Meet our friends… Join our cause!
Tamara Scarpellini, Valentina Rattay, Alexander Carraro and Valere Tjolle... Fostering the Best of Romagna
Giulia has the intellect of a linguist (English, Greek, French, Spanish and more!) and the warm heart of a true Romagnola!. Naturally she loves films (she's translated subtitles) the arts, travel and the natural world. But above all, Giulia is totally passionate about her homeland its beauty and its hospitable open-hearted personality - she's longing to introduce it to you. After having worked in fashion, publishing and in international sales, she feels that she has found her niche in the Best of Romagna.
Tamara made a big choice last year! A Romagnola girl, living and working in rich, comfortable Switzerland - she's made the same choice as her mother and sister - to live and work in Romagna. A garden designer by trade, after a stint at film school in New York Tamara thought that a much bigger and better scenario for her work is Romagna! And naturally only the Best of Romagna will do!
Valentina has packed a lot into her young life already – top Economics student, singer/musician, linguist (German, English, Italian Romagnolo), dance teacher, traveler and driver – and although she was born in Germany – she is really a Romagnolo girl from the Valsellustra, just like her Mum....And now she’s doing the Romagnolo thing with passion – showing off her beautiful land and its wonderful cornucopia of food and wine and, history and beauty. Plus taking even better photographs of her beloved Valsellustra.
Alexander Carraro General Manager
Tamara Scarpellini, Valentina Rattay, Alexander Carraro and Valere Tjolle... Fostering the Best of Romagna
Giulia has the intellect of a linguist (English, Greek, French, Spanish and more!) and the warm heart of a true Romagnola!. Naturally she loves films (she's translated subtitles) the arts, travel and the natural world. But above all, Giulia is totally passionate about her homeland its beauty and its hospitable open-hearted personality - she's longing to introduce it to you. After having worked in fashion, publishing and in international sales, she feels that she has found her niche in the Best of Romagna.
Tamara made a big choice last year! A Romagnola girl, living and working in rich, comfortable Switzerland - she's made the same choice as her mother and sister - to live and work in Romagna. A garden designer by trade, after a stint at film school in New York Tamara thought that a much bigger and better scenario for her work is Romagna! And naturally only the Best of Romagna will do!
Valentina has packed a lot into her young life already – top Economics student, singer/musician, linguist (German, English, Italian Romagnolo), dance teacher, traveler and driver – and although she was born in Germany – she is really a Romagnolo girl from the Valsellustra, just like her Mum....And now she’s doing the Romagnolo thing with passion – showing off her beautiful land and its wonderful cornucopia of food and wine and, history and beauty. Plus taking even better photographs of her beloved Valsellustra.
Alexander Carraro General Manager
From a Venetian family, fluent in Venetian and Italian (and English, of course!), Alex is the ultimate Italy, food and wine professional, having managed master tour operators for over 15 years. His meticulous attention to detail, commitment to the Italian lifestyle, food and culture is astounding.
After completing his training with the most important restaurateurs - the Roux Borthers - and completing his Master of Wine credentials, Alex thought that his future was in food but then he realised that his calling was food and tourism!
He then worked in the travel industry specialising in Italy, travelled across Italy extensively and has garnered specialist contacts many of which remain either not online or work behind the scenes to provide services for people seeking a level of exclusivity that is not normally available to ordinary tour groups.
Alex truly loves Italy - and Romagna! - and his aim is to help you really experience and thoroughly enjoy the authentic country, food, drink, culture and lifestyle of this amazing country.
The older bit of the partnership – Valere, however, has been consulting and writing reports about sustainable tourism for the last 25 years (since the Earth Summit) with organizations like the UN World Tourism Organisation, the European Union, the World Bank and the UN Environment Programme nd writing about it for global media like TravelMole.com. For the 25 years before that, he was a mass tour operator.
And now he’s fallen in Love with Romagna and is putting all his knowledge and resources behind the Best of Romagna project in the knowledge that it has so much to offer both "Temporary Citizens" and local people alike - including a great deal of fun, happiness and life-changing experiences (see above!)
MEET THE REST OF OUR TEAM HERE:
Food and Wine artisans
Augusto Zuffa - Cantine Zuffa: A new face in the hierarchy of great wines
Mauro Giardini - Villa Venti: Putting the sensational beauty of his vineyard into a glass
Susy Patrito Silva - Casa Artusi: Spreading the Pellegrino Artusi legend of great Italian Food and Wine
Renato Brancaleoni - Fossa dell'Abbondanza: Master Cheese Maker Extraordinaire
Luana Antolini - Piadineria Luana: The Piadina Queen of Romagna
Michele and Martina Turchi - Locanda della Luna: Five centuries in the Olive Groves of Longiano
Graziella Pezzi - Fattoria Paradiso: The Doyenne of Romagnolo wine
Restaurants
Danilo and Teresa - Dei Cantoni: Happy Eaters
Cristina Maggioli - La Sangiovesa: 360 degree Romagna – culture, history, food and wine
Valentina Valentini - La Casina: At it’s heart, the essence of great Romagnolo food
Michele - La Rocca dalla Margherita
Casa Spadoni - superb new restaurant by Leonardo Spadoni
Accommodations
Filippo Turroni - Alloggio San Girolamo: Practising extreme hospitality
Michele and Martina Turchi - Locanda della Luna: Five centuries in the Olive Groves of Longiano
Marisa Grilli the Casa Grilli - Art Deco mansion and hospitality with Love from Marisa
Leonardo's beautiful 'Locanda' Casa Spadoni
Shopping
Riccardo Pascucci - Stamperia Pascucci (Gambettola): Creating daily usable works of art by hand from natural materials for nearly 200 years
Our Guide in Romagna
Cinzia Fabbri - Tours in Ravenna: Bringing Romagna’s glorious past to life
Artists
Sara Canducci: Creating videos telling stories
Roberto Paci Dalò: Become a temporary citizen in Romagna
The Mutoids - Mutonia: Thought provokingly dynamic art from scrap
Transportation
Autoservizi Gaultieri - Seamless Service
Green cooperators
Silvia and Simone & Co - Ecobnb: To a happy world beyond tourism
NB: Romagna away from the coast is a very un-touristy place. Unlike its near neighbors Tuscany and the Veneto, in Romagna foreign (particularly English-speaking) visitors are unusual. Here you will be treated as a guest - not a tourist!
So that you may enjoy your visit to the full, we run your experience not as a package tour but more like a group of friends having an adventure on a visit to a new and very special place. In this way we believe you will have a glorious, very different and natural experience. The fact is that Romagna’s wonderful hinterland has not become jaded by mass tourism – and we aim to keep it that way,
Everybody you will meet here is passionate about their homeland, its beauty and its enormous larder of local, seasonal food and wine. Everybody you will meet here is enormously proud of their history, culture and above all their diligent and heartfelt hospitality.
We sincerely believe that you will find treasure here in Romagna - treasure that can only come from open hearts with the willingness to share an unbelievably enormous heritage.
By the time you leave our aim is to help you, like us, to be passionate about Romagna and count the days ‘til you return!
A good idea/ Why not meet them and join our cause, enjoy their warm hospitality on a Best of Romagna experience next autumn or spring. Expect the unexpected - you'll have the time of your life!A good idea/ Why not meet them and join our cause, enjoy their warm hospitality on a Best of Romagna experience next autumn or spring. Expect the unexpected - you'll have the time of your life!
After completing his training with the most important restaurateurs - the Roux Borthers - and completing his Master of Wine credentials, Alex thought that his future was in food but then he realised that his calling was food and tourism!
He then worked in the travel industry specialising in Italy, travelled across Italy extensively and has garnered specialist contacts many of which remain either not online or work behind the scenes to provide services for people seeking a level of exclusivity that is not normally available to ordinary tour groups.
Alex truly loves Italy - and Romagna! - and his aim is to help you really experience and thoroughly enjoy the authentic country, food, drink, culture and lifestyle of this amazing country.
The older bit of the partnership – Valere, however, has been consulting and writing reports about sustainable tourism for the last 25 years (since the Earth Summit) with organizations like the UN World Tourism Organisation, the European Union, the World Bank and the UN Environment Programme nd writing about it for global media like TravelMole.com. For the 25 years before that, he was a mass tour operator.
And now he’s fallen in Love with Romagna and is putting all his knowledge and resources behind the Best of Romagna project in the knowledge that it has so much to offer both "Temporary Citizens" and local people alike - including a great deal of fun, happiness and life-changing experiences (see above!)
MEET THE REST OF OUR TEAM HERE:
Food and Wine artisans
Augusto Zuffa - Cantine Zuffa: A new face in the hierarchy of great wines
Mauro Giardini - Villa Venti: Putting the sensational beauty of his vineyard into a glass
Susy Patrito Silva - Casa Artusi: Spreading the Pellegrino Artusi legend of great Italian Food and Wine
Renato Brancaleoni - Fossa dell'Abbondanza: Master Cheese Maker Extraordinaire
Luana Antolini - Piadineria Luana: The Piadina Queen of Romagna
Michele and Martina Turchi - Locanda della Luna: Five centuries in the Olive Groves of Longiano
Graziella Pezzi - Fattoria Paradiso: The Doyenne of Romagnolo wine
Restaurants
Danilo and Teresa - Dei Cantoni: Happy Eaters
Cristina Maggioli - La Sangiovesa: 360 degree Romagna – culture, history, food and wine
Valentina Valentini - La Casina: At it’s heart, the essence of great Romagnolo food
Michele - La Rocca dalla Margherita
Casa Spadoni - superb new restaurant by Leonardo Spadoni
Accommodations
Filippo Turroni - Alloggio San Girolamo: Practising extreme hospitality
Michele and Martina Turchi - Locanda della Luna: Five centuries in the Olive Groves of Longiano
Marisa Grilli the Casa Grilli - Art Deco mansion and hospitality with Love from Marisa
Leonardo's beautiful 'Locanda' Casa Spadoni
Shopping
Riccardo Pascucci - Stamperia Pascucci (Gambettola): Creating daily usable works of art by hand from natural materials for nearly 200 years
Our Guide in Romagna
Cinzia Fabbri - Tours in Ravenna: Bringing Romagna’s glorious past to life
Artists
Sara Canducci: Creating videos telling stories
Roberto Paci Dalò: Become a temporary citizen in Romagna
The Mutoids - Mutonia: Thought provokingly dynamic art from scrap
Transportation
Autoservizi Gaultieri - Seamless Service
Green cooperators
Silvia and Simone & Co - Ecobnb: To a happy world beyond tourism
NB: Romagna away from the coast is a very un-touristy place. Unlike its near neighbors Tuscany and the Veneto, in Romagna foreign (particularly English-speaking) visitors are unusual. Here you will be treated as a guest - not a tourist!
So that you may enjoy your visit to the full, we run your experience not as a package tour but more like a group of friends having an adventure on a visit to a new and very special place. In this way we believe you will have a glorious, very different and natural experience. The fact is that Romagna’s wonderful hinterland has not become jaded by mass tourism – and we aim to keep it that way,
Everybody you will meet here is passionate about their homeland, its beauty and its enormous larder of local, seasonal food and wine. Everybody you will meet here is enormously proud of their history, culture and above all their diligent and heartfelt hospitality.
We sincerely believe that you will find treasure here in Romagna - treasure that can only come from open hearts with the willingness to share an unbelievably enormous heritage.
By the time you leave our aim is to help you, like us, to be passionate about Romagna and count the days ‘til you return!
A good idea/ Why not meet them and join our cause, enjoy their warm hospitality on a Best of Romagna experience next autumn or spring. Expect the unexpected - you'll have the time of your life!A good idea/ Why not meet them and join our cause, enjoy their warm hospitality on a Best of Romagna experience next autumn or spring. Expect the unexpected - you'll have the time of your life!
