Custom Tour of Venice

Mario is a certified Italian Sommelier (AIS) and Master Cheese Taster (ONAF). His background also includes a degree in the Science of Food Production from the University of Bologna. Mario, a native of Milan, has lived in the Veneto for 35 years, and his grandmother was from the Cannaregio sestiere of Venice. Mario works in wine and food tourism, specializing in the regions of the Veneto, Friuli and Emilia-Romagna. He is also an experienced wine educator. Mario lives in Padova with his wife, Rachel, a native of Ohio, and their two children. He can often be heard to say "A glass of wine is not merely something to drink, but a true reminder of our history, traditions and culture."

Susan has over ten years of experience teaching the History of Art for prestigious university programs in the UK and Italy. After graduating in the History of Art and Italian in 1998, she took an M.A. concentrating on art and architecture in Venice, and in 2004 she completed her specialization with a Ph.D. on Venetian Renaissance altarpieces. As a post-doctoral researcher with the University of Glasgow and London's National Gallery, she worked as a researcher and editor on the National Inventory of European Painting, the on-line catalog of European paintings in British museums. Susan has also contributed articles to the Burlington Magazine and Artibus et Historiae. Susan met her Venetian husband Paolo in 1997; they have a young son and divide their time between homes in Italy and the UK.

Louisa is an art historian who obtained her B.A. at the Courtauld Institute, where she specialized in Venetian art and the Italian medieval and Renaissance periods. In 2000, she earned her M.A. from the University of Warwick in Venetian Renaissance art.