Today we’d like to introduce you to Carolina Casini.
Hi Carolina, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Everything started at Lifeguard Tower 19 in Venice Beach. I was spending the weekend with some university friends at the Cadillac Hotel, one of the most iconic and most questionably hygienic hotels in the area at the time, when I met Johnny while out surfing.
I had just graduated in Marine Biology from La Sapienza University in Rome and had earned a fellowship to study at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD in San Diego. I certainly wasn’t planning to launch a luxury travel company, and yet, there I was, on a beach in Venice, talking about Tuscany and the future with someone I’d just met.
Around that time, Roberto Benigni’s Life is Beautiful had just come out. The world had fallen in love with Tuscany — its landscapes, warmth, and sense of timelessness. There was a spark of cultural curiosity about Italy that felt bigger than just a movie. We saw an opportunity to share the Tuscany we knew, the one beyond the postcards, with travelers from North America.
In 1999, we launched TuscanDream. There was no business plan, no roadmap, just passion, intuition, and our families who believed in what we were creating enough to help support us. We were split between Santa Monica, Sarasota, Florida, and Tuscany trying to build something from scratch.
We didn’t realize it then, but we were creating one of the first online platforms to offer Americans direct access to luxury villa rentals and destination weddings in Tuscany. And it all started with a surfboard and a conversation. The timing, like much of the journey, felt strangely guided.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Let’s just say… if you’ve ever watched Emily in Paris, you’ll understand what I’m about to say. The culture shock is real. In Italy, like in France, there is no rush to do anything. The clichés are true. Yes, we take long lunch breaks, yes, we work to live (not live to work), and yes, everything is done with passion, artistry, and a certain poetic disregard for urgency.
It’s beautiful. It’s why our country is filled with so much soul and so much beauty. But for Americans, especially those planning something as complex as a wedding in Tuscany, it can feel like stepping into another dimension. It took Emily three seasons to integrate into the French way of life. Expect a mini version of that when organizing an event in Italy.
That’s actually one of TuscanDream’s core missions — to bridge these two worlds. To deliver the essence of Italy (the warmth, the romance, the beauty) with a healthy dose of Emily Cooper’s resourcefulness, problem-solving, and get-it-done energy. When you marry those two things, the experience becomes magic!
Of course, building a team that could do that consistently was no easy feat. I needed people who understood American expectations but also knew how to move through Tuscany’s rhythms with grace. That took time. There were many moments of frustration, but I always trusted the vision, and eventually, the right people arrived.
Over the years, we’ve formed an incredible team of six motivated women from all over the world: Canadian-Italians, Italian-Americans, Americans, and native Italians who’ve lived and worked in the U.S. It’s a blend of backgrounds and talents that brings so much richness to our work. We support each other personally and professionally, and that unity is a big part of what makes our road a bit smoother.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
TuscanDream is all about creating personalized, high-touch experiences in Tuscany, from luxury villa rentals to weddings and curated travel itineraries. But what we really offer is emotional connection.
I was born and raised in Tuscany, and every villa or castle we represent has been personally visited and vetted. If I wouldn’t stay there myself, we wouldn’t list it. Simple as that. The same goes for every experience we offer, from olive oil tastings to pasta-making classes, we send members of our team to try everything firsthand before we recommend it to our clients. That’s how we ensure it’s not just beautiful, but also authentic and thoughtfully run.
And the people we work with, from villa owners to caterers to florists, aren’t just service providers. Many of them we’ve worked with for over a decade. They’ve become trusted collaborators and friends. There’s a real sense of shared pride in what we’re creating together, and I think that comes through in every celebration and every itinerary we design.
What sets us apart is that human thread. I’ve found that our clients, especially our American couples, are so wonderfully open. They’re not afraid to communicate clearly, even if it means sharing their stress or concerns. That honesty creates real trust.
I still remember one of my first weddings, back in 2003. The bride, Michelle, had such a strong vision and a beautiful energy. We connected instantly. Working with her was a turning point for me, it made me realize that this wasn’t just a business. It was a way to build relationships across cultures, with people who truly valued what we had to offer.
I’ll also never forget the day a client called me, emotional, almost speechless, after we arranged a private tour of the Uffizi and Vasari Corridor. He told me it was the most extraordinary experience of his life.
That moment stuck with me. As Italians, we grow up surrounded by beauty and history. Sometimes we forget how powerful it is until we see it through someone else’s eyes. Even something as simple as a pecorino tasting can become a lifelong memory when shared with curiosity and love.
That’s what keeps me going and what I feel is so special about Tuscandream. What we offer isn’t just logistics. It’s meaning. It’s connection. And it’s a little bit of magic.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
So many people have helped along the way, but one in particular made a lasting impact: Ric Browde. I met him through a connection to Janice Dickinson and he was unlike anyone I’d worked with. Ric was a platinum-selling music producer with a background in rock and roll, but he also had a gift for strategy and storytelling.
He helped grow TuscanDream from a $60,000-a-year dream into a business consistently reaching over a million dollars in annual sales, with one key principle: never represent a property you wouldn’t personally pay to stay in. That standard changed everything.
When Ric retired in 2019, he was to become the full-time president of Wings of Rescue, a nonprofit that flies at-risk shelter animals to safety across the U.S. and Canada. He donated most of his profits from TuscanDream to fund those flights. We continue that legacy by donating each year to animal welfare charities in the LA area. His heart, and his belief in doing good through business, still inspire me. We continue to scale our impact today. It means we can give back more, especially to causes I care deeply about, like animal welfare. The fact that TuscanDream’s success allows us to support rescue efforts for animals in need brings a different kind of meaning to everything we do.
Since Ric left the company, my lifelong friend George Beavers became my partner in crime in LA. Together, we developed Motocalifornia Motorcycle Tours in Tuscany, which is becoming one of our signature annual TuscanDream retreats, alongside our Yoga Retreats. George has been instrumental in expanding the spirit of TuscanDream into new experiences that are more adventurous but still deeply rooted in culture and connection.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://tuscandream.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tuscandream1
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tuscandream1
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tuscandream
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeZLRj6uBsCNiVkkuXnYNRQ
Image Credits
Tommaso Pini, Monica Dart, Coralla Olivieri, Michela Ciardi, Gianluca Adovasio
