“Hi Matteo,
We hope you’re doing well. Sorry for the delay in providing feedback while we’ve been pretty busy since getting home. Hopefully this is helpful since we know you put a lot of effort into selecting all of the activities. Since everything was great and my descriptions are all largely very positive, I’ll use a scale of (1 – 10) to indicate how much we enjoyed each: 10 being the best and 1 being the worst.
You should be hearing from my parents sometime soon to arrange a trip for them next spring. They were very happy to hear that everything went smoothly for us and everything was very enjoyable. We’ll definitely be recommending your services to anyone we know traveling to Italy and we hope to go back in the next year or two to see more of the country. We really enjoyed everything. Thank you again!
Michael & Alexandra Shea
Tours & Activities:
Vatican Tour with Katya (10 / 10) – we really appreciate you getting tickets to the Papal audience for us. It was a great experience. Our private tour of the Vatican with Katya in the afternoon was incredible. She was very knowledgeable, friendly, and knew everyone that worked there which helped ease us through the crowds. She is truly exceptional and I hope that my parents could do a tour with her next spring.
Rome Vespa Tour (9 / 10) – The two men were very nice, knew a lot about the city, and drove very safely. It’s really a great way to see a lot of the city and we’re happy that we took your recommendation on this since we were a little bit nervous.
Rome Food Walking Tour with Chiara (8 / 10) – It was nice to sample foods from many different shops that we wouldn’t have found otherwise. Our guide and the group we were with were both very friendly. We enjoyed all of the places she took us.
Florence Walking Tour and Accademia Gallery (7 / 10) – We enjoyed seeing the city and museum, but didn’t love our guide. He was professional and knowledgeable but not very friendly.
Cooking Class with Laura (10 / 10) – This was one of our favorite days. Laura was so nice and we enjoyed both the shopping for ingredients in the market and cooking in our home. It was a great way to share some time with our friends Rowan and Britta Morris. We learned how to cook a number of things. She made us feel very at home and had so many great stories about family, working in restaurants, and Italian culture.
Montepulciano and Montalcino Wine Tours (8 / 10) – Our driver was very professional and nice. Thank you again for sorting out the situation with our first driver getting into an accident on his way to pick us up. We really enjoyed the Poliziano winery in Montepulciano, but Casato Prime Donna’s tour was very boring without much to see and we didn’t enjoy the wines as much.
Pompeii Tour with Lorenzo (8 / 10) – He was very knowledgeable about the history, culture, and ruins. He was quite formal but professional and nice.
Capri Boat Tour with Angelo (10 / 10) – This was our favorite day of the trip. Our captain Angelo was a lot of fun and very nice. We enjoyed talking with him and he was always happy to take photographs for us or stop the boat to let us enjoy the water. He had some good recommendations for our lunch in Capri and where to walk around while we were docked. The boat was very nice and a good size since it was just the two of us.
Amalfi Coast / Sorrento Driving Tour (6 / 10) – Salvatore was our least favorite tour guide. He was ok but almost made it seem like there would be a test on everything he told us at the end of the day. Great scenery and beautiful views driving around the coast.
Hotels:
Westin Rome (8 / 10) – Nice hotel, but we didn’t spend much time there aside from sleeping.
Hotel Lungarno (9 / 10) – We really enjoyed this hotel. We had a great view and very nice room. Breakfast in the restaurant each morning was excellent. Everyone who worked at the hotel was very friendly and helpful.
Fonteverde Hotel (9 / 10) – beautiful property. The views from everywhere were incredible. The concierge was very helpful. The pools were very nice. The restaurants at the hotel were both excellent were very friendly service.
Casa Angelina Hotel (9 / 10) – Amazing property, great location. Our Eaudesea suite had beautiful views and the private butler service was incredible. Our butlers Fabio and Luca were two of the nicest people we’ve ever met and they made delicious breakfast, snacks and drinks. The beach club was very fun as well. The rooftop restaurant Un Piano del Cielo had great seafood, views, and service. The only drawback to the property is the 180 steps that we had to climb from our room to reach the elevator to the main lobby.
Restaurants:
Eolo in Amalfi (10 / 10) – This was the best meal that we had in Italy. Amazing seafood and excellent service. Good value as well for how great it was.
Daniela in San Casciano dei Bagni (9 / 10) – Delicious food! The service was very welcoming and the owner and hostess made us feel as if we were in their home.
Antica Pesa in Rome (9 / 10) – This was our best meal in Rome. Great food and service. The garden in the back was very pretty.
Il Latini (8 / 10) – Very good food and plenty of it. Pretty good service but not the best.
La Giostra (7 / 10) – The food was very good. I just didn’t like that they charged us for a dessert and dessert drink that we didn’t order.
Cantina & Cucina (6 / 10) – The food was pretty good but not that impressive. The service could have been more organized even though I understand it’s a pretty casual restaurant.
Il Pirata in Praiano (3 / 10) – Unfortunately we didn’t really like this restaurant. The service was poor and the food wasn’t great. The location right on the water is very nice though.
Transportation:
Airport Transfers and Drivers – all of our drivers were very professional and friendly. Cars were all very nice. Cristiano who drove us from Florence to Fonteverde with a stop for shopping was exceptional – very friendly, interesting, and nice to speak with.
Trains – convenient, travel impressively fast, train cars were nice, but we had some trouble fitting our luggage in the racks. Good experience overall. “
Michael & Alexandra Shea (New York, NY) – JUNE/JULY 2016
Panorama of Sorrento and Mt. Vesuvius
View on Tuscan City of San Gimignano, Tuscany
Path of Gods, Amalfi Coast
