Mary Wells | 04/04/2008 4:05 pm

Gypsy’s Personal Guide to Doctors, Drivers, Taxis, Shippers and Helicopters in the Med

Credentials: My husband and I had a summer home in St. Jean Cap Ferrat for 30 years and brought our children up from one end of the Med to the other. We had all kinds and sizes of boats and after selling my home in France I now spend summers on a Feadship called “Strangelove”. I have had many, many, many guests through the years and I know how painful it is to need a dentist and not know one. I am giving you the names, telephone numbers of friends you will be glad to know.

If you have someone you would like to add to my list please let me know. We all need friends when we travel.

Doctors in Italy:
The Genius: Dr. Luigi Marasco — Head of Burn and Plastic Surgery in the Brindisi Hospital. When necessary, for serious emergencies, he will travel. He is a life saver – he is just possibly an angel.
Tel: 39 0185 283 645 Mobile phone: 39 338 688 1723

In Portofino:

Dr. Fati: Reliable, Responsible: Tel: 39 0185 283 645. Mobile: 39 338 688 1723

Dr Ramasco: Reliable, Responsible: Tel: 39 338 281 1046.

Doctors in Spain:
Reliable, responsible. In Palma de Mallorca: Dr. Marisa Diaz Polo Tel: 34 071 681518

Doctors in South of France:
Excellent: In St Jean Cap Ferrat: This has been my family doctor in summer! Dr. Philippe Lemione. Speaks English, Philippe is a very good internist who knows the right specialist. Tel: 33 (0) 4 93 76 16 16. Mobile: 33 (0) 609 090988.

Dr. Veronique Coissard in Beaulieu Sur Mer, lovely and smart dermatologist, speaks English, Tel: 33 (0) 493 01 19 40

Dr. Simblser in Beausoleil, highly respected dermatologist in that odd French area squeezed right above Monte Carlo; experienced, speaks English, knows American medications, I’ve known him for years. Tel: 33 (0) 4 93 78 57 25

I just have to add Dr. Eric Maugee, dermatologist attaché to the Hospital Saint Louis in Paris – a good man and a good name to have! Tel: 01 48 74 12 94

Dr. Gerald Demaneuf, my favorite dentist, his office is in Beaulieu Sur Mer, he is excellent and he doesn’t hurt! Speaks English. I’ve known him for years in Beaulieu Sur Mer, Tel: 33 (0) 4 93 011 940

Laboratory Blood tests: Mr. Edery, respected, reliable, in Beaulieu Sur Mer, Tel: 33 (0) 4 93 01 12 59.

Shipping Agents You Can Trust: I’ve tried them all, I have shipped houses full of precious items so often you would be shocked so I won’t tell you. I think these are the best by far.

Best shipper in the world in my opinion: Tony Daddone, Kamino International Transport, 145th Avenue, Valley Stream, New York 11581. Tel: 1 516 825 4774, ext 3100 for Tony Daddone. Fax 1 516 825 4669. He never – and I mean never – lets you down. Call from Europe, Greenland, or the moon – he is affiliated with the shippers of the world and knows who is who – he will arrange everything.

Another great shipper if you own or charter a boat: Catalano Shipping Services.

La Panorama, Bloc C/D, 57 Rue Grimaldi, Monaco 98000. No matter where you sail, Catalano will find you to deliver or to take away, the five star shipper for yachts. Tel: 377 93 50 86 86.

Taxis, Limos, Drivers, Helicopters

Limousines, Monaco based:

2 M Limousines

Owner: Marc Bazzano – the best on the French coast in my opinion – very pleasant, smart, speaks good English, utterly reliable
Mobile: 377 (0) 6 80 86 40 27
Tel: 377 93 50 69 69

Limousines, Barcelona based:
Abaser: Tel: 34 93 245 78 29 www.abaser.es

Limousines, St Tropez based:
Riviera Limousine (Francis Laprade) Tel: 33 (0) 611 533 856

Limousines, Rome
Salvatore Rapicavoli: Tel: 39 329 623 1954; mobile: 39 (0) 6 783 49 022
Maurizio Benfenati: Tel: 39 388 231 151 28; www.coopsar.it

Local taxis, Portofino
Claudio: Tel: 39 335 533 2307
Giovanni: Tel: 39 340 47 33 160

Local taxis, Porto Santo Stefeno
Lucio: Tel: 39 335 126 2906
Marco: Tel: 39 339 399 7132

Local taxi, Viareggio
Alessandro: Tel: 39 339 61 58 852

Private Driver – Amalfi Coast plus

ALFREDO THE WONDERFUL

This intelligent, experienced and elegant driver and guide will pick you up and drive you anywhere in Italy. He is the very top of the line. Very good English. Tel: 39 334 330 21 92

Private Driver – La Spezia, Forte dei Marmi area
Massimo Gianfaldoni of Tuscany Dream Limo Service: lives in the area and knows it intimately – lots of shops in that area and he knows them all. I looked at houses in Forte dei Marmi, he has been sending me pictures of possibilities ever since! Speaks good English. Tel: 39 347 461 4390

Private Driver – Porto Cervo
Alessandro Tedde, Tel: 39 368 351 9386 or 39 333 935 5492

The Delightful Drivers of Capri
They sing, they gossip, they bring out the sun, they all know each other, in fact some of them are brothers, they tell funny stories – they should be on radio. They grew up in Capri where everybody knows too much about everybody else but they would never live anywhere else and they drive amazing cars. You are always a star in those cars. Very easy to find them up near the piazzetta in town, here are just a few telephone numbers:

The two, swinging, singing brothers: Nello and Antonio Federico, hilarious, great guys, speak very good English, Tel: 39 335 81 44 771

Another good one, doesn’t sing that I know of but speaks good English: Paolo de Gregorio, Tel: 39 338 284 7638

Private drivers n Brindisi (Italy)
Better than an ambulance if you have an accident in my opinion. Angelo, Tel: 39 338 373 7442 and Roberto, 39 30 939 820

Helicopters
Nice-Monaco: Heli Air Monaco: Tel: 377 92 05 00 50

Italy from Rome: Captain Ricciuto Tel: 39 347 354 9648

72 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Uh, thanks, Mary…But I am a downscaler (freelance writer). Ironically, howeever, I did once journey to the Med for a conference on olive oil (WebMD). And got sick. And could not get care. This was in Madrid, what I guess was a pretty OK hotel (selected on the internet). I kept calling the desk—I am sick, I am sick, I need a doctor. “No! No doctorrrr.” CLICK. Finally the maid came in…felt my forehead when I said I was sick—-Aye-yi, yi. Some bellhop appeared then a nice young man in a sweater, who gave me a shot, wrote a prescription, then requested one of my American hundreds. The prescription was in the $2 range. I got home a day late, but I lived. For years, I had travel insurance, but since I didn’t get any more paid trips to the Med, have now canceled it. Oh, and I learned the word “infirma.” In Spain, where they say they don’t “get” what you are saying, they mean it.

By Star Lawrence on 04/04/2008 1:04 pm

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F FFOR THE FOR FOR STUDENTS, SENIORS AND THE POOR, THE ABSOLUTE BEST PLACE RIGHT HERE IN RIGHT HERE IN NEW YORK WHEN YOU HAVE A TOOTH ACHE OR NEED DENTAL WORK I DENTAL WORK IS THE NYU DENTAL CLINIC AT 325 EAST 24TH STREET. TERRIFIC WORK TERRIFIC WORK BY STUDENTS WHO ARE ALL SUPERVISED BY LEADING PROFESSORS. FACULTY MEMBERS CHEAP AS HELL! ROBERT STEWART

By Robert Stewart on 04/11/2008 12:04 pm

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I only wish I needed this info. Maybe not the doctors… heh. Thanks for a glimpse of what’s possible.

By Elizabeth Gage on 04/04/2008 1:10 pm

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Wow. That is, as Aladdin would say, “A whole new world.” If anyone ever needs to know the name of a plumber who shows up on time and gives discounts if you make him a sandwich and lets you pay him a little bit each month, or a doctor who keeps evening hours, or a guy who will drive out to your house at midnight to chop up a tree that fell over your driveway so you can get to work in the morning, or a good place to buy used clothing so your kids won’t look like hoboes on picture day, or little tricks on how to make your prescription medication last a little longer so you can pay the light bill first, I can help you there. But this kind of thing? For most people, this is an alien world and has nothing whatsoever to do with us. Holy scheisse on a popsicle stick, I don’t have enough money to buy brand name cereal. I do, however, have a summer home. It also serves as my winter home, my autumn home, and my springtime home. I don’t even know anybody with the kind of money necessary to maintain the kind of lifestyle proffered here. I am hoping very hard that this post was meant as some kind of ironical sarcasm.

By Jane Goodwin on 04/04/2008 1:27 pm

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Mamacita, no — don’t think so. And I think it’s a mistake to glass over your own ceiling. I live simply, but I do want to know all that is out there. You know, J.K. Rowling doesn’t write in her relatives’ pubs anymore with her baby at her side in a stroller, waiting for the national dole’s checks. I think imagining earning the kind of wealth Mary Wells has done is good for us. If you will want to spend it differently, that’s your business, but she gives herself perks — well fine. At least she didn’t get her money selling guns to the Middle East, you know. Imagining (treasure mapping might be a good thing for you to do — google it!) another more poshy lifestyle for yourself is not a bad thing. Give it a shot. You can always come back and tell me what a lot of hot air I am full of, and you wouldn’t be the first in line to do that!

By Mugsy Peabody on 04/04/2008 1:47 pm

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Excellent, Mugsy!! Leave it to a Bay Area girl!

By Buh-Bye Hillary Hillary Buh-Bye on 04/04/2008 3:51 pm

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I wish I hadn’t waited until I was 60 to get it that suffering is optional.

By Mugsy Peabody on 04/04/2008 6:45 pm

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Oh, Mamacita, I wish you were my next door neighbor, that I knew you were right there, steady as a rock, smart as a whip, and always able, I bet, to talk some good sense about anything. (While having a laff.)

By Holland Taylor on 04/06/2008 9:54 am

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Marmacita, my first trip to Euope was lowest class on an Italian boat and I mostly walked around Europoe. You don’t need a lot of money to travel if you’re healthy and you get excited by unusual places. But you do need a good dentist if you don’t want lose your teeth or your jaw with a bad dentist in some small foreign town. I never thought I would have any money, I thought I might work myself into a stroke, but I am glad I finally made it and I enjoy it. I see every place I can. I hope you can too, one day. Good luck. I am saying that with real feeling. Luck has a way of surprising you. So keep the dentist list in a good place! Mary

By Mary Wells on 04/06/2008 6:27 pm

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I hear you girlfriend - the nerve of some people’s children. But those are some of the folks who make up this wonderful world we live in. She probably needed all those doctors for meds so she could sleep at night!

By Prospering Woman on 04/09/2008 6:54 pm

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Mille mercis, Mary. My plans to relocate to France are moving apace. And my son, a US-French citizen who has lived most of his life in Paris, and the last two years in Holland for his work, let me know this week he’ll be moving to Lyon. Great news for me! A few hours from Aix-en-Provence on the TGV—where I’ll be making my new home, and base for trips to Italy, etc.

By Buh-Bye Hillary Hillary Buh-Bye on 04/04/2008 1:35 pm

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It takes some money, but not that much, to travel, folks. In Ireland, I had pneumonia once, and the national health was like $4 to see a doctor. I was better off there than in California. I actually drove myself in Italy, but not in Roma (what am I, stupid?). It was so fascinating — I’ve always heard what terrible drivers Italians are, and when I first started driving the rental, I noticed there were all these dogs sleeping in the street, but no road-kill. Hum. Then I realized eople were ACTUALLY paying (“making,” in Italian) attention. Oddly, when you are driving, if you make attention, you don’t hit stuff. Sheezam! Thanks, Mary, I really wanted a driver to go down the Amalfi Coast, so next time! By the way, people, I’m not wealthy. It’s a question of priorities and wanting to get out and travel. Not as expensive as you think if you “make attention.”

By Mugsy Peabody on 04/04/2008 1:41 pm

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Um, “realized people”….

By Mugsy Peabody on 04/04/2008 1:49 pm

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I should be so lucky as to even travel to europe, husband wont travel to europe. Im hoping one of my friends or daughter would accompany me. I am printing and keeping the list with my passport. It is invaluable info, but i hope no one will require their services.

By kat on 04/04/2008 2:59 pm

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I would LOVE to be able to travel! There are many things I would love to be able to do, in fact; just being able to stop worrying about money would be one of them. Unless I win the lottery, though, it’s not going to happen. I do not give myself a glass ceiling, either. I am limited only by money: I have none. None to spare, none to pare, none to set aside for a rainy day. I barely cover the necessities, and I believe in paying the people I owe before paying myself. (unlike many people I know, who believe they have a right and SHOULD pay themselves first and pay their creditors with whatever might be left. I could not do that; it seems so selfish and shameful to me.) And since there is nothing left over for me, well, I can’t travel, or buy new clothing or name-brand anything. My charity work is extensive but it’s all donations of time, because that is all I have to give. Medicine, mortgage, utilities, food, gas, and upkeep take it all. Which should I give up? My only luxury now is my internet connection! I guess I could travel as a nanny or “companion,” but that would pretty much negate the whole purpose of traveling, for me. Not everybody has thousands of dollars to spend as they choose. Most people I know don’t even have hundreds of dollars to spend as they choose. Right now, I have $6.15 in the bank, and it has to last until the end of the month. I like imagining what it must be like not to have to wonder how I’m going to manage the next month’s house payment, but trying to imagine getting to the Mediterranean, let alone living there long enough to need the people on that list, is so far out of my realm that it’s useless, right now, to even dream about it. I can’t afford to go to Indianapolis and stay at a Day’s Inn. How could I ever get to Europe, unless I was sent there for a conference or something? I travel all over the universe in my head, and that is probably all that will ever happen for me. Everything else takes money. I know, “… it takes some money, but not that much, to travel… .” But for people like me, there isn’t even SOME money left over.

By Jane Goodwin on 04/04/2008 3:03 pm