Company History
I am Rino Romano, and I live in Sorrento, Italy, a small, quaint town on the Sorrento coast and next to the Amalfi Coast area. Together with my family, we established Italy Limousine in 1998 because we had a strong passion to show the history, culture that this country has to offer, which has been handed down from generation to myself and to all my family. I want to tell you a little bit about myself with my own words, so you understand more about who I am, and my family not just the name on a request or correspondence form, but getting to know a little more about who Rino is. My inspiration to start up my own business was due to my grandfather, who really was a great person. He had so much ambition, but was never able to totally accomplish what he wanted to do in life... but he did give my father a better start in life, and my childhood was so colorful.
My grandfather, Gennaro Romano I was named after him, would talk a lot about the hardships he suffered, especially during the Second World War when he was recruited by the Italian Army. He was a young father of 2 boys, and as so many young men from all over the world had decided to join the war, he could have avoided having two kids, but he was a patriot. That time in his life and the memories of it lie deeply in his soul.
Going through an old photo album of Grandpa’s photos of the period he spent as a soldier and the years after the war ended, the photos, marked from being touched so many times - showed the great loss of hope and the poverty when he returned home after 1945. He decided, like so many Italians, that it was time for a new beginning to try his fortune in America. In that period, America was like a breath of fresh air as Naples was devastated by the bombs, there was a lot of famine, and there was just a dark atmosphere in Italy. By the end of the war, there was just so much confusion that no one was clear about anything. This is what Nonno Grandpa told me. He departed first and was to send for my father, uncle, and grandmother later, with only a few liras in his pockets. He took the ship from Naples dock to New York. He always told me that now, to visit America, you can go on a plane and be there in 9 hours! The journey on the ship from the port of Naples was a cargo/passenger liner with people from all over Europe, not just Italy, and this really scared him. He needed to see for himself this land, which for him was synonymous with freedom and hope. Nonno only stayed 6 months; the reason he came back i don't know, but that brief stay in America gave him something back that he had lost during his 14 months of the war. "Hope" Grandpa would always repeat that if I work hard and dedicate my efforts, one can accomplish and succeed. I kept my promise. I visited New York in 1990 on my 18th birthday. I flew and landed in New York. It all came back to the only photo of Grandpa in America, which his cousin took of them both. And I now understand the strong bond that America has with my country, Italy. I decided then that I wanted to realize something where I could explain the history and culture of Italy to connect Italy with the Americans, Canadians and many other countries and cultures like Israel, England, Australia, and Brazil, where a lot of my grandpa's family and friends immigrated after the war had ended. So this has become a great adventure for me, opening Italy Limousine, which has grown into a company with partners across Italy and offices in Rome and Florence. With the help of everyone that I have met over the years, we are now an established Italian company. I and the whole team hope to continue this adventure and meet many more people from all over this very beautiful world to enjoy Italy with me and the team.
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Rino