An Unforgettable Photography Tour of Tuscany with Giulio D'Ercole If you’ve ever admired those stunning Tuscan landscapes in magazines and wished you could capture them yourself, I highly recommend booking a photography tour with Giulio! My three-day photography adventure began with a convenient pickup at my hotel in Florence, followed by a drive to the tower town of San Gimignano for some photos in the drizzling rain. From there, we explored the countryside around Pienza, taking in the beautifully composed farm estates perched on hilltops, with their iconic cypress-lined approaches. It rained throughout much of the day, but our patience paid off when we captured some brilliant shots of a double rainbow stretching across the dimming Tuscan horizon. What a way to end the day! Day two brought one of my favorite photographs of all time. The stunning orange sunrise illuminated a nearby vineyard, with the light spilling right into our kitchen. It was an unforgettable scene and a reminder of why getting up early with a camera is so worthwhile. We spent the rest of the day exploring scenic overlooks and photographing the countryside, from olive groves and vineyards to wide-open fields of harvested wheat. Everywhere we went offered another beautiful composition. My photography instructor, Giulio, was fantastic. He knows the region exceptionally well and happily took me to the best locations to build a great photographic collection of the Tuscan countryside. Just as importantly, he was always willing to stop whenever I spotted something I wanted to photograph. His knowledge, flexibility, and enthusiasm made the experience feel personal rather than like a standard sightseeing tour. He also knows some excellent lunch spots, and the charming towns throughout the countryside south of Florence provided captivating backdrops along the way. After learning just how rewarding an early start could be from the second day, we were ready to go even earlier the next morning, capturing more beautiful light from our second-story window and balcony before heading out for another round of sunrise photography. A stop in Siena on the way back to Florence was the perfect way to wrap up the trip. Like so many Italian towns, Siena has an extraordinary Duomo not to be missed. Touring with Giulio was a genuine pleasure. His goal is to help his clients build the best photographic catalog they can, and his knowledge of the area is impressive. He is generous with his advice, whether you have questions about your camera, photography techniques, composing a shot, or anything related to Italy. I booked this Tuscany trip because of the excellent experience I had with Giulio on a shorter photography tour around Rome a couple of years ago. This trip was every bit as rewarding and reinforced why I came back. If the stunning Tuscan photographs you see in magazines inspire you, contact Giulio and go capture some of that magic for yourself. Highly recommended!

A must-do for anyone with an interest in photography! From the very beginning, Giulio was incredibly helpful, sending clear instructions and confirmation ahead of time and responding quickly to any questions we had. He was friendly, patient, easygoing, and an absolute wealth of knowledge. We learned so much, not only about Rome and its history, but also about photography and how to capture the perfect shot. Giulio offered great feedback, took photos himself to demonstrate different techniques, and made sure we really understood what he was teaching. He even shared helpful post-editing tips to improve composition and lighting and bring out the best in each photo. Whether you're new to photography or already have experience, Giulio makes the experience both fun and educational. I can't recommend this tour enough!

Our group of 4 had a great afternoon on this photography tour, in spite of rainy conditions for the first hour or so. Guilio, our guide, did a great job of working around the weather, and definitely gave each person in our group plenty of attention in terms of gearing his information toward our experience level and existing skills. We really enjoyed the day, and came away with some very good pictures from Rome, and with knowledge that we're continuing to use as we continue to travel through Europe this week. We highly recommend this experience!

An unforgettable photography adventure! While planning my trip to Italy, I searched for professional photography workshops, and Giulio's website immediately stood out. It offered clear, honest information about the quality and depth of his teaching, and his photos of children in Africa showed a human connection that was impossible to ignore. Booking an 8-day trip through Umbria and Matera with Giulio was one of the best decisions I've made! He is a true master of photography, and he shares his knowledge with endless patience, happily explaining things again and again. His technical range is impressive. Even if you think you already know a lot about lighting and perspective, he'll show you new "how to" and "when to" insights you never saw coming. During one of our outings, we happened to touch on street photography, and I was instantly hooked. After the trip ended, I put my new skills to work at another location, and the results were fantastic! Giulio is patient, brilliant, and truly loves to teach. Come with an open mind and plenty of questions, because he has the answers. You're going to love the experience!

More than a photography workshop, a wonderful way to experience Rome! Our four-hour Rome by Night Under the Stars photography workshop with Giulio D’Ercole was one of the highlights of our time in Italy, and without question one of our favorite experiences in Rome. My husband and I went into the evening expecting to learn more about nighttime photography and hopefully come away with some beautiful photographs. We certainly did, but the experience became so much more than that. Giulio is an exceptionally knowledgeable photographer and a wonderfully generous teacher. He didn't simply take us to beautiful locations and tell us where to point the camera. He taught us to look: at light and shadow, reflections, perspective, architectural lines, unusual angles, and all the compositional possibilities that are so easy to walk right past. He also taught us to pick our main subject and look for emotions. Some of my favorite photographs from Rome came from things I might never have noticed otherwise: the reflection of St. Peter's in a puddle, the geometry and repetition of a colonnade, light playing across ancient stone, or a familiar monument seen from an entirely different perspective. But photography was only part of what made the evening so memorable. Giulio is multilingual, widely traveled, deeply knowledgeable about history and culture, and simply a fascinating person to spend time with. As we made our way through Rome, he shared his knowledge and stories with remarkable generosity. Photography, architecture, history, culture, and conversation all seemed to weave naturally together. Rather than feeling like we were being moved from one photo location to another, we felt as though we were discovering the city with someone who genuinely knows and loves it. At one point, Giulio offered his own variation on the familiar saying about Rome: don't do as the Romans do; do it "with the Romans". That phrase unmistakably captured something essential about our experience. For those few hours, we weren't simply sightseeing in Rome. We were being invited to experience it differently. And Rome itself changes at night. As the night grew later and the crowds thinned, the city became quieter and more intimate. Illuminated monuments emerged from the darkness, reflections appeared on wet cobblestones and in the river, and places we had seen during the day suddenly revealed an entirely different character. The four hours somehow disappeared. Coming near the end of our European journey, our evening with Giulio was an unexpectedly perfect way to experience Rome. We came away with photographs we love, a much deeper appreciation of the city, and memories of a wonderful evening spent in the company of a truly interesting and generous person. If you enjoy photography, whether you are experienced or simply curious, I cannot recommend this workshop highly enough. Thank you, Giulio, for teaching us how to photograph Rome, but more importantly, how to see it.