My friend and I spent three days with Giuseppina (Pina, for short) last week and thoroughly enjoyed our time with her. The first day was spent visiting Pompeii and Herculaneum--an 8-hr tour with Pina and a driver, including a delicious pizza lunch outside the Pompeii site, and a brief tour of a cameo factory there, as well. The second day was spent around Naples (again, 8 hrs with Pina and a driver)--we had specifically requested to visit San Martino because we wanted to see the nativity exhibit there--it did not disappoint! We also visited the National Archeological Museum, the San Severo chapel, and via San Gregorio Armeno, where she introduced us to her friend who is an expert Presepe artist. Our third day was spent exploring the Amalfi Coast (again, 8 hrs with Pina and a driver), with stops in Positano, Amalfi and Ravello. Pina is extremely well informed (she has two PhDs), speaks excellent English, and is very pleasant and personable. She was happy to share information about absolutely everything we could think to question her about--life in modern-day Naples, the graffiti, corruption, food, climate, etc, etc. Her prices are somewhat high but we felt her services were worth it. She requested a wired deposit and a wired final payment before the trip, which was a bit challenging because our US banks did not recognize her Italian bank, so it required some extra work. We suggested she figure out a way to work with PayPal or some other online payment method--hopefully that part will improve. Many people tried to persuade us away from visiting Naples (and staying in Naples) but we were very happy we went and thoroughly enjoyed everything we saw and learned, thanks to Pina.
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