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Rome and Sorrento Guides

My daughter and I just returned from a trip to Italy. As people who love history, art and archeology, we wanted our trip to focus on these areas. At the top of the list was a visit to Pompeii. Since there were no available Rick Steves trips that went there at the time of our travel dates, I decided to create our own travel itinerary. I talked to a Rick Steves travel guide and bought the latest Italy book. Both provided excellent guidance.

Our tip started in Rome. We were there for a couple of days. I contacted Giovanna Terzulli (she is in Rick’s Italy book) to arrange a day of touring the Roman Forum, Colosseum and the Vatican. She was excellent! Her knowledge of the Forum area history helped to integrate new knowledge with knowledge I already knew thus creating a more complete idea of how history unfolded. During our time in the Vatican museum and in the Forum area, Gio showed us pictures of what historians and archeologists think different items/sites might have actually looked like back in the day. Gio was not only knowledgeable but embraced a love of history. She offered us options and was flexible based on our needs. We also enjoyed a lovely lunch with her!

After Rome, we journeyed to Sorrento where we spent 5 days. Four of those 5 days were spent with Pina Esposito (also in the Italy book) who arranged for a driver to pick us up at our Rome hotel and drive us to Sorrento. The driver also returned us back to our hotel in Rome at the end of the 5 days. Pina was beyond knowledgeable in the area of archeology. If you are truly interested in understanding the story and history of that area, she is your expert. After an initial email inquiry, Pina immediately responded with a menu of options that she could provide. We could then pick and choose which items we thought we wanted to see. Pina also provided us with an extensive list of her qualifications (she has a PhD in archeology). One thing that turned out to be a high point for us was the day we went to Pompeii. Pina also suggested to us that we might want to visit Herculaneum and the Villa Oplontis on the same day as Pompeii. It was a great idea because each site offered a different perspective of life and the events that transpired during the eruption. Pina helped us make the most out of our time in the Sorrento area. She was flexible and provided excellent guidance.

We also stayed at 2 wonderful hotels I would definitely recommend and are in Rick’s book: Rome…Relais Teatro Argentina and in Sorrento…Hotel Antiche Mura.

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Thank you for sharing! I’m thrilled you shared your experiences with these two guides as we are using them for our trip to Italy in October. Now, I’m even more excited for our trip! Thanks again!