Thatch Chat: How Martina found her niche as an Italian food-focused travel creator.

Join us as we delve into the inspiring journey of Martina Bartolozzi, who transitioned from a communications manager to a prominent Italian food-focused travel creator during the pandemic. Discover how she found her niche, her strategies for monetization, and her valuable advice for aspiring travel content creators.

Abby West

Founder & Product Lead

Thatch Chat: How Martina found her niche as an Italian food-focused travel creator.

Jul 25 2024

Meet Martina, an Italian food-based Travel Creator.

An interview with Martina Bartolozzi on how she pivoted during the pandemic and found her niche as an Italian food-focused travel creator.

Can you tell us about your path to becoming a full-time travel content creator?

I became a content creator in mid-2020, when I left my job as a butcher and communications manager with my stepfather, Dario Cecchini. During the first lockdown, I had lots of time to sit and think and realized I wasn’t happy there anymore. Not because I didn’t like the job, but because I wanted to create something from my own dreams rather than someone else’s.

I took a good, hard look at my skills: I’m good at Instagram, communication, and unpacking big pieces of information and reassembling them for easier understanding. I’m also half Italian and half American, born and raised in Italy, which grants me a unique point of view across both cultures.

I left my job in August 2020 with a plan to explore food behind the scenes as a solo female traveler. I went to Cinque Terre, Genova, and Naples, then the second wave came and I was stuck at home in Florence. I spent that time studying—Instagram marketing, video and photo editing, and writing. In February 2021, Italian borders started reopening and there were only two places to go from Italy: Swedish Lapland and the Canary Islands in Spain. I despise the cold, so I got a one way ticket to Spain, then eventually made my way to St. Lucia, California, and Dubai.

What did you learn or discover about your business plan during these months of travels?

My plan was to experiment with digital nomadism and to learn about other cultures exploring their culinary traditions. But when I eventually came back to Florence and sat down for a meal, I came to a realization. In Italian we have a saying, “ho scoperto l’acqua calda,” which means “I discovered hot water.” It was so obvious—the food in Italy is pretty good!

My whole idea was that food is a great way to understand a culture but not every single place in the world has as strong a food culture and culinary traditions as Italy. So I started talking about food in Florence and people were vibing with it and I was loving it. Solo female travel is great—I will always be a big supporter and promoter of it—but from a business point of view, my biggest strength and what makes me happiest is focusing on food in Italy.

Once you were set on sharing your valuable intel on food in Florence, how did you start thinking about monetization?

I always knew you could create and sell private maps on Google, but they’re ugly and hard to use. I’d seen people create some that looked pretty bad, but I was still interested. Pinning recommended locations over time and exploring them on location is exactly the way I love to travel, and I know other people do, too, so I figured that someone might be interested in purchasing Italy recommendations from a local expert.

Shortly after I started focusing on Italian content, Michaela [from Thatch] reached out to me and it was like she’d been reading my journal! Now, I create my maps on Thatch and market them on Instagram.

Any best practices for creating maps that sell?

I share a lot on Instagram, but I’ve been cutting down on tagging every single place I go to—I don’t owe anyone that knowledge and research for free. No one’s paying for my gas to get to these places; no one’s picking up the bill for me—especially for the bad restaurants that don’t make the cut! Anytime I dine out, I dine out with research in mind. I rarely go to places that aren’t Italian because my audience wants Italian food.When I’m there, I order the most local dishes regardless of what else is available on the menu, so I can offer my clients the best recommendations possible. Now I’m starting to focus more on providing useful information for how to navigate the Italian culinary customs and lifestyle.

For creating the actual maps, my Thatch is really structured and organized in a way that makes sense to me. For example, I imported my Google Maps, which are already divided into different cities and regions, so now I have everywhere I’ve been, as well as others’ recommendations to try.

I currently don’t recommend accommodations because that’s a different kind and amount of work and I want to keep the price point down. I also do my very best to go to each place I recommend in person, but I can’t stay everywhere, and considering that accommodation can really make or break someone’s trip, I don’t want to provide anyone with improper recommendations. So I stick to my foodie niche.

How do you structure your time?

I try to keep regular office hours but with a flexible mindset to accommodate interesting opportunities. I have a notes system with long- and medium-term goals. At the beginning of each week, I always try to recap objectives I’ve accomplished, unexpected wins, and what I can do better for the next week.

Any advice for others building their businesses as travel content creators?

With social media, it’s so easy to focus on negative feedback. But there are so many nice things people say all the time. I started a note that just says “compliments” and I copy and paste them there.

Also, a lot of “no.” Our generation has been taught to always say “yes” but sometimes the opposite is true. People might come to you with enticing and interesting-looking offers, but beware. Take a lot of time before you answer someone who has approached you with a business opportunity. If you can, talk it over with friends and family, if only just to hear what it sounds like when you describe it out loud.

Networking is also super important to create new work opportunities, to build community, to bounce ideas off of each other and to find friends whom you can share similar experiences with.