Our History
We came up with the concept for Context at the conclusion of an eighteen-month voyage aboard a 38-foot sailboat, during which we covered 8000 nautical miles of ocean, visited fourteen countries, and learned one very important lesson: What turns a good trip into a great trip is stumbling upon someone who really knows the place you are visiting, someone who knows the people, the institutions, and how to get things done, and who can get you access to things that armchair travelers only dream about.
We learned this time and time again in our wanderings, whether it was trying to buy a new outboard engine in Guatemala or searching for the best Berber pizza on the border of Algeria. Nothing is possible without knowledge. For a true traveler local knowledge is priceless. So, when we finally landed in Rome pregnant with our first daughter and decided to call it quits (for a while, at least) from our maritime ramblings, it seemed quite logical to apply what we'd learned from our travels to help others with theirs.
Context began with one docent--Paul--who was working at the time as a stringer for Architectural Record. With a background in the classics and several books about garden design and garden history under his belt, people began asking Paul to lead groups out to Villa d'Este, Villa Lante, and the other great gardens of Rome. Soon, they began asking for the Vatican, Colosseum, and other sites in which Paul had no direct specialization. So, we began to reach out to the community of scholars and other professionals in Rome, finding an absolute treasure trove of accomplished people who enjoyed sharing their city with visitors. Working with the cultural association Scala Reale, of which Paul was a member, Context expanded into art history, archaeology, and other specialties. We eventually acquired Scala Reale at the beginning of 2004, counting about 20 docents in our Rome program at that time.
At the urging of many clients, and due to the fact that we put together a pretty fantastic group of staff to run things in Rome, Context branched out. Beginning in the early fall of 2004 we recruited docents in Florence, Naples, and Paris and began organizing the same kind of thematic, seminar-like walks there that we'd become known for in Rome. In the spring of 2007 we began doing walks in Venice. And, in the winter of 2008, we launched in New York and London.
Although each of these cities is different and our heterogeneous group now numbers near 160 docents from a wide range of disciplines Context Walking Seminars are united by one simple idea: to connect intellectually curious travelers with that priceless local knowledge that we've come to understand is so crucial to a great experience.
Our Mission:
In an age of Disneyland and Club Med, we are dedicated to the experience of real places. We are committed to the character of these places: their built environment, cultural heritage, and living fabric. Through didactic walking seminars, we aim to bring together the traveler and these cities in a manner beneficial to both.
Mass tourism has a corrosive effect on monuments, museums, and cultures. Context adheres to the principles of sustainable tourism, as elucidated by the ICOMOS International Cultural Tourism Charter and the National Geographic Society's Geotourism Charter. A portion of our profits, coupled with donations from our clients, is directed toward cultural preservation initiatives in each of the cities where we operate.
Context. One of the dilemmas of traveling is the overwhelming amount of information, data, and experiences that we encounter during a short visit. Our walking seminars, which are limited to six participants, provide an intimate alternative to traditional tours. We emphasize in-depth conversation, much like a seminar class in a small, liberal arts college. So, for example, our clients in Rome might have the opportunity to spend four hours picking through the ruins of the Palatine Hill and Roman Forum with a professor of classics at an American university. Or, our clients in Paris might have a chance to spend half a day studying how city planner Barron Von Haussmann transformed the city with a graduate student writing her Ph.D. dissertation on exactly that topic. All of these experiences form the context of the journey.
Customer Service. We've invested heavily to build a website that works seamlessly and that allows our clients to automatically book the goods and services they need for their trip without a lot of hassle. At the same time, we are real people and always just an email away. This is a personal service business, and we've made it a point to hire people who are not only knowledgable advocates of their cities but also dedicated to the experience of our customers.