I’m Daniele Dezi. Many years leading groups across Italy, over five hundred tours, the author of the manual Italian tour leaders study from, and a working file of over a thousand Italian tour operators. I don’t sell ground services and I don’t take a margin on suppliers. I check what you’re about to sell, tell you what will break, and answer the phone when it does.
Three ways to use me
Itinerary Check — from $700
Send me the itinerary before it goes to your client. You get a signed report within seven working days: real timings, which suppliers I’d trust, where the day falls apart, what your client will remember. Three tiers: $700 / $1,400 / $2,900 (the top tier includes a site check in Rome and Lazio and a 30-day follow-up).
Italy Desk retainer — from $2,500 a month
Eight hours a month, hard cap, twelve-month minimum. Pre-season review of your Italy programs, second opinion on suppliers, a read on Italian regulation (the EU Package Travel rules, licensing, police checks), and an answer by the next working day on anything operational. Desk slots are limited by hours, not by marketing; when the calendar is full I’ll say so.
Duty of Care — from $1,700
Written protocols, emergency plan and Cold Mind Method certification for the tour leaders who run your Italy departures. The thing your lawyer will ask about after an incident, done before one.
Who this is for
Fee-based luxury advisors in North America and the UK who sell Italy several times a year. Tour operators with five or more Italian departures a year. DMCs outside Italy that need someone on the ground they’re not paying a salary to.
Who this is not for
Anyone looking for a tour guide next week (the Network does that, I don’t). Anyone who wants me to book their hotels.
How we start
Twenty minutes on a call. Tell me what you sell, how many departures, what went wrong last time. I’ll tell you on the call whether I can help and how; if I can’t, I’ll point you to someone who can. Written proposal within two working days.
Sample: what an Itinerary Check looks like
Client: US-based luxury travel advisor. Itinerary: 10-day Rome–Amalfi–Florence for a couple, mid-June.
What we found:
- Day 3, Pompeii: Arrival time set at 2:30 PM. In June, this means full sun and 35°C on unshaded ruins. Moved to 8:30 AM opening; freed the afternoon for Ravello, which the advisor hadn’t considered and which is twenty minutes from their hotel.
- Day 5, Amalfi Coast drive: Route via SS163 on a Saturday in mid-June. Weekend traffic adds 90 minutes minimum; the lunch reservation at 1 PM becomes unreachable. Switched to a morning boat from Positano to Amalfi, car picks up at Amalfi. Saved two hours, gained a coast view the car route doesn’t have.
- Day 7, Florence: Uffizi booked at 10 AM, Accademia at 2 PM. Both are heavy visits; by 2 PM the couple will be in a museum coma. Swapped Accademia to 9 AM (shorter, energising), Uffizi to 2 PM (longer, seated benches in every room). Added an espresso stop between them that the advisor can bill as a “local experience”.
- Day 9, cooking class: Supplier has 14 reviews on Google, all from the same month. Red flag. Sent three alternatives with 200+ reviews, price comparison, and a note on which one handles dietary restrictions without being asked.
Result: Four changes, one supplier swap, zero extra cost to the client. The advisor sent the revised itinerary and wrote: “My clients came back saying it was the best-paced trip they’d ever taken.”
This is a composite based on real checks. Names, dates and identifying details have been changed. The sample is illustrative; every check is different.
All prices in USD, exclusive of VAT. Invoicing in EUR or USD for business clients outside the EU and EU clients with a valid VAT number.