria to any of those traveling to Italy.
