One of the best decisions we made while planning our Italy trip was to hire private guides for…read morevarious parts of our vacation. It's a splurge, I know, but it was worth it for these reasons: (1) we saw more with our private guide than we would have if we were part of a big group because we weren't waiting around for people to follow, catch up, and get going; (2) we learned more about the places we saw because we weren't straining to hear or tuning out because we were in the back of the group; (3) we saw what we wanted to see and skipped what we didn't because the tour was, more or less, tailored for us. There are many tour guides that have great reviews so it was hard deciding which to go with, but I chose Tours of Sorrento because they had stellar ratings, Annalisa was responsive to my emails and requests, and she gave me a discount for booking more than one tour.
In Sorrento, we signed up for the Capri Day Tour. We were picked up from our hotel and taken to the port by Antonio (more on him later), and we were met by our guide for the day, Luigi (who happened to be Antonio's brother). Luigi was fantastic: he was funny, knowledgeable, full of energy, and was totally invested in making sure we had a good time and learned a lot about the area at the same time. He knew all of the ins and outs of making sure we got to the sites like the Blue Grotto and Anacapri before the crowds, and that made a big difference: we felt like we got to see a lot without having to fight hundreds of people or wait in super long lines. By the time the island started to feel really crowded, we were already heading back to Sorrento.
In Positano, we had signed up to do an Amalfi Coast tour by car, and we were pleasantly surprised to see Antonio as our driver/tour guide. He was calm, engaging, charismatic, and turned a long, rainy day into one of the best days of our vacation. He took us to the standard spots, but he also tailored it to what we wanted to see, combined with what the weather permitted. He was quick-thinking, told great personal stories mixed in with facts about the area, and he was always on time to pick us up (and was a great driver navigating the narrow, winding roads of the coast and the mountains). One of the best meals we had during our trip was at a restaurant that Antonio took us to, called Le Querce in Tramonti (see my separate review), and we would've never discovered it on our own. Just by getting to know us over a couple of hours, Antonio knew that we would appreciate this type of small out-of-the-way restaurant so much more than a more famous/touristy one.
We had such a good tour that we cancelled a car service that we had already booked to take us back to Naples and we hired Antonio to do it instead. He also arranged for us to do a tour of Pompeii (something we didn't think we'd have time for), and we had another amazing guide there, Luisa. She was beautiful, funny, warm, and also knew so much and shared stories about herself as well as about history and the area. Antonio picked us up, and since we had some time before our train departed, we asked him to do a quick driving tour of Naples and when we were done, we felt like he wrapped up our time in southern Italy with a bow, like a gift.
I still can't believe how lucky we were that all three guides we had were so terrific. They should all star in a tourism commercial about the area, not only because of the amount of knowledge they have but also because of their love and compassion for the land and its people. We had a wonderful time in Italy, and Luigi, Luisa, and Antonio are very much responsible for it.