Becoming a tour guide is a big deal in Florence, Italy, where
Mifsud has lived since 1995. Unless they want trouble with the law,
tour guides need a license. And to get the license, they need to
pass the test. Florence offers an exam only every few years, and
just the top 30 participants get to enroll in the training
program.
Hollister – After hundreds of hours of work, two written theses and a “grueling” oral exam, former Hollister resident Christina Mifsud just passed the big test. But we’re not talking about the MCAT or the bar. Nope, Mifsud’s been officially licensed as an Italian tour guide.
Becoming a tour guide is a big deal in Florence, Italy, where Mifsud has lived since 1995. Unless they want trouble with the law, tour guides need a license. And to get the license, they need to pass the test. Florence offers an exam only every few years, and just the top 30 participants get to enroll in the training program.
After 800 hours of class, they still have to pass one final exam.
“It was nearly impossible,” Mifsud said.
There are only five licensed American tour guides in Florence, she added. The competitiveness doesn’t surprise Christina’s brother, Bill Mifsud Jr., who owns Bill’s Bullpen in downtown Hollister. He has visited Florence, and he said Hollister residents can’t imagine the enormous crowds of tourists and the money that they’re probably paying. But he knew his sister was determined to become licensed – at one point, she told him, “Even if I’m 65, I’m going to get this license.”
Luckily, Christina Mifsud didn’t have to wait quite that long – she’s only 35 now – but she’s been working toward this moment for years. She first applied in 1996, and even in the latest round of exams Mifsud placed 32nd out of the 350. That was good, but not quite good enough, until two applicants dropped out.
Even then, it wasn’t easy because she had to balance classes with family and a full-time job.
“All in all, there was a lot of juggling here at my home,” she said. “And I did it – including the two thesis papers in art history, a final written exam and a grueling interview oral exam in June in front of experts in the field, local tour guides and authors.”
Mifsud said she has wanted to “bring history to life” ever since she studied in Italy in 1993. Or, as she put it, “I wanted my professor’s job.” And once she moved to Florence in 1995, she began offering tours through friends. Mifsud even gave Sen. Ted Kennedy and his wife Victoria a tour of the city when they visited in 1996, and on their return trip in 2006.
Naturally, Mifsud was happy to oblige, but she admitted that, initially, she didn’t realize how famous her guests were.
“I may be the only American citizen in Florence who knows more about the Medici family than the Kennedy family,” she said.
Bill Mifsud said he’s thrilled that his little sister has made a life for herself in Italy. He said he misses her, but it also gives him an excuse to go overseas. And he admitted that when he corresponds with his sister, he gets a little jealous.
“(When I write to her), I feel like my e-mail is nothing,” he said. “My day is looking at the bypass that could be put in years from now. Her day is looking at works of art.”
