Iconatoscana

Elena was our private guide for me and my cousin and his wife.  We spent two lovely days with her.  One day in city of Florence where she is so knowledgeable of Italian art history.  She escorted us for a great tour of the Academia Museum and then a brief tour of the city.  She then arranged for us a private driver to accompany us to the beautiful region outside of Florence to a Tuscany area winery and other sightseeing of places like where Leonardo DiVinci grew up.  She is a great tour guide and provided us with a great two days to remember for years to come.   Thanks Elena.  

Dear Elena, Thank you again so much for the amazing wonderful excellent (more adjectives here) history and perspectives and knowledge you shared with us. You are a gem, as they say in the western United States.

We enjoyed our day with Elena immensely. We saw so much in a day, but still at a relaxed pace. We were introduced to food, wine, and people that we would not have found on our own. Elena is very knowledgeable and engaging and gave us the perfect day in Tuscany.

Elena, Thank you so much for our wonderful tour in Florence on April 1.  Rosana, Patti, Antonio and I all were impressed with your enthusiasm for and knowledge of the art and history of Florence.   Spending the day with you was a highlight of our stay in Italy. Best wishes for the future!

I am the Italian lady on the Florence Tour with Mike O'Hara last week.  I wanted to write and thank you for the wonderful and interesting tour of Florence.  We enjoyed your passionate explanation of the culture and history of the art and life in Florence. We appreciated your down-to-earth demeanor, which made us very comfortable. >And, for me personally, you made me feel so proud of my Italian heritage. > >Thank you.  I will highly recommend you to anyone visiting Tuscany.

We are Americans who last October spent a week in Florence, three of those days in part with Elena Cardinale as our tourguide.   Elena is delightful young woman with flawless English, who really knows (and loves) her art, architecture, history, food and the city.  And she has spent considerable time traveling in the U.S., so she sort of knew us too.  We did the Food Tour with Elena, followed by almost a full-day seeing Florence with her (including the Uffizi), and another day touring the Chianti region.  Each of Elena’s tours was interesting, thorough, informative and a lot of fun.  Having also done tours of this type in London, Paris and Madrid, we can say that Elena was the most engaging tourguide we’d ever had.  She has our highest recommendation.”

I must tell you that the tour you gave us was a highlight of our 2 weeks in Europe. It was wonderful being met at our apartment to start the day. You read my girls perfectly, knowing how much art history to share as well as then helping them find cute rings on Pont Vecchio. The girls thought you were great and so do I. I hope to bring them again someday and if I do I will definitely want another tour with you! Hope all is well in your world. Best wishes,

You did such an awesome job that day and you were so very helpful!! You made our visit to Florence such a wonderful experience:)) Thanks again 

We highly recommend any tour given by Elena! We took a tour of the Tuscan wine country last fall which proved to be the most memorable one we have ever taken! Forget the crowds in Chianti and enjoy a personal tour of a boutique winery. On the day of our tour, it was just the two of us along with Elena and her friendly driver. We visited all aspects of wine productions and also learned about the processing of olive oil. We had lunch on a beautiful terrace with incredible views and enoyed wines with each course. Salads came from the winery’s garden! The wines were excellent and very reasonably priced. It was truly a unique experience and a wonderful day.

Our time together... A very good use of the Euros because, when visiting Florence the first time, the vast expanse of the city could have caused us to waste a lot of time. With you meeting us at the train station and keeping us on a well-conceived plan, we were able to see as much art as we could absorb in one day. We saw the highlights of the Florentine cultural heritage and you explained everything perfectly in a way that we could understand art and architecture from an Italian perspective. I loved every minute. As I mentioned below, your guidance was key to being able to return to Florence and, unaided, escorting a friend through all of the sights that you took us to. I would definitely recommend your services to serious, art-loving travelers, and I am looking forward to another excursion with you too.

Just a note of thanks for the referral that brought us to Elena Cardinale, our guide in Tuscany.  She was excellent and helped make our trip a memorable one.

During my two week vacation to Italy I was with several different tours companies at the various sites and I enjoyed my time with you the most.  You were educational and personable, you made the tour feel like I was walking around with an friend.  We had a memorable time in your company.