Our Team

CRISTIANO BONINO – Founder and Tour Leader

 

Cristiano Bonino is proudly 100% Italian (from Turin, Piedmont), living in the Boston area, which has allowed him to broaden his experience, “hybridizing” through the balance of two cultures.

 

Before his career in travel, he worked as a personal financial planner in Italy, helping families manage their savings. The experience taught him how important it is not only to respect the value of money, but also, and above all, to care about the people he meets and works with through life!

 

 

DAVIDE MARCHEGIANO – Tour Leader and Operations

Davide Marchegiano has designed and led tours all over Italy and Europe for the last twenty years; he loves to teach Italian using games and songs, as well as to bring guests to meet his many friends across his country.

Davide loves hiking and everything with pedals and wheels: he’s been riding and racing bikes for 30 years, and he is a passionate mechanic, since he transformed his mother’s bike into a mountain bike, before they started being available in Italy.

 

RACHEL GREENBERGER – Business Development

 

Being Cristiano's wife, business advisor, and tour "taster" makes a complex dish, but a thoroughly enjoyable one. With her MBA from Babson College, Rachel spent a decade building and leading a hub for food entrepreneurs before stepping down in 2020 to pursue an Eisenhower Fellowship and do more for FST.

 

Before Babson, Rachel worked in the travel industry (it's how she and Cristiano met). To FST, she brings her experience hearing directly from guests before and after tour, her observations of a range of food cultures across the globe, and her perspective as an American who fell in love with Italy (and an Italian). 

 

Rachel sees America’s hunger for a return to community, connection, and belonging through food and place. 

 

SUZIE REGUL – Tour Leader and Trip Designer

In 1996, Suzie left California and a professional volleyball career to move to Italy. There, she discovered her passion for road cycling and la dolce vita, and she has been living her Tuscan dream ever since.

 

Her home in the Chianti area is near Gaiole, headquarters of L’Eroica, the beloved, heritage Italian cycling event featuring vintage clothing and bicycles, and routes over gravel roads. Suzie rode her first L’Eroica in 2008, and has participated every year since.

 

ANDREA MARCHESINI – Tour Leader and Trip Designer

Andrea is many things: A professional drummer, a bicycle mechanic, an entrepreneur, a tour guide, and a Slow Food aficionado. He is also deeply enamoured with his home region of Liguria and dedicated to helping you discover its wonders for yourself.

 

To travel with Andrea is to see the real Liguria. He may take you down the tiniest alley just to sit on a stone bench and chat with a local cravé (“goat shepherd” in local dialect), while savoring a little-known sweet wine made from the Pigato grape and maybe a slice of Toma di Brigasca (ewe milk cheese from a local breed of sheep) drizzled with the heavenly honey of the world-famous Ligurian bees.

 

ALESSANDRO ALLEGRO – Tour Leader and Trip Designer

Alessandro Allegro received his first bicycle before the age of six, and his passion for cycling hasn’t waned since. After a short racing career, he found his joy as a guide. Alessandro has led more than 170 tours all over southern Europe, primarily in Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, and Croatia.

 

As a child, Alessandro dreamt of studying astronomy. These days, his top loves are history, wine, and languages. He speaks English, Spanish, French, and Italian fluently, and enjoys learning new ones. Right now, he’s working on his German and Croatian!

 

GIAN LUCA FOGLIATO – Tour Leader and Trip Designer

Gian Luca takes the term "world traveler" to new heights. As a tour leader and adventurer, his travels have taken him around the globe to a grand total of 76 countries, including Antarctica.

 

Given his wealth of experience, we had to ask: Where did you experience the most culture shock? "Japan. I have never seen any place like it. Bushido, the code of the ancestral samurai, still heavily influences Japanese society." Where was it hardest to navigate as a guide? "India. People can be hard to read and their signal for Yes goes sideways, which to us looks like No."

                                          

FRANCESCA SOUDAZ – Tour Leader and Trip Designer

Francesca was born in Ivrea, a small town in northernwestern Italy that has long been a cultural crossroads. Fittingly, she has always found it fascinating to meet people from all over the world. In an effort to be able to communicate with them, she got her degree in translation and interpretation. In addition to Italian, she speaks English, Spanish, and a little French.

 

NICOLÒ DIONISIO – Tour Leader and Trip Designer

If you asked Nicolò what his mantra is, he would reply: “we are as we see ourselves in our dreams.” Some of his favorite dreams are surely travel, meeting people, and biking (either on a bicycle or his Harley Davidson).

 

Born and raised in Turin, Nicolò is proud to share the stories of his home region, Piedmont. But not only: The Dolomites, Sicily, Portugal, and Spain are a few of the other places that he knows well.

 

SILVIA MARCOZZI – Tour Leader and Trip Designer

Silvia fell in love with books first and the bicycle second, riding to prevent herself from becoming a bookworm. But it didn’t really work, since she is now a librarian. 

 

Silvia got her Ph.D in European Literature, which facilitated her learning English, French, and a bit of Spanish. Her language skills, combined with passions for travel and cycling, opened the door to her becoming a guide.