Sam was born in Munich, Germany, grew up in Newark, N.J., and studied French and Russian Literature at Brandeis University. After completing his M.A. in Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto, he put his academic career on hold temporarily and went out into the world to see what that was like. 

Over a period of about 15 years, he worked in various capacities including as a sharecropper, a sawyer in a lumber mill, a planter box maker, an English composition instructor, a bookstore/café owner, a San Francisco tour guide, a limousine driver, a computer store salesperson, a dBase III business applications developer, a software quality assurance testing manager, and a project management software implementation consultant—in more or less chronological order.

Pam is originally from Oklahoma. She attended Colorado College in Colorado Springs. She has lived in Colorado, California and now Tuscany! She has a degree in psychology and marine biology but says "all she ever needed to know she learned in her theatre classes." She loves researching great restaurants, handling tour logistics and leading tours. 

She also has a passion for music and she tries to find local musicians to feature in all our tours. Pam sings in an ITALIAN GOSPEL CHOIR! She finds it amazing to be singing American spirituals with a bunch of Italians in churches that were built in the 1400s.

After graduating from Georgetown University, Karen has called Tampa Bay, Florida home for over 20 years. She has enjoyed traveling all her life – from family camping trips while growing up in Virginia to a plethora of international destinations during her 15 years as a corporate meetings and travel manager (CMP, CTE and SMMC certified). Despite having no ancestral ties to Italy (that she knows of!), Karen’s heart and soul lies in this bel paese.

Karen’s Favorite Travel Tip:  Stay overnight! So many places take on a truly magical aura when the day trippers leave and the locals come out. Venice, Siena, Positano, Florence…all are totally different experiences at night!

Rubina was born and brought up in Florence.
Since she was a child she had the opportunity to meet people from all over the world, and she has traveled in many European countries developing her interest in tourism. Rubina is fluent in French and English and has a command of Spanish and Portuguese as well!

She attended an International French high school, graduated in Modern Languages and Literature at the University of Pisa and received a Masters degree in Design of Sustainable Tourism Systems at the University of Florence.  She runs her own business which supports tourism services and works as part of our global team of independent suppliers.

From Rubi:
I like learning about different cultures and meeting local people. I think that in order to appreciate a country you have to be in contact with locals, not the ones in souvenir shops but the baker or the lady at the market. That's why I love learning new languages!

Giulia studied Tourism Design at the University of Padua, her home city, and then continued her studies in the much dreamed-of Florence where she met Pam! Her passion for travel was born as a child during summer holidays with her family. When she began adding her own ideas to the family’s itineraries, she decided to make it her job. At Tuscany Tours she does what she always wanted most: to tailor trips for people through itineraries that help them make their dreams come true, also making you imagine the journey through the photos that she selects for our Instagram profile.

Giulia’s favorite place in the world….
….is Tuscany! Good food, a chat with a local, a nice walk in the Val d'Orcia with my camera or in a fresh fruit and vegetable market, a glass of good red wine with a breathtaking view. Can you ask for more?

Though she works as Tuscany Tours’ bookkeeper, Sherry is also a licensed dental hygienist. Her knitting hobby helps keep her hands in shape (she is pictured here in the first sweater she ever knitted). She has since created 6 more sweaters! Sherry spends half her time in Rochester, Minnesota, and the other half in northern Wisconsin at their lake house. She and her husband are avid cross-country skiers, so they visit the area year round.

Sherry’s Travel Tip:
Take any opportunity to travel! Even if it is just to the next county to look at the waterfalls!

Siena was born in the United States, but she grew up in Italy, close to the town of Siena. That’s where her name comes from! Her parents passed on their love of art to her early in life. This led her to pursue a B.A in visual arts with a focus on photography. She helps with video editing and graphic design for Tuscany Tours.

After graduating from a linguistic high school in Siena, Emma enrolled in the University of Florence to continue her language studies. When not working with Tuscany Tours, she works as a preschool teacher teaching English to ridiculously cute toddlers. Along with Giulia, Emma keeps Tuscany Tours hip and cool on Instagram.

Fede is a native of Rome where she graduated from university with a degree in Languages and Literatures.  A job opportunity in 2002 brought Fede to Tuscany where she worked as the Program Coordinator for the University of California, Siena Study center. She enjoyed nine wonderful years being in daily contact with students from the US before the school’s campus closed.

Fede has been a licensed guide and tour escort in Italy since 2012.  She lives near Siena with her husband and two great kids.

From Fede:
I love to accompany people that travel in Italy. I am a friendly, energetic person who really enjoys getting to know people and sharing my love of Italy with them!

Raised in North Carolina, Toni came to Italy in 1997 to discover her Italian roots, and immediately knew she'd be back to live and eat her way through the country.

For over 10 years, Toni has been hosting food and wine tours in Florence and all over Italy.

She especially loves the Amalfi Coast and its wine and fresh seafood cuisine.

Lior Aviv holds two B.A. degrees in Art History and an M.A. in Art History.
Besides the art seminars and cultural presentations that Lior gives, he is working on two important projects. The first is writing his PhD which talks about Augustus Caesar and Cosimo I of the Medici family. The second is writing a book where the main goal is to transmit the message that art is a language which everyone speaks.

Lior’s years of teaching have proved to him that this is true and he has a way of teaching that enhances our own intuitive capacity to observe and understand art.

With an English mother and an Italian father, Ben was lucky enough to be brought up in a bilingual family.

After starting off as a trip leader with various tour groups he obtained his guiding license three years ago and now works all over Tuscany and Italy.

Ben speaks Spanish as well and you will also find him co-leading some of our trips in Spain.

Florence has been Freya’s home since 2000 and being a private tour guide is her vocation. Her degrees, both undergraduate (Sydney University) and Masters (Warwick university, England), in art history provided the starting block for a lifelong love affair with beauty and the understanding that the picture really does speak a thousand words. Scholarships at the beginning provided the possibility for full Euro immersion (Rotary Youth Exchange program to Belgium, to France at the Sorbonne University, to Italy on post-graduate research scholarship), and a thirst for adventure made her stay. She tries to touch an Aussie beach once a year for a few weeks but is tickled pink to be living her life in the country of melodrama, Italy.

Ludovica attended the German school of Rome from kindergarten until high school graduation. She then moved to Berlin where she studied at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures: French and Russian at the Humboldt University. She traveled many times to Russia where she attended language courses to improve her Russian. After graduation, Ludovica held internships in Brussel at the Italian Cultural Institute and in Rome at the German Academy. She organized cultural events, exhibitions, and provided translations from Italian to French, English and German. She moved to Siena to study at the school “La Bottega Toscana” to become a tour guide. She is authorized as a tour guide in Italian, English, German, French and Spanish.

Ludovica guides for Tuscany Tours in Italy, France and Spain.

From Ludovica:
I love to stay in contact with people and convey them my passion for Tuscany and its artistic and cultural heritage.

Cid has studied mathematics at IME - Institute of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of São Paulo, as well as Cinema at FAAP College. However, his life drastically changed when he decided to travel and became a nomad and backpacker, living in the United States, England, Israel, Australia and Ireland. When he finally set foot in France 30 years ago, he found a new place to call home. He graduated in Art History at the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris and became a multilingual lecturer (French, English and Portuguese) and in his 28th season, he has guided more than 60 thousand people through history. Cid acquired French citizenship and is married to Isabel with whom he shares twins!

A Cid Tidbit:
Cid visited the Louvre in Paris over 60 times…..and that’s just between 2018 and 2019! Imagine how many times he’s been there in total!

Sinisa is an international hospitality professional who claims he was born in a kitchen. He loves traveling and is always on the outlook for the most interesting food and wine. Raised in Sweden, but with his roots on Croatia's Dalmatian coast, Sinisa harmoniously combines the Nordic punctuality with the Mediterranean 'joie-de-vivre'.

Sinisa guides for Tuscany Tours in Spain and Croatia.

Sinisa's motto:
Everything is possible!