The major tour companies all do pretty much the same thing. If one day they are taking you to an olive mill, it will be a massive tourist-trap mill where they get kickbacks as you are being sold inferior oil at inflated prices. We just don't believe in that. We don't believe in kickbacks. We believe in giving you the best possible experience, exposing you to the best Italy has to offer, and treating you like 'friends and family', not 'numbers'.
Whenever possible, we get you away from the tourist traps and introduce you to the real Italy, rather than the tourism machine the major tour companies rely on.
Big Tours Can Feel Small
While our regularly scheduled tours are designed for small groups, our custom tours can be of just about any size. Still, we treat them the same way we do a small tour.
Even if you have hundreds of people in your group, we still plan the itinerary in a way to get you the best and most authentic experience possible. We avoid rip-off tourist traps like the plague in favor of real places the locals frequent. Our guests see the difference when they notice that the wineries we visit are small and intimate family-run establishments, not major tourist attractions with parking for rows of tour buses. This will always cause us to have a lower per-person profit than the major operators, but our primary goal is to leave you with amazing, unique, and memorable experiences that you will carry for the rest of your life.
Our Guides Have Your Interests In Mind
Another little known secret about the tour business is that of how tour managers are compensated. Most of the large tour companies don't pay them. In fact, they often pay the tour companies for the right to lead a tour! They make their money through the various kickbacks they get along the way. For example, they know if they take you to a certain restaurant for dinner, they will get a 20% bounty on whatever you spend. Or if they take you to a certain ceramics factory, they will get a 25% kickback on everything you purchase. Places with lower quality and higher markups pay out bigger bounties, and the tour leaders can make thousands in a week... before you tip them for their great service.
We tell you this because while we run a tour company, when we are touring outside of Italy, we are tourists too, and we think of this as cheating.
We pay our guides and tour leaders, and we pay them well. They are strictly forbidden to take bounties, or to take you to most places that offer them. In some cases we may take you to a place that normally offers a bounty, but we ask them to calculate what they would offer our guides and give it to you in the form of a discount off of whatever you may purchase from them.
Because of this, our guides have no incentive whatsoever to take you to a tourist trap. Instead, their incentive is to give you the best possible experience, the best restaurants, and if you want to do shopping, their incentive is to take you to places that offer high quality and fair prices.
Yes, We Can Do It (Usually)
So you have a large group and want to do something unique. In most cases, we'll make it happen.
Would you like a tour for 50 people throughout Italy that builds up to a fantastic wedding in a medieval castle in Tuscany? We do that... and assist with all the wedding arrangements.
Would you like a company retreat at a villa on the Amalfi Coast with activities and excursions surrounding it? We do that... and handle catering, technology support and more.
Would you like a tour of Italy's major sites for your choir or orchestra? We do that... and help secure venues for them to perform in.
Would you like to arrange pilgrimage tour for your church group? We do that... and arrange an audience with the Pope, as well as stays in ancient monasteries, visits to sacred sites and more.
Would you like to arrange a special tour for your art students or photography students to paint or photograph the most stunning Italian sites? We do that... and arrange local experts to come along, plus provide logistical support for needed materials.
Would you like to plan a family reunion in the place of your family's ancestry? We do that... and help you locate your ancestors & reconnect with local relatives while there.
Would you like to combine a tour in Italy with a Mediterranean cruise? We do that... and help you plan the cruise. If you desire, we'll even provide a guide for shore excursions during your cruise, plan events on the cruise, and much more.
Full Logistics Support From Beginning to End
From the moment we first speak, we are there for everything you may need. We can arrange all of the travel for your group, we'll help you with documents, and all necessary logistics. For larger groups or more complicated tours (such as weddings and corporate events), we may visit you to meet in person at some stage in the process, or even plan a pre-tour trip to Italy together to select venues.
Once there, we are with you every step of the way for virtually every need from the moment you land at the airport, until you get home.
If you would like to see what we can do, whether you have 10 people or 200, click here to send us a contact request or call us. We will speak, get to know one another and get a feel for your needs and your budget. For example, if you want to design an itinerary that stays within $3,000 per person and achieves specific goals, we will find the best way to make that happen for you, plus help you fill in the blanks based on our own experience and the vibe of your group. If your budget is higher, we'll raise the bar. If it is lower, we'll show you what we can make happen within your budget. If you don't have a budget, we'll start from nothing and work our way up. We're sure you will be pleasantly surprised.
Custom Tours 
