Ancient Italy Journeys
Scholarship & Guides
Ancient Italy Journeys collaborates with licensed guides and scholars whose work is grounded in history, archaeology, and the interpretation of cultural landscapes.
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Guiding is understood not as performance, but as informed interpretation — connecting sites, landscapes, and historical continuity through careful observation and dialogue. The guides listed below form the principal team of the program. For certain territories or thematic explorations, we may also engage other licensed guides and subject-matter specialists whose expertise supports the focus of specific journeys.
Our Guides
Daniele Vitale is Director of the Gruppo Archeologico Brindisino, an association dedicated to the protection and promotion of archaeological and cultural heritage in Southern Italy. A licensed guide based in Brindisi, his work focuses on history and archaeology in both Italy and Greece.
He is the author of several publications, including San Giovanni al Sepolcro and Puglia Preistorica, and has contributed to documentary and television programs devoted to historical and archaeological dissemination. He serves on the scientific committee of the cultural journal ATHERA and has authored printed guidebooks dedicated to the study and enhancement of local heritage.
He collaborates with Ancient Italy Journeys as guide for the Puglia and Calabria territories, contributing his expertise in regional archaeology and cultural history to the exploration of these landscapes.
Tiziana Dicembre is a licensed tourist guide and a certified environmental hiking guide who has been working in Abruzzo and Molise since 2011.
Her university studies in Art History naturally led to her qualification as a tourist guide, allowing her to further deepen her knowledge of her native region. Alongside her passion for history, art, and archaeology, she has a deep love for nature. Her interest in hiking through the forests of the mountains of Abruzzo and Molise gradually developed into her work as an environmental hiking guide. In 2013, together with a colleague, she founded the association Itinerari d’Abruzzo, of which she is the president.
Thanks to her dual qualification, she is able to offer comprehensive experiences for both Italian and English-speaking visitors, presenting the region in all its aspects through different narrative perspectives that combine art history, archaeology, botany, wildlife, gastronomy, and local folklore. Her in-depth knowledge of the region has also led her to collaborate on tourism development and place-marketing projects aimed at lesser-known inland areas, with the goal of creating job opportunities and helping to slow down depopulation in the Apennine interior. She collaborates with Ancient Italy Journeys as guide for the Abruzzo and Molise
territories, contributing her expertise in regional history, archaeology, and environmental exploration to the journeys.
Roberto Musio is an archaeologist with a Bachelor’s degree in Cultural Heritage, a Master’s degree in Classical Archaeology, and a postgraduate degree in Archaeological Heritage. He has been a licensed guide in the Campania Region since 2011.
His field experience extends across the Mediterranean, including archaeological work at Paestum, Populonia (Livorno), Olbia de Provence (Hyères, France), Efestia (Lemnos, Greece), and Phaistos (Crete). This work informs his approach to interpreting Magna Graecia within the wider context of ancient Mediterranean exchange.
In addition to his archaeological work, he collaborates with Slow Food in projects that highlight the historical continuity of regional agricultural traditions within Southern Italy.
Roberto collaborates with Ancient Italy Journeys as guide for the Cilento and Salerno territory, contributing his archaeological expertise and regional knowledge to the exploration of this landscape.
Paolo Pasquale is a civil engineer and freelance journalist who has been passionately exploring and promoting the Molise region for over a decade.
After university, he began travelling the length and breadth of Molise, initially driven by his love of photography. What started as a personal discovery quickly became a profound connection with a land he thought he knew well. Through visits to remote villages, excursions in nature, participation in popular traditions, extensive reading, and conversations with those who safeguard local memory, he uncovered a rich tapestry of stories, landscapes, and identities that continue to surprise even lifelong residents. What fascinates him most are the lesser-visited corners of Molise — places far from the usual tourist routes — where the authentic dialogue between landscape, history, and silence comes alive. These same spaces have also allowed him to cultivate another
deep passion: astronomy, which he shares by weaving together celestial lore, mythology, and the region’s ancient sites.
Since 2016 he has promoted and narrated Molise through the TurismoinMolise project, an educational programme dedicated to revealing the region’s hidden beauties, stories, and cultural heritage.
He collaborates with Ancient Italy Journeys as guide for the Molise territories, contributing his expertise in regional storytelling, photography, lesser-known sites, and the interplay of astronomy and mythology to the journeys.
Angelo Petillo is a licensed tour guide based in Campania, where he has worked since 2004 interpreting one of the most historically layered regions of the Mediterranean. His background combines international academic training and long-standing professional experience in cultural tourism.
He was educated in Germany, graduating from the Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences with a degree in Business Administration specializing in Tourism and Marketing. Raised between cultures and fully bilingual in German and Italian, he also speaks fluent English and French. His professional experience includes work in hospitality and corporate tourism across Europe, including Italy, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
Residing near Paestum (Poseidonia), he has developed sustained knowledge of the archaeological and cultural landscapes of the Cilento region. His work reflects an interest in the interaction between historical heritage, rural traditions, and regional identity, including the agricultural and culinary practices associated with the Mediterranean diet.
He collaborates with Ancient Italy Journeys as guide for the Cilento territory, contributing his regional expertise and international perspective to the exploration of this landscape.
Raffaele Romano is a PhD archaeologist and licensed guide based in Naples, with extensive field experience at Vesuvian and Campanian sites, including Pompeii and City of Naples, as well as in excavations throughout Italy. His academic training includes degrees in Archaeology and History of Art and a postgraduate diploma in Archaeology from the Scuola di Specializzazione at the University of Campania.
In 2019 he was awarded honorary citizenship by the city of Pompeii in recognition of his work, and in 2021 he uncovered an extra-urban Roman building during a preventive excavation. He is involved in ongoing research and restoration projects, including a work on an ancient building at Pompeii.
Dr. Romano is also the founder of Grand Tour Experience, a team of licensed guides expert in archaeology and art history engaged in the interpretation of Italy’s cultural heritage. Raffaele Romano and his Grand Tour Experience colleagues collaborate with Ancient Italy Journeys in guiding explorations of the Vesuvian landscapes and the wider historical and archaeological context of the Bay of Naples.
Nicola Taddonio holds a Master’s degree with honors in Classical Archaeology (thesis published in 2011) and a postgraduate specialization with honors from the School of Matera (2014), completed in collaboration with the Italian Space Agency. He has directed and participated in numerous archaeological investigations across Basilicata — including Torre di Satriano, Venosa, and Matera — as well as at sites such as Pompeii and Naples.
A licensed guide since 2013, he has long engaged with the historical and archaeological heritage of Basilicata through field research, cultural institutions, and scholarly initiatives. He is President of ConfGuide Matera and serves as Vice President of ConfGuide Nazionale, the National Confederation of Tour Guides. His work includes participation in museum and cultural projects, including the co-founding of the MUV – Museum of Virtual Memory of Matera, and authorship of Basilicata, the 100 Wonders (+1) (2021).
He collaborates with Ancient Italy Journeys as guide for the Basilicata and Northern Puglia territory, contributing his archaeological expertise and institutional experience to the exploration of this landscape.
Our Team
Ancient Italy Journeys was founded by Igor Roninson, a former university professor with a sustained interest in the history and archaeology of the ancient Mediterranean. Now based part-time in Southern Italy, he curates the program as a territorial exploration of Magna Graecia and its wider historical continuities.
Despina Urlings holds a diploma in Cultural Heritage and a Bachelor's degree in data science. She bridges cultural knowledge and digital innovation while managing web design and marketing.