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| AUGUST 2000 M. Fass from USA |
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This is M. Fass wanting to thank you for setting up the Uffizi guide last week. She was super and my wife enjoyed the entire experience. Since we go to Firenze often, we will be sure to use you again.
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| SEPTEMBER 2000 E.Way from Florida |
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Dear Mariaclaudia,
I hear that you have talked to the family where I stayed in Vinci. Silvia is a wonderful teacher, a terrific guide, and a fantastic cook. I enjoyed
my stay with her family because, as in your tour, I saw parts of Tuscany that the average tourist never sees.
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| SEPTEMBER 2001 M.McCarthy USA |
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Dear Mariaclaudia,
My best meal in Italy was in Greve. We had garganelli sul sugo di cinta senese at Mangiando Mangiando in Greve. I hope I have spelled that correctly. I very much enjoyed the cooking course that I took while I was in Florence. It was one of the high points of my visit to Italy. I hope that
I will be able to take a longer class in the future. Thanks again for
being willing to organize a class for one!
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| JANUARY 2002 K.Miyata from JAPAN |
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Cara MARIACLAUDIA
Buon Anno !
Come sta ?
Ho pensato molte volte di scriverti e ormai siamo quasi un Anno nuovo.
I was so happy to be able to see you in Firenze(06/2001).
I had a wonderful time in Castello CAFAGGIO and wine tour of secret-tuscany. Everybody is so kind, nice persons!
I love Italy! I love tuscany more and more !!
I send you a photo. Your smile is so cute.
Grazie della sua cortesia.
Con la speranza di rivederci presto.
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| MAY 2001 V.SMITH from USA |
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Hello , received your message about music festivale and just wanted to let you know how much we enjoyed our wine tour. We just received our wine this week and put it in the cellar. Our wine tour was certainly one of the highlights of our trip. You and Stephanie were delightful !
You asked for comments -I think providing some bottled water during the trip would be nice.
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| NOVEMBER 2002 M.MAFFEO from New Jersey, USA |
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Dear Maria Claudia,
I am finally getting a chance to sit down and write you. I am sorry this took so long, but I am sure you know how busy it is when you get back fom vacation. (And Christmas season, too!)
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Our evaluation of our trip is AWESOME !!!
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You and your wonderful staff made a dream come true for me. The vacation was truly perfect.
Every driver, tour guide and tour was wonderful.
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ROME: Driver and tour guide were excellent. They were dealing with weary travellers and first-day jitters and they quickly made us feel welcome and at home. they also adjusted to our needs with grace!
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ROME/ASSISI/PERUGIA/FLORENCE: Our Driver was excellent. He was flexible with our time and made very good suggestions about going to Perugia instead of Todi, because it was Sunday and everything was closed.
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FLORENCE: Our walking tour guide was very knowledgeable about Florence and was kind enough to adjust her touir to the needs of our varied group. She was very pleasant and enjoyable.
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SIENA and SAN GIMIGNANO/WINE ESTATE: This also was a perfect day. Our guide was fantastic! She was perfect for our group and also excellent company! Our tours were exactly to our liking and the wine estate was beautuful and we felt as if we were visiting the home of friends!
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FLORENCE/MONTEPULCIANO/ORVIETTA/ROME: The only day of rain!...no complaints we were very lucky. Unfortunately, it was raining too ahrd to see Montepulciano. We will have to come back! Orvietto was beautiful and we had a lovely lunch there. Again our driver was perfect, helpful and safely returned Heather and her friend to Florence for the end of an absolutely perfect vacation.
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Mariaclaudia, you listened to our needs and provided a life long memory for our family. We will never forget it!
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Please send me your company info so I can recommend you to friends and Travel Agents.
We miss our Florence and look forward to a return trip soon.
Please keep in touch! I feel as if we made a new friend!
Warmest regards!
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| APRIL 2002 F.S. from FLAGSTAFF ARIZONA |
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Dear Mariaclaudia,
We are home after a very long plane ride but everything went very smoothly.
I just wanted to thank you again for everything. You are so wonderful.
I am definitely planning on staying in touch and I will continue to remind you that you are very welcome in Flagstaff Arizona.
We loved Cinque Terra and 5 days was perfect. Two days were very rainy but the other days were perfect for hiking and sightseeing. We took a train and boat to Portofino one day which was fun and we did the hike for 6 hours also.
The hotel was wonderful and I would definitely recomment it to anyone. The managers were wonderful and the views were terrific.
Again, thanks so much for all your help with this stupid plane ticket of my son. What a night mare!!!
Take care. Warmly.
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| JULY 2002 JEANNE, BRIDGET, KANDI, MERRILEE from SOUTH AFRICA |
Hello Mariaclaudia,
I am attaching the picture that was taken at our luncheon - I hope you
enjoy it! I had such a wonderful time that day. Thank you so much for making it possible! I brought back a few
bottles of wine from the vineyards I visited and have already opened one delicious bottle! I learned so much more about wine from this tour,
especially at the vineyard you also visited.
The opera at Torre del Lago was beautiful! Andrea Bocelli and Maria
Pia Ionata did a wonderful job of portraying their characters...and the
singing was very lovely.
Thank you again for all of your help!
Best wishes, Jeanne
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Dear Mariaclaudia
We had a lovely day at Rincine - thank you for organising it for us. It
was a very pleasant surprise to have Marco collect us in his smart car and bring us up those winding little roads to Rincine. He was a very good driver and taught us some lessons about hooting at the sharp corners (we needed that for when we drove to Castellnuovo Magra later in the week. I loved the
horse riding and Christina and I managed to have a nice conversation (between my shaky Italian and her little bit of English). We were pleased that you could join us for that wonderful lunch (wish we had taken a photo of the bistecce!!) It was great meeting you in person and getting to know more about you and your business. Sorry you couldn't make it to Madama Butterfly at Torre del Logo - it was beautiful evening and Bocelli was especially beautiful!! He sang and
acted well and his voice was as lovely as ever. I bought a nice bottle
of Brunello di Montalchino there for my husband, but we won't drink it for a few more years.
I arrived back in South Africa today. Thanks again for everything. Hope we have the chance to meet again.
Best wishes Bridget
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| MAY 2004 - A. SIEBER from MICHIGAN |
Dear Mariaclaudia,
How are you?
It has taken me a few days to get used to being back home.
I can not stop thinking of our stay in firenze, (I'm sure you hear this from everyone afterwards), however the feeling I have for florence is like know other place we have been. We have been lots of places but firenze felt like home to me. The caffe's, piazza's, the art and architecture, but mostly the people and lifestyle won me over.
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I want to thank you for making our stay there so perfect. The Arancio apartment was magnifico. We loved all of the activity around us and getting our caffe and brioche across the via every morning. I have to say one of the highlights of my trip was the picnic you planned, and meeting all of your very special friends. It was a great afternoon, and It meant alot that you took time from your busy day for this.
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It was also very nice of both of you to set us up with a phone, I felt relief to be able to connect with my children.
Well I was trying not to write a novel however I felt I had so much to say to you.
I really felt such an instant friendship with you. I hope to see you in Firenze in the near future. Thank you again, for everthing.
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| JUNE 2004 - ISUZU INCENTIVE: DINNER WITH FLORENTINE FAMILIES AT THEIR HOUSES |
Mariaclaudia:
I want to extend to you my personal appreciation for arranging the fabulous evening for our Isuzu dealers with the Italian host families. Every one of my guests felt that evening was one of the highlights of their trip to Italy.
We have just returned to the United States and are settling into our everyday routines. My memories of Italy are very special and I look forward to returning. The Italian people that I had contact with were very friendly. The food was terrific. The prices were high, however, with the Euro being so strong. Maybe when the exchange rate is better, I will return.
Please thank your mother for her hospitality and the wonderful meal she prepared.
If you ever come to the Southern California area, please contact me. My wife and I would love to see you.
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| MARCH 2005 - KNIGHT GROUP FROM LOUSIVILLE |
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Thank you so much for all you arranged for us for our visit to Florence and the lovely Tuscan countryside. We enjoyed meeting you and the trip was fantastic. I cannot tell you how much we enjoyed the wine tasting. I hope we did not stay too long at their home, but we all were having such a great time, the minutes just slipped by. That was the highlight of our trip! We did not have any idea how wine tasting are done in Tuscany. In our area, you go into a wine shop, and they give you a glass and then you start tasting while standing at a counter. So we were so suprised to find out how gracious your wine tastings are. I really thank you for all your work. The van was great. We enjoyed Venice and Pisa, but as I said, the wine tasting was the highlight. I cannot wait to come back to your region again, and I am sure we will. Please keep in touch and if you are planning any trips to our region, I would love to show you our wine country-the countrysides are very similar-all rolling hills and windy roads. Oh, we did stop at the village, Panzano, for the street festival and thoroughly enjoyed that. Thank you so much for including that. Once Again, thank you so much, and please thank Francesco and his family for their very warm welcome and opening their home to us.
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| APRIL 2005 STEVEN S. |
MC
Great trip. Thanks for everything. Look forward to the pictures and will incorporate in the book I'm preparing for my mom.
Until we meet again,
Thanks for the great day! Steve
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| January 2007 ANDY G. |
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Dear Mariaclaudia My best wishes for the New Year. How are you and hope your business is going well. Thanks again for the lovely trip you organized for me through Chianti this past summer. It was very memorable. I look forward to my next visit there My best Andy
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| MARCH 2004 VALERIE & KEN R. |
Hello Mariaclaudia,
What a wonderful trip we had! Just arrived home yesterday afternoon and
today trying to get unpacked!
Finally, my email is working again.
We apologize for not having an opportunity to call you again last weekend.
We tried to get every last drop of Florence museums and churches.
We did take a bus to Greve in Chianti on Friday (I think?) and we thoroughly
enjoyed the market, town square, and wine tasting at the Cantina.
We still can't believe how lucky we were with the sunny weather throughout
the trip.
The stay at P. was perfect. Graziella & Giuseppe were wonderful and the room (and palazzo style bathroom....) were perfect. It was so quiet at
night that we were worried we wouldn't wake up in time for the 5AM
taxi........but we did. What beautiful people and such a lovely place.
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Ken is bragging every chance he gets about the wonderful cooking class with
Jacopo. It was a real delight and pleasure to meet him and his lovely
mother - Carla.
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After our lunch with you and Gianluca at 4 Leonis, we went back two more
times! We had a final lunch there on Sun. afternoon and they had the tables
and umbrellas outside. What a perfect day!
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All in all.......we are very grateful to you for all your help and thorough,
high quality service. We will recommend you very highly to any friends and
acquaintances who will be traveling to Italy.
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Hope to meet you soon in San Francisco. We would love to
host you in our home.
Please stay in touch and do not hesitate to let us know if there is anything
we can help you with from San Francisco.
Mille Grazie & Ciao!
Valerie & Ken
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| OCTOBER 2005 MARY M. NY |
Group cooking class at our chef's private house.
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The afternoon was pleasant but, the mood of the group was not. Months before, 15 of us had decided to try a cooking class. The 7 remaining were going to join us for the dinner we cooked. The day and time arrived and I had the EXTREMELY strong sense that all were regretting this idea, and reluctantly we took off to class. The ride was one of the prettiest of our vacation and our destination, Trecento, was a lovely and very small town. The streets were so narrow, that, in a few spots, traffic could only go one way. I had chosen this cooking school from a Slowtrav list (...).
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To read the entire interesting trip report please visit the website of Slow travel at:
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http://www.slowtrav.com/tr/tripreport.asp?tripid=838&index=12'
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| JUNE 2005 ELYSE & MARV D. |
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Dear Mariaclaudia,
We just wanted to thank you for your help in making our trip a very wonderful experience. We love your country and hope someday to be able to visit again. Graziella and Simonetta were delightful hosts and made us feel very welcomed. The Podera experience was also a treasure to remember. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Florence and Venice and hope to visit both cities again. Rome with its ancient treasures was something to see. Again thanks again for all your help. Elyse & Marv
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| MAY 2004 RACHEL L. |
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Dear Mariaclaudia,
Thank you so much for making our visit to Italy such a wonderful experience!
As a first-time visitor I was especially enthralled - I woke up this morning
missing my morning walk through Piazza Republica.
I am going to have to ask Nancy about expatriate employment opportunities!
The entire trip was delightful and we especially loved our sojourn at the
Locanda dell'Amorosa - it is a very special property.
We also loved the Helvetia - our rooms there were incredibly glamorous.
I am so sorry we didn't have a chance to have a glass of healthy wine with you
before we left Florence - we came back much later than we had planned on Saturday and
then had a mad rush for last-minute gift shopping.
However, we very much hope that you will let us know when you are next coming to
the NYC area so that we can have the appertivo here.
Thanks again for everything.
Best regards,
Rachel
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| OCTOBER 2007 LYNDA & PAUL in TUSCANY |
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Dear Mariaclaudia,
We had a wonderful time and a refreshing rest during our 10 days in Tuscany, and we thank you for all you did to make this happiness possible. We are very grateful.
The Villa B. from its ownership the Count and Countess, its manager Mrs. B., and its cooks, was most welcoming and helpful in every way. We did indeed eat most of our dinners there, as they did an excellent job.
Mrs. Anna and her charming husband gave us a memorable time in their extraordinary home -- which they have decided to sell. (What they have done with the interior of the old place is a dream.) Lynda has ordered some things to be made through Mrs. Anna's hand-loom connections.
We very much liked being located in Panzano, and we did explore by car: From the golden triangle of Chianti towns to the startling terrain of Volterra, and up the winding road to Lamole. To see the countryside with its black grapes plump in the sun and the olives changing from green to black and the black brush strokes of the cypress restored our souls by just watching the countryside.
We also found a small religious community of Carmelite men at the Pieve of San Leolino that shares the hill top with the Villa Le Barone. We visited with one of the two Englis speaking young men all have Doctoral degrees in philosophy, about their work of trying to bring the worlds of faith and modern culture together. The bishop of Fiesole gave them the San Leolino priest's house to form their community.
Our last night at the Antica Torre was a better, bigger, cleaner room, and the car showed up early the next morning and we were off.
It was great, and we were very happy to have been able to meet you personally and spend a short time getting to know you. We hope that we will be able to welcome you to Chicago some time soon, and I will prepare a Secret Chicago itinerary for you.
Again, grazie mille.
Let's stay in touch.
With warm regards,
Lynda & Paul
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| MAY 2005 TERRI W. |
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Mariaclaudia,
Our holiday went very well. We had such a great time on our horseback riding day! Julio was the guide. He was so nice and we enjoyed his company very much. Andrea who ownes the farm didn't speak English, but he was very nice to us. The drive up to Acone and up to the farm house was beautiful. The ride was wonderful and the view was so beautiful! Even the weather was perfect.
The lunch Andrea and his family served us was one of the best meals we had while in Italy. They took us through the wine cellar and had a lovely table set up for us. All the food was so good and Julio ate lunch with us and we again enjoyed his company. After lunch Julio and Andrea's son Gabie showed us how they make olive oil. We had a great day!
We appreciate your help very much in setting up the horseback riding and lunch for us. We would highly recommend this to other travelers! Thanks, Terri
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| OCTOBER 2005 TONY, GAIL, JOHN & CAROL |
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Dear Mariaclaudia and Bridgid,
I wanted to take a moment to thank you and let you know how much we
appreciated your help and professional expertise in making our first trip to
Italy a very wonderful experience. The individuals tours and guides that
you selected for us made the experience of seeing and appreciating the art
and architecture of the various cities one which was very educational while
at the same time very enjoyable. All the tour guides were very professional
and personal which gave us a great comfort level in being in a foreign
country for the first time.
We very much enjoyed finally meeting you and having a wonderful evening and
dinner with you and your husband in Florence. It was definitely one of our
more pleasurable experiences and one we will always remember. The remaining
time in Florence and Rome went very well, a bit hectic but a very enjoyable
time for the remaining part of our trip.
In closing I would like to thank you again for all your time and effort in
making our first time in Italy a memorable experience that we will always
cherish. We wish you and your husband the best with your new family to be,
which will be a new and wonderful experience in your lives.
Sincerely,
Tony, Gail, John and Carol
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| AUGUST 2007 JESSICA H. |
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Dear Mariaclaudia,
I just wanted to send you a big thank you for helping to organise these
activities for my recent trip to Tuscany. My friends and I had a wonderful
time and really enjoyed meeting Roberto, Paulo, the Count and Jacopo and
Ana.
All of the wineries brought us a different perspective on wine making.
Massimo was a wonderful driver, keeping us on schedule and helping us to
communicate.
I must say that the best part of the trip was cooking with Jacopo and his
family. They were so welcoming and with their help we made the most
delicious meal any of us had ever had! I have already recommended you and
Secret Tuscany to a colleague and will be sure to do so whenever I know of
someone planning a trip to Tuscany.
I was hoping to send Ana and Jacopo an email of thanks. Would you happen to
have an email address for them?
Thanks so much for your help and I do hope to work with you again in the
future.
All the best,
Jessica
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| JULY 2007 Maria U. Tuscany private chef & tour in Venice |
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Ciao Mariaclaudia -
Thank you so much for everything you arranged for us. We had a wonderful time. Our tour in Venice was perfect. One of the best we had!! Luisella was very knowledgeable and entertaining.
Lastly, thank you for the recipe and if you speak with Siria please give her my best.
I hope to arrange another trip to Italy in the future and if so will definitely contact you. Please let me know if you decide to go to the Garden Opening. If so, I would love to see you.
Ciao for now,
Maria
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| MAY 2007 CARRIE & TIM A. |
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Ciao Mariaclaudia-
We had a wonderful experience at our cooking lesson with Emma. Even though we'd been to Florence twice before, we'd never noticed or been into the Mercato Centrale; food is one of the most interesting parts of the Italian culture for us and visiting the market was a very important experience. Emma did a wonderful job explaining the steps of the recipes to us and showing us how everything was done. She was very friendly and hospitable and made us feel comfortable in her home. The food we made was spectacular! We've already made the gnocchi gnudi here at home and them came out very well (when we tried to make them last year, prior to our cooking class, they were awful and fell apart in the water when we tried to cook them :-)). We also plan to make the whole meal (appetizer, first course, second course and dessert) this Thursday for all of our friends. Thank you for facilitating this course for us. We had a great time and learned so much! Al prossimo viaggio...
-Carrie and Tim
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| MAY 2007 BRAD & DEBBIE Dinner at home in Florence |
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Hi Nat!
We so enjoyed our evening with you. It truly was a highlight of our trip! You and your family were so warm and inviting. We instantly felt at home and feel we made some new friends.
Thank you for the maps and suggested wineries. Our next trip to Italy will be the glorious countryside. We enjoyed our day in the Chianti region. It was as spectaucular as you said it would be. And the wine??? Wow!
Brad and I and the rest of our family meant what we said about opening our home to you if you should ever come to visit the USA again. It would be a pleasure to see you all again.
I will highly recommend you and your company to our friends.
Please keep in touch and thank you for such a memorable evening.
Regards to all.
Brad and Debbie.
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| MARCH 2007 SARAH H. Cooking in Florence |
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Dear Maraiclaudia,
I am wonderful, thank you. The cooking class was absolutely amazing, we loved it!!! It definitely exceeded our expectations. Giovanna was truly wonderful, the food was excellent, and we learned a lot!! We left very full and happy. You were also very wonderful in organizing the whole. I did a lot of planning for our trip and many of the other people I was in touch with over email were not as reliable as you in responding and answering questions. It was very helpful of you to respond so quickly.
Thanks for a wonderful experience!!
ciao,
sarah
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| APRL 2008 VICTOR D. |
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Mariaclaudia Gherardini,
I can't say enough about the day we spent touring the wine country, it was exactly what we wanted. The tour and lunch at the P. winery hosted by Andrea and his wife was perfect, they made us feel very special and the food was delicious. Your driver Mauro was a joy to be with and added much to the tour.
I am recommending your company to our travel agent and I'm sure they will be in contact with you.
Have a wonderful year and thank you so much.
Vic
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