• Job: Leader of small-group tours to Italy

KARL W. RITZLER/Special (ENLARGE)

A ship's figurehead, which Gail Hecko bought at an antiques auction, adorns a balcony at her Roswell home. 'I love my life here,' she said, but 'Italy is the icing on my cake.'

JOHN HECKO/Special (ENLARGE)

Gail Hecko dines at a restaurant near Montisi (above), a picturesque mountain village in Italy (below), during a trip there last year.

GAIL HECKO/Special (ENLARGE)

• What I do: Gail Hecko spends three weeks each spring living under the Tuscan sun — and gets paid for it.

She leads weeklong, small-group tours to a villa in a mountain village in Tuscany, the part of central Italy near Florence. She is the hostess for up to 16 people who can tour the region, visit wineries and restaurants, taste local wine and cheese, take art and cooking classes, relax with yoga and meditation instruction, or just sit back and enjoy the countryside.

"I'm not Italian, but, when I'm there, I'm at home," said Hecko, 63, of Roswell, who often is accompanied and aided by her husband, John.

Hecko is an advocate of "slow travel," a way of seeing the world by taking the time to get to know an area, its people and its culture.

Through her company, Gail's Great Escapes, Hecko leases the villa in Montisi, Italy, for three weeks in the late spring. She arranges for most of her guests' meals and coordinates with the tour guides, artist, cooks and other instructors who teach the classes.

Hecko also goes beyond Montisi, recommending sights around Tuscany, such as the art museums in Florence and the pottery shops and wineries in nearby villages. Also, the medieval city of Siena and the town of Cortona, featured in the book and movie "Under the Tuscan Sun," are close.

Hecko helps her guests with car rentals; hotel reservations for before and after their time in the villa; and tips on packing, catching trains and speaking Italian. Then she reconfirms all the reservations as the trip approaches.

"I try to save them time by learning from the mistakes I made at first," she said.

Hecko and her husband are seasoned travelers and have been visiting Tuscany since 2001. This is her first year in the villa in Montisi. Previously, she leased a smaller, rustic farmhouse, outfitted for tourists, near the village.

"Food is a big focus in Tuscany," Hecko said, and the week's price includes breakfasts and three dinners. The spaces fill up with people from all over the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

While there are some planned activities, most of the guests' time is their own.

"We're not all going around doing things together," she said. "People don't want to be herded. I help them feel free to go off."

• What got me interested in this: Hecko started the tour business after she had organized a trip to Tuscany for a group of girlfriends.

Since an earlier visit there, "Italy had been pulling at me," she said. "Finding 10 girlfriends to go — that was easy."

Most participants wanted to go again, and Hecko said she liked planning the trips. About that time, her husband retired from his job as a real estate executive, and they found that the tours were a way to keep traveling while covering their expenses.

The first trips were for women only, but more couples wanted to go, so Hecko expanded to the villa and changed the name of her company from Chick Trips to Gail's Great Escapes.

• Best part of my job: "The people. I have so enjoyed getting to know so many people."

• Most challenging part: "Making sure everything runs smoothly," she said. Hecko also has to fill up the spaces, especially this year, when she moved to the larger villa. And it doesn't help that the dollar has lost value compared with the euro.

• What people don't know about my job: "That it's a year-round job" to prepare for the tours, meals and housing, she said.

"It's like having guests in your house for three weeks," she said of the time at the villa. "I rent the whole place for three weeks. I run it like a [bed-and-breakfast]."

While there, Hecko says she is busy constantly with helping her guests with car rentals, cellphones or other requests. She also goes to the market every other day for food and essentials, runs errands and comes up with alternative activities if it rains or the power goes out.

• What keeps me going: "When I'm [in Georgia], it's the thought of going back on the next trip to Italy. I enjoy being there."

But she said she would not move to Italy full time. "I love my life here. Italy is the icing on my cake."

• Preparation needed for this job: You need energy, Hecko said. She's walking four miles a day now to build up her energy for this year's trip to Italy.

In addition, she said you need to be a people person and have patience and a sense of humor. The Italians, she said, "are so kind and so generous, so open and welcoming," but they don't always show up for appointments or do things with an American's sense of urgency.

Knowing the language helps, too. Hecko said she speaks a passable tourist Italian. "I'm comfortable I can get my point across."

To facilitate her work in Italy, Hecko is affiliated with a U.S. travel agency.

She attended Florida State University and has worked in marketing with the company that was the predecessor to Equifax. She also has been a kindergarten teacher, owned an antiques and gift shop, and worked as a medical office assistant for local doctors and Emory Clinic in Sandy Springs — "all 'people jobs,' " she said.

Hecko and her husband have traveled throughout Europe and to Canada, the Bahamas and the Caribbean.

- By Karl W. Ritzler, for ajcjobs. Got an interesting job that you love? E-mail your story to jobseditor@ajc.com.