“Hello Matteo!
Sorry that it has taken me a few weeks to respond to you – it’s been a little hectic getting settled back after our wonderful trip! Thank you again for helping us to have a wonderful trip to Italia – for me it was the first time, and I definitely hope to come back again soon to see even more. Overall, we had a really great time and things ran very smoothly with all our drivers, check-ins, trains etc. It was well planned so that helped us so much to not worry about anything. Here are some of our overall comments and feedback for you should you plan anything in the future for other clients.
Siena/Montepulciano Trip
- We really enjoyed the pecorino farm you had selected for us – there was a little confusion with the owner not being there so we had called you but once that was settled we really loved the cheeses and the views were unbelievable! The only thing I would say is that 1 basket for 4 people would have been okay instead of 2 baskets for 4 people as it was a lot of food for us to eat with still a full lunch ahead in Montepulciano. I would recommend doing just this as a light lunch and maybe coffee/dessert in Montepulciano or letting people know to maybe have a very light breakfast before! 🙂 Since we spent so much time eating it left little time to really explore Montepulciano that day.
- Cooking Class: I think the only thing that we were a little disappointed in with the trip was the cooking class in Siena. While they were very nice and well prepared for us, but being in a school it felt a little impersonal. Also the dishes we prepared were good but we did not get to see what the others were doing as we were cooking so it felt more like we were cooking ourselves dinner rather than learning how to do something new together. They used several shortcuts like bottled pomodoro sauce. pre grated cheeses etc. and I wanted to learn how to make things authentically like someone’s grandmother does- maybe because I do a lot of cooking myself I was hoping for something more “Tuscan” that was fresh and new.
- Our driver in Siena, Francesco, was wonderful – he showed us a great time for the two days he was with us!
- I thought the location of the hotel was great and very convenient for us – one of the rooms was a little small for 2 people but otherwise was good.
Positano
- We loved the hotel in Positano – it was a great location and they treated us very well when we were there. The views from our room on the terrace were phenomenal!
- One thing to note for other clients, they do offer porter service for 10 euro a bag to take them down to the dock. This was helpful for us since we had large bags and it would have been hard to get them down to the docks ourselves. They delivered them right in front of us for the boat to Capri
- We loved our day on the boat – unfortunately it was a little shorter due to the weather raining in the morning and in the afternoon but it was a great day to be out on the ocean and one of the best days we had in Italy! We loved the restaurant the captain dropped us off at La Conca Del Sogno
Capri
- Capri was great though as you said it was hard to do it for just 1 night, I think if I had to do it over it would have been better for us to stay in Anacapri as the main area of Capri was overrun with tourists from the cruise ships that day. It was a little overwhelming to know the best way to get from the docks to our hotel because of the crowds but we eventually got a taxi up
- Our hotel was able to porter our bags again for us which was helpful – might be helpful to tell other clients that this option is available if they have big bags like we did.
- I think of all the hotels we stayed in, this was my least favorite. They seemed to forget some details in the rooms, the breakfast was chaotic and not maintained as well as the other hotels etc though the location for the main area of Capri was very convenient.
- Thank you again for being so flexible to help us last minute to change our train and spend a little extra time here – it was good to have a little more time that morning since we were not going to have much time to see things in Rome anyway
Departure
- The only feedback for our departure is that we should have set up a separate car ahead of time instead of just one since we had 2 different flights that were almost 3.5 hours apart. It would not have made sense for us to check-into the airport so early especially at that time in the morning so just something to keep in mind for future.
Thank you again for everything – the cellphone, olive oil and your care and planning were very much appreciated! We will definitely recommend you for any other friends looking to plan their Italian trip!
Thanks again,
Priti (and Leena, Bindu, Vishal) Lokre”
Priti Lokre (Atlanta, GA) – JUNE 2016
The village of Positano, Amalfi Coast
View over the Tuscan countryside and the town of Montepulciano at sunset
The Pantheon at night in Rome
