Hi there, I’m Lauren! I’m a Californian who moved to Italy in 2010 and started Unlock Italy Tours & Consulting with my partner Luca in 2017. This blog focuses on advice, tips, and insights based on years of conversations with visitors who want to know where to start when they visit Italy. It also includes the “Laurenissima” story of how I moved to Italy in 2010 and what it’s been like to live here (select: Laurenissima below for all of these posts). Enjoy!
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PLAY VIDEOWe are excited to announce our first multi-day retreat in Tuscany! This May, join Unlock... -
PLAY VIDEOItalian version of Jingle Bells with translation. -
PLAY VIDEOWhen I moved to Italy in 2010, part of the reason was to have the... -
PLAY VIDEOby: Heather Jane Johnson Perhaps more than any other place on earth, Venice, Italy is the... -
PLAY VIDEOWhen looking for a place to stay in Florence, a traveller wants to have it... -
PLAY VIDEOUmbria is one of my favourite regions in Italy and it’s one of those areas... -
PLAY VIDEOMy favourite Rome pasta restaurants. From a decade long Rome resident and tour guide. -
PLAY VIDEOTwo Italian tour guides explore Villa Lante in Tuscia, Lazio as a day trip outside... -
PLAY VIDEOUnlock Italy private tours and travel consulting with Lauren & Luca. -
PLAY VIDEOWhile Tuscany is often associated with Florence and the rolling hills of Chianti Classico, there... -
PLAY VIDEOBrancatelli is an organic winery and Agriturismo located in the Maremma, the south west side... -
PLAY VIDEOIt looks like travel is opening up again in Italy and although we are a... -
PLAY VIDEORecently it seems like everybody wants to move to Italy! I’ve been getting a lot... -
PLAY VIDEOLast year, as Italy went into lockdown Luca and I realised our job as guides... -
PLAY VIDEOSip a spritz at one of these spectacular rooftop bars in Rome… it’s magic. Are... -
PLAY VIDEOUp and up you walk, legs burning, knees aching but when you get to the... -
PLAY VIDEORome is the magnet of Italian travel which I think is why much of its... -
PLAY VIDEOThe Val d’Orcia area south of Siena is one of the most beautiful places to... -
PLAY VIDEOThe thing I’ve grown to love about Livorno since moving here is its laid back... -
PLAY VIDEOWorking as a private tour guide in Rome and Florence, conversations range from your usual... -
PLAY VIDEOLeonardo da Vinci, rockstar of the Renaissance, was born in the middle of Tuscany’s rolling... -
PLAY VIDEOWhen you accept a ride home from a mad scientist with green hair and covered... -
PLAY VIDEOFor centuries Umbria has been known as a region with spiritual and mystical properties but... -
PLAY VIDEOLeonardo painted only four portraits of woman but each offers a window into the psychological... -
PLAY VIDEONothing this year went “according to plan.” That means uncertainty and a fair bit of... -
PLAY VIDEOAs tour guides, we are used to having a solid chunk of the year where... -
PLAY VIDEOMarch 9th was my birthday and also when Italy announced that the following day, the... -
PLAY VIDEOIn the beginning … everything was cash, tickets and texts. Larry was in with all the... -
PLAY VIDEOIn year three, around the time I moved into apartment number two thousand, I got... -
PLAY VIDEOI started hinting that it might happen soon but soon kind of meant “in the... -
PLAY VIDEOIt felt like falling off a cliff, so abrupt, almost terrifying, was the change in... -
PLAY VIDEO“Can I be honest with you?” Let’s face it, you always want to answer “No” to... -
PLAY VIDEOSometimes you meet people and have no idea that they will change your life. You... -
PLAY VIDEOThe next “season” of Laurenissima (click here to catch up on the first three months:... -
PLAY VIDEOTraveling by train in Italy is an easy and fast way to get around the... -
PLAY VIDEOWhen I gave my first tour seven years ago, it was of the Roman Forum... -
PLAY VIDEOIn that first year living in Rome I wondered: when will I feel like I... -
PLAY VIDEOGiving private English lessons was a revelation in how wealthy Roman families lived. Packed onto... -
PLAY VIDEOYou might consider yourself a spiritual or a religious person, someone who thinks the Universe... -
PLAY VIDEOHow can I phrase this… I’m bad with languages. Even my own. Inept might be... -
PLAY VIDEOI mentioned in my first “Laurenissima” post that my Roman boyfriend Dario had “tried” to... -
PLAY VIDEOThe Vatican museums are the fifth most visited museum in the world with about 6.4... -
PLAY VIDEOMy second English teaching job was with a Dickensian-ly dismal school located near Termini station.... -
PLAY VIDEOA Step by Step Guide You’ve heard about the lines, you’ve heard about the crowds, you’ve... -
PLAY VIDEOMy first impressions in Rome seem to echo over and over in the stories I... -
PLAY VIDEOMy first English teaching job in Rome (or first “mission, should I choose to accept... -
PLAY VIDEOLooking for work in Rome turned out to be like a lot of my first... -
PLAY VIDEOThe gateway job to making it in Rome is teaching English. If you want to... -
PLAY VIDEOI didn’t do it the easy way. Or the legal way. Or the right way.... -
PLAY VIDEOVenice has become part of the Italian vacation trifecta: more and more people are choosing to... -
PLAY VIDEOI live and work in Rome and Florence so I admit, when it comes to... -
PLAY VIDEOGet ready for a lot of free entry days at the Colosseum in 2019! Here... -
PLAY VIDEOWhat’s happening in Rome this April? After touring the Colosseum, Vatican and Rome’s hidden gems,... -
PLAY VIDEOCOVID-19 Update: As of summer 2020, the underground section of the Colosseum is closed to... -
PLAY VIDEOIt’s not all Renaissance frescoes and medieval church architecture in this city – Florence’s top...