What They Say About Me

Giulia is a wonderful lady, full of energy, creativeness, enthusiasm and joy. I had the pleasure of staying with her for a few days last year and was overwhelmed by her generosity and her true desire to really get to know you. I felt like I'd known her for years and she made me feel incredibly welcome and at home. In a few days we had shared so much of our lives, thoughts, beliefs and aspirations. She really is something special and I hope to see her again as soon as possible and walk through a field of sunflowers again!
Dearest Giulia, keep smiling, stay beautiful and continue doing what you're best at; touching people's hearts. A massive virtual hug for now, looking forward to the day it doesn't have to be virtual.

I met Giulia Marchetti in 2018 when I visited the beautiful town of San Martino al Cimino, near Viterbo. From my very first encounter with Giulia, I realized what a very special person she is. With my hand on my heart, I can say I have never met anyone who is as genuinely warm, open, sharing, caring, trusting and friendly as she is. She embodies ‘human connections’ and the importance of social connection, of really getting to know people and places. She communicates with an incredible ease and radiates happiness, positivity and calm. She helped me rediscover the beauty of the Tuscia area, with it’s amazing palaces and villas, natural thermal baths, the simple goodness of the cuisine and the warmth of the local people. She shared her home with me when I was practically a stranger to her and we became friends immediately and I have no doubt that we will be lifelong friends. We even discovered we had a friend in common but that was not so surprising because she is such a wonderful friendly person, she has many friends from all around the world. Giulia is like one of the beautiful sunflowers I encountered with her at Tuscia Flower [https://www.tusciaflower.it/ ] near Viterbo. It was on Giulia’s terrace that I participated in a test for a new job and I have no doubt that being surrounded by positive vibes helped me secure that job! Giulia, I know that your association "Italian Human Connections" will be an outstanding success and you will create for many people unforgettable and life-long exchanges of relationships, friendships and human connections in Italy. Big hugs my friend.

Guilia, simply the best.
Ann and I met Guilia through my sister and spent a wonderful day together enjoying the area around Viturbo.

Since her abilities are so strong and deep I am hard pressed to identify Guilia’s strong suit. It may simply be her joyous love for travel, especially hosting foreign travelers like us.

I will say a lot more soon but close for now.

All the best Guilia and I look forward to the day we meet again.

I have always known that you were / are a special person. Since when we were Children and we spent time /long and wonderful afternoons together I was sure you would not pass invisible in this world. Your soul Was so great even when you were only a little girl. Now that I have read Your blog I know I was right. Love. Ml

Giulia was extraordinary in helping us have an absolutely wonderful, unforgettable family holiday in Italy in August 2019. We are from British Columbia, Canada, and our adult son, daughter and BF joined us for this European holiday. To explain how our paths crossed, we met through Homeexchange.com. Our arrangement was a non-reciprocal exchange (using points to stay in Giulia’s lovely home for 10 days). Sometimes in these circumstances you don’t meet the Host, but she stayed nearby - which was a windfall for us: she was our host, our volunteer tour guide - and ultimately a dear friend to all 5 of us.

Giulia is very engaging and intuitive – she quickly got a pulse of what was suitable, then put to use her own love of travel, her well-honed organizational skills and her attention to detail to plan fun adventures. She was born in Italy and speaks fluent English (helpful and appreciated!), and her sunny disposition and strong interpersonal skills brought enthusiasm to every experience.

Please allow me to share some specific illustrations. The day after our arrival was my birthday. Giulia offered to plan the day, which we whole-heartedly accepted. We started the day with a delicious buffet breakfast at the Balletti Resort patio in San Martino al Cimino (the lovely medieval village we were staying in, 1 hour north of Rome). We then did very interesting walking tours in 3 nearby medieval walled villages with their very narrow cobblestone streets nestled between 12th century buildings adorned with colourful flowers – just like the postcards. In Viterbo we discovered the story and tradition of the incredible Saint Rosa’s macchina; our Bagnaia visit included the terraced gardens and fountains of Villa Lante, and in Vitorchiang we enjoyed seeing quaint little churches and lovely valley views. In the late afternoon we had a great time unwinding at a mineral hot springs park with a refreshing dip in one of the pools. We concluded this perfect day with a splendid catered meal Giulia brought into the park. Gathering around a picnic table under a beautiful sunset we relished the pesto lasagna, salads, breads, wine, and a scrumptious layered birthday cake! All this after only having met her the day prior when she picked us up at the airport! This was an amazing gift – and the best birthday ever.

During our holiday planning stage, Giulia was quick to offer her assistance in finding us a Walking Tour Guide for a day in Rome. When we had difficulty purchasing advance tickets for the Coloseum, she called the agency’s manager to purchase them for us. She then made suggestions to the Tour Guide to see the top attractions and methodically plan the route – i.e. arriving at a specific train station to meet our guide and start the tour, then ending near another station to get home (to avoid backtracking). She even bought our train tickets into Rome in advance, then drove us to catch the train! We captured wonderful memories and family photos in Rome - indeed a beautiful historical city!

On another day Giulia took us on a boat tour on Bolsena Lake, then we visited the charming village of Orvieto perched on a rock cliff, including the highlight of the Duomo di Orvieto (it has a magnificent 14 century façade). Giulia also made suggestions for some day trips that we did on our own, such as a day at a seaside beach and touring an Etruscan museum that has shared artifacts around the world.

We did several other fun day trips, but before our holiday came to an end, Giulia surprised us with a private tour of the 15th century palace of Donna Olimpia. This is historically significant as she was a powerful and intelligent woman ‘ahead of her time’ in that she planned the layout of the village of San Martino al Cimino where we stayed. It helped that Olimpia’s brother-in-law was the Pope; the palace was built beside the Abbey.

This is just a glimpse of Giulia and how she made our holiday in Italy remarkable. This was achieved through her innate ability to connect with people through her warm and generous spirit. You truly won’t meet many people as kind, thoughtful, honest, generous and dependable as Giulia, and it was our good fortune to meet her. Her trip to visit us has been delayed by Covid 19, but we hope it won’t be long before we meet again. “Exchangers by chance, Friends by choice.”

When I think of Giulia, I picture her radiant smile. Giulia emits warmth like the Italian sun. She’s open-minded, kind, and adventurous. She’s such a great communicator that strangers are often put in ease and open up quickly to her. She’s thoughtful and caring, a wonderful friend to have.

I met Giulia in a provincial village near Rome through a mutual friend two years ago. Right away, we felt a strong affinity for each other. Giulia showed me around the villages and told me historical stories relating to the towns. I got a glimpse of genuine Italian life outside of tourist attractions. I also visited her beautiful home. After I returned to New York, we kept in touch. Then Giulia came to visit New York; we met up in a well-loved Italian restaurant in the East village whose owner are family with the restaurant owner in Giulia’s village we also dinned in when I was in Italy. Magic follows Giulia; she simply creates human connections wherever she goes. Giulia is an explorer; she took a train all the way to Coney Island and walked all over Brooklyn, checking out many of the neighborhoods.

During the Pandemic, she turned her energy into writing, creating many wonderful stories that remind us the importance of human connections. I’m so happy that I had met Giulia and she’s a friend for keeps.

-Haisi Hu

Thank you Giulia, you are one of those special persons that we meet in our life and will never forget until the rest of our sunset.
When I met you for the first time I was working as Hotel Manager on board the vessel Rachmaninov along the river cruises in Russia. You were a normal guest arrived on the ship to discover Russia, the land of mystery and beautiful nature. I was very much impressed by your curiosity on knowing everything regarding history and Russian culture. You have participated with deeply enthusiasm on all cultural and touristic activities done on board our dream ship Rachmaninov. As soon as you have arrived on board you got a lot of friends due to your capacity of human relationship and deep sense of communication.
On board our ship we have visited a lot of Russian historical cities spread out along the navigation from Moscow to Sankt Petersburg, I noticed with my great pleasure that you have captured all the informations about Russia in its best way. At the end of the cruise you came to me to express your best compliments and gratefulness for the wonderful experience on the Zar’s land.
From my side I wish to thank you Giulia to have honored with your participation the list of special guests on board the M/S Rachmaninov.
I hope to see you again somewhere in this wonderful word.
Antonio De Bianchi - Hotel Manager and Cruise Director M/S Rachmaniov

Over the years, I have had the chance to meet many people and visit many communities in my travels to 70 plus countries. Most of my adventures are made especially enriching because of the home exchanges that usually occur. I live in Hawaii and have made home exchanging the central method I have used to afford to travel. More importantly, the experience provides an insight into the the community I am visiting and the extreme personal connection I am able to form with people that are staying in my house.

I was blessed to arrange such an exchange with Giulia about 8 years ago and visited her home in Viterbo. During that visit she opened up her city and surrounding area to me....the best restaurants, local neighborhoods, must see , and daily outings to cities and towns in the vicinity. At one point in my visit, I mentioned that I was under the impression that Rome had expanded so dramatically since I had been there over 40 years ago that I intended to avoid a visiting so as to preserve my wonderful memories untarnished. The next day she drove me into Rome for just a day, visited the special places I had remembered from my youth and gave me confidence to revisit the city on future visits to Italy. During our frequest meals together, she provided sensitive insight into all things Italian. In return, I tired to explain some of the etiquettes and idiosyncrasies of life in the United States, and Hawaii in particular. Giulia stayed at my house soon after and I was able to provide her with the same recommendations for islands and places to visit. It was the beginning of her travels in the pacific and mainland America. Since then she has explored much of the world.

Since those initial contacts, we have both met whenever the opportunity arose. Two years ago, she traveled to Tuscany to meet for a day during which we explored local towns and cultural sites she was familiar with, exchanged gifts and had a dinner at a very special dinner local restaurant.

We have become special friends through the use of social media and exchange thoughts frequently, especially during this pandemic. I have the highest recommendation for Giulia's talents, her passion for human connections and her recommendations about structuring travel adventures to gain intimate insights into local customs, protocols and destinations. She is simply the best.
Aloha,
Victor Geminiani