About us

Who We Are

Driving Guide Tours is a premier provider of chauffeur and guide services to visitors in the greater Tuscany area.

Driving Guide Tours is operated with the idea that excellence in the excellence of reputation and quality of service go hand in hand.  We have a quality of service, reliability, professionalism, and customer satisfaction as the pillars of our operating model. These pillars have allowed us to build a reputation that is indicative of our commitment to being the best and taking care of our customers first and foremost. It is that reputation that has allowed us to become the official transportation supplier to some of the most respected and recognized tour operators and travel agency networks in the world.

We take pride in what we do and work hard to provide the best possible care and the most enjoyable experience to our customers.

Our Philosophy

We operate our business on the foundational principles of COMPETENCE, HONESTY, and HARD WORK.  It is these concepts which guide us in everything that we do every day with every customer that we work with.

When we first started in 1997, we found that our particular way of approaching the chauffeur and tour transport business was a welcome change to the industry.  We saw almost immediate success, and that success grew into a burning desire to share our love of Italy, and the Tuscany region with visitors from all over the world.  Since that first day, we have always believed that “Anyone Can Sell A Tour…But We Will Provide An Experience with Value”.

We feel that it is our purpose to provide you with the expertise and knowledge which will allow you to have the best possible experience in Florence, the greater Tuscany region, and Italy at large.  We go about doing this by putting into everything that we do with the love and passion that we have for our country.

With that in mind, one of the most valuable aspects of our service is that we analyze our client’s interests and goals for their time in the area and help them to develop an itinerary that meets their desires precisely.  We communicate directly with the client, and act as an intermediary to other services and agencies to deliver exceptional service and an exceptional experience.

We deliberately decided to not make our site the same as others by not offering the “Click – Book – Pay” type of interface you can find on sites all over the web.  The reason for this is that, no matter how much research a traveler may do, no matter how well prepared they may think they are to book their tour, there is always a myriad of little details and potential pitfalls that one may encounter.  With that in mind, the experience and cultural awareness of a local person can be invaluable.

Our Mission

Our mission is to make our customers fall in love with Tuscany!  The sights and experiences that can be found here are arguably among the richest and most significant in all of Europe.  Florence was the cradle of the Renaissance and the influence that Tuscany has had throughout the history of modern civilization is undeniable.  The landscape, the beauty, the history, the culture, it all come to life and mingles together to create a vibrant tapestry that is, in its very essence, the story of modern man.

To pass on this experience to our clients, we use passion, knowledge, and skill embodied in our driver guides to create personalized tours for our clients.  Those clients experience Italy, and specifically Tuscany in a way that imparts upon them the richness of the place and its people.

We don’t just arrange impeccable tours, we strive to provide all of our clients with the services that they need and want in order to ensure that their stay in Tuscany is the best possible experience.

Company History

The foundations of what would become Driving Guide Tours actually started many years before the company opened its doors in 1997.  In 1990, I was working as a tour guide in Tuscany. During this time I noticed something very interesting; In addition to seeing the principal sights of the area, they also wanted to feel, see, and touch the VERA ITALIA, the REAL Italy.  They wanted to have the experiences that are not part of the guidebooks, they wanted to experience the Italy that Italians know.

I had developed a great driving record as a driver for a prestigious network of limousine carriers and wanted to combine those skills with the expertise of a tour guide to provide my clients with a truly well-rounded experience.  Almost all of my early clients gave feedback that was overwhelmingly positive and that encouraged me to take on more opportunities and expand my offerings. Soon I had more work that I could handle and know that I needed to take the idea to the next level.  I needed to start a company staffed by drivers and driver guides that could give all of those who wanted this unique approach to sightseeing and transportation the ability to have it.

Out of that realization I founded Driving Guide Tours.  I bought my first minivan and started to proudly promote myself as the only guide in all of Tuscany that had a full chauffeur driven vehicle.  This meant that my customers were able to have in one expert professional the skills and knowledge of two professionals, money and making for a more enjoyable experience. The marketing worked and in less than a year I was having to expand again.  I acquired more cars, incorporated the company, and started to interview what at the time seemed like hundreds of people in order to find the right handful of drivers that would be able to embody my concept in its purest form.

While I may always be a driver guide at heart, I now spend most of my time driving a desk and overseeing my ever expanding team to ensure that every single one of our customers gets that same “absolutely fabulous” experience that my first customers raved about all those years ago.  Occasionally I do still sneak out to the road and give a tour or handle a transfer, just to keep that feeling alive, but now I mostly do what I need to do day in and day out to keep Driving Guide Tours a leader in the industry.

Paolo Fanti

Owner & Manager