In 2010, a group of us toured Italy and using Rick Steves’ book of Rome, I found Gaetano Manfredi as a tour guide to give us a wonderful tour of Pompeii as a day trip from Rome.
This past February, when I was planning a family trip to Rome with my adult children and grandchildren, I again wanted a tour of Pompeii, so I contacted Gaetano and was thrilled that he was still giving tours 12 years later. He committed to give us a 3-hour tour on June 9th.
A few days before the tour, Gaetano told me he had been asked by Rick Steves to give Rick’s cousins a tour of Pompeii which conflicted with our tour and based on his 25 year relationship with Rick, he felt he had to comply.
However, Gaetano arranged for his son Ciro (also a certified Pompeii guide) to give us the tour. We agreed and what better reason than to be bumped by the great Rick Steves’ relatives!!
Ciro was a tremendous guide – Gaetano has taught him well and he was knowledgeable, energetic, funny and with an excellent command of English. At the beginning of the tour, Gaetano met us, and we embraced and at the end of the tour, Ciro found us a table for 9 in a local restaurant – no mean feat during the busy lunch time period. Gaetano sent us some complimentary appetizers.
If you need a tour of Pompeii, you cannot go wrong with either of the two Manfredis – they are the best.
Dick Dodds