Why hiring a tourist guide?

(October 2007)

Many tourists believe that hiring a tourist guide is just a waste of money and time. They usually prefer to make their own sightseeing itinerary themselves. Surfing the internet, buying a Lonely Planet and having a good map of the place they want to visit is all they need to enjoy a visit. Of course, to some extent this is undoubtedly true, a tourist guide is not absolutely necessary to a successful holiday. Moreover tourists often have a bad image of tourist guides, people just trying to get money from ingenuous tourists by telling them few smattering of art and history mixed up with silly or made up stories just to impress their customers. Like every profession, also in tourist industry, unfortunately there are many frauds. This is why, through the years, the Italian Government, conscious of the value of its heritage and of the importance of the ability to adequately explain and communicate it, has issued a series of rules and standards to improve and certify the quality of tourist guides. Italian authorized tourist guides must have a university degree, usually in art, history or archeology, and must pass a very hard exam which certifies both their knowledge about local art, history, geography, economy and their language ability. Most authorized tourist guides have significant overseas experiences so that they developed not just language abilities, but also a deep cultural understanding of the nationals they are guiding so that they know the best way to explain and deal with their customers. A licensed professional tourist guide will change the experience of the place you are visiting. No maps to struggle with, no guide books to read while you are trying to enjoy the sight and the aura of the masterpieces of Italian cities. A tourist guide can bring you exactly where you want to go, show you what you want to see, design in seconds the best itinerary to suit your needs, answer your questions, give you tips and advice on restaurants, typical products, shopping etc.