My husband and I travelled to Sicily this past May and Luisa Grigoletto helped us put together an amazing itinerary. She suggested we start with a few days in the Aeolian Islands, a place we’d never heard of and wouldn’t have thought to go. It ended up being one of the highlights of our trip! We hiked, e-biked, rented mopeds and took a boat to Lipari and Vulcano, all while staying at the fabulous Capo Faro resort on Salina.

After returning to the mainland we picked up our rental car and spent time visiting: Taormina, Syracusa/Ortigia, Mount Etna, Ragusa, Modica and Palermo. Along the way we saw spectacular Greek temples and amphitheaters in Agrigento and Selinunte, visited wineries on Mount Etna, made some unbelievable Pomodoro sauce in a private cooking class in Ortigia and saw the incredible landscape artwork, Cretto di Burri, as well as the amazing mosaics at Monreal Cathedral and Villa Romana del Casale. All our hotels were top-notch, the food everywhere was great and the local guides we picked up in various spots really helped bring alive the history of the various peoples who conquered and ruled Sicily over the centuries, all leaving behind architectural and culinary influences. For our WOW Moment we were welcomed into a private home and cooked a fabulous multi-course meal by a professional chef; a very unique and enjoyable experience. All-in-all a wonderful trip; thank you Luisa!

We had an amazing trip to Venice, Bologna, and Florence, courtesy of Luisa and Katrina. Luisa’s in-depth knowledge of the locations, restaurants, hotels, tour guides, and walking times (so important in these crazy walking cities) was instrumental in our celebration trip. We had vetted other agents, but Luisa was so personable and listened to our wants and desires so well, that we were able to have as much (or as little) to do as we needed. We were able to go to Murano with a person who grew up there, even met his mother from her window, and saw his uncle’s Murano glass showroom/storage facility. We also did a day trip to Bassano del Grappa (Luisa’s hometown), where we had a guide from the US who had been local to Bassano for at least 20 years. In Bologna, we had a free day (which was a tad difficult since we didn’t know the area well), but had a great dinner and foodie tour the next day prior to departure. In Florence, we had several guided private tours, including an artisan tour and a tour through the towns of Greve, Castellino di Chianti, and Siena. That’s a show-stopping trip, minus the slight backroad weaving (take some Bonine if you do this tour). Our guides were phenomenal and taught us so much about the culture, history, and food and wine scenes. We even did an olive-oil tasting in Greve, which was extremely interesting.

I had some aggravated back pain while in Italy, but Luisa was on it and had some docs on standby in both Venice and Florence if we needed them. She also did an exceptional job of selecting hotels and restaurants for us — we gave some guidance and made final selections, but all hotels were A+ and each had something special and unique about them. I’d highly recommend staying in the smaller, boutique hotels that we did because the service is so excellent.

Luisa curated an amazing trip for us, and we were able to enjoy, relax, and know that we were well taken care of at all times. We even met another group in our hotel who was utilizing Luisa’s office, and they were on their 3rd or 4th journey with them. I can’t imagine having done this trip without Luisa’s help and guidance, which made for an exceptional milestone birthday trip for my mom.

We loved our curated experience. Together we planned a weeklong soccer trip for me and my teenage son that took us to 2 different countries (France and England) to watch 4 professional games including 3 different cities (Paris, London and Manchester). It was awesome! Everything was perfect. From the pre-arranged transportation to the accommodations to the restaurants to the fun stuff – it was all bespoke. We had some tight connections, and Luisa’s office ensured we were in constant communication with drivers who shuttled us from stadium to train to airport as needed. They were also able to get us tickets to the matches. Every detail was attended to and upon arrival at one of our hotels, even the staff there was aware of our soccer-focused trip and had Champions League team cookies waiting for us. The fact that they also provided a phone number to reach them 24/7 was key for us too, so when we had questions or concerns we could call at any time and they were on it! I would absolutely hire them again.

PANDEMIC TRAVEL  Luisa did a fantastic job helping us plan our recent trip to Italy! With her help, we stayed in lovely hotels, had great meals in local restaurants everywhere we traveled, and had tickets and very knowledgable guides lined up for every museum/site we wanted to tour. Everything was top notch! On top of that, she checked in with us along the way to ensure we were having a great time (which we were!).
Luisa had lined up a great WOW Moment in Florence, but due to an unexpected Covid case on the part of the “host” we weren’t able to experience it; but we look forward to something extra special on our next trip.

PANDEMIC TRAVEL  During our initial phone consultation, Luisa listened carefully to all our preferences and worked quickly to line up airport pickups, our preferred hotel (based on our conversation), guides, and restaurants and made suggestions for things to do during our free time. She was extremely flexible if we decided we wanted to make slight alterations.

My only complaint is that we only had five days – our choice, not theirs! (And they were flexible enough to adjust their minimum of a 10-day trip to accommodate our inability to spend more than five days.)

The hotel, Ca’ Sagredo, was absolutely what we wanted – a former palazzo, on the small side, so I would put it in the boutique category. We had a gorgeous junior suite with 3 huge windows on the Grand Canal and it was an easy walk to most parts of Venice, other than the St. Marks area and the Biennale. We loved exploring Canareggio and Dorsoduro on our own and of course got lost, even with Google maps trying to help us.

The restaurant suggestions were all wonderful and each one had impeccable service and lovely food. The two guides Luisa lined up were both helpful and knowledgeable – and very different. One had grown up on Murano, so knew much about Venice from the perspective of a local; the other was a Brit who has lived in Venice for about two decades. Both provided a wealth of information about art, architecture and history and gave us great insights without overwhelming us with details. It was such a pleasure to experience Venice as I remember it 25 years ago, before the crowds became overwhelming and floating skyscrapers were allowed to anchor in the lagoon. We were thrilled to learn that cruise ships are now permanently barred from anchoring in the lagoon and it is likely to be some time before the big tour groups return and make it impossible to walk across the Rialto Bridge. These moves might just “save Venice”!

I am a very particular person and quite observant of details that turn out to be much less than expected and I have absolutely nothing to complain about during this trip – except not having enough time to do all we wanted, even in five days. Thank you for connecting us with Luisa; I would highly recommend her for your WOW List!

Luisa deserves the highest rating possible. She planned our family’s trip to Italy over the winter school break period and did an outstanding job. During the planning phase, Luisa and I had a number of conversations and exchanged emails so she could have the information she needed to put together the right itinerary for our family, which includes a fifth grader and a seventh grader. She listened carefully to our requests and made the right selections regarding locations, guided tours, restaurants and pace. This was not the easiest trip to plan because two of our ten days fell on Christmas and New Years Day, when many places were closed. Notwithstanding this challenge, Luisa planned great days for us on both holidays. She was also able to find experiences that could be enjoyed equally by both children and adults, which is not easy. Also impressive was how Luisa checked in with us during our trip to make sure that everything was going smoothly (which it was). I will definitely recommend Luisa to my family and friends because she planned an amazing trip for our family. Thank you to Wendy Perrin for connecting us with Luisa!

We cannot praise Luisa Grigoletto and Evan LaRocque highly enough for planning our family’s spectacular post-Christmas visit to Rome!! It was our teenage son’s introduction to the Eternal City, yet he’s not keen on the more traditional museum/monument tour model. Luisa worked extensively with us to learn his interests and suggest more off-piste activities that would showcase Rome through his personal lens. Not only were the guides she arranged superb and highly engaged with him, but she also designed self-guided tours full of amazing, insider-Rome enotecas, street food, and vintage clothing shops. The combination of professional and self-guided exploration of Rome’s neighborhoods was genius (and delicious)! His highlights were seeing the city by Vespa and photographing the street art; our highlight was that he loved his Roman experience SO much he fell in love with the city and wants to return! We owe our trip’s epic success to Luisa’s highly personalized itinerary based on her knowledge of our travel preferences and interests. We cannot wait to work with her in future adventures!