Tell us about you/your company: what you do, what part of the world/type of travel do you specialize in, and how did you get into this line of work?
I set up Bellini Travel nearly 30 years ago (Christ, I feel old) after some misspent years in the record industry. Initially it was an online travel guide to hidden Italy for the princely sum of £8 a year, but piano piano, I started arranging holidays. My love of Italy stemmed from my extremely naughty and very funny grandmother Antonella, known to everyone as Tony who was from Naples, and I’d been lucky enough to live in both Rome and Venice as a student. I never did a business plan, and I’ve never quite known what I’m doing and still don’t, but we grew slowly through word of mouth which is still the case and now have clients from all over the world. Then ten years later, I somehow became an accidental party planner after arranging an incredible woman’s 50th birthday on the private island of Li Galli off the Amalfi Coast, where even the florist’s ladder had to arrive by helicopter. Vogue said it was “the party of the century” and someone claimed we dropped a case of champagne on the roof of her house (which we did not). We still arrange one or two celebrations a year, again only in Italy and normally in fabulous places that typically aren’t accessible. During the pandemic I fell into the film and television industry, after Mark Mylod, the director of Succession, claimed he Googled Italian specialists, found Bellini, and sent me a note out of the blue to ask if I could help with locations they were finding hard to pin down. This morphed into a magical summer on set in Tuscany and Lake Como, where I pretended to work advising how the wealthy travel in Italy and making sure the owners were happy with hundreds of cast and crew invading their homes. My next adventure was introducing Mike White, the creator of The White Lotus, to Sicily and some wonderful Sicilian friends who he based some of the characters on in the show. Oh and finally, the joy of joys was helping Stanley Tucci, who is as greedy as me and huge fun to work with, on his food show. I’m looking forward to seeing him in the new Devil Wears Prada this week, which we helped out on as well.
What’s the entry level to talk to you?
We charge a planning fee, which makes everything wonderfully uncomplicated. We have never been driven by commissions, but the fee (which starts at €5,000) means we can suggest not just the iconic hotels of Italy such as The Pellicano, Villa Passalacqua, Il San Pietro and La Perla, but also little guesthouses like the Corte della Maesta in the tiny village of Civita di Bagnoreggio and the Minervetta on the Amalfi Coast, which are often more memorable, especially for clients who like to keep out of the limelight and feel as if they’ve made a real discovery. Our clients are a discerning bunch and most of them prefer the rhythm of our holidays, which are rarely from five star to five star, and often include trattorias on the side of the autostrada with plastic chairs that just happen to have some sensational dish they can’t miss. I have written Bellini Guides to every part of Italy, which I’m constantly updating and thinking of turning into chic little books in time for our 30th anniversary. For the time being, I share them with people who can’t afford our full planning but can make a donation to charity or send me wine instead!
What is the sweet spot of your expertise?
Yikes, I suppose we know our clients inside out and most of them have been travelling with us for decades. If I’m in Italy and find something special, I genuinely get excited about the client or friend I’m going to call and say “you must do this, eat this, drink this, buy this!” I am unbelievably nosy, I drive taxi drivers mad, badgering them about their favourite restaurants or persuading owners of houses, gardens and art collections if they’d ever consider allowing our clients through their doors. The lovely thing about Bellini is that our clients are as fascinating as the people we introduce them to, we know which guide to match with each client, which table to sit at in which restaurant, and who is going to appreciate the Botticelli in your drawing room and who couldn’t care less. Also, we aren’t patronising—people travel to Italy for so many different reasons, and if you just want to flop on a beach and gaze at the sea for a week, then that is what you must do. Likewise, if you loathe contemporary art or, like me, find Ancient Rome and Greece a challenge, then we aren’t going to force you to change your mind! I’ve also discovered in the last few years that one of the true luxuries when travelling is to have choice removed—to be told what to eat and drink in a restaurant is remarkably enjoyable.
I am also horribly bossy, and not frightened to tell clients during planning if they are cramming in too much, or if the hotel or restaurant their friend suggested is, in fact, rubbish. And obviously I try to drum in the fact that Italy is not going anywhere and long lunches followed by a siesta are de rigeur. We also know when to splurge and visit the Uffizi after hours or take a boat to the Guggenheim in Venice to see Peggy’s collection at dawn, or right now visit the Rothko in Florence when it is closed to the public. For those on a smaller budget, we can pretty much jump the queues to any public monument in Italy and our guides are a dab hand at avoiding the crowds even at the busiest time of day.
A few favorite experiences/trips/itineraries you’ve planned that best represent your philosophy…
I’ve just arranged a Maradona football-themed weekend in Naples for one of my favourite clients who likes to bring his childhood friends to a football game in Italy each year. Yes, he flew in on his jet from the US, but trusts us enough to dive right in at the deep end and within hours was having a shave with his mates at Boellis, the old-school barber for all the Neapolitan gentlemen, swiftly followed by a beer and pizza with our friend Ciro in the rough and ready Sanita neighbourhood, before joining the crowds of football-obsessed Neapolitans at the game. Naples needs to be handled delicately—it’s full on and can be overwhelming, but it can also be the greatest place on the planet if you have the right people looking after you. Which he did.
All our trips are different, but I’m currently working on a project for some artists from the US who are bringing two derelict discos from the 1980s near Rimini back to life—it’s fun and new for me—and a part of Italy I don’t know so well, so the perfect excuse to revisit the extraordinary mosaics in Ravenna, which I did last month and now have lots of other clients visiting during their trips this summer. Plus I might get to dress like Olivia Newton John in Physical. I squeezed Parma into the recce and was blown away by how empty it was and so very rich in both culture and food. I was the only soul gazing at the Leonardo da Vinci in the Pinacoteca, and then lunch at Ristorante Cocchi again on my own but grinning like a Cheshire cat and planning who I wanted to come back with.
Favorite hotels/lodgings you love and go back to again and again…
I’m like a broken record when it comes to my own family holidays—I love the Val d’Orcia in Southern Tuscany and the little farmhouse we stay in with its jaw-dropping views of Monte Amiata. I love driving to Pienza in late afternoon as the sun is setting, singing loudly and badly to a favourite record as we wind our way to town to find our friend John already nursing a Negroni at the little bar by the wall, which surely must have one of the greatest views on the planet. So many Italians are now like family to me and their hotels like home, especially if I’m with my friend Marie-Louise sneaking into the bar when they are still closed for the season, or at one of her famous daytime discos at La Posta Vecchia. Or when I helped hang paintings in the final days before Villa Passalacqua on Lake Como opened for the first time with my friends the De Santis family, none of us having the faintest idea that it was to become the greatest hotel in the world. And I can’t not mention Antonia at Ristorante Lo Scoglio, who is genuinely like a sister to me—we are trying and failing to marry our children off to each other, then we really will be family.
The most memorable meal you’ve had while traveling…
As one of the greediest people on the planet, I try to remind myself that not everyone goes to Italy for the food. Despite the fact the business focuses solely on Italy, I am constantly making new discoveries. Venice, as you know, is positively sinking from visitors, and yes she has changed from when I lived there 35 years ago as an erstwhile student, but my guide and friend Cristina took me to a little trattoria on the Giudecca back in January and we had a bowl of green spaghetti with gamberetti which was as mind blowing as the view from the modest dining room, and all for the princely sum of ten euro. I’m heading to Florence this week, and sniffing out a food truck on the outskirts of the city that has over 100 labels of Champagnes and is right by our favourite olive oil farmer. I’ll keep you posted.
A not-to-be-missed favorite experience in your region(s) of expertise…
I think in Rome, you’d be a fool not to go and see the Bernini sculptures at the Galleria Borghese. Don’t be silly and attempt the Trevi Fountain during the day, but grab a gelato after dinner from Giolitti before tossing a coin into the fountain for good luck and making a wish to come back. I’m positively jealous of people who are going to Venice for the first time and how they are going to react to their first sighting of the city. If at all possible arrive by train—the departures board at Venice Santa Lucia is one of the most romantic sights in the city, or maybe that’s just me.
Most recent discovery?
In February I went to Abruzzo for the first time with my friend Lorenza Sebasti, who owns Castello di Ama in Chianti. We stayed with a winemaking friend of hers, Cristiana Tiberio, and spent four happy days criss-crossing the region. I was blown away by the fact you can have lunch in a snowy mountain village, then drive to the seaside for a bowl of brodetto for dinner. The people, the food, the history was just awe inspiring, and I cannot wait to get back there.
The hardest-working item you always pack…
I was going to be trite and say my liver, but I think it’s my beautiful leather bag from Métier that a bride gave me after arranging her wedding in Venice. It’s like the bag in Mary Poppins and seems to fit everything, including the bunches of puntarelle I grab from a roadside stall on my way to Fiumicino at this time of year. The Italians are always impeccably coiffed and my Dyson Air Wrap has saved me thousands, but that’s such a boring answer!
What is something you wished we all knew or were better at as travelers?
I feel like a therapist at times—people put so much love into planning their holidays, and you occasionally see complicated family dynamics at the breakfast table; not everyone is going to be as enthusiastic as you and it’s best not to mind too much and just go with the flow. Ideally don’t change our meticulously planned arrangements, but also know that in Italy you can pull favours last minute and if we can help we will. Don’t spend more than you can afford—yes, room rates have exploded in recent years, but it’s still possible to find a little guest house and a decent supper without spending a bomb. I see this occasionally when planning a honeymoon and without being brutally honest (moi?), I have managed to tone down some trips that would have required a second mortgage.
How do you want people to reach out to you?
Email: londonoffice@bellinitravel.com
IG: @bellinitravel
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