Italy Review, Tuscany & Umbria Vacation, Chianti, Perugia, Montefalco, Bevagne, Wine Tour

Not use this travel agency. The part of the trip I planned on my own - Rome & Milan was great!  Zicasso is known as a premiere travel broker and we trusted your choice of this company. We were concerned from the beginning and I reached out in an email about this on 6/1/2018. I was assured this company was the best for Tuscany. The locations of our villa and resort were so isolated and the day trips were ridiculously far away that it added much stress to all 4 of us. Unfortunately we have been tainted from using Zicasso again. I am sure you feel this review is extreme but this travel company truly ruined our Tuscany experience.

TRAVEL COMPANY COMMENTS:

Thanks much for taking the time to write down this review.

It is indeed very underwhelming to hear about your frustration only one month after your trip, considering we had not heard from you during the entire stay in Italy. We strongly encourage all our guests to manifest their concerns during the trip so we can act accordingly and adjust anything needed . Should you have told us when in Tuscany we would have surely be able to discuss alternative options and shorten the excursions which result too long in your opinion.

I understand in this case you were expecting your beautiful countryside resorts to be close distances to medieval village and wineries in the itinerary. I firmly believe the issue here is that you had expectations regarding distances that were not met, this is why we always suggest guests actively engage in phone conversation in order to not only understand your desires but also understand your travel profile and knowledge of the destination you intend to visit so that we can contradict false myths and incorrect expectations about the destination we live daily in and whose logistics we know very well having been delivered Italy private trips for over 30 years.

As for train tickets we have been partners with the train company for decades and while I can totally understand your disappointment for not having been assigned seats close to the other, regrettably the train system generates seats automatically on some specific rides and we have no control on that. I should have offered possibility to upgrade in 1st class which may guarantee close seats.  Fortunately the system has been recently amended and we will be able to control the assignment for all high speed train rides in all classes starting from this current month. I can totally see your point here and I am sorry for the inconvenience of having had to ask on board and I appreciate you bringing this to our attention.

The driving guides we use do not speak academic english but they can definitely lead a driving tour : you had three full day excursions with your driver and had he not spoken english as you stated  I am sure it would have been impossible to arrange meeting points and places in the villages daily. I remember talking to him after the last excursion and he mentioned you had preferred sitting in the front as you were getting a little car sick but everyone seems very happy in your party and  you generously tipped him three times. However if you were not satisfied with your driver, you could have given me a call or emailed me and we would have been happy to change driver for the next excursions.This is indeed another precious suggestion from your side and will keep working on improving our driver language skills.

I am happy to learn that you were very pleased with all hotels we provided, the people you met along the way in wineries, guides, factories we have proposed and the experiences which have been delivered on spot.

Fortunately in order to maintain beauty of rolling hills and preserve our medieval villages, local governments have decided through the years to avoid construction of highways and in order to reach Umbria and Tuscany most significant villages you have to go through curvy hilly roads which are the essence of these two regions. Should you have preferred to stay at your resort and have more free time here and cut the sightseeing portion, we could have definitely dropped some excursions but when it comes to driving times you understand we have no control on that and the excursions were provided exactly as illustrated in the program agreed.

I greatly appreciate your precious report - it does inspire us to deliver an even more perfect Italian experience.