The New York Times: Marjorie Shaw’s service was a delight.
Travel & Leisure: Marjorie Shaw’s Insider’s Italy can help you plan a trip that meets both your basic needs and your loftiest expectations.
Phillip and Margaret Ward: The book you wrote for us was complete and allowed us to travel as if we had been to Italy many times. I was able to navigate the Venice and Florence airports and train stations as though I used them regularly. What to do, where to go, how long it should take, even to the point of knowing to turn right at the Farmacia in the Florence train station to find a taxi. We found this level of detail across all aspects of our plan. Our accommodations were perfect. The guides were fantastic! They gave us wonderful perspectives on the history, architecture, and art of Venice and Florence. The food was beyond description! Wonderful food, better people! Nicolo was a lot of fun. He took me to the wine cellar while he found just the right bottle. You live in a very special country. We are counting on you to plan our next trip to Italy in 2013.
Jamie and Mike Ney: We’ve just returned from the most wonderful three weeks that anyone could hope for. We felt we had a guardian angel perched on our shoulders. Your exquisite plans made our trip so memorable there was nothing left for us to do but eat, drink and enjoy. Each accommodation was delightful—and none would have been found without you.
The Educated Traveler: The greatest thing about Marjorie is that she spends a lot of time making sure her clients get the most out of their trips. Plus she enjoys Italy passionately.
Michael Douglas: Marjorie, I want you to know that this was one of the most enjoyable and enriching holidays of my life. I fully anticipate carrying forever the wonderful memories of sophisticated cities, pastoral Tuscan life, good times with good friends and new acquaintances, and the cathartic laughter of our children.
Eunie Denenberg: The hotels—which were our highest priority—were sensational. You understood exactly the feeling we wanted and came through perfectly.
Ron Newcome: Your service would be a bargain at twice the price. You opened the kind of doors that I open in my part of the world for only my very best friends. You gave us the trip of a lifetime.
Travel Holiday: The next best thing to having a hospitable aunt in Arezzo or in Rimini or in Padua is knowing about Marjorie Shaw’s Insider’s Italy.
Shelley Block: Your hard work was instrumental in creating the very special experience we had hoped for. Both our rental houses—in Tuscany and Umbria—were perfect, and you obviously selected them with great care. Each of the hotels also fit the bill precisely. The locations you chose were varied but all wonderful and the combination of them was ideal.
Medical Economics: Shaw’s details… were things I’ve never seen in any guidebook, the sort of advice you might get from a friend if the friend were very, very knowledgeable. The driving instructions alone were proof of Shaw’s expertise: “Leave Radda to the west, driving past the two gas stations, and 700 meters after the Agip station, turn left at the sign indicating San Giusto…”
David and Renee Zallie: Insider’s Italy provided my wife and me with a tremendously enjoyable honeymoon in Italy. Having never gone to Italy before, we now know just how important Insider’s Italy was to us. Information we needed on hotels, restaurants, sites to see, guides, transportation, as well as the customs of the country, were there for us.
The Minchoff family: Your dining recommendations were fabulous. We followed your recommendations almost 100%. The only exception was the night we returned to Florence from Lucca. We were running late, had not made reservations and went to a place suggested by a concierge. The restaurant was everything you were trying to protect us from: touristy, high prices, mediocre food and service. However, it provided good perspective and contrast to how good your recommendations were.
David and Linda Roots: Marjorie arranged our first trip to Italy in 1999 and it was, by far, the most incredibly wonderful experience of our lives. That includes the accommodations, daily trip planning, and many “Insider” tips that led to some of the most memorable excursions imaginable. This may sound like a paid announcement, but we would not have retained Marjorie’s services just two years later for our next trip had this not been the case. We have referred her to more than half a dozen friends and plan to continue doing so for years to come. She is a rare gem!
Town & Country: Looking for the finest linens in Florence or the sweetest biscotti in Siena? Talk to Marjorie Shaw, whose travel service, Insider’s Italy, delivers what guidebooks and travel agencies won’t—or can’t. The firm’s custom-tailored itineraries omit nothing.
Elliott Livstone: There aren’t enough superlatives in the English language to describe how much we enjoyed our travels and appreciated your efforts. The accommodations were spectacular and we coined the phrase “A Marjorie Shaw View” to describe the knock-down view from all of your personally selected hotel room windows.
Lee Levine: The icing on the cake, of course, is your own unique insight into every nook and cranny of the country. From the best gelati in Rome, to the most varied and interesting hike from Ravello to Atrani, to your relationships with your art historians, you enabled us to enjoy an experience that we could not duplicate by consulting a room full of travel guidebooks. For all of this, Marjorie, we are forever grateful to you.