There is no doubt that Italy has priceless treasures to offer: from its breathtaking scenic beauty to its world-renowned food and wine culture, not to mention its astonishingly rich historical and artistic heritage.
But how many of these treasures do you know? And how many have you never heard of, simply because you don’t know where to look?
This is why it is so important to use licensed guides who have been tested and approved by the relevant authorities. At Hidden Experiences, we work hard every day to create experiences and itineraries that involve these important professionals and highlight the value they add to your tours.
A tour guide is a guardian of knowledge, in its broadest sense. A guide can indeed take you on a journey around the country, showing you special features that only the locals know about (and sometimes even the locals don’t know where to find them).
In this short article, we will illustrate the value that a tour guide can bring to your trip, transforming it from a mere “tourist trip” to an authentic enriching “experience.”
When we visit a place, be it a museum or a tourist attraction, it is easy to get swept up in the emotions that place evokes in us. However, we may miss out on important information or works of art worth discovering if we let ourselves be carried away by emotions alone.
But with the help of a tour guide, you won’t miss a thing.
On the contrary, the guide will intensify your emotions and create unforgettable memories that will tie you to this place forever.
Now try to imagine that you are entering the Galleria Degli Uffizi, one of the most important museums in Italy, immense in size and filled with works of art that populate art history books.
You are on your own: you are experiencing a Stendhal Syndrome given the beauty that surrounds you. Are you sure you won’t miss the most important pieces if you try to see the gallery on your own?
Now, try to imagine visiting the same Galleria degli Uffizi with a guide.
She will take you on a step-by-step journey back in time, from the earliest gems of art history by Cimabue and Giotto, through the most important works, to the painters who made the Renaissance the famous cultural period it is today.
Don’t forget that tour guides not only know history, they are also its custodians, and they know how to tell and convey it in a way that will leave an indelible impression on you.
The guide plays a key role in the authentic travel experience: she can recount the anecdotes, events and details that each work of art contains. They will enrich your knowledge and allow you to enjoy all those aspects that are not included in the information panels, sometimes going beyond the simple information found through the most diverse channels.
Finally, professional tour guides always know how to use available time in the best way. A guide knows the best and most convenient routes, avoiding stress and long queues, as well as the best places to admire a landscape or work of art. Guides also have many tricks up their sleeves that they will be happy to show you during a guided tour to amaze you.
Experiencing history, understanding traditions and discovering special aspects of the local context are all part of the travel experience.
Taking these three aspects into account will make your itinerary unforgettable and allow you to discover and get to know the place you are visiting in a truly deep sense.
In an age where everything goes fast, trying to slow down and get in touch with local people is as authentic as it gets. Tour guides help you to rediscover the original historical details of a site you are visiting.
In fact, thanks to a guide, it will be possible to find out, during a cultural tour such as the one of the Sforzesco Castle in Milan, what food was on the table of Ludovico il Moro, Duke of Milan.
And perhaps you will discover that they are not so different from the flavours that populate Lombard cuisine.
Consider a visit near the Royal Palace of Venaria Reale. Would you be able to find out what was the original use of the Palace’s wonderful Ballroom?
Thanks to a guided tour, you will discover this and other interesting secrets that the wonderful summer residence of the Savoy Royal family jealously guards.
With an official guide, it is as if you can open a giant window into the history of the place, and every step you take becomes a discovery.
The guide will help you to contextualise where you are or the work you are admiring – this process will ensure that you fully understand what the artist was trying to express and get to the heart of the message he or she was trying to convey.
After all, Italian culture is all based on traditions, rituals and customs that are handed down from the past. It is almost impossible to know them all, but thanks to our guides, we can keep alive the memory of all those practices that are perhaps told by works of art and that still exist.
Discovering a place with a guide also allows you to explore aspects of yourself that will lead to greater intercultural understanding.
You can, in fact, immerse yourself in the traditions and customs of a culture that is different from your own.
Italy is characterised by different traditions depending on the city you visit, and thanks to a travel guide you can discover all aspects of our country.
This experience will enrich you in an important way, as the trip will also become a school of life, where understanding the history and culture of the place will allow you to grow as a person.
In conclusion, this article has tried to show you how a guided tour can give you emotions that you can rarely experience by exploring an area on your own.
At the end of your travel experience, you will have wonderful memories to share, enriched with details that will make your stories even more interesting.
To discover guided experiences, memorable trips and activities that will make your holiday unforgettable, browse our website. We are sure you will find the ideal experience for you!
