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Some of the best English
speaking driving-guides in Italy for tours, shore excursions, day
trips, journeys through Italy. Private tours by car or minivan.
Narrated tours for small groups. |
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Some of the best driving guides in Rome
and Italy |
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Paolo Apolloni;
Paolo Fanti;
Francesco
Bartalini;
Sergio Astarita;
Emilo Mentrasti;
Roberto Contursi;
Michael
"Zorba" Agostino;
Rotilio "Rudy" Grimaccia;
Gianni (Johnny) Musella;
Vincenzo (Vince) Macrì;
Pietro (15 places) Frezza;
Daniele
Melaragno;
Paolo Di
Gregorio. |
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No way, I cannot do
all the tours myself. This business is such that one day three
different groups of tourists want to go on a tour with you and the following day no one
needs you. And it's for my colleagues also. The good season for us is generally from May to October, and we need to work as much
as possible while it's on to be sure we can pay our bills in
the winter. When what I described above happens, you don't
like it, but it happens all the time! That's why we all need our
friends to help. Your friends can give you business when you don't
have any and be sure you'll return them the favor at the first
opportunity. This page introduces the friends who could be be doing
the tours for you if I should be to busy to take care of you
personally. It goes without saying that I'd love my motto to be: "If
you book with me it's me you get!". But I'm more realistic than the
English colleague who put that motto on his website, I need my
friends!
paolo@drivinguide.com |
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Paolo Fanti
is naturally the first one that I want to introduce, where would I
be without him? He and my other good friend
Francesco
Bartalini
live in Florence and do tours in that area.
They do
the tours in the Tuscany region for me and you'd meet one of the
two of them, or one of their associates, if you book with me for a
shore
excursion from Livorno
or a tour
of Tuscany.
They do a great job and they assist the clients in many ways, from booking their visits
to the museums to suggesting great restaurants. They also provide
walking guides for tours of the city
of Florence on foot, which is the best way to see it. Our friendship
is such that often I stay at his place when I'm in Florence and we
go on vacation together whenever we can. The fact that we are both
named Paolo confused a lot of people in the past, so we an agreed
that only after a booking is finalized we pass it on to the other.
We tried to do it differently in the past and it was a mess! That's
why carefully avoided putting his e-mail or URL here.
www.drivingguidetours.com
Paolo Fanti's interview with Melanie Cole part1
Paolo Fanti's interview with Melanie Cole part2 |
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Francesco
Bartalini
(yes, that's
really his picture, not a painting by Michelangelo) is Paolo Fanti's
partner in business and works as a driving guide but is also
licensed to operate as local guide for the city of Florence. He
has a deeper knowledge of the city of Florence than most driving
guides have and he can take his clients inside churches, museums
etcetera. Florence is a rather small city and it's considered "walkable" by most tourists
who therefore
hire a local guide to walk its streets. Some people prefer to drive
though and hiring Francesco they can save money and time hiring one
person to do the job of two. In fact, wanting to do a tour of
Florence without having to walk it, he alternative is to hire a driver
and a guide. But of course is likes to work as a driving guide and
show visitors the lovely countryside outside of Florence, that's
what driving guides who operate in Tuscany mostly do, and especially
that gives him the chance to often return to his beloved native
Sienna. |
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Emilo Mentrasti
is the most courteous and kind person I know. Being courteous and
kind obviously helps in this business, but it takes a lot more than
that to be successful, and he is. He drives a beautiful Mercedes,
and a Volkswagen minivan when he has larger
groups. Emilio is somewhere in his 50's and has been in this
business for about 15 years (I think, I've always seen him around,
but I never asked him when he started) and had acquired the
necessary experience to become a real good driving guide. Obviously
speaks good English, but also Spanish and Portuguese. He has a
Brazilian clientele that keeps him busy even in the winter. Lucky
guy! |
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Roberto Contursi,
who everyone calls "Robertino" because of his size (Robertino means
"tiny Roberto") is the nicest guy. He always has a smile for you
(except for when you want to take his picture at 7 am at the port of
Civitavecchia) and all the ladies think he's really cute. Though
he's rather young, he's in his late 30's, he has more experience
than most in this business. Just like my brother and I he's in it by
trade, his father and my father collaborated just like we do now.
Speaks excellent English and knows Rome and Italy really well. He's
one of the few who can get you anywhere in the Vatican any time you
like, as long as you're willing to pay the price! He has a few
things in common with my brother: they where both born on November
10, they're both single, they both love to take time off, they're
both good looking and now they also both have lousy pictures on this
page! |
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Rotilio
"Rudy" Grimaccia -
Is a great driving guide and a good friend. He's just the person the
picture shows you, a very good character, always smiling and
laughing. He's anxious to learn all there is to learn about Rome and
Italy and reads any book he can lay his hands on. He wants to tell
you everything he knows about this country, and since timeis always
short, he talks fast. Slow him down! He likes art, philosophy,
politics, history ...and shooting! Yes, that's his hobby. Whenever
he has time he grabs his gun and rides his scooter to a shooting
range. This hobby comes from having served 5 years in the Italian
police (Carabinieri) as a sniper. All the clients that toured with
him loved him. |
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Michael
"Zorba" Agostino
has always been around. He was friends with my father and my brother
calls him "uncle Zorba" Everybody called him "Zorba the Greek" when
he was younger because he was dark skinned, tall, beefy and
quarrelsome just like Anthony Quinn in the movie. He spends most of
his time working as a guide at the Vatican Museums, but also drives
a beautiful Volkswagen minivan and loves to take people in it and show
them his beloved Rome. Loves to play chess. On summer you can
find him sitting on the steps of St. Peter's Square playing his
favored game after a day's work. Don't challenge him. Speaks excellent English, German,
French and Spanish. Loves Opera and knows all about it. |
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Gianni (Johnny) Musella
is a good friend, a really nice guy and, obviously, a really good driving guide.
He spent several years of his life in the USA when he served in the
Italian Navy and was stationed in Washington D.C.. Speaks good English and has
good sense of humor. He knows his history, though sometimes after
hearing his clients calling St. Peter's Basilica "the
Cathedral" he calls it that too, but he knows well it isn't a
cathedral! He knows the territory really well and can plan your tour
with military precision. He loves going to Tuscany and he's really
familiar with that area. Just like me he drives either a Mercedes
sedan or a minivan. The minivan he's driving right now he a FIAT,
but he'll replacing it with the new Mercedes "Viano" in June. When I
think of him the adjective that comes to my mind to describe him is
"jolly". I guarantee you'll like
him. |
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Vincenzo
(Vince) Macrì
is "new" in this business. He's been doing it for about ten years,
but loves it. Speaks good English and has a very good sense of
humor. His family moved to the States when he was little and he did
his schools there. Then they came back, and now that I'm thinking of
it I realize I never asked him why. He loves Rome, keeps reading books about
it and them coming to me for clarifications. He knows Rome really well
though he thinks of himself that he's ignorant, but that's the
effect this city has on you: the more you learn about it the more
you realize how much there is to learn! He' a little overweight but
surprisingly agile, he moves faster than people who weigh 50 pounds
less then him.
Vincenzo is in a better world now,
but I'll not remove him from my website. |
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Pietro
(15 places) Frezza
is the biggest guy in the group. He's only about 5 foot tall, but
he's got the biggest van! We call him "Pietro-15-places". He's in
his 50's and he's practically always been a driving guide, but he's
only been self-employed for the last 5 years or so. They wouldn't
give him a license to operate with a car, but they gave him one for
a bus. He's a nice little guy who speaks good English and Spanish, knows Rome
and Italy well and is quite funny. The biggest van a driving guide
uses has maximum eight seats so Pietro and his minibus come in
really handy for larger groups. He's a rarity, usually those who
drive these larger vehicles don't speak any English and you're
forced to hire a guide to go along. |
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Paolo Di
Gregorio
is the taxi driver I use in Capri. His great grand father had a
horse and carriage, his grand-father and his father drove taxis and so
do his brother and his son. Always in Capri. Would you think he
knows the place? Until a few years ago the taxis in Capri were all
FIAT cars from the 50's and 60's, stretched, to get an extra row of
seats in them, and convertible. Little by little they all did away
with them except for Paolo who still drives the same car his father
drove. You must to see it! |
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