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ELIZABETH LEV
Art Historian & Tour Guide
Elizabeth Lev is a transplanted US art historian with degrees from University of Chicago and University of Bologna. She has been working as a guide in Rome for over 20 years and teaching at Duquesne University’s Italian campus. She loves Rome, its history, art, cuisine and people and is happiest in its many churches and museums. Liz is the author of 4 books and has commented on art and the papacy for several television networks. Her latest project was hosting a radio show for BBC’s Heart and Soul on Leonardo da Vinci! She is also a certified sommelier, so cheers!
GIULIA GIANGRAVÈ
Executive Administrator & Booking Agent
Giulia is the glue of this whole operation! She manages bookings, logistics, and everything in between. Having lived in Rome for her whole life, minus during university, she has a depth of knowledge that is unmatched. Giulia's goal is to ensure that each and every client has the best experience possible while in Rome. By booking with Dr. Lev, you will have access to Giulia's ideas of things to do, places to eat, and where to stay in Rome! Book a tour and have Giulia plan the rest of your trip in Rome and beyond!
DR. LEV'S COLLEAGUES
If Dr. Lev is unable to personally give you a tour due to schedule conflicts, Giulia will be able to arrange a fabulous tour with one of Dr. Lev's colleagues!
Livia Galante
Livia is known around town as the “Queen of Ostia” having bowled over princes, prelates, politicians and people with her love and knowledge of the ancient site. Livia has her Doctorate in archeology from La Sapienza and is exceptional at making the ancient stones come to life and recount the stories of the ancients who tread on them, the technique of the engineers who laid them and the world that circulated around them. She describes herself as, “Italian by birth, Archaeologist by education, and Tour Guide by a passion to share beauty”!
Ludovica Schmidt
Ludovica was born in Rome and fell in love with her native town in small steps. That is why she loves walking around in small steps and focus also on minor aspects of it such as inscriptions, sacred images, fountains... What usually happens is that a small or less known aspect of Rome pushes her literally to start a detective search because what she really likes, in fact, is studying.
She has another passion, though, and that is music: she passed her piano diploma in 1992 and spent several years teaching music. That is why she is particularly attracted by the sound of the Roman waters, the many fountains, the river Tiber and she invites you to follow her if you want to take a tour off the beaten paths, walking in the Roman streets as well as entering in some of the several churches and basilicas of Rome, incredibly beautiful and rich in history. Roma, non basta una vita! Rome, a lifetime is not enough!
Ester Scoditti
Ester is an archaeologist who has worked on projects in Italy, France and England. She graduated in Classics and Archaeology at Rome’s Sapienza’s University, where she continued in post graduate studies in medieval archaeology. With academic publications in Italy, Britain and the U.S.A., she has taught for John Cabot and Torvergata Universities in Rome. Ester Scoditti has been a tour guide there since appointed to the task by the Archaeological Superintendence of Rome in 1979, and she has written well known guidebooks on the Roman Forum, St Peter’s and the Vatican’s Extraordinary Jubilee. Ester is beloved by her colleagues for her unfailing kindness and her extraordinary generosity in sharing her otherworldly knowledge of the ins and outs of the Byzantine tour regulations in Rome!
Sara Magister
Sara is an art historian with doctoral degrees in modern art history and classical antiquities. She is an expert on the statue collection of Pope Julius II, the founder of the Vatican Museums and her book on the subject is a point of reference world-wide. Caravaggio, however swept her off her feet, and she has recently published a book on his paintings in the church of St. Louis of the French. Sara has a special skill in taking serious historical research and turning it into fun, interesting insights for the general public. She has hosted programs on art for Italian television and is didactic consultant for the Vatican Museums, and is our resident art history celebrity!
Antje Wolf
“I have seen the ruins of Rome, the Vatican, St. Peter’s and all the miracles of ancient and modern art contained in the majestic city. The impression of it exceeds anything I have ever experienced in my travels...” (Percy Bysshe Shelley) Antje uses these words to explain her love for the Eternal City and why she has lived here since 1988. She studied history and art history at the first Roman university ‘La Sapienza’ and is an official art guide in the Vatican, Rome and all Italy.
She specializes in guided tours for children and she loves to share the unique beauty, variety and culture of the “Bel Paese” with visitors ! Antje has a special itinerary she has designed of the Appian Way as well.
Richard Bowen
Richard has lived in Rome for over 20 years. He holds a bachelor's degree in humanities from Middlesex University, and a master's degree in medieval and twentieth-century history from University College London. He has worked on the Smart History guides, and also loves Ostia Antica, but he also enjoys going to Tivoli, and Ancient Roman sites such as Caracalla, Trajan's Market and Ara Pacis Quarters such as Trastevere, parks such as the one of the aqueducts are part of his expertise, and he does a mean tour of the Unification of Italy and the defense of the Roman Republic of 1849! He can even lead a tour about Italian fascism and has no objection if you banish me to Cerveteri, Tarquinia or Castel Gandolfo for the day.
Francesca Barberini
Francesca is an art historian with a degree from the University of Rome La Sapienza, and who lives in Rome, city she truly loves. Francesca is a member of the illustrious Barberini family that produced Pope Urban VIII, who consecrated and decorated the new St Peter’s Basilica. She spent several years cataloguing art religious buildings in central Italy, she began leading tours in Rome and surroundings. Her knowledge of art is, literally, encyclopedic! Although she leads tours of all the major sites in Rome, she loves leading tours in Roman palaces focusing on the way people use to live in the “Palazzi” and the way their collections of art where “used” in daily life, expressing the ideas of the family and is completing a book on the subject. She also loves leading tours in roman churches showing the way art has been the best medium to express deep ideas and concepts of their time. With Francesca, context is key!
