“Hi Matteo,
Thanks for your note. We had an absolutely wonderful trip and really enjoyed all of the tours/activities/hotels. If it’s helpful, I can give you some feedback on our absolute favorites vs. less favorites, but it was really all good.
Hotels – the locations were amazing on all of them, but the rooms in Venice/ Rome were better than the other two. Everywhere had good service, but Bologna was clearly more of a family run, less high touch service place. It took time to find someone to get a drink at their bar, we dealt with our own luggage etc… but not a big deal. The only place that had really good internet was in Positano, though Venice was OK. Hotel 47 had great service, loved the location and room, BUT the fact that they only had the very expensive roof top restaurant was a bit limiting. That said – they were incredibly accommodating about letting us order off the lunch menu at dinner or for room service and we LOVED the view. It might be a good thing to let clients know to ask for some flexiblity if they have kids – as if we hadn’t asked, I think I would have been frustrated with the place. That said, if I go back to Rome, I would stay there again – with or without kids.
Tours – Honestly, they were all great, even with us doing them in extreme heat in some cases. Both of us agreed that every day of the trip got better than the one before, up until Positano. We both enjoyed the boat trip but we were a bit worn out by then and it is a bit more “adult” oriented than kid. Eight hours (as I had suspected) was just too long for the last day (we cut it short by about an hour). To be clear, our guide Angelo was fantastic and the boat was gorgeous; I just think I would have liked it more with friends than with a kid. I think that is generally true for the Amalfi coast in general – and I definitely (!!!) want to go back soon with friends. The other thing I might advise you on is with respect to the guides and how they deal with kids. All were nice, knowledgeable and flexible. The best ones were the ones that told us LESS info, talked more slowly and spoke to Carter more than me. He was MUCH more engaged after I told the guides to do that (at the Vatican and in Pompeii) than when they did the standard adult version (in Venice). Because the Vespa and food tours were also “activity” oriented, they were engaging to us both and Carter loved both (and the guide on both were great – though the food guy was one of the best guides I’ve EVER had for anything).
Great food all around – Roscioli had amazing food and wine, but the service wasn’t very friendly and a bit rushed. Luna Sentada in Venice had really good service, but none of the food in Venice was a good as everywhere else (good we went there first b/c at the time we thought it was great). Pappagallo was AMAZING – service, food, venue. The Hotel Poseidon restaurant had GREAT pizza!!
All in all – great trip and we are so grateful to you for putting it together (thus my long email). I will certainly pass along your contact info to others!
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Susan”
Susan Fleming (Ithaca, NY) – AUGUST 2017
Driving Ferrari in Maranello
Ruins of Pompeii
Riding Vespa in Rome
