My friend Mariano,
Thank you so much for making our holiday in Italy Such a memorable time for my family. Every time we see you it is like being with family. The insight you have make every tour an unforgettable and unique experience.My granddaughters can't stop talking about the lunch at your nephews farmhouse.We all had a great time. Thank you again and God bless.

Bob Rosa

Mariano I just want to say thank you for the wonderful tour during my recent cruise on the Celebrity Constellation.
Even though it rained part of the day we saw and experienced so much.
The lunch was one I will never forget.
Once again, many thanks.
Regards
Bernetta Guilhot
Cumming, GA

Bernetta Guilhot

12, 13 May 2015
Arranged through Mariano 1) Airport Transfer from Rome Airport to the Boscola Exedra hotel and the follow day Giovanni hosted us on an all day tour of Rome.

Let me start with the punch line and fill in he details. Giovanni was phenomenal. He was prompt, courteous and best of all passionate and enthusiastic about showing us around Rome. Not to mention the history he shared with us about Rome. I was impressed that he is so proud to be a Roman.

THANK YOU GIOVANI FOR MAKING OUR TRIP/TOUR MEMORABEL – I KNOW WE WILL BE TALKING ABOUT THE TOUR AND YOUR INSIGHT FOR YEARS TO COME. RATING 1 – 10 (10 Being BEST); GIOVANI GETS THE 10.

Day #1: We arrive on time in Rome and sure enough, there is Giovanni waiting at the main airport entrance with a sign and our name on it …. All I can say is RELIEF !!! He whisked us off to his Mercedes Benz van and in a lickity split second we were on our way to the Hotel as others were craning their necks to figure what to do. We heard first hand stories of people being charged $130 for transfer from Airport to Hotel in middle of Rome. Giovanni was not only prompt, he offered a mini tour and historical perspective on the way to the Hotel. We Passed saw both US Embassy’s, saw the Prime Minister’s residence (at least what any one can see from the road) and we saw the president residence from a distance the significance of the flags. The gardens we passed were beautiful and impressive. Giovanni makes it easy to understand the periods of time; there are four:
1- Ancient (several thousand years old,
2- Medieval 2,000 year old;
3- Old – 200-300 years old
4- Modern last 40-60 years
Note: any mistakes understanding the time eras are mine as Giovanni knew his history.

Day #2: is our Rome Tour. Giovanni is waiting for us at the hotel promptly at 10:00am. He has a full day planned, but he asked if there is anything special we would to see or do. We mentioned a few sited and he smiled and assured us those sites will be included. Here is a brief summary:
• Many ancient ruins which Giovanni explained the history and significance
• The Crypt of the Capuchins – interesting artifacts of how an artist arranged skull and bones to honor the deceased.
• Pantheon: Explore the Eternal city. Amazing … 2,000 year old floor, how did they get the “sky Light” in there?
• Navona square – beautiful square, great place for lunch or Gelato or “people watching”. Interesting art is displayed throughout the square and most is for sale
• Lunch – Baccanate at Piazza Campo. Giovanni took us down small street into an area where people lived as they did 300 years ago, but live there today. It was off the busy Piazzo Campo, but the courtyard of the villas was very quiet and peaceful. Bathrooms were built on the balconies because 300 years ago, that’s where one put the bathroom without the modern facilities we know today.
• The Spanish Steps and Spanish Square – great place to window shop or purchase that unique item you just have to have.
• The Church of Santa Maria Maggiore famous for is superb mosaics,
• San Pietro in Vincoli to visit the Moses of Michelangelo,
• The Forum, the Forum remained the ceremonial Centre of the City under the Empere, with emperors renovating old buildings and erecting new temples and monuments.
• The Colosseum, Rome's Greatest Amphitheatre was commissioned by Emperor Vespasian. We spent 40 minutes here and saw all we needed to see for several more ours and cost of another ticket you could have went inside to see the underground tunnels and etc.
• Then the Capitoline Hill, the Capital Citadel was designed by Michelangelo in the 16th, century. This is, I think, the most beautiful structure in the city, it’s a glowing white and is perfectly symmetrical. The statues are icing on the cake.
• Catacombe de San Sebastian: Burial grounds of St. Peter as well as much history about St. Sebastian, St. Peter and St. Paul as this was a large burial grounds for Christians and Catholics from the Vatican. Visited church above the Catacomb after tour.

Pre-Dinner Drink in a little village North of Castel Ganolfo, Nemi. Nemi is know for wild strawberry’s and prosecco. So Giovanni drops us off at a covered table directly overlooking the lake while he arranged for 2 presecos with strawberry’s and one dish of wild strawberries mixed with whipped cream … Do you know how to say DELICOUS !!! After walking the cobble stone streets for a few minutes, Giovanni was ready to take us to dinner …. Wow did he know how to put icing on the cake, but hold on, Giovanni’s not done yet …. Dinner is next…..
Dinner: Ristorante Pagnanelli , Castel Ganolfo
Fourth Generation Family owned. The owner greeted is when we arrived.
Giovanni had arranged a table on the terrace overlooking a beautiful lake. Before dinner, Giovanni took us on personal tour of the owner’s private cellar, which was 3-4 levels below built into the hill side. A collection of antique cork screws, coffee presses, grinders and makers. Especially neat was when you entered the Grappa section and the LED lights came on automatically and back lit the display … WOW … BTW … automatic doors and sensor lights were impressive. I would highly recommend Mariano's service to anyone looking for a very personalized tour.

Jeff & Kelli Whisler

Probably the best tour host we have ever had. Totally honest, reliable, genuinely a lovely guy. My wife and myself and our son found this trip on the Amalfi coast brilliant. Thank you again Mariano.

Andrew Morley

Mariano was referred to us by our cousin who used him before. He and his extended family team made our trip so much memorable, efficient and stress free.

Mariano planned and arranged all our Rome & Sorrento transfers, guided tours of Naples, Pozzouli, Amalfi, Positano, Ravello, Paestum, vineyard and farm visits. As an 18 generation Sorrentino family, Mariano and his team of guides and drivers, know all the local off-the-beaten-path points of interest and hard to find local down to earth restaurants. His team's recommendations are customized according to personal preferrences and schedules, with providing value and local authenticity, attention to safety and security, and avoiding traffic and tourist traps as priority. There were even some astounding Roman and Greek era historical sites that were not mentioned in guidebooks which Priscilla, our guide for 3 days & Mariano's English sister-in-law, took us to. A highlight of our tour was a local family farm visit where we enjoyed a sumptous lunch of the best home made delicious cheeses, meats and wines. We even visited a lemon orchard, two vineyard wine tasting tours, and had lunch at an out-of-the-way great family restaurant only locals knew about, or know where to find it. Mariano and his team shared a lot of interesting commentaries along the way. He related a tour he led for a big group of WWII US veterans to retrace their battle campaign through Italy, and shared with us a lot of their personal stories as we passed through some of these places. A great experience for us, and we will definitely use Mariano again for all our Italy vacations.

Book and plan your itinerary and budget with Mariano well ahead of your trip, especially during the peak travel season.

Angela LU

Our Day tour of the Sorrentine peninsula and the Amalfi coast was the highlight of our visit to Naples thanks to Mariano's great service. He picked us up at our hotel on time and drove us out of town. His knowledge of the city and the peninsula and Amalfi coast was very entertaining. He offered us the opportunity to stop wherever we wanted to including arranging a 1 hr boat tour in Amalfi so we could see the coast from the water. Being boaters, we really enjoyed the ride, especially the ride into a giant cave along the coast. He never rushed us and was just the best host anyone could ask for. I would highly recommend his service to anyone looking for a very personalized tour.

Richard Henke

My daughter in law Tracey hart booked a trip with your company last Friday to go to monte casino and on to MINTURNO which we really enjoyed and cannot thank priscilla and Antonio enough for their thoughtfulness
And understanding as this was a very personal trip for us to make thank you x

Pat hart

Hi Mariano we hope you are well , just dropping you a line to say thank you for your time and tours and transfers while in Italy, your friendly and generous nature really did make our trip a memorable and enjoyable one . We hopefully will be back one day and we will certainly make contact , we wish you and your family a very merry Christmas and a happy safe and prosperous new year. Kindest Regards Glenn and Lynne Murphy.

Glenn Murphy

Mariano,
We definitely won the lottery when you picked us up for our tour of the Amalfi coast. There can’t be anyone with more knowledge and passion for this magnificent part of Italy. Your passion was contagious and I’m happy to say I “caught” it. YOU made this tour spectacular.
Thank you!

Tanya

Hi Mariano,

We would like to compliment you on your company's service.

Our tour guide Simone picked us up from Florence airport and delivered up to our apartment in Loro Ciuffenna (60 km from airport), dealing calmly and competently with a difficult road system.

A few days later he collected us for a tour of San Gimiagno and Sienna as well as a wine tasting in the Chianti region.

Simone was very knowledgeable about the history of the sites.

On arrival at each of our destination he would point out the key features and then allow us to roam as we saw fit.

Simone, many thanks for your time and effort in making our journey enjoyable, fun and informative.

We would have no hesitation in recommending your company to any prospective tourists

Signed

Cathie, Colin & Robyn
3 very happy Austraians

Colin & Cathie

Dear Mariano

I hope you and your family are well. We missed our trip to Sorrento this spring. We went to Croatia and ended up in Rome for Holy Week and attended mass at St. Peter's with Pope Francesco. It was wonderful.

I wanted to thank you again for helping our friend Ginny find her family last year April 2013. It was a thrill for her to meet her mother's first cousin. Your efforts were very much appreciated. Ginny had just retired and this was her first trip out of the country. She had a wonderful time and the highlight was our day in Controne and the lunch afterward at the lovely restaurant you took us to.

When she returned home she was not well and her health failed very quickly. She died a year after her wonderful trip. I feel very blessed to have made that trip possible for her and I am happy you insisted we go there that day even though we had very little information with us. You had faith we could find her family and you did! You are very special, Mariano. We will never forget that day.

Very warm regard,

Cathy

Cathy Hester

Ciao Mariano,
I am late with this very thankful email but it is still very sincere. We were blessed to have you as our guide July 21, 2014 Monday from Naples to Pompeii, Sorrrento, Positino and everything in between. We had lunch with you at a local place (outside Sorento and sipped 0r wine as the rain fell. You may remember my husband died October,22, 2013 but your attention to detail and caring for my feelings was so appreciated. I am forever grateful for your kindness and compassion.
OXOXO
Marianne Toibn

Marianne Tobin

We booked our tour of Italy with Pleasant Travel.
I have been to Italy with my wife twice to Italy. During those trips we used the public transport mostly by train.
For this trip in May 2014 we have two couples joining us for our trip. We decided to look for a private guide and driver.

We wanted a more flexible tour and read about Pleasant Travel on Tripadvisor. I contacted Mariano via email. Mariano was very prompt and detailed with his email replies and was able to recommend and advise me as to what I was looking for.

We were looking for a guide who can speak English , safe driver, and guide who could explain to us the culture , history and stories about the places visited. We found all of that in Pleasant Travel.

Everything turned out wonderful, we had a great time. We enjoyed our time in Italy. We had fun, ate great local food. The travels were well organized and they were very knowledgeable and passionate guides, very caring and thoughtful.

We had Mariano as our guide for three days in the Amalfi Coast. Mariano met us in our accommodation in Rome and drove us to Sorrento via Naples. On our way we visited many lovely small towns. We headed towards Frascati and continued to La Cinciaria where we visited some medieval villages. We passed by Via Appia and had a brief stopover at Naples. We continued along the coastline to Sorrento, along the way we stop-by to have coffee and lunch recommended by Mariano which was excellent.
On the way to Sorrento, Mariano stop us at Castel Gondolfo at our request.
We visited Sorrento, Positano, Ravello the next three days and stayed in Piano di Sorrento in an accommodation which Mariano recommended and it was excellent.

After Amalfi Coast we travelled with Pricilla as our guide and Antonio as our driver to Umbria(Assisi, Cascia, Spoleto, Spello) Le Marche(Maserata, Recanati, Loreto) and Tuscany(Florence, Siena, Pisa, San Gimignano, Lucca, Vinci) .
Both Pricilla and Antonio were great. We had a great time visiting the many places, the explanation of the culture, history, food and even shopping.


We would recommend Mariano, Antonio and Pricilla from Pleasant Travel to our friends without hesitation.

We have attached some photographs. Pictures speak a thousand words and you can see from these photos that we were had a great time. The steps everywhere were a challenge, we explored many places recommended but we have come back with stronger legs and eagerly looking forward to our next trip with Pleasant Travel.

Danial Teo

Thanks for an amazing guided tour of the Amalfi coast. Your knowledge of the area and your suggestions on restaraunts was wonderful. The shuttle service from Rome to Sorrento was also well worth it. I have already passed your name along to our friends who plan to travel in 2015.

Joe and Sue Bonofiglio

Hello Mariano,
I just wanted to let you know we arrived home safely. Our trip was so wonderful because of you! You are definitely in the right business. Meeting your family and having dinner in your home was the highlight of our trip! Your family’s farm is a very special place and we are so glad that you shared it with us. Remember to give us a call when you come into the USA. Thank you again.

Sincerely, Brenda Garber

Brenda Garber

Mariano,
You were a fantastic and
knowledgeable guide for me and my friends on our recent tour of the Amalfi coast. It was the best of the 17 days we spent in Italy, Greece and Turkey. I will mention your company to everyone I know who travels in the area.
Thanks again for the warm and wonderful memories.
Donna and Friends





Friends

Donna Sovie

Dear Mariano,
Words can't express the gratitude that we have for you and your great company. We had an amazing day touring the Amalfi coast and you have set the bar extremely high for any other places that we will visit. You could not have been more accommodating and welcoming. We really, really enjoyed touring the farm, and Priscilla and Antonio did a great job seeing that we got to enjoy what the Amalfi coast has to offer. We will definitely be back again!
All the best to you and your wonderful family!!!

Elissa Mendelson

Dear Mariano,

Just want to say thank you for our wonderful Amalfi Coast experience! We really enjoyed our time --from visiting all the other cities, to our very delicious lunch, to being our personal photographer and just listening to all your stories! You made our trip much more enjoyable. I wish you more success and I hope you continue to make more people happy with your very professional service, warm hospitality, and most of all, your happy and charismatic persona!!!

I have attached some of our photos. Hope you like them!

P.S.

Extra thank you for my olive oil! I still have to buy good bread to go with it.
Thank again
April Fuents.

April Fuents-

Hola Mariano:

Desde Paraguay queremos mandarte muchos saludos!

Our vacations were the best ever thanks to your guidance!

The world needs more people like you, with a very big heart, smile and love to your country! We will send you the beautiful picture we took you!

Mariano is THE BEST!!

Ana Maria Bogarin

Dear Mariano,
I am sorry that I did not get back to your car in Rome, in time, to say goodbye to you.
I wanted to tell you that your are a "Great Tour Guide" and we all had a wonderful vacation with you taking such good care of us and we appreciated it very much.

We wish you the "Very Best" and thank you for making our stay in Italy wonderful.

Warm Regards,
Bill Vinson

Bill Vinson

Hi Mariano,
Thank you so much for providing our driver, Angelo, in Rome. Our 2 day tour was outstanding! With so many visitors for the Cannonization of the 2 Popes, we were still able to see so many of the wonderful sites of Rome with Angelo as our guide and driver.
I see my niece has posted her thanks for the earlier trip. Thank you again..
Sue and MIke Robinson

Sue Robinson

Mariano,

Another great trip to Italy and you made it special again. Thank you for all the help in getting around and the added extras you always have. Promise to see you again!

Dean and Michelle O'Nale

Hello Mariano,
Outstanding one-day tour of the Amalfi Coast via Pleasant Travel and Mariano. Very, very informative, beautiful sites, excellent tour of the area and the culture. Mariano took us to sites that we would have never known........our lunch was incredible. One of the best tours we had while visiting Italy.

Mark Williams

Dear Mariano,

I just wanted to drop you a note to say thanks for the wonderful tour of Southern Italy! You are fantastic. I speak for my whole family when I say you did a great job. From taking pictures to serving us delicious food, you really do it all!

I wish you and your family all the best!

Thanks again,

Ashley Moyna

Ashley Moyna

Mariano, sorry this is so late but had misplaced your card and just found it. Your Amalfi Coast Drive was FABULOUS! It was by far our favorite tour of the Mediterrean. All the places you stopped, all the info was so much than we had even dreamed! Thank you, thank you! Your knowledge and your love of the area was so evident.
The lunch at your farmhouse....absolutely to die for, when possible everyone should do this special experience!!
We feel so Blessed to have had you as our guide. Thank you Mariano for a wonderful tour!

Connie Murphy