About us

Meet the team

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  Sean Caulfield

  Founder

  Sean first got the flavour for working for himself alongside his father in their family confectionery business. His first lone start-up was wholesaling flowers and plants, which he developed into a national supplier. He sold up and moved to the Chianti in 1997. After attending language school, he invested in his first villas and following their rental success, villa owners asked him to rent their villas - To Tuscany was born in the year 2000.
  Outside of work he is a massive ski-touring fan and closer to home goes biking with his local team, all of which means he has an appetite for Italian food and wine, who wouldn't! His favourite quote is "The more you know, the more you know you don't know."

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  Lisa Leggate

  Company Director

  Lisa's first working venture was with Marks and Spencer, where she followed their renowned training and quickly became M&S youngest ever HR Manager. Lisa later took a few years away from work to tackle the task of raising her three children. Sean, the owner of To Tuscany and Lisa's brother, asked for some help answering a few guest emails, this has led to the siblings working alongside for many years nurturing a business of which they are both very proud.
  Outside of work Lisa is a football fan, following West Ham United through thick and thin as a season ticket holder, this hobby does not take her to Europe! However holidays are spent in Tuscany...Why? Because she and her husband never tire of the amazing food plus the breath taking views, astounding culture, friendly Tuscan people and of course the local Chianti olive oil and wine..... Favourite dish : Pappardelle al Cinghiale with a glass of Chianti wine.
  

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  Melanie Thwaites

  Customer Relationship Manager

  Melanie has always had a passion for travel and started her career at a travel agency. She then worked at Gatwick airport as a passenger service agent for a few years and then onto a large tour operator as an Operations co-ordinator. She then took a year off to raise her son and it was then she found To Tuscany where she has been able to bring all of her experience and passion together. Outside of work, Melanie loves family time, especially when she can travel and show her family the wonders of the world.

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  Karen Robertson

  Administration Assistant

  At the age of 9 years, back in the 1970s, a Christmas present from Karen's parents was a portable typewriter.  She loved using it, and a seed was sown.  For her, a natural career choice was in secretarial/administration. She settled at a law firm and worked there for 20 years before taking a 16-year break to raise her family.  Her search for part-time work brought her to To Tuscany Ltd and she is delighted and grateful to be part of such a friendly and supportive team. With colleagues from multinational backgrounds, for her, the world truly does feel a smaller, richer and happier place. Outside of work, she loves family-time, especially out on the golf course. She loves all things to do with nature and her favourite expression is: A smile takes only a moment, but the memory of it can last forever.
  

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  Emily Barker

  Head of Sales and Marketing

  Emily fell in love with Tuscany on her first visit which should have been a surprise from her husband…long story short…she ruined it! However, that didn’t retract from their incredible first experience of their now beloved region. In fact, they loved it so much, they decided to get married there. They married in the town hall in Radda in Chianti, in front of 35 close friends and family, the mayor (yes, the mayor performed the ceremony), their interpreter and several crowds of onlookers peering from café tables, windows and shops. All of whom are of course waiting for the invitation to the next big anniversary! With this in mind, you can probably imagine Emily’s excitement when she landed the job at To Tuscany, spending her days celebrating all things Tuscan and sharing the best this stunning region has to offer; which is absolutely everything.
  

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  Valentina Petri

  Customer Service Manager

  Valentina was born and raised in Tuscany. At the tender age of 11, she undertook her first study trip to England and got the “travel bug”. As soon as she finished her studies in Pisa, she packed her bags and, full of the desire to know more about new cultures and a passion for languages, she assured her parents that she would leave for London for a few months... 10 years have passed since then! After several years as a hospitality manager and various successes in the field, the time was right for a change of scenery: this is when she found To Tuscany – the perfect combination, as it brings together the deep love for her home country whilst working abroad, surrounded by like minded people. For those who are wondering, why pack up and travel? Here is one of her favourite quotes: “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.”

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  Paula Richardson

  Villa Specialist

  Paula grew up in the UK but has an Italian father. She has always loved languages and studied them at school and college. After college she worked as a holiday representative in Lake Garda during the summer and the Alps in the winter, where she truly fell in love with the Italian way of life.
  Whilst working in a school for many years assisting in the language department, Paula chose to do a part time degree with the Open University in French and Spanish to help change her career path into the travel industry. 
  Outside of work, Paula loves to spend time with her family whether in the UK or abroad, as she enjoys visiting other countries. She is a keen salsa dancer and enjoys horse riding and keeping fit. Her favourite quote is “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

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  Eleanor Smith

  Villa Specialist

  Eleanor was born in the south of England, but her family's passion for travel means that she has experienced many different places. In fact, her first-ever foreign holiday was to Tuscany's capital city of Florence! Fascinated by the subject, Eleanor first studied German at school, which led her to pursue a German and English Literature degree at Lancaster University. As part of her studies, she spent a total of 7 months in both Austria and Germany (despite Covid's best efforts!) and enjoyed the feeling of living independently whilst using her second language. After completing a Master's degree in Translation, Eleanor began working at To Tuscany and is delighted to have found a job in which she can utilise both her language skills and her enthusiasm for travel. When not working, she enjoys curling up with a good book, cooking, and taking long walks around the beautiful countryside of Kent.

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  Britta Kerr

  Assistant Customer Service Manager

  Britta's first place of work was in a hotel in Germany where she started her venture in the hospitality industry as a hotel manager. She loved to organise events such as weddings and overnight stays and was in charge of looking after the onsite restaurant and B&B. Here, she was trained as a chef gaining the knowledge of local food and seasonal products which was another string to her Bow. Britta managed to travel and live in a few different European cities and therefore widened her passion for the hospitality industry in different countries. After several years working in the travel sector, she found her love for working for To Tuscany. Here she managed to bring her passions in life, which is helping guests with her customer service skills and the love for food, which Tuscany offers plenty of, together.
  

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  Anja Schäfer

  Villa Specialist

  Anja grew up not far from Düsseldorf and was a bookworm from an early age with a love of art and history, which is what first started her interest in Florence and Tuscany.
  She decided to move to London when she was in her early 20s and remained there living and working for many years, before deciding that a change was long overdue and
  moving to the seaside town of Folkestone. She now lives there with her partner and makes silver jewellery in her spare time. She is happy to have found To Tuscany, as
  helping customers to have memorable holidays in Tuscany, has reignited her interest in this beautiful region and its amazing history. Oh, and being part of a friendly, inter-
  national team is fun too!
  Her favourite quote is: 'No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.'  - Dead Poets Society

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  Benedicta von Ow

  Villa Specialist

  Benedicta grew up in Burghausen near Munich and this was where she began her professional life, working in the family guest house. When the family converted their farm into a golf course Benedicta qualified as a greenkeeper and took up the position of Head Greenkeeper. Through her profession, she met her British husband in the USA. After many years together in Germany, she now lives with him and their two children in Canterbury. Her parents had a special love for Italian food, wine, and culture. With Italy being only a few hours away by car, she often travelled with them over the Brenner Pass to various destinations South Tyrol, Genoa, Friuli, Tuscany, Umbria, and Rome. Networking has always been a passion of hers and this led to her hearing of an offer at To Tuscany. An international team, and a great product, what could be better than offering a holiday in a beautiful location with good food, espresso, gelato, and local wine?

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  Maureen Somnica

  Villa Specialist

  Maureen is French and has lived in the UK for many years after studying tourism. She comes from Reunion Island, where she developed a passion for travelling and for foreign cultures and cuisines. She likes spending time outdoors, and particularly enjoys long walks and hikes. Each year, her mission is to extend her travel horizons and visits various countries throughout Europe. Although each country is special in its own unique way, she confesses that Tuscany certainly has a richness all of its own as well as a remarkably well-preserved heritage.
  

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  Laurine Codomier

  Villa Specialist

  Laurine was born and grew up in France. Lulled by the stories of her mother, who lived in England when she was younger, she chose to live in the UK as she was always drawn to the country and soon wanted to settle there.
  Her hobbies include running, hiking in the nature as well as exploring new places and cultures, and for this reason,  she tries to travel to a new place every year.
  As she studied Latin for a few years and has previously visited Venice that she absolutely loved, Laurine already had interest in Italy but To Tuscany gave her the great opportunity to discover the beautiful region of Tuscany. She now understands why her team adores this area as she herself is partial to its gastronomy with its fine wines, its stunning landscapes filled with vineyards and its art cities rich in history.

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  Ellis Jones – van Boxtel

  Villa Specialist

  Ellis grew up in The Netherlands. After secondary school, she spent a GAP year in the UK, where she met her husband.  However much in love, she went back to The Netherlands to study International Business. The pull to the UK proved too great and eventually she packed her bags, married her Brit, had two children and is now totally settled in the UK.
  Holidays abroad is what life is all about, and she has travelled a lot within Europe. What does she love about Tuscany?  The food!!!  You can’t go wrong with authentic Italian food, accompanied with a glass of Chianti of course.
  Recently Ellis has discovered her creative side and is in her element at Christmas time when she makes wreaths, decorations and luxury Christmas crackers.  She also loves walking her Cockapoo and spending time with family and friends.  Friendships are extremely important to her and her philosophy is “The only way to have a friend is to be one”. 
  

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  Lindsy Morren

  Villa Specialist

  Lindsy was born and raised in Belgium. Living in a country with 3 official languages, the interest in going abroad was sparked from a young age. After visiting Spain, Austria, Poland and Belgium’s neighbouring countries, the next on her list was Italy. A couple of weeks there changed her view on what a perfect holiday should look like: warm temperatures, views with vineyards, quaint towns and unparalleled food (pasta and pizza). Afterwards, her horizons were broadened again when moving to the UK to live with her British partner. Together they like to go fossil hunting on the Jurassic coast and visit natural history museums across Europe. Lindsy finds working for To Tuscany very enjoyable especially as she is now learning an additional foreign language, Italian. She loves to read and travel, summarised in the famous quote of Saint Augustine "The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”

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  Mikołaj Wierzbicki

  Villa Specialist

  Mikołaj visited Italy for the first time as a teenager but fell in love with the Tuscan landscapes and Italian way of life after watching the movie "Stealing Beauty" which was shot in Chianti. A couple of years later he was looking for a villa for a wedding reception and met Sean, the founder of To Tuscany. Soon a former client became a villa specialist. Mikołaj travelled the length and breadth of Tuscany by car, bike and foot, raced in the L'Eroica, watched the Palio, visited vineyards, walked the Via Francigena and loved it all. A dinner of his dreams: tagliatelle con Tartufo, tagliata di manzo and a glass of Flacianello. Maybe two glasses. Mikołaj shares the opinion that every man has two Homelands: his own and Italy.
  

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  Cameron Sheppard

  Senior Owner Representative

  Having been born in Japan and living in Tokyo for 5 years, Cameron was introduced to different cultures and languages at an early age. This experience led him to study French and Spanish at school back in the UK, before undertaking his degree in Spanish and Italian at the University of Kent. During his degree, Cameron spent 5 months living and studying in the Italian city of Parma, where he met friends from all over the world and fell in love with the Italian way of life, and particularly the food! Soon after completing his degree in 2021, he then began working for To Tuscany in a part-time role before joining full-time. Outside of work, Cameron’s main passions include playing drums for his two bands, watching foreign films and following his favourite sports of football and squash.

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  Barbara Farinelli

  Owner Consultant

  Barbara was born and raised in Naples. Barbara has an experience of more than 15 years in fashion retail working as manager.
  Since childhood her desire was to live in England and learn English language, so her dream came true. It was right here in England that her two little girls were born and after a 3-years-break to raise her young family she started to search for a new job. Here she is, being part of the To-Tuscany team, thus having the opportunity to work in both languages, Italian and English, interfacing with the beautiful Tuscany where she spent so many vacations.
  Outside of work Barbara is a trainee counsellor, she loves reading books, walking in the nature and practising yoga. She thinks that the most beautiful journey is the one within oneself and that just outside the comfort zone lies the beauty.

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  Laura Mirandola

  Owner Representative

  Laura was born and raised in Verona and studied law at the University of Trento. After concluding her studies, she worked in the beautiful cities of Venice and Padua for several years as a project manager and for European projects.
  A love of the landscape, the rich culture, and the diversity of her native land means that Laura has visited Tuscany on many occasions. In addition to her enjoyment of the delicious food and wine that the region is known for, she has a particular fondness for the Tuscan accent.
  A wish to broaden her horizons prompted Laura to move to the UK to study English and through a variety of circumstances she is still here.
  Her links with her family and friends in Italy remain strong to this day and in her spare time, she teaches Italian to enthusiastic students.
  Her love of travel means that planning her own holidays is a favourite pastime.

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  Laura Benedet

  Contract Manager

  Laura was born in Austria but grew up in Italy and has now lived in Tuscany for over 30 years. After obtaining a degree in languages, she tried her hand at commerce for a few years but realised that it was not her path. Her love for her homeland soon led her to venture into the world of tourism, and to get to know its various aspects. She worked for two tour operators, organising and managing tours and organised leisure and business trips throughout Italy. She then chose to focus only on her enchanting and fascinating region. Before joining the To-Tuscany team, for over 20 years, she had the opportunity to see and select accommodation facilities for various agencies and, above all, she worked as a wedding planner, helping couples from all over the world to realise their dream of getting married "under the Tuscan sun". 
  

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  Silvano Falcioni

  Property Finder

  Silvano was born and raised in Italy near Florence and then at the age of 23 he moved to Germany. He lived in Munich for 14 years and from there had wonderful experiences travelling around Europe. In Munich he worked as a postman and in his free time he helped friends in their restaurant business until he met his wife, Tanya, who is from California. She worked for Lufthansa - so with this opportunity they travelled until the day they decided to have a family. They then moved back to Tuscany where they bought a little house which included over 600 olive trees within the grounds. In 2013 Silvano met Sean, To Tuscany's founder, where his To Tuscany partnership began. Silvano would highly recommend, if you are fortunate to visit Tuscany, to try some Tuscan wine, sumptuous gelato and not forgetting the olive oil!
  

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  Karen Humphrey

  Administration Manager

  Karen has real a passion for people and has used this to its fullest throughout her career. Her family is the most important thing to her - including Syd the Sausage dog! She loves walking him in the beautiful Kent countryside. Her other passion is to sing - in the words of Ella Fitzgerald 'The only thing better than singing is more singing'. Karen loves being part of the team at To Tuscany and has enjoyed the privilege of many trips to this beautiful region with her husband Paul. Their favourite place is San Gimignano. The Tuscan food and wine is truly an experience in itself. Every return visit brings about that relaxed feeling of a home from home.
  

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  Dave Barratt

  IT Developer

  The experiences that Dave has shared with his wife, teenage children and friends when they travel are the ones that will always be remembered. He is passionate about travel, and feels incredibly lucky to be working in a team that really cares. Fuelled by strong Italian coffee, Dave develops and maintains the IT systems, bringing you a great online experience of what To Tuscany can offer.
  

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  Lauren Avery

  SEO & Paid Marketing Executive

  Lauren found To Tuscany after completing her degree in Managment with Marketing from the University of Bath in 2023. During her four years of studying, she discovered her passion for marketing and knew this was the industry she wanted to work in.
  Growing up in Whitstable, working at To Tuscany has allowed her to develop her marketing skills as well as move back home to be close to family and the seaside. Lauren also loves to travel, having spent three months in America working at a summer camp in Maine before travelling down the East Coast. She also loves visiting new places with friends and family, experiencing different cultures and the food!
  Having visited Italy only once on a trip to Rome with family, since joining To Tuscany, Lauren has had the opportunity to visit Tuscany and discover the beauty of the region. She can see why this magical place captures so many of her team's and guests' hearts.

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  Michaela Hilton

  Social Media & Email Marketing Executive

  Michaela’s love for travel has been a constant throughout her life, her fondest memories have been on holidays spent with loved ones. She was born and raised in England, but being half Danish, she loves to visit her family in Denmark regularly. While pursuing her degree in Business Management at university, she found her passion for marketing, so finding her position at To Tuscany was a seamless fit. Here, she could effortlessly merge her passion for travel with her love of social media.
  Her first visit to Italy was to Lake Garda, where she discovered Aperol Spritz (which quickly became her favourite drink). Since joining the team and exploring the stunning region, Michaela quickly fell in love with Tuscany and the Italian way of life.
  Outside of work, Michaela enjoys partaking in fitness classes, catching up with friends over dinner, and sailing with her family in the summer.

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  Simone Vince

  Web Content Editor

  Simone grew up in the former East Germany (GDR) where travel abroad was strictly limited. When the Berlin Wall collapsed she moved to England where she studied Digital Media. While studying she raised two children and worked part time making promotional videos and websites for enterprises, as well as running a successful self-catering holiday business. Simone is delighted to be part of the team at To Tuscany and would like to encourage everyone to stretch out, embrace new cultures and enjoy a great holiday. Simone’s favorite Italian food is bruschetta. She could eat it all day, every day.