Francesca Montillo

Owner & Founder

www.thelazyitalian.com

Since 2017

Medford, MA & Italy

I started my business in 2016, on the side to my FT job as a healthcare director. I lead food and wine tours to my native land, Italy! The mission of my business is to provide one-of-a-kind fully guided and escorted culinary adventures to Italy. My adventures are fully immersive into local culture, cuisine and way of life. I believe in hands-on experiences, meeting the men and women behind artisanal products, and supporting the locals as much as possible. I believe in creating evocative travel experiences aimed at showcasing our heritage. I started my business in 2016. I was on the verge of turning 40 (in 2017) and was nearing a point in my life where I just kept asking ``is this all there is?`` I had climbed up nicely in my job, but wasn't satisfied. I had this idea of wanting to start a food and wine travel based business since my 20s, the idea was always there, but I hadn't done anything about it. Something about that milestone birthday pushed me to finally pursue it.

My definition of success is doing what you love, and being able to support yourself fully while doing it. I kept my FT job for a number of years after starting my business, but when I was finally able to leave that, earn in my business the equivalent of what I was earning in my FT job, and more, doing what I love, that's when I knew I was and could be successful in doing what I love.

When I said ``I quit`` to my FT employer and had no anxiety at all about it.

Definitely COVID! It kept me home for 2 years. No travels, no tours, but I did offer hundreds of Zoom cooking classes, published a second and third cookbook and made lots of connections. Needless to say, I made the most of a difficult period.

I just think I will soon be leading another great tour to Italy, and will be changing people's lives via what I do, and that keeps me going.

I have made some great connections via BBW, and have also learned so much for all the ladies in the group. I love lurking on the group page, reading the posts that are relevant to me, and learning from all the feedback given anytime someone asks for support or feedback.

Selling out all my 2022 tours. It felt pretty darn amazing from coming after 2 years of being unable to travel due to Covid, to fearing my business was over, to selling out every tour. 2023 trips are looking like will sell out as well!

I am determined, focused, organized. I love spending time in the kitchen, cooking and baking delicious meals. I value family time, alone time, and time with my dog, Trixie.

I'm a native Italian, which is already more than a lot of folks in my business, who start a travel business to Italy because they love Italy, but aren't actually even Italian. I think my clients love and have confidence knowing that I am of the land they will be visiting, speaking the language fluently is an added bonus. I focus on one theme, food and wine, recognizing that I can't be everything to everyone. I focus on immersive travel, we don't bounce around from hotel to hotel, we stay an entire week in one destination, getting to know the area, the people, the local culture, and obviously the local food. I only do small groups, no 40+ groups on my tours. I handle every aspect of the trip, from start to finish. I could go on, but I believe my experiences speak for themselves.

I'm on IG, but mostly on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/lazyitalian