Find Out Who We Are

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In Italy Online is what you might call an Internet pioneer: we've been here since mid-1993, providing as much information as we can about the country we love best. Click here to read some comments from our clients.

In Italy Online is entirely owned and managed by Words in Pictures, Inc., a small company based in Los Angeles, California. We are allied members of ASTA, the American Society of Travel Agents. If you would like to inquire about our membership, we urge you check our status on their website. Be sure to enter "In Italy" (not "In Italy Online") as the company name. Click here to go to their website.

We do provide over 4000 pages of information, as well as links to hundreds of other sites, so we urge you to browse our Site Contents Page for answers to countless questions (including those above)! On that page you will also find a handy search engine for the site.

Here are some of the people who have worked hard to bring you this site and all the services we provide:

Kristin Jarratt, our editor, is a New Yorker who lived in Rome for 18 years. Her main concern there was the fourteen varieties of roses on her terrace overlooking the Pantheon, but she also worked as a screenwriter and travel writer, publishing numerous articles and the walking tours in Fodor's Guide to Florence. Upon returning to the US in 1991, she founded a hard-copy newsletter called In Italy in order to maintain strong ties to her second homeland. When "techie" friends offered to put the newsletter on something called the Internet, she had no idea what it was, but she thought it might be fun. 4500 pages later, In Italy Online has received more Internet awards than any other site about Italy. Click here to read some of her articles about Italy.

Filippo Ceci, the graphic artist who designed the original "look" of In Italy and In Italy Online, was born and raised in Rome. A topnotch artist with a real feel for the Internet, he has also created video games and a host of other exciting web sites.

Patrick Cooper was born and raised in Paris, France. He devoted considerable amounts of time to racing cars and motorcycles, even while specializing in computer design (back in the Dark Ages when one computer could fill half a room!). Fate brought him to the USA in the late 1980s, and eventually he wound up in Los Angeles preparing major motion pictures for foreign release. After becoming a US citizen he co-founded Words in Pictures with Kristin in 1992, and he has been our resident vehicle expert ever since.

Jessica Scheible was born in Southern California and subsequently lived in Seattle and Rhode Island before moving back to Los Angeles to major in cinema. When she is not handling all your museum reservations and private tour requests, she can sometimes be found making experimental short movies for homework and for fun. She came to us to fill in for a couple of weeks and has remained a valued member of the crew ever since. Her first trip to Italy included visits to the Veneto, the Lakes, Piedmont, the Riviera and Tuscany, where she also saw many of the properties we offer on our site.

Julie Sassano was raised in Southern California. A few years ago, she went to Italy to visit childhood friends who lived in Milan. They vacationed in Forte dei Marmi in Versilia, where Julie met the man who would later become her husband. She commuted back and forth to Italy for the next three years and in the meantime, she learned to speak Italian. Inevitably, in 1996, a marriage proposal caused her to move to Florence where she prepared for a traditional engagement and her wedding, held in Potenza, in Basilicata, where her husband's family lives. Luckily for In Italy Online, the new couple then took up residence in Southern California. Julie travels often to Italy and has visited many of the properties we offer on our site.

Kirill Matrunetskiy is our Director of Sales. Born and raised in Odessa, Ukraine, he attended Odessa State Economic University before moving to the United States. When not busy making arrangements with our Italian partners to ensure all our clients needs are met, he's off to the gym to work out or play basketball (he was on the Varsity Team back in Odessa!). As you might have guessed, Kirill also speaks Russian, and he started learning Italian while residing for three months in Florence in 2006. During his stay he traveled extensively, seeing the sites and visiting our properties in Apulia, Campania, Latium, Umbria, Tuscany, Liguria, Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia Romagna and the Veneto!

Jeremy Barnard is a 31-year-old born and raised in California. He attended La Puente High School where he studied electronics. After High School he entered into the United States Marine Corps where he was trained as a Cryogenics Engineer. During and After the Marines, he spent a few months at College, where he studied mainly Electronics Engineering. As time progressed, an intense desire to learn about web development had taken place. He decided to start researching the different languages and aspects of web development. After learning what was needed and teaching himself how to write code for the Internet, he became the Webmaster/Site administrator and Designer/Creator of the new "look" and feel for In Italy Online. When not busy taking care of the website and technical needs of the company, you can find Jeremy (in a band called END ALL) at many local concert venues around the western parts of the U.S. performing his music.

Our Italian Colleagues

Leonardo Balli is Our Man in Tuscany. We met him way back when we and he were just starting out on the exciting adventure of helping people have the vacation of their lives. Through thick and thin he is always there, coordinating details and smoothing the inevitable bumps that sometimes appear on the road to happiness under the Tuscan sun. And now that we have so many guests, Leonardo is ably assisted by Our Three Els: Eleonora, Elena and Elizabeth. Perpetually cheerful and courteous, they "woman" the phones for you, offering their assistance and solving your on-site problems in excellent English. What would we do without them!

Antonella, Giorgio, Davide and Tania hold the fort for us in Rome, Venice, Sorrento, Naples, and the L:igurian coast. Sound daunting? You bet it is! Sometimes it means waging a heroic battle against seemingly overwhelming odds, as you will learn if you read the comments from our clients. But no obstacle is too great for these consumate professionals, who speak perfect English, are passionate about their jobs, and love making your trip as successful as possible.

If you are lucky enough to spend a few days in Siena, or at a private villa in the surrounding countryside, you will have the pleasure of meeting our delightful colleagues Marta, Beatrice, Claudia and Luana (seen here on a very special day for Claudia!). With almost unimaginable patience and dedication, they offer you a warm Sienese welcome to your lodgings and they assist you during your entire stay. You know, as one of the oldest and most revered cities in Europe, Siena is a world unto itself -- and these lovely ladies are our deeply appreciated Ambassadors.

On the Amalfi Coast, what would we do without Teresa and Antonietta! When you're managing dozens of villas scattered over a 50-mile radius, countless little things can go wrong, but their many years of experience and profound rapport with the locals helps them keep everything in shipshape. Up and down those steps they go, day in and day out with a smile and a solution. Well, steps are nothing for Antonietta: daughter of a family that has raised the famed Amalfi lemons for generations, she was raised in a house that was 600 steps up from its own parking spot! She finally left the family aerie last year, but only so she could be closer to the villas she manages so brilliantly for us.

Our Talented Writers

Michael Brouse is our anchorman in Rome, his home for twenty-eight years. A native Californian, he managed one of the leading Italian menswear design houses for many many years, then "retired" to write wonderful stories about life in Italy, as well as teach medieval history at one of Rome's most prestigious private schools. Click here to read some of his articles about Italy.

Rosemary Torigian moved to Rome in 1967, after working as a magazine editor in New York. Whenever she could tear herself away from the bliss of cappuccino in the piazza, she worked as a writer, editor and script doctor, alongside Franco Zeffirelli, Gore Vidal, Bernardo Bertolucci, Michelangelo Antonioni and many other artists. Click here to read some of her articles about Italy.

Sims Brannon is a Los Angeles businessman with a passion for good food and fine wines, especially those of Italy. Annual trips to Italian and other European culinary destinations have given him broad exposure to restaurants, wineries and food makers of all types. Close friendships with professional chefs and restauranteurs in the U.S. have given him special insight into Italian food in America (not to mention thousands of dollars worth of free cooking lessons). In recent years, he has honed his talents with stints at cooking schools in Bologna, Positano and Paris. On weekends, Sims and his partner Steve are generally found entertaining friends and family at their home in Palm Springs, with the able assistance of their Labradors, Ryan and Libby. Click here to read some of his articles about Italy.

Tortellino is the Chairman of the Board and CEO for In Italy Online. One of his first managerial decisions was to make Kristin his right-hand woman, but he keeps an eye on everything from his.... bottom-drawer position. Click here to learn how we can help you plan your trip.