Le Pergola, at Rome Cavalieri, Waldorf Astoria, with its views of the Eternal city is a great place to start or end any trip. But there are six other Elite Traveler Top 100 Restaurants located throughout Italy. Just as examples Le Calandre is in Padova, Osteria Francescana is in Modena, Dal Pescatore is in Mantova.
Assuming you have a group of up to 50 or 60 friends or more you would like to take along for some great dining, how do you get around on the fly? Air Dolomiti is a Verona based subsidiary of German airline Lufthansa. The third largest airline in Italy, it boasts German efficiency – a top on-time rate – but keeps its style all-Italian. Only Italian wines and foods are served, and all Italian flight attendants are styled in Italian designer uniforms. Its German born, but now Italian resident CEO Michael Krauss, is the only non-Italian employee in the 550-person company.
While his airline’s main business is shuttling tourists and business travelers from Munich and Frankfurt to 11 Italian cities, its state-of-the-art fleet of 10 Embraer E195s is a spanking new 2.9 years young. The planes, in a 2×2 configuration, can seat up to 120 and are popular with sports teams and companies that charter them to get to games, events and product launches. In fact, Air Dolomiti was recently recognized by Italian charter brokers for its top service.
One of the benefits of flying privately is that level of service, and while Air Dolomiti is part of Lufthansa Group, it operates separately. Krauss notes that Italy’s business strength is small and medium size companies, so he keeps his organization focused on passenger comfort and amenities.
Eugenio Magnani, the Director of The Italian Government Tourist Board, who hosted a presentation, praised the CEO’s decision to call Italy home. “You can’t chose the country you were born in, but you can choose the country you live in,” he told New York-based travel agents and tour operators.
Magnani said Italy is getting ready to host Expo 2015 beginning a year from now, starting May 1 and running six months. Some 20 million visitors are expected in Milan, and there will be pavilions from over 60 countries.
In the meantime, if eating Elite Traveler’s award winning Italian fine dining restaurants isn’t enough, an additional seven of the Top 100 restaurants are in Germany. So between Air Dolomiti and Lufthansa Private Jet there are plenty of elite traveler ways to find your way from table to table.
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