To a slower way of experiencing Italy — where the day isn’t rushed between stops, but unfolds over long swims, lingering lunches, and time that’s actually yours.
Salt on your skin after a swim in Ponza. The crunch of a just-baked Roman pizza. Sunlight hitting pastel harbor walls. A glass of Biancolella you won’t find anywhere else.
An Italy beyond the checklist — hidden coves, quiet viewpoints, and places that don’t need “skip the line” because they were never crowded to begin with.
Twenty years ago, I sat along a Venetian canal, feet dangling over the water, sharing a bottle of wine with a friend. In the distance: the sound of opera. Faint, at first. It drifted closer and closer until, suddenly, from beneath a bridge on the Grand Canal, a gondola emerged. An opera singer stood balanced on its edge, arms outstretched, holding a final, soaring note. The canal fell silent. Then, applause! A shared, unscripted moment.
Today, planning a trip is easier than ever. But that same ease has made experiences predictable and repeatable. After more than twenty years in Italian tourism, I founded Open Up Italy to change that.
We don’t just take you to places like Ponza that still hold their authenticity. We leave space for those moments to happen. Time to linger. Room for the unexpected.
Because the best parts of travel aren’t always planned. They are moments that, like that gondola, emerge when you least expect them.
CEO & Founder
Discover Italy with Us
