Your local guide

I was born in Faenza, the city of ceramics, and spent my childhood in Russi, a medieval "castrum" 15 km from Ravenna, where I have now lived for over twenty years.
I became a tourist guide the year after my language high school diploma, then a tour leader and subsequently a tourist interpreter. Since I was a child, I have always loved the idea of sharing different experiences and cultures, and studying foreign languages offered me a way to have neither barriers nor borders.
I speak English and French fluently as I worked for a long time for foreign companies and lived in Paris and London.
After a course to become a tour entertainer, I worked as a regisseuse at Club Med for several seasons. A great opportunity for a young girl to dance - a passion I have cultivated since childhood and still follow today despite the years - and to create shows with available tools, technicians, and budget, but also to travel. I love traveling and visiting places. Culture and art enrich the spirit and open the mind.
The work of a guide has accompanied me throughout my educational and professional journey, which continued taking other paths, but I never felt it as just a job; rather, it was a hobby, a pleasure, an opportunity for new encounters, sharing, and above all, for making the discovery of my city memorable for visitors from all over.
I studied at the Academy of Communication in Milan, and I graduated in Sociology with a focus in Communication and Mass Media from the University of Urbino while already working in the sector for international companies, first as an executive assistant and then handling press offices and event organization.
The internet allowed me to return home and work as a communication consultant, thus giving more space to my work as a guide, from which I will never retire. I have always thought, from the very beginning, that it would be "the work of my old age", a way to keep my window on the world open, touching lives even if just for a brief moment, but with the awareness of being part of moments to remember because Ravenna is truly special.
Why RavennaGuide? Because initially, I thought it might create confusion to find me online with two different professional profiles, so I looked for a name that would identify me, simple to remember and readable in both Italian and English. All to open a Facebook page in 2015 and start telling the story of my city and capture meetings, glances, and wonder. That's why I chose an "avatar" as a profile picture, quite trendy at the time, but especially because it was created by my son, who was 11 years old then.
Perhaps just one job was too "narrow" for me. Yes, I am a slash worker; today it no longer surprises anyone. But above all, I understood that the two things are not so distant; in fact, the skills from one complement the other.
My name? Cristiana. Maybe it's a coincidence, but every day I reveal to visitors the Christian symbols and messages that permeate the wonderful mosaics of our basilicas.