Ancient grains & artisanal gelato

Co-founder and owner at Arianna & Friends'

Ciao a tutti! It’s Massimo here. I’m the “first one” of the friends of Arianna in order of appearance, as we first met me when we were… ehm … at the high school! Well, the first “activities” we arranged together were those many teenagers do, like going to rock concerts (long live Metallica!), barbecuing, drinking inexpensive wine, mainly with no understanding of it. In over 25 years we became more serious adults; so serious that we finished university together and we then decided to start a business from scratch, back in 2007, in an area where nothing like this existed before. I am a natural born teacher, as I’ve always liked sharing knowledge on the beauties of the world with other people. When I started sharing the wisdom of the local cuisine with visitors to Tuscany or showing them the rooted traditions behind a wheel of local pecorino cheese, I realized how fantastic my job is. In fact I discovered that being a wine & food guide is a sophisticated way of being a good teacher, so I can’t help but love it! In the A&F team I’m the multi-language guide or assistant in all activities we offer, from cooking classes, to wine & food tours, from Italian language classes to vespa tours. In the low season I deal with the website development and content management. As I am very curious, I spend all my free time travelling all over the world and of course going on learning as much as I can: over the last few years I took part in several seminaries on extra virgin olive oil, I started a three-year course to become a sommelier, I experienced a professional training to become gelato maker and I decided to never give up in learning the Arabic language. Stay connected as we will soon come up with some new great ideas for your entertainment and enjoyment of our beautiful region! Ci vediamo in Toscana!

Pisa city tour guide & and tour leader at Arianna & Friends'

Ciao a tutti! My name is Moira and I'm the "foreigner" here at Arianna & Friends! In fact I come from the north west of Italy, from the town of Turin, and I moved to Tuscany in 2012, falling immediately in love with the culture, the arts and foods and of course - my favourite! - wines of this beautiful region. I started working at Arianna & Friends' back in 2013 as an assistant at the Tourist Information Office of a small hilltop village, where our office was initially located; then I got my licence as tour guide and I am today the city tour guide in the team for the main towns of Pisa, Volterra, San Miniato, but also for all our less famous tiny villages, which hide lots of secrets and such a loooong history! Last year, together with my colleague Luca, we got a licence as official truffle hunters, but I'm still mainly a truffle eater! When I'm not walking around in our amazing places talking about arts, culture and history, or discovering together with our guests the local specialties, you find me in the office, taking care of bookings and reservations. I really hope to meet you soon to show you around our beautiful land, and as I come from another region, I can also reveal some of the secrets that Tuscan people will never confess!!

Tour leader and sales manager at Arianna & Friends'

Ciao Amici!! My name is Luca. I'm in my 40s and I'm for sure the craziest guide at Arianna & Friends As all my other colleagues, I am a multi task personality in the company. I take care of bookings, I am one the content managers of our websites and I'm a tour leader. When in season, I lead almost all types of tours and cooking classes at Arianna & Friends'. My favourite ones are the truffle, olive oil and vespa tours. Riding a vespa through our wonderful hills is a must to do while in Tuscany... of course only if you know how to ride a scooter! When I started working for Arianna & Friends, back in 2011, I was only able to prepare a very simple "pasta al pomodoro" (pasta with tomato sauce). Now, after more than 10 years of cooking classes and thanks to our wonderful cooks, I am a very good chef (but please, don't tell it to my wife!). My motto is "smile you are in Tuscany". I'm happy and very proud when I see people enjoying my country and having fun in Tuscany. Join us! Join me! Let's have fun togheter!!

Hello everybody! My name is Davide, the youngest one in the team of Arianna & Friends. I joined the company in 2022, when my aunt Ester, one of the chefs in the team, introduced me to Arianna & Massimo. I am a wonderful talker and I really enjoy entertaining our guests during cooking classes and foodie tours. I also deal with bookings related to Teatro del Silenzio. Being from Lajatico, I am really happy to arrange holidays to people who will visit my hometown. I am a very ironic person who likes making life enjoyable, something that my colleagues really appreciate on a daily base. I really hope I can meet many people from all over the world thanks to my job. Ciao ciao!