For Andrea Barsotti, travel has never been just about destinations. It’s about connection between cultures, people and places, and even between generations. His company, Kiss From Italy, reflects that philosophy, creating personalized journeys that allow travelers to experience Italy through authentic encounters and carefully crafted moments.
Andrea’s mother, Joan, grew up in Boston with Italian roots and dreamed of discovering her heritage. In an era when crossing the Atlantic still meant days at sea, she boarded the Vulcania, a transatlantic ocean liner that operated from the 1920s through the 1970s. Her journey first brought her to Naples and then to Florence. It was there, in a restaurant in piazza Santa Trinità, that she met Barsotti’s father. “That was the start of their love story,” Barsotti recalls. The couple married, spending time in Boston before returning to Florence to build their life together.
Having spent significant time both in the United States and Italy, Barsotti feels equally at home in both cultures. “My soul is divided between two worlds,” he says. “When I’m in Italy, I miss the United States, and when I’m in the United States, I miss Florence. But that’s something that enriches your life.” Barsotti worked as a management consultant in the corporate world, a demanding career that required constant travel. Eventually, the pace became difficult to balance with family life. “I wanted to do something that gave me more control over my time,” he says. After completing an MBA at Northwestern University in Chicago and returning to Italy with his wife in the late 1990s, the seed of a new idea began to grow. His wife had studied art history and started working as a tour guide in Rome. After a few years in the field, she suggested something that would change their lives: why not organize tours themselves?
The name for the company came from an unexpected discovery. While going through family belongings, Andrea found old postcards his mother had sent home during her first trip to Italy. She always signed off with the same affectionate “Kiss From Italy, Joan.” The phrase captured both his personal story and the spirit he wanted to share with travelers. “It’s connected to my origins,” he says. “And my American side allows me to understand our customers’ expectations and how to interact with them, something Italians in tourism don’t always fully comprehend.”
Founded in 2010, Kiss From Italy began by focusing on classic cultural itineraries centered on art, history and archaeology. As travelers’ interests evolved, so did the company. Today, Kiss From Italy designs private travel experiences across the entire country. What started with Rome, Florence and Venice has expanded to destinations ranging from the Cinque Terre and Lake Como to the Amalfi Coast, Sicily and Sardinia. Barsotti is particularly passionate about introducing travelers to places that remain under the radar. “The Marche region, for example, is incredibly beautiful. It has countryside, villages and even the sea, very similar to Tuscany, but it’s still relatively unexplored.”
Food and wine experiences have also become central to the company’s offerings. During the quieter winter months, Andrea often travels throughout regions such as Tuscany, Piedmont, Veneto and Umbria, visiting wineries and meeting producers. “It’s important to spend time with the people who run these businesses. We want to make sure our customers receive the right level of service.” The research, he admits with a smile, has its perks. “I always come home with a few cases of really good wine.”
In recent years, the company has also introduced yacht charters and coastal experiences, allowing travelers to approach iconic destinations such as Positano, Capri or Portofino by sea. For thrill seekers, Kiss From Italy offers adrenaline-filled experiences as well, including racetrack driving near Maranello and factory visits to Ferrari and Lamborghini.
Working in Florence, Barsotti is acutely aware of the pressures that mass tourism can place on historic cities. “Sustainable tourism is very important to us. Tourism can sometimes distort the soul of a place when the historical fabric is replaced by things invented just for tourists.” To counter this, Kiss From Italy focuses exclusively on couples, families and small groups.
Like many industries, travel is being reshaped by artificial intelligence. Andrea explains how he often receives emails from travelers who paste in AI-generated itineraries that would actually be impossible to do. “AI can give you a starting point,” he says. “But when you travel somewhere on the other side of the world, you need professionals who know the places and the people.”
For Andrea, the most meaningful measure of success is not the itinerary itself, but the memories it creates. He recalls one family from Detroit, a couple traveling with their three children, who spent time in Rome and Florence. After returning home, the mother wrote to say the trip had come at a difficult moment in their lives. The time together in Italy had helped bring the family closer again. Another client recently contacted him about recreating a memory from years earlier: a boat trip to Positano she had taken with her daughter. Now that daughter is married with a child of her own and they want to repeat the journey together.
“It’s the human connection that’s important,” Barsotti says. “In the end, that’s always what we want, wherever we go.”
Contact Andrea to plan a meaningful vacation to Italy.
