Putting context back into travel, OR why contextualizing travel is cool

Now, you know I'm not a fan of guides (see this post) and my recent observation of a tour guide who stopped at each key sight at the Roman Forum to read passages from a guidebook to her bored tour group only reaffirmed many of my beliefs on guides and guided tours. Yet Context Travel is on an altogether different level. For starters, they prefer to call their guides 'docents', an American term for university professors or lecturers, reflecting the qualifications and expertise of their guides, many of whom are scholars who moved to Italy to complete doctorates on the subjects they're leading tours on. And they come from a wide variety of disciplines, including archaeologists, chefs, architects, artists, authors, and historians. While some of their walks involve stimulating strolls through Rome's long history, other offerings range from a literary discussion about Dante as you wander Florence's streets to an introduction to Roman cuisine while exploring lively local markets, along with lighter activities from drawing workshops at Castel Sant' Angelo to jogging tours through Rome's city streets. We did an inspiring and enlightening Italian language workshop in a buzzy local enoteca, an engaging walk through ancient Rome, a fun bar-hopping introduction to Italian wine, and an exclusive private shopping tour to visit some of Rome's best bespoke artisans. Context's owner Paul Bennett says: "Our walking seminars are, on some levels, love songs, paeans, and odes to a place that fascinates us day by day. Like Cupid with his arrows, Context events are designed to make you fall in love with Rome." We certainly came away from each and every engaging and eye-opening experience feeling like somehow had helped us gently scrape away a layer or two of the city so that we knew and loved it better than we had before. Don't you love it when that happens?