Melissa and Ryan's 2014 Trip to Florence, Siena, Montepulciano, and Rome

Please accept my many apologies for not doing this sooner.  Upon our return, we had two other weddings in a row and I started a new job.  As you can imagine, our schedules have been pretty hectic. But we did want to thank you both for helping to plan our honeymoon -- we had the time of our lives and will never forget the trip!!  Everything happened as planned, and without a hitch. I just completed the survey but I wanted to elaborate more here.  

 I know you two don't send people to Italy in the winter very often, but it is a very unique time to visit and we loved it.  At times, in the smaller towns, it was a bit slow (particularly in San Gimignano -- this might have just been on the day we happened to be there), but in the bigger cities it couldn't have been any better.  We got to experience Italy without the crowds! And having been there in the summer before, we know just how invaluable that can be.

 All of the tour guides were first-rate and we felt so spoiled with the personal tours or small groups.  They were so knowledgable, enthusiastic, friendly, and really seemed to enjoy themselves and their time with us.  We especially enjoyed our tour guide for the walking tour in Florence (we forget her name now), the tour guide in Siena, the driver from Siena to Montepulciano, and the tour guide for Rome/Vatican (can you please send us his name?).  

 The highlight of our trip was attending the general audience and getting to personally meet Pope Francis (see attached pictures)!  That is pretty tough to beat. But we also really enjoyed the Scavi Tour, which was very interesting, very intimate, and very spiritual for us.  And the Torciano wine tasting was lots of fun, and we absolutely loved our host/sommelier -- if I recall correctly, she is Pierluigi's cousin or niece, and she really made the tasting memorable for us.  Pierluigi was also very gracious and nice. We ordered wine throughout Tuscany, but ordered the most from here and are anxiously awaiting the shipment.  

 Now in order: the Florence Walking Tour felt especially personal, when Paola asked us if we wanted to skip the Uffizi and she would create other stops along the way instead.  We agreed, and are thrilled we did. As a result, we stopped off in so many palaces in Florence that we would have passed a million times without appreciating, or going inside.  The Florence food tour was also fun, the tour guide was also very good, and we had the benefit of sharing the tour with only two other people (who happened to be two very nice Italian women, which only enriched our tour experience as they provided their own details).  

 Our Siena tour was a lot of fun.  Roberta was so sweet, and taught us all about this ancient town.  The Grand Hotel Continental was the right choice, so thank you for the recommendation.  It had a great location and the building itself was beautiful.  

 Our driver from Siena to Montepulciano (Stefano, I believe) was great.  He showed up in a suit, and was very polite and friendly. The winery he took us to in Montalcino (inside the castle) was a lot of fun.  The sommelier was very informative, and was very hospitable with us. Again, we benefitted from the time of year and we spent about 45 minutes just the three of us.  

 In Montepulciano, we loved the hotel!  The owner (his name also escapes us at the moment) was a very nice man, and our room was great!  The location of the hotel is unbeatable, and the hotel was overall the most authentic feel we had all trip.  We felt as if we were house guests of the owner's.  

 Once in Rome, we did two tours with the same tour guide and I cannot remember his name, as mentioned above, but we would really like it if you could provide us with his information as he took a picture of us that we'd like to obtain (he gave us his business card but we lost it along the way).  In any event, he was wonderful. He was very knowledgeable, very friendly, and exceptionally accommodating. You could tell he loved his city, and the enthusiasm was contagious.  

 The crypts, bones, and catacombs tour was unlike anything we had ever done.  The tour guide, was excellent. He was half-American, half-Italian and very knowledgable.  Again, his enthusiasm was only matched by our own to be seeing these sights for the first time.  

 Some of the restaurants we visited throughout the trip, per your reccomendation, were:

Florence-Buca Mario, Trattoria Zaza, and Yellowbar.  All three were great!

Siena-La Taverna di San Giuseppe (we had the best tiramisu of ours lives here!!), L'Osteria were very good.

Rome-Colline Emiliane, Insalata Ricca (both were also great!)

 I think I covered much of it, but if you have any specific questions you'd like to know more about I'd be happy to answer more fully.  We will definitely be visiting again (hopefully soon), and would love to work with you again. Attached are some pictures from the trip too.