Tom Duncan was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied History of Art and Classical Archaeology. He then studied in the United States and moved to England in 1984 to complete his PhD. He taught at University level and now lectures widely to heritage and artistic organisations such as The Art Fund and NADFAS. He began to lead tours sixteen years ago and founded CICERONI Travel in 1998.

Charles Freeman is an academic historian specialising in the civilization of the ancient world. He has written several books, two of which are particularly important: Egypt, Greece and Rome — Civilisations of the Ancient Mediterranean, Oxford University Press, (2nd Edition, 2004) and The Greek Achievement, Penguin, (1999). Both immediately established themselves as fluent and engaging introductions.

James Hill is our Italian Tour Manager. British born, he has been resident in Rome for many years. An authority on travel and culture in Italy, his guided walks of Rome regularly feature in the British press. He is also a travel writer and has worked as a consultant with the BBC and other international broadcasters on some fifty arts and travel television programmes.

Laura de Beden is a designer and an academic. She runs her own practice designing town and country gardens and large estates. She has taught at Kingston University's School of Architecture and Landscape as a senior lecturer for many years. She lectures internationally, and also for The National Trust, NADFAS and other institutions in the UK.

Stephen Brook is a graduate of Nottingham University where he studied Mathematics and Management Studies. He then served as an Army Officer for 21 years undertaking various roles within the Royal Logistic Corps. He is now a co-owner and Director of CICERONI Travel with responsibility for finance and administration. From time to time he also acts as a tour manager.

Hilary Hope Guise is a South African born artist and art historian with a fine art practice and a parallel passionate interest in Ancient History in which she has two further post graduate degrees. A gifted lecturer on 19th and 20th century art, she is well known as a speaker for The Art Fund and NADFAS, and is also a guest speaker on Swan Hellenic's “Minerva”.

James M'Kenzie Hall is a graduate of Durham University and the Universityof Paris-Sorbonne IV where he obtained his Masters degree. He was a postgraduate student at the Courtauld Institute of Art. Dividing his time between Paris and his home in England, James has translated various museum and exhibition catalogues. In recent years he has combined his knowledge as an art historian with working as a qualified French Ministry of Tourism guide-lecturer.

Christopher Smith is Professor of Ancient History at the University of St Andrews and Director of the British School at Rome. He studied at Oxford University, and has written extensively on the beginnings of the city of Rome, and on Roman historical writing. He is currently completing a book on the Etruscans for the Very Short Introductions series.

Dominic Micallef is a graduate in History from the University of Malta with a thesis on the British presence on the island. He lived for many years in France and Italy where he promoted Malta as a cultural destination. He has worked extensively with journalists, travel writers, television producers and photographers who have portrayed Malta and Gozo in their work. He is regarded as one of Malta's most outstanding guides with a level of knowledge and access that is remarkable.

Paula Nuttall gained her PhD from the Courtauld Institute of Art. She is a specialist in the renaissance, with a particular interest in artistic relations between Flanders and Florence, on which she has published widely. Her recent book, From Flanders to Florence: The Impact of Netherlandish Painting 1400 — 1500, Yale University Press (2004) has been widely praised as the standard work on its subject. She is Director of the V & A's Late Medieval to Early Renaissance Year Course.

James Peill is Curator of the Goodwood Collection. He was formerly a specialist in the Furniture Department and a director of Christie's. He is the co-author, with the late Knight of Glin, of Irish Furniture, Yale University Press, (2007) and The Irish Country House, Vendome Press, (2010).