About us

Have you ever wondered why some holidays stay strongly embedded in your memories while others fade away? Why sometimes the grandest and most magnificent destinations feel empty once you get there?

We think it is all about people. Who we encounter on our travels is what creates the real difference, the bond that we establish, the things in common which sparkle a sense of closeness and understanding…

What it comes down to is feeling welcome in the places we visit. This is what makes our holidays special – what makes us treasure them.

Over the last 20 years, we at Trust & Travel have been making this special experience possible. Both individuals and families have had genuine holidays on some of Italy’s finest historical estates. Estates layered with history, traditions and lifestories spanning several generations or even centuries… And whose owners are an integral part of the country since their families played a decisive role in shaping the regions.

Come Inside the Villa is our effort to bring the history, traditions and lifestories behind these estates into a new light… closer to those who have yet to experience life there. Through this blog we hope to paint a picture of life in Italy as seen and lived by the estate owners and their families: homes full of charm, surrounding landmarks and landscapes,  old-fashioned hospitality,  local artisans and artists, off the beaten track discoveries and much much more.

We hope these stories will enrich you and inspire you to visit this beautiful part of the world so that you can discover and enjoy treasures of life, art, authenticity and humanity.

Spend your next holiday on one of Italy’s finest historical estates…

www.trustandtravel.com

The Come Inside the Villa Team

Katarina Allès Trauttmansdorff

Katharina Allès Trauttmansdorff – Welcome! I am the founder and CEO of Trust&Travel, an agency specialised in holiday rentals on some of Italy’s finest historical estates.
Born and raised in Vienna, Austria I went to Italy when I was 18 and soon started working with wine estates in the Chianti area. Life in the Tuscan countryside was a revelation to me. I encountered genuine and authentic people with strong roots and traditions living in a country of endless beauty. It rapidly became clear that I could make myself useful in this setting by giving the estate owners advice on how to welcome foreign travellers and spread the word about their estates.
I have been working in this field since 1992 (nearly 20 years!) and my activity has led me to discover the historical estates in other Italian regions such as the Veneto (Venice hinterland) and more recently Umbria; with potentially Piedmont (north) and Apulia (south) on the horizon…
Through the Trust&Travel blog “Come Inside the Villa”, I hope to bring the traditions and lifestories of these estate owners closer to you. I hope they will enrich you in one way or the other and inspire you to visit those beautiful corners of the world to discover and enjoy treasures of life, art, authenticity and humanity…

Kate Collins

Kate Collins – Raised as a mountain girl on the high peaks of Colorado, Kate decided on a whim to study Italian while in her first year at university.  Three years later she found herself studying Art History in Florence for her junior year in college, where she also discovered the joys of red meat as bistecca fiorentina (after 6 years as a vegetarian), as well as red wine, and all things Italian (including her husband, Niccolò).  There was no looking back!  Since living in Italy, Kate has worked for 8 years in contemporary art, and is also the resident editor of the LUXE guide for the city.  She loves scouring the streets of the Oltrarno for hidden artisan workshops and culinary delights, and on the weekend she takes her roadbike into the hills to explore the beauty of Tuscany (and work off some of the calories from one too many gelato!).  Kate lives in the heart of Florence with her husband, their energetic two-year-old Viola Maria, and a Florentine roof-top cat named Ettore.

Marla Moffa

Marla Moffa – born and schooled in the United States, Marla has been living in Italy since the year 2000. Of Italian origin, she has always felt at home in Italy and has moved with ease between cities, primarily Rome, Bologna and Milan. Passionate about the arts and a seeker of a simple and genuine lifestyle, Marla appreciates all the benefits of living in a peninsula in the Mediterranean: timeless beauty, delicious food, much sun and splendid seasides. She especially enjoys writing and sharing what she treasures about Italy with others

Valerie Schneider

Valerie Schneider – Valerie Fortney Schneider is an Italian-American writer who returned to her roots.  She lives in a hilltop hamlet in the southern region of Basilicata where she selflessly samples local delicacies and tours hidden havens for the sake of travel writing.  When not tapping away at her keyboard, she can be found sipping cappuccino, participating in grape harvests, or shooting with breeze with her fellow paesani.

Susan Fateh

Susan Fateh – Still nestled in her Scottish mother’s womb in 1958, Susan Fateh was exposed early to travel as her parents made their way overland (and sea!) – in a beaten-up Cadillac – from New York to Tehran. The apparently arduous-yet-exhilarating trip was repeated a year later . . . And so the nomadic die was cast.  She grew up in Iran and Scotland; studied printmaking and sculpture in Paris and New York; juggled myriad jobs; taught many workshops from Trinidad to Tamil Nadu; and co-ordinates various arts programmes in Italy. For now, Fateh is settled in rural Tuscany with her 10 year old son, Kiva, and their kitten, Miss Fluffybum, recently rescued from the roaring engine of an olive-harvest tractor.