Dawn Your Host

Once in a lifetime!

When you choose Italy or France for your holiday, ask me to give you a quote for an itinerary based only on your needs. I would love to offer you my expertise built up after 15 years of specialising in Italy and France.

After completing two degrees, I then did a masters in Italian linguistics, with my thesis on Italian food. After pioneering cooking tours , I  received enquiries for holiday accommodation anywhere in Italy and France. At that time I was doing a thesis, a Masters degree, on Italian food. And this was after living in rural Tuscany for 2 years with my children, so they could learn the language and culture in the most natural way, in village with about 25 inhabitants. The local children taught mine how to hunt for Porcini mushrooms and wild strawberries and numerous other skills in all seasons, like how to get a pheasant while out of season.

We have personally inspected all the properties, and our collective knowledge of living in Italy and France is about about 35 years! From dinner in a typical “Italian trattoria” to the shopping in factory outlets, from jewellery to shoes, clothes, cashmere and any unusual request.

You don’t’ have to believe us, click to see some testimonials.

Dawn has lived and worked in Italy and France for many years and has a fine sense of the varying cultural sensibilities between the Australian logic and the European one. Not for nothing am i passionate about Italy and France! After spending my whole life studying both languages, with post grad degrees in each, I took my children to live in Tuscany 20 years ago, before it was a trendy pursuit. There they learned Italian in a local rural school over 2 years, mixed with stories of local culture, sourcing Porcini mushrooms and how to capture a pheasant, even out of season! And lots of holidays in nearby France and Europe.

On returning to Australia, I did a Masters degree in Italian linguistics, with a thesis on Italian gastronomy. To further this delight, I pioneered the gastronomic tours to Italy in 1994. From that grew this present business first sourcing rental accommodation in Italy and then also in France.

This is a small selection of the properties I would recommend, but there are many more and I have a network of contacts in both countries. If you dont see what you want, please ask me.

Getting married or wanting a romantic holiday, check the testimonials.

Looking for the perfect venue for your 50/60/70th Birthday? Need a bus and driver to get everyone around, prefer historical character places or something more modern ? Need a custom made itinerary for your own group or family by car, by train, or maybe you are travelling solo? Thinking about a hot air balloon ride in the Loire valley, renting a sailboat in tuscany or setting out for a food/wine/walking holiday.

Want to rent a castle? A barge? Marvel at the rich festivals , regattas, concerts, operas: Eat local produce, shop in markets or designer stores.

For your holiday , investments, honeymoon , cooking tour or for just something absolutely unusual, just ask and you will be pleasantly suprised!