The man who makes the impossible possible... We at Original Travel send our clients off on city breaks with a detailed dossier containing our recommendations of the best restaurants, bars, places to shops and generally all the info you could need to make for the perfect Big Short Break. We rely for a lot of the information on a network of concierges at our favourite hotels. After all, no-one should know a city better than a concierge. So, we got to thinking - who's the best in the business? In the end it was easy. Take a bow, Salvatore Maraschio at the Hotel de Russie, our favourite hotel in Rome. His life is made that little bit easier by working in the finest city in Europe (discuss), but that only means Salva (a member of the exclusive Clefs D'Or elite concierge club) needs to be even more on his toes to know what's new.
Making the impossible possible
'In Rome,' he says, 'all the restaurants know us, and they are very happy to reserve a good table for our guests, so we make the impossible possible. Even local residents come to my desk and ask for recommendations.' Above and beyond merely securing the money-can't-buy restaurant reservation, Salvatore can arrange city tours by Ferrari, private cooking courses, personalised city tours for children - you name it. Best of all, for anyone with recurring 'Roman Holiday' fantasies, Salva can arrange for you to make like Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck on a Vespa with a local photographer as a paparazzo taking photos as you zip round town.