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Venice – Murano – Burano – Padua – (Ortesei) – Montagna – Trento – Verona
We had a wonderful trip to northern Italy, thanks to the very professional yet personal planning that Emanuela, Valentina, and Anna provided.

Our days were enriched by spending time with many likeable and knowledgeable guides who were able to inform us of and answer all questions about the past and present aspects of their special Northern Italy. We loved our tours of the Murano Glass Factory, the Squero shipyard where gondolas are built and repaired, and the Franz Haas Winery in Bolzano. Our boat tours through the canals were of course, magical. Although we spent a few days with fog and rain around us, we didn’t hesitate to just carry on, enjoying fewer crowds that late January and early February can guarantee.

Most importantly, everything went seamlessly with our reservations with hotels, drivers, tours and all of the many notable restaurants; we highly praise Emanuela and Valentina for their amazing recommendations and efficient booking of our choices.

We could not have been happier with our visit to Northern Italy; we heartily recommend and thank our planners for all that they did to ensure we would have a truly memorable holiday.

We had an amazing time in Italy! My husband and I went for 2 weeks in November of 2024 with stops in Milan, Venice, Parma, Lucca, and Florence. We initially met with Anna over zoom and after a few minutes she seemed to know exactly what we were looking for in this trip. She and her assistant Giulia organized several tours for us to make our trip extra special. Our favorites were a food tour in Milan, a private boat tour on Lake Como, and a walking tour of Venice. The very knowledgeable and friendly guides made the tours exceptional. Anna and Giulia were even able to get us last minute tickets to see The Last Supper in Milan.

One experience we loved and would have never found on own was our day trip to Burano with reservations at Osteria Contemporanea. It was one of the best meals we had while in Italy and the setting was beautiful. While in Parma, unfortunately, my husband fell sick for a day, and our trip planners were quick to help us adjust our schedule. I would work with them again for a future trip to Italy!

Linda Stengel overlooking the vineyards in Piedmont.

Linda Stengel overlooking the vineyards in Piedmont. Photo: Traveler Jeff Stengel

We recently returned from a trip to Italy. Our trip began with our attendance at a 6 day destination birthday party at a large villa in Tuscany for good friends we met when living in Switzerland about 20 years ago.

Following the birthday party we continued on to northern Italy on a trip we planned with Emanuela and her team. Our first stop was Sestri Levante. We stayed at a fantastic hotel right on the water. The ocean views, the people and the restaurants were wonderful and while very close to Cinque Terra we avoided all the crowds associated with it. One of the highlights of this stay was to be a 7 hour private boat tour of the Cinque Terra coast. On our drive from Tuscany we had encountered significant rain and high winds. When arriving at our hotel Emanuela contacted us to let us know the boat’s captain had determined the seas were predicted to be way too rough for the next few days for this boat tour. Emanuela reacted quickly and suggested an alternative boat tour of the Bay of Poets which is close to Cinque Terra but protected from the open seas. She arranged a great boat and captain, Marco.

Marco took us on a great tour of the Bay of Poets, seeing several fishing villages, some massive yachts, the Italian Naval Academy, great scenery and a stop at Porto Venere. We explored the small town and had an excellent lunch at an ocean front restaurant. Marco also took us on a very short ride outside of the Bay to show us how rough the open sea was, and we all agreed that the 7 hour boat trip in 15 foot swells would not have been a good idea.

While in Sestri Levante we also had a chance to visit Portofino and had a great lunch at a beach club close to town. Leaving Sestri Levante we headed north to the Langhe area of Piedmont. We stayed at a modern resort which included its own winery in the middle of the vineyards close to Costigliole d’Asti. The views from our patio looking out over the vineyards at the many hilltop towns was fantastic. On several clear days we could see the snow-capped Alps off in the distance.

While in Langhe, Emanuela had planned many excellent adventures. We visited some very prestigious wineries. We tasted fantastic Barolo and Barbaresco wines and met some very interesting and engaging wine makers. Driving through the hills of the region and experiencing the ancient hill towns was like no other wine region we had visited before. We also visited had a chance to explore the Asti region and visited the caves dug by local winemakers starting in the 16th century and still used today to age their wines. The sparkling wines were great as well as the lunch we had at Casa Crippa in Canelli.

Our adventures did not end with wine. We went truffle hunting with Vittoria, one of the few female truffle hunters in the region with her dog “Alba.” It was lots of fun following Alba though the woods searching for truffles. She found three nice sized black truffles on our hunting trip. After the hunt we had a two hour truffle lunch at Vittoria’s family home, which was fantastic; “truffles five ways.” One of the other highlights of our trip was a private cooking class in a local chef’s home. With the chef we prepared several traditional Piedmont recipes. It was very hands-on so we were comfortable when we got back home we could recreate the dishes. The dinner was great with local cheeses and wine made by her son-in-law at a local winery. We wrapped up our last day in Piedmont visiting a local cheese maker and a local hazelnut farmer and learning about their processes and tasting their products.

We had a very enjoyable trip eating and drinking our way through the Piedmont region. Based on Emanuela’s plan we really felt like we got a real understanding of the region and its people as well.

We wanted to see Cinque Terre and the Italian Riviera and were thrilled with the itinerary that was put together by Anna and her team. They really understood our likes (cooking/food, art, history, walking) and dislikes (crowds). We had an amazing experience! Some details:

• All of our drivers were very professional, drove smoothly (as they knew I wasn’t good with all the twists and turns) and on time—a special thank you to Fabio in Alassio!
• Both hotels were fantastic—exactly what we were looking for—great service, rooms, concierge (special thank you to Alex in Alassio), and a gym. We also loved their locations—not too touristy with easy access to all the places we wanted to visit.
• We enjoyed all of the tours and the guides were knowledgeable and nice—they provided fun/interesting information without going into too much detail—including Claudia (she was most fun and had great stories for Santa Margherita, Portofino and Camogli); Valentina (fun cooking class and a beautiful home); Paola (Genova—as well as our pesto making class!), Simona (Albenga and walking tour); Christina Armato (Olive Oil, and her family were amazing and the best ravioli I have ever eaten!); Mario (Cinque Terre, even with the rain, Mario was able to quickly make some changes to the day and ensure we still had some hiking and a nice lunch).
• When planning the trip, we thought we wanted to spend more than one day in Cinque Terre. We were so happy that we listened to Anna as one day was plenty (this area is very touristy and not worth the hype).
• All the restaurant recommendations were great—we ate and drank more than we needed to!
We would do it all again. Thank you again to the team for understanding our needs and planning such a great trip!

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