Italy With Us - What our customers say
We pride ourselves on making your trip to Italy a very special and memorable experience. We do this through a combination of very knowledgeable and entertaining tour guides, special VIP tour packages to skip the queues and good staff who have a genuine desire to help our guests enjoy the experience in every way. But don't take our word for it - this is just a sample of what some of our customers have to say about us.
Helen Donegan - Business Owner
Most recent
(26th Feb 2010)
Helen,
Thank you so much for the great tours yesterday! We had a fantastic time and it was the best way I could have imagined kicking off my birthday in Rome.
I have a couple of quick questions for you:
1) We were so excited about taking more pictures and getting to the evening tour that we forgot to tip our guide on the Basilica tour! Could nick stop by your office with a little bit for him today? Or could I paypal you something? I feel terrible about it and he was so great, I'd love to find a way to fix it.
2) Could you possibly pass my email address on to our guide from last night? We had a great conversation before the tour about graffiti and he mentioned a few places I could go find some beautiful stuff but I forgot to write down the names of the places. I leave on Sunday morning but would love to go take graffiti pictures tomorrow if he could possible give me the recommendations again.
Thank you so so much! What an amazing day yo guys gave us yesterday, we'll always remember it.
.a.
02 26 10
Hello Helen!
Just to let you know how very much we enjoyed our tour
last night at the Vatican.
Christopher (?) is a passionate, oh so well informed storyteller;
we were fascinated, inspired, and educated all at once. Very
many thanks!
Sincerely,
Laurene Krasny Brown
PS: Marc of course joins me in appreciation.
General Comments
Hello Helen - I just wanted to let you know what an amazing experience we had on our Italy With Us tour of the Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel. Our guide, Christopher, was incredibly knowledgeable and very passionate about the art, architecture, and history. I can't imagine gaining that level of insight in a large tour group amidst the thousands of people that visit on a daily basis. It was a truly one of the highlights of our trip and definitely the best museum tour we've ever had!!! Thanks again and we'll look forward to booking tours with you during future visits. Best regards, Nancy Mossa and Angelica Perez ,San Francisco, Ca
I'm writing to thank you for the great job you did on the two tours we took with you last week. Both exceeded our expectations -- I don't think I was able to find a single question that you weren't able to answer. You were particularly good at explaining context without reciting lots of useless facts (in our experience, many guided tours rattle off lists of people, places and things with no thought or analysis). Your commentary was thoughtful, and really helped us understand what we were seeing. We had a great time, learned a lot about both ancient Rome and the Vatican, and will certainly pass your name on to friends we know who are visiting Rome. Again, thanks very much.. Michael Strickman
Dear Helen,Thank you for the most unforgettable part of our 10 day stay in Italy. The tour of the Vatican museums was incredible. We were both awestruck by the opportunity to sit with 30 people in the Sistine Chapel for 20 minutes alone and take it all in. A chance of a lifetime. We would like to send an email to personally thank our tour guide. Unfortunately we both remember most of what he said but not his name. He was the taller of the 2 male guides from Friday Sept 23. What a knowledgeable and entertaining guide!Thank you also for the info about Venice. We stayed there for 2 ½ days and loved every minute of it. We certainly hope to go back and we will refer all of our friends to you for future tours. Linda & Walter Sobon
Hi Helen - We thoroughy enjoyed the our on Dec 27. We were overwhelmed! Thank you so much for the falulous expeirience I am sharing your information with friends and honestly if I return to Rome I plan on takingyour tour again. Best regards for the New Year Angela
Comments on our VIP Tours
hi helen, this is bruce werner and mary gin starkweather from san francisco. i want you to know your tour is the highlight of our trip. everytime i think about going in to a perfectly quiet, still vatican and having all the time to see the things that most peole get a hurried glimpse of i give a thanks to my wife for discovering you and to you for delivering on your promise. i tell people about this and they are astounded that it's even possible and i tell them don't consider going to the vatican to see the museum without calling helen first. i feel that we have a 'friend in high places'! yours truly, Bruce and Mary Gin
Helen, as we reflect on our many blessings this year, the Vatican after-hours tour with you and your colleagues ranks near the top - probably right after love of family and friends, good health and prosperity. We reflect on its tranquillity, intelligence and opulence often, and thank you for making it possible. Best wishes . April Young and Bob Kelly
I'm one of Sally's friends for whom you so graciously and resourcefully organized the after-hours tour of the Vatican Museum a couple of weeks ago, and am writing to thank you again. I can't imagine what it would be like to go all that way and be herded through that amazing place in the company of hundreds (thousands?) of others. Our tour is never to be forgotten, and I am so grateful! The dinner afterward was a special bonus, and you made it even more fun just by being there. Thanks so much for all your trouble in making it happen! Kathleen Jones
Hi Helen: It was a delight to meet you and be included in your special after-hours tour of the Vatican. The magnitude and artistry almost defies comprehension. Roy could not have been more informative - and entertaining. Thank you for all you did to include us in the tour and dinner and to make it a very special evening. I especially appreciate Marie's phone calls to secure the visit to Carvaggio's studio the next day - it was a special treat. Thank you again for your generosity - all the best, Sue Bock
Thank you again for the AMAZING experience in Venice. I feel like you all went above and beyond and made our already incredible trip even better. The two after hours tours we had the privilege of experiencing were the highlights of the trip! I must admit I have certainly fallen in love with Italy, and I sure hope I am able to return soon! Thank you again! -Catherine Duke
I hope you have had a great summer and that all of your Vatican tours are selling out. We have told so many people about you. We had such good times in Italy this year, I can't tell you how much we enjoyed your company. Your enthusiasm is without match. Without you we never would have made it to the street of the Presipi makers! So many of our wonderful memories this year involve you. Meeting Helen was surely one of the best things that happened to us this year! Martha Wivell
Helen. I'm writing this email, first, to tell you that we thoroughly enjoyed our 8AM Vatican tour. I had been doing alot of internet researching, and had read all summer that the lines to enter/ view the Vatican were not that long. If the crowds really aren't that bad, I can't imagine how crazy it must be when they are. Although you did not specifically mention in your tour description that we would get to see the Sistine Chapel early during the visit, comments that I had read from others, led me to believe that we might get to it early & beat the crowds. So I booked.
I'm not Roman Catholic, and didn't know much about the museum & basilica, and what photos I had seen, did not really make an impression on me. Was I in for a shock. Jay was our tour guide that Friday morning. Please tell him he filled our brains with so many amazing facts! I love photography, and while I took many "wow" photos, my mouth was constantly open in such amazement at what we saw, and my brain was trying so hard to keep up with Jay's dialogue, that we were truly overwhelmed by it all.
When we talk about the trip, my husband frequently adds info about Jay's exuberance. His knowledge certainly added much to our tour. I was so excited that he got us to the Sistine Chapel when there were just about 25 other people there, and he kept us in the room for quite some time as he explained so many details, that by the time we left, the room was overflowing with people. As we retraced our steps through some of the museum, I couldn't get over the volume of people, and I don't think we would have enjoyed it/ appreciated it as much with the crowd. So thank you again for your services. We shall recommend you to everyone we know who will be making a trip.
Ps. Your web site was quite informative. I appreciated the photo of your shop & the map locator, as it made finding you much easier. Thanks again. Theresa Reese
Comments On Our Staff
Helen,We wanted to send you an email to thank you for the wonderful vatican tour with antonnella. She is such a sweet young lady and a great tour guide. I cannot tell you how happy we were to bypass the lines and you friends at the vatican museum took great care of antonella and us. It was the highlight of our trip even though our luggage didn't show up until the next day. I cannot tjhank you enough for everything. I would highly recommend you and hope to return again to rome. If I do, be assured we will again seek out your services.Thank you and take care,Barbara Prunsky
Helen,The tour was a fantastic experience - truly a once in a lifetime memory! Also, our guide Catherine was phenomenal. We utilized private guide services on this trip throughout Italy and Catherine was the best - by far. I am so glad we found your group on the internet. We'll pass along the information to others that will be traveling to Italy.Best regards, Jeff Pfeifer
Hi Helen, Sue and I would like to thank you for an exhilarating evening at the Vatican Museum. Susan, our guide, was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and keen. We could not have asked for a better 'special event' to our stay in Rome. Please thank Susan on our behalf. Kind regards
Prakash and Sue Mirchandani
Dear Helen,Just wanted to say how much Brendan and I enjoyed our tour of the Vatican Museum on the 26th May. As I said to you at the end, it exceeded our expectations and far from being a once in a lifetime experience we intend to do it again next time we are in Rome. Fantastic, thank you.It was lovely to meet you.Sincerely, Alan Parker.
Received a wonderful E Mail from them aboard ship. They could not get over the treatment you gave them and so excited over the Sistine Chapel...So glad I had the money already with you to pay for one of them...Did you do the Amalfi Drive for them...they did not say...just raved about you and the experience..I have your article in my file and hope to be in contact with you in the future.Fondly, Jo Ree Modglin...Anderson Travel Service...Palm Desert, California..
Comments On Our Knowledge
I want to thank you for sending me with your guide Jay. He's very personable and very enthusiastic about archaeology and more knowledgeable about the subject than any tour guide I have ever been with in Rome. Frankly, he's better than any archaeological tour guide I've come across anywhere, and that means better than more than a few guides. Some of the things he said I did not know, and doublechecked later in standard authorities like Filippo Coarelli, and those things were accurate. He doesn't feel that he has to know everything and tells you frankly that he doesn't know know an answer. When I threw him a poser question: Why do you say that this room is a pagan room and not a Christian; is it by default because there are no Christian symbols in it? (We were in the Caelian apartment house and the room was frescoed with purely geometric red figures.) He answered with certainty "because I've never seen these red squares&nb sp;in any remotely Christian room and HAVE seen them in certainly pagan rooms." He has a good sense of humor, and if he has a flaw it is only in providing information so fast in his enthusiasm that it can be hard to digest it all. After the tour and seeing off the other people, at my request he showed me to a strictly archaeological bookstore nearby, made sure I knew where the nearest taxi stand was, recommended an indexed map of the ancient city on a large scale that I hadn't known even existed, and said "enjoy the rest of your trip." You can probably tell I had a great time. Thank you. PS. Feel free to use this note however you choose to promote your business. You may use my real name Tom Hanson, Phoenix Arizona USA
Helen, I wanted to thank you for the great contribution you and your team made to our trip to Rome.Sarah was a fab guide to the Forum, the Palatine Hill, the Colusseum etc - -made it fun, amusing anecdotes but also absolutely sharp on detail.And Brenda gave us a wonderful trip to the Vatican - my son said this evening that the Sistine Chapel was the highlight of his trip and how much he enjoyed hearing about the Pope's bad relationship with Michelangelo! We all learned so much from her.Many thanks Victoria Elvidge
My friend and I took a tour with your company around the Vatican museums and Sistine Chapel and were bowled over by it! We were very dubious about joining the tour, having previously relied onguide books and audio tours, but once inside the museum with Christopheryour tour guide from New Zealand, we were as I said, bowled over.The breadth of his knowledge, his ability to make connections betweensculpture from one century seen in one room to that of another, seen half an hour later in another, was so enlightening, his enthusiasm so engaging, and his whole approach made the three hours or so we were following him the highlight of our visit. We certainly learned more in that tour than we could possibly have understood on our own, and I wished we could have had him with us for the rest of our visit in Rome. I am sure not all your guides are as erudite as he - perhaps you should hire him to the BBC for a guided tour of Rome! Thank you for a most enjoyable tour! Best wishes Hilary Corrick
More Than Just A Tour Guide
Dear Helen -- I wanted to say one last thank you for a wonderful tour! Our guide (whose name I never quite got) was really terrific; please pass on to him that we so enjoyed all of the information he provided. My son also had a great time; I'm sure he'll never forget our visit to Rome! Having the wheelchair was such a big help -- and the guard who helped me out to theelevators was such an assistant throughout. Again, thank you to all! Cynthia D. Gobatie
Dear Helen,I am sorry it has taken me so long to write this note of thanks for your tour of the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. I found Rome to be a fascinating place! I think our tour guide that evening was Jay. He was a bright and articulate individual. I was wondering if he has an email address as I have some questions for him about some books we were discussing? If so, you may give him mine and perhaps he could drop me a note. Again, thank-you for a wonderful evening and I hope to see you again soon in Rome.
Helen, How are things? This is Jerry Pike's daughter and I have a special request. I was wondering if you or Anton would know the names of the paintings/painters of the <other> paitings in the Sobieski room. (Not the Matejko). I was so taken with the expression on the face of the woman (even though the beheading "theme" was a little gruesome). I asked my parents what they thought and they couldn't even recall seeing it so I was hoping to show them. I had such a wonderful time on the tour. I feel so privileged and I keep daydreaming about all I saw. I've already bragged to my friends - hopefully they'll have the opportunity in the future! I could have lingered for hours.... If you have time, I'd really appreciate it. Either way, thank you again for making my trip so spectacular. ~Amanda Pike
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