DOGANA TEAM

My father, Emanuele, was 23 when he finished studying law at university; but becoming a lawyer or a judge was not his dream.

He spent a lot of his childhood in La Dogana between the workers’ families when it was his grandmother’s farm estate and he always felt a special love for the place.

My father knows every inch of La Dogana, all its secrets and its history; he built alone the stunning 26 meter pool, transformed the ancient mill into what is now our amazing restaurant and faced many more challenges that gave me the possibility today to do my dream job.

Elisa is a wonderful chef and she is super passionate about wine of local small producers and the natural herbs of the garden.

She studied at the University of Florence and was a professional restorer of wood pieces for 10 years and teacher for 3 years. After many year of working in the restoring field being always passionate about cooking and pairing food with wine she wanted to enter in this world transforming a passion into a job.

In January 2022 she met Lucia and Dogana and from that moment on she fully follow all the venue food management and retreats and wine club organisation.

Eleonora and Samuele are founders of Il Cerimoniere Weddings designing international weddings since 2007.

Samuele’s work has been noted in such respected U.S. magazines as Style Me Pretty and You and Your Wedding.

Eleonora Giorgi graduated from the University of Florence and is at the heart of organising each wedding. She comes from two generations in the travel business and has a degree in Tourism.

They are the official wedding planners of our venue and design all our bundles. Together we are super unite team that will give you the most professional work but also will always put that extra love and caring in each detail.

Lizzy was born in Italy to British parents (and for this she is very grateful to them). She grew up working in tourism alongside her father from whom she inherited some of her greatest passions: history, food and wine. 

As a young teen she started traveling the world whenever she got a chance which opened her mind to other cultures and experiences. After high school she lived in California, Holland and Cyprus before moving back to Italy to become a historical tour guide and work in tourism.

She has a splendid daughter called Silvia with her longtime partner Leo and together they live in the countryside. Her passions include hiking, traveling the world, natural remedies, cooking, reading and everything esoteric. 

John has been working at La Dogana for six years helping with our marketing, guided tours, and yoga retreats. Before John was at La Dogana, he had already lived in Italy for two years. John went to college at John Cabot University in Rome for his entire junior year. While in Rome, John met Lucia (owner of La Dogana) in a marketing class and they have been friends ever since! 

After returning to Boston to finish his business degree, John got a job as a tour guide in Florence where he toured around European countries such as Spain, France, Germany, Prague, and many more. John has always had a passion for traveling and loves sharing the experiences with the people he meets along his travels.