Francesco Casalini is a real pro!

Francesco gave our party of four an EXPERT tour of the vaunted Uffizi Gallery last week. He brought the artwork to life for us in giving the historical, mythological, and religious context. He answered all of our questions patiently and clearly and skillfully navigated us past several very crowded rooms in the gallery. The Uffizi is simply too important to not have the expert insight by a guide like Francesco. If you’re visiting Florence for a couple days or more, you MUST set aside a half day to experience the Uffizi and be sure to book a tour with Francesco Casalini. We feel like Francesco saved us time and enriched our experience immensely.

Abbiamo partecipato ad una camminata per le strade del centro di Firenze seguendo le tracce dei personaggi dell’Inferno di Dante. Un tour davvero originale a due voci : Francesco la nostra guida (questa volta più storico-letteraria che artistica, ma sempre coinvolgente!) e sua figlia Laura efficace declamatrice di versi del sommo poeta. Esperienza molto piacevole ed interessante.

Febbraio 2021  Tripadvisor

Unconventional

Francesco è persona seria, forbita e ricca di sapere. Firenze è città ricca di monumenti, che quasi tutti conoscono, ma è anche ricca di misteri ai più sconosciuti e aneddoti che in pochi sanno raccontare e trasmettere. Ecco Francesco è uno di questi, se per caso volete vedere le facciate delle chiese e dei monumenti prendete una guida ma se, in quei monumenti e in quelle chiese ci volete entrare dentro e assaporare storia e vita della città parlatene con Francesco. Nei suoi tour, mai banali vi farà scoprire una città diversa e lontano dai soliti cliché turistici.
Ah dimenticavo? Francesco grazie per la visita a presto.

gennaio 2021     Tripadvisor

An expert guide, he is a born storyteller

Galileo, Dante, Michelangelo, daVinci, the Medici family — Francesco brought them all to life during this tour. An expert guide, he is a born storyteller – warm, with an incredibly extensive knowledge of Florence. Having experienced other walks in different cities, I can honestly say this is one of the best. The time just flew by, and I will return with family and book again. Thank you so very much!

ToursByLocals

Francesco was amazing!

Showed up early, gave us a fantastic tour of the Accademia, Uffuzi, and highlights of Florence which was engaging for both my husband and myself as well as our two teenage sons. He has a deep knowledge of art and a great way of imparting it in a fun and interesting way. Thanks Francesco!

From ToursByLocals

Francesco is top notch!

Arrived early, leading us on a very interesting and informative tour. Francesco has a great depth of knowledge, guiding tours since 1993. I will definitely request him for future visits to Florence!

From ToursByLocals

Francesco is the perfect guide for Florence

Francesco is the perfect guide for Florence – sophisticated, friendly, intelligent, in-depth knowledge of Florence’s history.

From ToursByLocals

Francesco provided a tour of the Uffizi that surpassed my expectations.

He not only explains in detail the art but can keep art lovers and regular tourist engaged at the same time. Excellent guide.

From ToursByLocals

We can not imagine a more knowledgeable guide than Francesco.

We described to him what we want to see as we had been to Florence three times before and he designed the perfect tour for us. He did a wonderful job of telling the story of Florence through its art, architecture and history. It came alive to us as never before and made us want to return for another two or more days with him.

From ToursByLocals

Francesco is one of the best guides I have ever had on any tour in the world.

We wanted a private tour for 4 people with very specific visits to sites in Florence and within a very short timeframe. Francesco was able to accommodate all we asked to do AND more and all within the time period. He was VERY knowledgeable, very flexible, and relaxed so we never felt rushed. No question was left unanswered, even if it was about something we were walking past and not on the specific tour. He is highly recommended.

From ToursByLocals

Francesco was amazing!

We thoroughly enjoyed this tour, the guide was very passionate and knowledgeable. He was flexible with the start time and we never felt rushed. Fantastic guide and would highly recommend. If we ever have the pleasure of visiting Florence again we would definitely try out another one of Francesco’s tours.

From ToursByLocals

I looked thru all of the guide resumes and choose Francesco

I looked thru all of the guide resumes and choose Francesco, because of how he described his knowledge and passion for the city of Florence. I feel he underestimated himself. We did two tours with him, his passion for the city was shown with every step we took. His knowledge was more than we could ever image. Another friend was an art student and could not believe the passion and knowledge Francesco has. He also made wonderful recommendations and reservations for dinner both nights. Grazie Mille

From ToursByLocals

Francesco is a superb guide

He has a natural talent to this profession and is capable to attract peoples attention for as long as he needs making every minute interesting aducational and entertaining.

His passion for Florence is contagious .

Every painting or building becomes alive with his expanations and you can really feel the artists love for the art while painting or sculpting or projecting  a building to become a masterpiece of art.

He has the ability to give talks in a way that makes them all light but very infornative.All groups I had beeing guided by Francesco Casalini as local guide were haooy and hoping to have him again.Bravo !

Grazie Francesco!

Very knowledgeable guide, informative and professional. Thank you.

5ème visite à Florence avec Francesco

5ème enchantement! Comment faire pour captiver 21 jeunes imprévisibles ? Appelez Francesco!

Une fois de plus, Francesco a su captiver toutes les générations par sa haute culture, son excellente connaissance du français, sa faculté d’adaptation à son auditoire…et sa patience à toute épreuve. Merci!!!!

Merci Francesco pour cette visite de Florence que vous avez su rendre passionnante!

Vous avez été un guide rempli de joie de vivre, d’enthousiasme et d’ anecdotes que vous nous avez transmis tout au long de cette semaine qui demeurera inoubliable!

Francesco a été un guide de groupe extraordinaire pendant toute cette semaine de voyage à Florence

Il a su attirer notre curiosité en nous expliquant si bien chaque élément tout en n’en disant pas trop pour garder toujours l’attention d’une vingtaine de jeunes. Toute cette semaine à ses côtés restera inoubliable et riche en informations.

Merci Francesco…

Merci Francesco de ce séjour culturel inoubliable servi par votre français irréprochable, vos connaissances passionnantes et votre gentillesse à toute épreuve!!

Wonderful guide

Francesco was a wonderful guide for our trip through beautiful Florence. He was very professional and helpful. We would definitely recommend him to anyone needing an English speaking tour guide.

Thank you, Francesco.

Si vous aimez Florence et son histoire…

Si vous aimez Florence et son histoire, vous aurez eu beau retourner la ville, ses musées,ses monuments dans tous les sens, si vous faites l’impasse sur la visite du Corridor Vasari, vous aurez manqué un moment très fort de votre séjour. Certes, cette visite a un prix, vous trouverez sûrement le temps trop court mais vous aurez le bonheur de contempler des oeuvres remarquables. Mais ce moment de grâce ne serait rien sans un accompagnateur alliant érudition, humour et passion. Toutes ses qualités (et bien plus encore) étaient réunies chez Francesco. Un grand merci à lui.

“Bellezza Divina”

Un ringraziamento alla guida, Francesco Casalini, per aver reso questa visita culturale una parentesi di vera “Bellezza Divina”, grazie alla sua competenza e professionalità.

Mostra Bellezza Divina

Ho visitato a Palazzo Strozzi la mostra Bellezza Divina con la guida Francesco Casalini. È stato emozionante, un’esperienza unica grazie anche alle sue competenze, alla sua preparazione culturale, alla sua simpatia.

Francesco’s knowledge of Florence is amazing…

On our first trip to Florence in 2009, our initial meeting with Francesco Casalini was one of good fortune (……….).  We were not sure whether we chose him or he chose us, but by the time we reached our hotel, we were certain we had found the guide we had been hoping for to show us the wonderful sights and venues of Florence.

Speaking excellent English, and at all times being reliable, polite and friendly, we soon felt very comfortable with him, so much so that when we decided to make a return trip to Florence in 2013, we were determined to acquire his services yet again.

Florence is a very special city but it needs the knowledge of an excellent guide to help you find your way around, purchase tickets to galleries, and explain the various wonderful features of these galleries.

Francesco’s knowledge of Florence is amazing and we learnt so much from him.  We have kept in touch with him and now consider him a friend.

Should we plan any further visits to Florence, the first thing we would do would be to see if Francesco was available to give us the dedicated help he has done in the past.

Etape indispensable…

Etape indispensable pour connaître les bases de l’histoire florentine, un après midi avec Francesco est non seulement une source d’histoires intarissable mais aussi un moment de convivialité qu’il est indispensable de partager avec lui!

Ho visitato la mostra…

Ho visitato la mostra Bellezza Divina presso Palazzo Strozzi, con Francesco che è riuscito a rendere questo momento culturale, un’esperienza unica grazie alla sua competenza, alla sua professionalità, al suo sapere, il tutto animato dalla sua profonda passione per l’arte, che riesce a contagiare chi lo ascolta.

Entirely “new” type of Florentine guide

As a Study Leader / Tour Manager with a variety of cultural and academic institutions in Italy for more than thirty years, I have had occasion to experience a great number of Florentine guides. Most have proved quite informative and sensitive to the idiosyncrasies of the group at hand. Recently, however I was privileged – and thrilled – to be treated to an entirely “new” type of Florentine guide in the person of FRANCESCO CASALINI.

Sig. Casalini is extremely well-read, intelligent and charming. A natural educator and gifted story teller, he skillfully develops a coherent and fascinating line without needing to barrage guests with facts. And yet he is not chintzy with information, frequently making reference to literature, artists and other scholars. Casalini is as facile talking about works of art as the history of Florentine families, or early Renaissance wine traditions. Perhaps most importantly, he has a fine sense of humor and reads the personality, and stamina, of a group as a true professional.  I look forward to working with him again.

Francesco is the kind of guide that makes you wish you had a guide along for every moment of the trip

….Second, I have to say something about our guide in Florence, his name was Francesco. He and his tour were the hands down favorite of the entire group. We tried to squeeze a LOT in to that tour. He managed to pick and choose just the right things to highlight to allow us to experience the art, history, and culture of Florence in as many places as possible without feeling rushed or hurried one bit. Francesco’s passion for the history of Florence and Italy was abundantly clear and delightful to experience. Every member of our group has differing interests and asked a wide range of questions. Without fail, Francesco was able to thoroughly answer every question to a remarkable level. At the Pitti Palace one of our group remarked a few paintings that included dogs. Francesco was able to give a hilarious and insightful dissertation about the role of dogs and pets in some of the painting. Francesco is the kind of guide that makes you wish you had a guide along for every moment of the trip. Our experience of Florence was much richer and vastly more memorable because of Francesco’s passion and seemingly limitless knowledge. Again – for the good of future travelers I don’t think we can overstate just how strongly we recommend him.

(From an email of Rayan Group)

Thank you so much

Thank you so much for your wonderful guided tour of the highlights of Florence. Your extensive knowledge and animated personality really made the history of your beautiful city come alive!! We enjoyed every minute and highly recommend your services!

Thanks again and ‘ciao for now!’

Mindy and Greg

Dear Francesco

Dear Francesco,

we certainly will report to our tour agent what a wonderful guide you were! Your knowledge of art and history are truly encyclopedic and you explained everything with clarity and passion.  In addition, you are a delightful person who made our visits to the important places and works of art informative and enjoyable.  You were patient and always considerate of how we were doing – giving us times to sit and rest our feet and our brains.  We did a lot in a short time but, thanks to you, we made every minute count.  We are grateful to you for helping to make our visit to Florence one of the best parts of our trip to Italy.

All the best, Bern and Joyce

Marvelous guide

We want to commend the marvelous guide we had in Florence earlier this month. We took the “Walking Tour and Accademia” with guide Francesco Casalini. It was one of the highlights of our entire Italian vacation. Mr Casalini has an excellent command of English. Both my husband and I are very interested in history and language, and Mr Casalini was able to expand on any question we had. We will definitely recommend him to any friends who will be in Florence. Many thanks to Mr Casalini for adding such enjoyment to our introduction to Florence.