For travelers looking to shop, Florence can be extremely daunting! It's reputation for fine leather goods has led to an overwhelming number of stalls along the streets, which while tempting, can lead you to purchase something you regret. Thankfully, my partner and I found Maren and FlorenceShop4it.com online before we headed out from San Francisco to Florence. After a brief... More

We recently traveled to Italy with another couple that spent time with Scot a few years ago touring the city of Rome. On our last full day in Rome we traveled to Florence via train and were met by Scot and Rina at the train station.We spent the day touring Sienna and San Gimignano and were introduced to the history... More

When I first arrived in Florence it looked like any other city in Italy, with it's busy streets, crowded bridges and scooters every where. I quickly learned why people fall in love with this city. The locals are very kind and proud, many from other areas of the world that were also seduced by the cities charm. The art and... More

One of the many things we wanted to do while in Italy was a guided tour of some local towns. After contacting Rina of Loving-Italy tours she asked us what we were interested in seeing and how much time we had. After some discussion among the group of 6 we decided to follow her advice and see Siena and San... More

Our daughter was spending her Fall semester studying and living abroad in Florence. We couldn't wait to use this as an excuse to FINALLY visit Italy ourselves! Because it was our first visit to Italy and we couldn't decide on our own where to go in 1 week's time, our travel agent suggested we tour with Rina and Scot. They... More

I have never really shopped for high quality leather before but knew that Florence was the best place on Planet Earth to get it. So I looked at quite a few different recommendations of different personal shoppers and came across Maren Erickson. I cannot possibly rave about my experience shopping with her enough. Maren is one of the sweetest, delightful... More

We had a terrific time with Scot touring Rome. Scot met us at our hotel on a Saturday morning and took us to the Spanish Steps by cab. From there we walked to all of the major sites like the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, many obelisks, through neat shopping streets to the Jewish Ghetto for lunch. After lunch it was off... More

We toured Rome with Scot as our guide. He showed us so many little gems that weren't in the guidebooks, and that we would never have discovered on our own. He was really flexible and didn't come with his own agenda. He asked us what we were interested in, then went from there. We all share a love of food,... More

I hired Maren Erickson, personal shopper, florenceshop4it@gmail.com. Maren is an American who spends a lot of time in Florence. She know the locals, speaks the language and is familiar with the best places to shop. I told her in advance what I was looking for, and she made a shopping plan to meet my needs. Maren is extremely nice, and... More