About
Your Italian trip should be a rewarding and truly memorable experience. To get the most out of your holiday we believe it’s vital to slow down and take the time to listen, look around and appreciate your surroundings. Our approach is a reflection of this belief:: we choose to travel over short distances, to stay in small, boutique hotels and to be selective about what and how much we see. We also ensure that our guests are part of a really small group rather than just one of many faces and names on a busload of twenty or more people.
Our experience tells us that it is essential to connect with Italian culture through its people and customs. We work with people who have authentic local knowledge of the area: certified drivers, local producers and guides who understand the art, food and historical facts of their region. They help us participate in a genuine local lifestyle, walking the fresh food markets, seeing how quality wine and olive oil is produced and tasting typical dishes in Slow Food trattorie that care about the environment.
We also understand how important it is to relax and take the time to smell the roses.
This is after all a holiday. We will be travelling with you, taking you to the places we love and introducing you to the people we know.
Let us share with you the culture we know and love!
We carefully research and plan our small group tours so you can enjoy a truly authentic and relaxing Italian experience.
About Us
About Luca
Philippa says that Luca is someone with a foot in two countries: his parents and Italian family keep him firmly linked to his “mother country” while his Australian wife Philippa and their mini Schnauzer Max make sure Australia is also home.
After years of experience teaching Italian at Sydney University and at the Italian Consulate’s Institute of Culture in Sydney, Luca started Italian Tours about ten years ago as a perfect way to continue introducing Australians to the county and culture he loves so much.
Luca has a passion for language, for words, literature and history. He loves sharing the details of Italian culture but is also a dab hand at locating the very best gelato no matter what city he is visiting.
At home in Sydney, Luca is famous for his Italian cooking – if you’re lucky he’ll share his recipe for ragù with you! His knowledge and respect for food carries through to Italy, where he goes to great lengths to source the perfect restaurant in every small town we visit.
About Philippa
Luca refers to Philippa as his brains trust, the person who keeps the well-oiled machine of Italian Tours running smoothly.
Philippa loves to join Luca on as many of the tours each year as she can. She is absolutely passionate about her adopted second home – the art, the food and wine, the culture and of course the shopping. You can find her enchanted in front of any Michelangelo or Botticelli that you pass but she also loves tucking in to a Fiorentina steak preferably accompanied by a lovely Chianti or Valpolicella.
She is also very particular about her shoes and knows exactly where to buy them in Milan, or Rome, or Florence, or Turin… and is more than happy to help you find the perfect pair too.
Since discovering the Aperol Spritz in Italy many years ago she has been its unofficial ambassador in her home town of Sydney.
About Giusi
Giusi has been working with us from day one, when we ran our first ever tour to Lake Como. Over the past ten years we have experienced many wonderful days with her as she’s shared her intimate knowledge of the Italian Lakes region with our groups.
Giusi has degrees in Classical Literature and Medieval History. She has an active interest in art and history and excellent fluency in English, Italian and French. In 2007 she became an accredited tour leader and since then has been working full time running tours for operators from around the world, leading tours to most of the regions around Italy – and sometimes even to far-flung parts of the world including places like Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe!
We love many things about working with Giusi, but especially appreciate her knowledge, her enthusiasm, her excellent organisation and her great sense of humour.
Giusi leads selected tours for us.
About Cristina
Cristina was born and raised on the shores of Lake Como. Even as a young child her dream was to learn English, to travel and meet people from different cultures. Her first step in this direction was to complete a degree in Modern Languages and Literature with a specialisation in Irish History, before heading over to Great Britain and Ireland to work as a tour leader for Italian students.
She so liked being a tour leader and being surrounded by other cultures that she made it her profession and became a licensed tour guide and tour leader in Italy.
Her other passion is food and … wine!! For Cristina, food is for more than just survival, it’s an integral part of our culture and our personal stories.
“I still remember the fragrance of a home-made cake baked by my mum, the sweetest curd prepared by grandma and the afternoons spent with the women of my family and friends to make tortellini for Christmas lunch chatting and listening to their stories when they were kids.”
Cristina is also a qualified sommelier and loves visiting wineries as well as other food producers. She likes discovering what’s behind a good wine, a good cheese or a good prosciutto!
Cristina leads selected tours for us.
About Anna Maria
Hailing from Puglia, the cheerful and sunny region of Southern Italy, Anna Maria now lives on Lake Como. Her passion for travel led her to a career in the industry. Among her many roles she has found a lot of satisfaction working as an independent tour leader where she can meet people and show them the places she loves. Her empathy for clients and ability to anticipate their needs makes her the perfect travel companion.
Anna Maria has travelled extensively throughout the world and lived for many years in Amsterdam, which apart from leaving her fluent in Dutch, has led to a deep appreciation of different cultures and a love of meeting people from all over the world.
Her favourite food is her nonna’s melanzane ripiene (stuffed eggplants made to her grandma’s recipe!) or simply some good bread with fresh tomato and olive oil!
Anna Maria leads selected tours for us.