Why I started Truly Italy

Get to know your Italy Experience guide

Ciao! I’m Kate.

My passion was and still is wandering through the narrow cobblestone streets of Florence.

In 2002, I found myself exploring a city where I didn’t speak the language. Physically and mentally, I wanted to get lost in this beautiful new life in my new city. When I got lost, I found myself exactly where I needed to be; in the present moment. I always found the right street at the right time or gained my bearings. See when I saw a big piazza or the Duomo peek out from around the corner behind a palazzo. I was never really lost. I was finding my way using all my senses: listening to the church bells, smelling the cafes, seeing the Duomo, all while dodging cyclists.

I left my map at home on purpose so I had to find my way back home.

Intentionally ditching my map made me find my own way home.

Getting lost taught me to keep searching because you never know what’s around the next corner. Looking back, those study abroad days in 2002 foreshadowed how I would spend the rest of my life.

I’m embarking on a new adventure pairing travel and presence.

My intention is to awaken people to step out of their own culture and travel into unique experiences in Italy.

I’m continuing to take the road less traveled because that is where I feel most myself. My free-spirited self. No rules. Just me, myself, and I. That’s where life is the most beautiful. When I listen to my gut, not my head.

How does traveling make you feel?

DIMMI! (Tell Me!)

Like Robert Frost famously wrote (my most favorite words!)...

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference”

I'm an Italy Experience Guide & Designer

Italy runs through my blood.

My Nana was born in Emilia Romagna and grew up in Italy during World War II. Even though she never spoke or taught us Italian, I’ve always been pulled toward Italy and its culture.

From a young age I followed that pull. I’ve been living on and off in Florence since 2002, when I first studied abroad. I’ve got nearly 20 years of taking trains and buses and finding the small, quiet corners of Italy most visitors never see. To live in Florence legally, I even went as far as getting UK citizenship so I could obtain residency in my favorite city in the world. It was worth every minute of the wait.

My heart leapt when I made Florence my permanent home from 2009–2013.

During those years I met the love of my life. Stefano and I share a deep love for Florence and Tuscany. He’s Florentine, and like me, his heart never really left. On our week long trips you’ll meet Stefano as our driver and part‑time chef.

Since moving back home, my goal has been to keep Italy in my life any way possible – and that’s how Truly Italy was born.

In 2026, I obtained Italian citizenship, and over the next two years we’re planning our move back to Tuscany. That means even more time on the ground, deeper roots with locals, and trips that come from real everyday life, not from afar.

Ready to chat more about wine tastings, slow week‑long trips, or trip consulting?

Contact Me!