Louie969

Columbus, Ohio

"I took university students on a study abroad to Italy. In Venice, I was looking for a guide that could give us knowledge of how Venice was designed and modern problems with Venice and acqua alta. Marta listened to our needs during the planning stages and gave us a great two hour walking tour and then organized another hour with a taxi to see unique aspects in the canals. She was great! Marta is a native Venetian. This was my third walking tour in Venice and both other times I had foreign (Russian and USA) guides that provided ok tours but clearly Marta's tour was heads and shoulders above those because she could give a tour that was much more than you can learn by reading Wikipedia. I can't wait to go back to Venice with another group of students and have her be our guide again! Well worth every penny. Thanks Marta!"

Daniel L

"Congratulations, you decided to visit Venice, Italy! What an amazing experience awaits you. If you were like me, you probably read a few books, picked up a magazine or two on Italy and maybe watched a few videos on must see and do. You have developed a plan to hit all major sites and attractions......sound familiar? Yes, that was me and my family of four. We had it all planned out. Times, dates, sites, even monitored the weather to ensure we maximize our time in Venice. We thought we were ready.....and on a recommendation from a colleague we secured a four hour tour with Barbara. And WOW, what a recommendation that turned out to be! Her professionalism understanding of the culture made our stay in Venice so much more enjoyable. This sights and sounds of the main attractions simply came alive, the sublime details of everyday Venice took on colorful meaning and the obscure became important.
When I look at our pictures taken in Venice, they have more meaning and value because we spent a few hours and a few dollars to take a personalized tour (Barbara and my family of four). So....when your adding up your costs to travel to Venice, perhaps the last item of consideration is a personalized tour because you may think you have a great plan formulated based on knowledge from a book or video, and you are thinking that you could save a few dollars on going on one of those mass impersonal tours (20+ people following around an instructor with a flag), perhaps this review will cause you to pause to ask yourself. Do you want to simply visit Venice or do you want to experience Venice? We chose the latter and I am thankful every day that the few dollars on a personalized tour enriched our experience to something beyond any of our expectations. I am just sorry we couldn't have taken Barb with us to many of the other sites in Italy."

Jwpowers53

Thousand Oaks, California

"Our group had a wonderful experience with Emanuela Belgrado as our tour guide. She was friendly, interesting, and fun to be with. We toured St. Marks Basilica and the Doges Palace on one afternoon then we took off to Burano, Murano and Torcello islands the next day. She greatly enriched our time in Venice. I highly recommend her."

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