Date: 13/12/2012
Subject: Brought a rich history to life!

Dear Sir or Madame,

This e-mail is definitely long overdue and for that I apologize, but I still felt it was important to send it to you and highlight a fantastic tour guide at your company.

I had the pleasure of realizing a life long dream of going to Rome this summer, a trip I took with my 14-year old daughter. In order to ensure that the trip would be a tremendous success after waiting this long, I wanted to use the services of a tour company to help us better understand and appreciate the beauty of Rome. I did a lot of extensive research over the course of a year and decided on your tour company after reading the many excellent reviews on Trip Advisor. My experience with your office was one of excellent, courteous, very prompt and professional service at all times.

Given the challenges of keeping a teenager entertained while visiting ancient history sites, I opted to purchase the private tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palantine Hill on July 5, 2012 so that our tour guide would be able to focus on our needs and our particular agenda. I feel extremely fortunate that we were assigned to Cinzia Cutrone. Cinzia met us very promptly at the appointed time (she arrived early and waited for us) at our apartment and we traveled together to our first site. On our way there she shared with us her extensive knowledge of Rome, the culture, the city and the history. Our first stop was to go through the Musei Capitolini on our way to the Roman Forum - and she pointed out that the museum had some very interesting pieces and one of the best views of the city for the Roman Forum. Two days later we took her recommendation and we were blown away at the beauty of the sight before us - the Roman Forum appeared in all its glory before our eyes.

Cinzia took us through the Roman Forum and explained the history of the city, the Emperors, the culture and some of the more "entertaining" myths about Roman history. With the use of her guide book, she was able to bring to life a rich history and culture and truly captivate my daughter's attention. A "pile of rocks" is not always interesting to a teenager, but I found Cinzia was able to captivate my daughter's attention and engaged her by thoughtfully answering all of her questions. Cinzia was able to answer some her questions and then quickly flip to my questions - she was able to keep both of us completely engaged and captivated. Cinzia was always so pleasant, thoughtful (remembered bathroom breaks, took our picture repeatedly), very courteous and professional.

Her depth and breadth of knowledge about the history, culture and art of the various periods of time was incredible. Her passion and enthusiasm were very evident in how she depicted history unfolding over thousands of years. Every question we had she was able to answer with great depth of knowledge. She showed us with great excitement the new developments in recent archeological digs and the "new history" that had been uncovered. Although we had signed up for a long tour (5 hours plus lunch), Cinzia enthusiasm and very pleasant disposition never waned in spite of the heat. Her English was very good and we never once had any problems understanding her explanations of the various sites.

I feel very blessed we were given Cinzia as our tour guide - she exceeded my expectations of a tour guide and the tour she gave us of these important sites has made my trip of a lifetime one of the fondest memories of my life.

I would whole-heatedly endorse Through Eternity Tour as one of the best tour groups I've ever used and I would strongly recommend that people specifically ask for Cinzia Cutrone - she was an amazing tour guide and it will make anyone's trip to Rome even more magical and memorable.

Thank you again for an amazing experience and a fantastic tour we'll never forget thanks to Cinzia!

Kindest regards,

Marie C. Blanchet

Date: 10/12/2012
Subject: Underground Rome, Ancient City and Vatican Museums: Wonderful!

Our Ancient City tour was wonderful. We were met at the entrance by Katia, and really enjoyed her knowledge about the area we were walking through. We were also lucky to have another couple who did not mind walking, so we were able to cover a lot of ground. Jen and I personally cannot get “too much history”, so I think we asked a lot of questions!

This Underground Rome tour with Gabriel was great. We were in and out of a number of churches, walked past sights and all along Gabriel was explaining the background of what we were looking at. This is what a tour is meant to be – a touching on a number of places with enough information so that the most enthusiastic could come back at remember the highlights of the tour! Some people may have found this too much of a walk – we thoroughly enjoyed it!

Alessia at the Vatican was the best (perhaps tied with Katia) of the tour guides we had. Her ability to explain the history in a manner that easily tied to the architecture, and especially the art, that we saw. Wonderful job of educating us on early art (up to 12th century) with flat faces and little perspective to the beautiful renaissance and counter reformation artists!

We will be back in Rome next year, and would be very interested in another tour or two!

Best regards,

John & Jennifer Mulholland

Date: 10/12/2012
Subject: At the Vatican with John and Ancient City with Gregory: The Best!

Hello,

I have taken a good number of guided tours during my various holidays, but I can honestly say that the Through Eternity tours were the best. The knowledge that John Tinto was able to share was immense and he had an excellent way of communicating said knowledge. The Vatican tour was fantastic and I learned so much about art and the paintings. It was an excellent experience and I would recommend Through Eternity to anybody who is truly interested in history and culture.

My second tour was one of the highlights of my visit to Rome. Gregory had so much knowledge and brought the ancient history to life for us. He was able to explain the Forum, the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill wonderfully. I enjoyed this tour tremendously. Also, I would like to thank Gregory for the suggestions he made – without that I would never have known to go to St Cecilia in Trastevere and see not only a beautiful church but the excavations of a Roman house underneath.

Regards

Renate

Date: 06/12/2012
Subject: The Forum came alive!

Dear Customer Care Team at Through Eternity

The Ancient City: Our tour was outstanding. Our guide, Ivana, made the Forum come alive with beautiful overlays, challenging us to imagine the Forum and Palatine as they would have been 2000 years ago. Ivana is a scholar, and not only answered questions, but enthusiastically engaged in discussions of the historic events and their impact. We faced and successfully navigated challenging weather conditions.

The Vatican: Our tour was marvelous. Our guide, Katia, prepared us orally and visually prior to entering each museum. She was very engaged in answering questions from a group with a range of ages and interests. There is no way we could have enjoyed or appreciated the visit to the Vatican and its museums without such a tour.

Not only do I recommend these tours, I plan to take them and other Through Eternity tours when next in Rome. Thank you Ivana and Katia, and thank you Through Eternity.

Leslie and Steve Melman
Washington, DC

Date: 05/12/2012
Subject: Red Caravaggio with Caterina: Exceptional!

My husband and myself had a wonderful time on our tour. Caterina is an exceptional guide. She's extremely knowledgable, enthusiastic, and friendly. I would definitely recommend her and your company to others.

Thank you, Jane

Date: 28/11/2012
Subject: Michael Kept Whole Family Captivated

Michael made our visit very special. He was able to keep two 13 year olds, a 16 year old, and adults totally ignorant of art (we are in the medical field), captivated by his descriptions and knowledge. We thoroughly enjoyed his commentary and the depth of his knowledge.

Tissa

Date: 28/11/2012
Subject: Two Fabulous Private Tours of Vatican and Ancient City

Hi,

Rome of Julius Caesar and Michelangelo: this private tour with Mario was fantastic - he is nice, funny and very knowledgable of the history of Rome. He kept a very comfortable pace, and really went out of his way to explain things and make sure we were having a nice time- which we did. Excellent and very enjoyable. My sons really enjoyed our time with him. I left a good review on TripAdvisor.

Vatican Museums: this private tour with Eugenia was also very enjoyable. Eugenia has a wonderful, extensive knowledge of the Vatican, art history and the history of Rome. Our sons learned so much, and we enjoyed Eugenia's company. She helped us to see many things we would have missed. Excellent tour, please thank her for us.

Thanks,

Jacklyn

Date: 27/11/2012
Subject: Ask for Stefano!

It was our first visit to Rome and we relied on Frommer's and on online travel reviews in our decision to use the services of Through Eternity. We could not have made a better decision!

Our experience with Through Eternity was outstanding from the online arrangement with Pip to the 2-day Immersion tour with Stefano. Pip gave us the best recommendations and answered all our emails promptly and to the best of her ability. Our tour guide, Stefano, was knowledgeable, witty, funny, resourceful and truly amazing. He is a highly educated person who provided us not only with historical information but with loads of interesting and invaluable trivia. We walked through the ruins of Rome and Stefano showed us renderings on his iPad of what these ruins would have looked like if we visited Rome over 2,000 years ago. We appreciated the Sistine Chapel tour (from floor to ceiling) before it opened to the public and other equally plus items -- such as avoiding lines, lunches with breathtaking views, gelato stops and so many more. Stefano helped us to re-live Rome in an exciting and personalized way during the entire tour - whether it was through a historical event or site or a Renaissance artist or a masterpiece work of art.

If asked to rate Through Eternity and the guided tours with Stefano on a rate of 1-5 with 5 being the best, we'd definitely give a rating of 6 and needless to say, we will recommend to all our friends and family to use Through Eternity and ask for Stefano.

Grazie!
Alex and Maria

Date: 26/11/2012
Subject: Two Great Days in Rome!

Our tour with Guido was a wonderful start to our "Roman Holiday". Guido met us at our apartment the first full day of our vacation. We had a beautiful sunny day to explore Rome. Guido did an excellent job in making sure we understood the fundamentals of how the city is laid out and with special emphasis on the many of layers of Rome. We were pleased that Guido was well educated in our selected subject matter and was able to provide details that an average guide would not know. He let us set the pace for our day but made sure we saw everything that the tour included, plus many more sites. At the end of the day Guido went out of his way to contact our tour guide for the next day to ensure that he knew what we had and had not already seen.

On our second day of our vacation in Rome, John was our guide to the Vatican Museum, St. Peter's and Castle Sant'Angelo. Meeting us at our apartment in the morning John filled our day with the history and treasurers of the Vatican. John did an excellent job in leading us through the ticketing process and entrance of the Vatican Museum. We could tell he was very experienced in the process and felt very confident that he knew what he was doing. John was an expect at guiding us through the museum rooms. John mentioned several times that we would only be seeing a small percentage of the art and other treasurers contained in these rooms. We understood what he meant when we saw how huge this collection is and how much time a person would need just to get through the first couple of rooms. John's time management skills made it possible for us to see major works and leave time for St. Peter's and Sant'Angelo. The tour of Sant'Angeleo was one of our favorite sites and the view from the top should not be missed. John was an excellent guide. We would have been lost without him.

Amanda Paliotta

Date: 25/11/2012
Subject: Engaging and pleasant guide

We were very pleased by our experience. Katia was a friendly, knowledgable, engaging and pleasant guide. She answered all our questions, and took just the right pace to see all the sights. She really helped bring the ancient world to life.

Taking your tour made all the difference in our visit to the Foro Romano, Colosseo e Palatino. We will highly recommend it to our friends.

Best,
Bob Stull

Date: 24/11/2012
Subject: Absolutely amazing!

Greetings and good morning from the USA,

While my wife Anne and I were in Rome in October 2012 we saw a lot of exciting history and had a number of wonderful tour guides, but by far our tour of the Vatican led by Cinzia Cutrone was absolutely amazing! Cinzia was personable, well organized, passionate, and extremely knowledgeable. When we return to Rome, we will seek her out as our tour guide, and we have already recommended Through Eternity to several of our friends.

Thanks for helping make our time in Rome special!

Gary Sharp
Virginia, USA

Date: 21/11/2012
Subject: Through Eternity Guides: High Level of Commitment, Service, and Professionalism

My tour with John Tinto was excellent. He clearly has a great deal of expertise on all of the matters that we covered and also demonstrates a lot of enthusiasm for the subject matter, which I imagine is not always easy to do when you give the same tour on many occasions. He was very good about telling us what to expect on the tour, including when we would have breaks and so on. He was very sensitive to the needs of the older people on the tour with respect to sitting down frequently and avoiding lots of staircases. He asked our permission to run the tour longer than the standard five hours because he wanted to ensure that the tour was as complete and informative as it could be. We appreciated both his asking permission and his willingness to extend the tour to make sure that we saw everything and learned everything that we could. I found that his willingness to go well beyond five hours demonstrated a high level of commitment, service, and professionalism. John has a nice manner and good sense of humor and of course his English is excellent. I would recommend him highly.

Conan Deady

Date: 20/11/2012
Subject: Great Host and Incredible Knowledge of Art

Dear Through Eternity,

Many thanks to your company and to our guide Stefano for the great tour of the Vatican Musuems – Stefano was a great host with incredible knowledge of the Art, the buildings, the history and the people of Rome and the Vatican. He was also very entertaining, meaning we enjoyed the entire 5.5 hour tour without getting tired or bored.

We will be recommending your company to our friends and family and I will also be posting a positive review on Trip Advisor – perhaps you can thank Stefano personally from both myself and my girlfriend Hannah (he will remember us as the young English couple from his tour on Saturday).

Many thanks,

Alex Boudry

Date: 20/11/2012
Subject: Katia Brought Roman History Alive!

Thank you, we really enjoyed the tour and we thought that Katia was an excellent guide; she was informative and enthusiastic, answered all our questions, and brought Roman history to life.

Lucy

Date: 19/11/2012
Subject: Cinzia is Incredible at the Vatican

The tour of the Vatican Museums & St. Peter's by Cinzia was absolutely wonderful! I didn't think that 5 hours could go by so fast, but her knowledge of art & history was so thorough and she related it to us all in such a down to earth way, that we felt like we were being guided by a knowledgeable friend, rather than a tour guide! Also it is great that you limit the size of the group to 12 which made it easier to follow along with her and get close to the art she was describing.

We were sorry to see that your 3 hour Colosseum/Roman Forum area tour was filled up when we checked online, otherwise we would have signed up for a 2nd tour because we were so impressed with the Vatican Tour that Cinzia had done! Several people in our group commented that it was the best one they had ever taken. Please give Cinzia our regards!

Sincerely,
Caryle McCaffrey