IACE, New York
SUPERCIAO TOUR, Milano
I am writing to wholeheartedly recommend Superciao Tours for educational travel to Italy. Having organized school-sponsored trips to Italy seven times throughout my career (in 2000, 2001, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2023), I have had the opportunity to compare different travel experiences. It is with confidence and satisfaction that I endorse Superciao Tours for the following reasons:
Italian Expertise:
Superciao Tours, being an Italian company, offers unparalleled advantages in establishing connections with hotels, tour guides, and restaurants. Their local presence allows them to personally investigate every aspect of the itinerary. I have consistently found that Superciao accommodates concerns about the quality of food at restaurants and ensures kid-friendly city tour guides. Any inquiries or requests I’ve had were promptly and effectively addressed via email, phone calls, or texts. Superciao genuinely strives to meet your specific requirements, providing a personalized touch that sets them apart.
Culturally Insightful Tour Leaders:
The tour leaders provided by Superciao are native Italians who offer unique insights into the cultural and bureaucratic aspects of the trip. Fluent in English, these leaders facilitate seamless communication, alleviating any language concerns. Their expertise enhances the overall experience, providing a deeper
understanding of the cultural nuances that enrich the educational journey.
Customized Itineraries:
Superciao Tours stands out in its willingness to create original tours tailored to specific preferences. As an Italian company, they readily accommodated my request to visit an Italian school, a feat that was impossible with another company. The flexibility displayed by Superciao in including details not found in standard itineraries ensures a truly unique and enriching experience for both educators and students.
In my extensive experience with Superciao Tours, I have found them to be not only accommodating but also committed to delivering an exceptional educational travel experience. If you require further information or wish to discuss my experiences in greater detail, please do not hesitate to contact me. As an avid supporter of student travel, I believe that forging connections with students is key to a positive experience abroad. Flexibility and compromise are essential, and Superciao Tours has consistently supported these principles.
Thank you for considering Superciao Tours for your educational travel needs. I am confident that your experience with them will be as rewarding as mine has been.
Sincerely,
Susan Vasselmann
World Language Teacher
Amazing organization!
Our tour leader and all the guides were super prepared and nice.
We especially liked the visit to the cheese and bread factories in Altamura and the Puglia food in general was delicious!
We loved Roma too!
Sorrento was beautiful but the restaurant was not the greatest. The food was average, very turistic.
Overall this trip was super good!
Grazie ancora Superciao!
Lucia Sardi
Viaggio Italia Gennaio 2024- Brunswick School
My name is Angelina Dance and I am a former middle/high school Italian teacher in the Lakeland Central School District. During my last few years of teaching, I had the absolute pleasure of taking my students to Italy. I have traveled to Italy many times on my own, but going there with students was a huge responsibility and very overwhelming. This all changed when one of my coworkers recommended using Superciao Tours.
From the moment that Federica Protti and I spoke, she and her colleagues Mirtilli and Valentina went straight to work helping me choose cities to visit, attractions to see, and restaurants to eat at. Having multiple food allergies, I felt very comfortable knowing I would eat well wherever we went. Federica was always very easy to contact and incredibly responsive. Every detail was taken care of and she was able to help with countless unforeseen circumstances such as a wheelchair for one of the participants who broke her foot before departure, to helping us choose a bakery to make an 18 th birthday cake for one of my students.
My second trip with Superciao Tours came during an unthinkable time when the COVID pandemic ruined our plans. Federica and her staff were able to reschedule our entire journey and help us navigate post-pandemic travel during unprecedented times by finding hotels, restaurants, and tourist attractions that were open. She even helped by arranging COVID tests at our hotel to ensure safe departure back to the US. All of this was done with the utmost professionalism, kindness, and friendly manner.
Another positive aspect of traveling with Superciao Tours is the tour guides that accompanied my school during our visits. During my first visit, Marianna was very efficient and always working to keep our travels on track. Our positive experience was her priority. On my second trip, Noemi accompanied my students and I after the pandemic. Noemi was phenomenal, incredibly friendly, and a great travel companion for us all. Finally, our security guard, Salvatore, was with us 24-7 and helped in countless ways from stopping traffic to monitoring hallways after curfew.
I truly enjoyed working with Federica and her staff. They are extremely knowledgeable as local Italians and are able to provide recommendations for itineraries, excursions, schools to visit, and much more.
This results from them personally visiting and vetting the places chosen for travelers to visit. They are extremely detail-oriented, dedicated, and open to suggestions and feedback during and after trips.
While I am no longer teaching Italian, I still keep in touch with Federica and Noemi on a personal basis for advice on my own travel with my family. The personal attention I received then as a teacher has remained the same to this day and become what I hope will be a long-lasting friendship. Rest assured that you are in very good hands with Superciao Tours!
Happy travels!
Angelina Dance
I had incredible travel experiences with my students and families in Italy that I wholeheartedly recommend. Italy is a country rich in history, culture, and natural beauty, offering a diverse range of experiences. Superciao tour provides tours that are adaptable to every kind of traveler.
Highlights from the numerous tours I have done, include exploring Firenze, where art and history come alive. The Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia are must, housing masterpieces like Michelangelo’s David. The architecture of Firenze itself is breathtaking, with iconic structures such as the Basilica di Santa Maria, Ponte Vecchio, Campanile di Giotto e Cupola di Brunelleschi, to name a few.
We visited the Amalfi Coast. The beautiful views of the Mediterranean Sea and the colorful cliffside villages are unforgettable. We also explored the coastal towns of Positano and Amalfi.
Another stop was Roma, and it’s a must. The Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Pantheon are truly inspiring landmarks that take you back in time.
I can go on about what we have seen in Italy with Superciao tour. Their planning is precise with knowledgeable city tour guides and courteous tour leaders. They are very accommodating and will work with you every step of the way.
Rina Miraglia
WL Italian and Spanish
For our Catholic community of Mount St. Joseph High School, travelling over the Easter holiday with Studio Arcobaleno in 2015, from Rome to Assisi to Venice to Padua, was the experience of a lifetime and of our Catholic faith.
From Easter mass at the Vatican with Pope Francis, to mass on Easter Monday in a chapel of Saint Peter’s, to ending our trip with mass among the welcoming community of Venice, our faith was strengthened by the experiences of natural beauty at the Marmore waterfalls, to the ever-present spirituality of Saint Francis and Saint Clare in Assisi and Saint Anthony in Padua, not to mention the wonderful opportunity for our youth to fraternize with high-school students in Venice and establish enduring friendships, and where we received the warmest welcome.
I highly recommend an organized and personalized trip with the on-site Italian expertise of Studio Arcobaleno to every catholic American community, be it middle school, high school, university program, language-study program, parish community or Italian-American organization. An active and strengthened practice of your Catholic faith awaits you amid the marvels of the Italian landscape, history, and culture!
Dr Elizabeth Pease
Italian Language educator
Dear Sirs,
It is with great pleasure that I write to you regarding my experiences with the Superciao Tour company. This is a world-class group that truly cares about the enjoyment, safety and affordability of student travel.
Our school’s Italian language instructor and I started business with the group in 2014 while coordinating an overseas educational experience to Italy for both my art students and the language students. We have traveled to various locations within Italy with our students using Superciao Tours in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. We frequently changed the itinerary to allow various educational opportunities as educators. Of course we all know what came next in 2020 and although initial planning and deposits were in hand, all monies were returned to students as COVID burst the student’s hope for their long awaited trip.
Superciao’s entire team is extremely accommodating, makes valid suggestions and listens to the needs and requirements of intended travel. Our point of contact was Federica Protti. She is an open listener, valued suggestor and extremely pleasant spokesperson to help manage these overseas trips. Together, our weekly meetings, daily emails, or whatever it took, helped ease the comfort of not only us as traveling/coordinating teachers, but concerned parents, attentive administrators/BOE members and of course, eager teenage students. They continued to communicate effectively from trip initial discussions, planning and suggestions, provide valuable excursion options, payments, ticketing and while enjoying our planned itinerary on the actual trip.
I have been fortunate to also have Superciao help me coordinate an adult or “friends” trip in 2018. My wife, myself and twenty one of our wonderful friends traveled from Milan to Capri on a two week adventure that we still all talk about to this day. Memories that will last a lifetime, all well planned, affordable and so eventful! In 2025, we are actually continuing with another “friends” trip as a continuation starting in Naples and completing travel in Palermo. This too was a rescheduled COVID trip originally planned for 2020. The numbers of attendees has grown significantly (we are approaching thirty as of this date) because of the well planned attentiveness of Superciao and Federica.
The travel for students is a fantastic way to educate many avenues within the teens. How to pack a suitcase, how to travel and board a plane, how to live with a roommate and share a bathroom, how to be accountable to timelines, how to experience new foods and cultural differences plus so much more. It is truly a life experience that creates long lasting memories.
So, you can see how strongly I feel about Superciao and how my many experiences with them has proved to be second to none. I have researched, been approached and met with many other competitors that conduct similar types of student travel but none have the dedication, attention to detail and knowledge as Superciao.
If you should require any further information, please do not hesitate to let me know.
All the best in your travel planning!
Sincerely,
John Di Lonardo
former Art instructor/class advisor/travel coordinator
My name if Francesca Calio and I am an Italian and Spanish teacher at Bethpage High School in New York. I have been working with SuperCiao Tours for a decade and it is without hesitation that I write this letter of recommendation on their behalf.
As an Italian teacher, I have collaborated with SuperCiao Tours on several student tours across Italy. Federica has proven herself to be an outstanding travel planner and coordinator. Her and her colleagues’ dedication to providing enriching and educational experiences is truly commendable. Federica’s attention to detail, deep understanding of the local culture, and meticulous planning have consistently resulted in memorable and educational trips for my students. Not only have I worked with SuperCiao Tours on student trips, but since Covid, I have also extended our collaboration to include adult summer trips. Federica’s expertise has shone through in every aspect of the planning process, from selecting diverse and engaging itineraries to ensuring the safety and comfort of all participants. Her professionalism, organizational skills, and passion for promoting cultural understanding make her an invaluable asset to any educational travel endeavor. I must also compliment the safety tour guides who have been assigned to all of my tours. Without question, they have gone beyond their job duties and have provided outstanding care and detail during all of my tours.
SuperCiao Tours has consistently exceeded expectations, providing participants with well-rounded and immersive experiences. The feedback from both students and adults who have taken part in these tours has been overwhelmingly positive, highlighting the seamless execution and thoughtfulness that Federica and her colleagues puts into each trip. I have had many families take part on third and fourth experiences hence, demonstrating that value of the product SuperCiao offers. Comparing SuperCiao to any of the more popular student tour operators in the U.S.A, I can honestly state that the experience can never be the same! In my opinion, these other agencies offer cookie- cutter, bland experiences. Their rates have been almost double as to what SuperCiao quotes and students return feeling not only exhausted from cramming in too many tours, but not experiencing the rich cultural component that SuperCiao incorporates into their educational tours.
I wholeheartedly recommend SuperCiao Tours for any educational and cultural travel needs. Their commitment to excellence and the transformative experiences they provide make them an ideal choice for those seeking enriching and educational journeys. If you require any further information or would like to discuss my experiences in more detail, please feel free to contact me at #1516-752-7752 or email me at FCalio42@gmail.com.
Sincerely,
Francesca Calio
Italian/Spanish Educator Bethpage, New York
I highly recommend Superciao Tour for your upcoming, and/ or any future trips to Italy. Last year we took a group of 43 students to Italy for the first time. I teach Italian at an inner-city public high school in Stamford, CT. I combined the trip with a high school in Norwalk, CT, where I live with my husband and two children. My husband teaches Italian as well, up until last year, at the high school in Norwalk.
I cannot express enough the dedication, attention to detail and planning that Federica and her team attend to. The itineraries offered are an excellent start for first-time travelers, but the Superciao Team is more than accommodating to help plan your “perfect trip”. We were highly impressed not only with the planners, but with all our tour guides. They were informative, helpful and accommodating. They made us feel welcome and not like another group to check off their list.
I really need to express the way Superciao Tours pays attention to details from not only fitting your group with a great 24/7 guide, but down to your accommodations and places to eat. This is not meant to be just another group of students and teachers visiting Italy, or any of their other locations, but a complete educational experience. Even the restaurants are carefully chosen to accommodate the group’s size and food preference (teachers and students alike are highly recommended to complete a form in their Superciao account). As part of our itinerary, we went to visit a linguistic high school in Florence. It was so well planned that the school welcomed us and had the few hours very well planned. They were so gracious that my students, a year later, still talk about the opportunity to see and Italian school and the experience of making some new friends.
We were so impressed and happy with our experience, that we decided to have another go at a trip this February 2024. We are a much smaller group this year for some unforeseen reasons, but the experience will be just as great if not better than last year’s.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any other concerns or questions, but I truly and highly recommend Superciao Tours for your trip to Europe and Italy.
Sincerely,
Patty Pansino-Ruffo
Italian / IB, Honors
As an Italian teacher at a private Catholic High School, I have been using Superciao Tours since 2017 and havebeen extremely sati sfi ed with their services. Both the internal staff during the pre-planning stages and their on-the-ground personnel have been superb—professional, conscienti ous, and meti culous in every aspect of planningand implementati on. They have a wide range of pre-designed tours to choose from, and at the same ti me arehappy to customize trips to the specifi c needs of one’s group. For our Easter Tour of 2017, it was their fl exibilityand responsiveness that impressed me the most. The guides they engage have all been fi rst-rate, the hotels havebeen ideal, centrally located, with effi cient and welcoming staff , and the restaurants, whether simple pizzerias orfull-service establishments, have off ered a really nice sampling of local cuisine. I have had nothing but positi veexperiences working with Superciao Tours and think they are an ideal choice for any private school interested inexploring Italian history and art within the framework of Catholic traditi ons.
Marc Mariani
Oratory Prep High School
For our Catholic community of Mount St. Joseph High School, travelling over the Easter holiday with Studio Arcobaleno, from Rome to Assisi to Venice to Padua, was the experience of a lifetime and of our Catholic faith.
From Easter mass at the Vatican with Pope Francis, to mass on Easter Monday in a chapel of Saint Peter’s, to ending our trip with mass among the welcoming community of Venice, our faith was strengthened by the experiences of natural beauty at the Marmore waterfalls, to the ever-present spirituality of Saint Francis and Saint Clare in Assisi and Saint Anthony in Padua, not to mention the wonderful opportunity for our youth to fraternize with high-school students in Venice and establish enduring friendships, and where we received the warmest welcome.
I highly recommend an organized and personalized trip with the on-site Italian expertise of Studio Arcobaleno to every catholic American community, be it middle school, high school, university program, language-study program, parish community or Italian-American organization. An active and strengthened practice of your Catholic faith awaits you amid the marvels of the Italian landscape, history, and culture!
Elizabeth Scali Pease, Ph.D.
Mount Saint Joseph
It is my distinct pleasure to recommend the services of Studio Arcobaleno Tour/Superciao Tour. I have had the opportunity to work with many student travel agencies as well as adult touring agencies and never have I had the unique one on one services that I have experienced with Arcobaleno. Before Arcobaleno Tour, I had led over 12 trips to Europe (mainly Italy) with as many as 45 participants so I was well aware of the type of trips offered for European travel.
After two trips to Italy with Studio Arcobaleno, I can honestly say that I would never organize a trip with any other agency. Four years ago, I organized a trip to the Campania and Puglia region. We had both adults and families with younger children. I was able to choose the cities and locations that we wanted to visit. We were also able to experience an “agriturismo” and stay in a wonderful converted farmhouse with all of the amenities of a hotel but with the beauty of the Italian countryside. We were treated to authentic homemade pastas for dinner and jams and pastries for breakfast. The best part of the trip was the incredible opportunity to see the many cultural treasures of not only the large Italian cities but in small towns off the beaten path.
I would never have been able to design my own cultural trip with any other agency. I was able to choose the exact places I wanted to visit. Everything was done for us from the plane tickets to the various museums that we visited. The guides provided to us were extremely knowledgeable and always ready to answer any questions that we had. So many of us enjoyed our first trip with Arcobaleno so much that we decided to organize another trip two years later. Our second trip was even more memorable than the first. Mirtilli and her group were so helpful in organizing our tour. Once again they were able to fulfill all our requests and our trip was even more outstanding than the first. We not only visited Florence but got to enjoy the beautiful treasures of Siena and Arezzo. We also visited Gubbio a city that I always wanted to visit but would never have been able to do so with any other student tour group or even an adult group.
Mara Persampieri, Arcobaleno’s representative here in New York is fantastic. She was able to answer any questions that we had and accommodate all our requests. I highly recommend all of the group from Mirtilli to Federica. They will do everything possible to make your trip to Italy the best yet. I would never consider traveling with any other group. Please feel free to contact me at buzzella@naugy.net (my school e-mail) or my home e-mail at apvsb@comcast.net.
Sincerely,
Angela Buzzelli
Naugatuck High School