We were originally referred to Tommaso Pante, for Sicily, by Rick Steves’ Travel Team and Kevin, Travel Advisor.
Tommaso referred us to a Guide for our visits to Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the Naples Archeological Museum. Ms. Antonella Rizzo. Tommaso did us a GREAT favor!
WELL! in our 3 weeks in Italy, March 24-April 10, Antonella was the all-around BEST guide we toured with. And we’d hired several. Mrs. Rizzo lives in Naples, a native of the area.. and she is ABSOLUTELY delightful, extremely knowledgeable, fun, flexible, and all round awesome lady.
She has a style which is in keeping with Rick Steves philosophy that when we travel, we MUST learn about the local people, food, life, stories, tidbits of information, not found in guide books. etc.
We were pleasantly immersed with fascinating information the entire day by this experienced and charming Guide. She also shared some stories about her parents, and what they experienced during WWII. And her children growing up in Naples. We laughed and shared family stories. By the end of the day, we truly felt that we had a friend in Naples.
She and we were so sad to not be staying longer in the Naples area. We had driven to Paestum, on our own, the day before. (outstanding!) And on the day after Naples, we toured the Amalfi Coast with Giuseppe of Positano Drivers, another enchanting day! then off to San Pietro Ifine and Montecassino to some WWII battle sites, where my USAF father had taken photos as he passed through in 1944.
We will most certainly engage Mrs. Rizzo should we get back to the area…. and in the meantime, we will refer all of our traveling friends to her.
PLUS, prior to our Italy Trip, I’d listened to ALL of the Italy audios on the Rick Steves Europe Audio App, three and four times each. Got some great tips, and I was so well-prepared once I arrived. And now am listening to them again to help me remember names as I write our Daily Travel Journal and edit photos. These audios are fantastic and so entertaining!
Toni & Gordon