Privacy Policy

The Italian Chapter plans corporate retreats and events, private celebrations and destination weddings in Italy. This policy explains how personal data is handled when you use this website, send an enquiry, book an introductory call, confirm a booking or work with us on an event.

Website, enquiries, introductory calls and event planning. The controller is Alessia Piperno, operating The Italian Chapter (Italian VAT number 15870201009). Contact: retreats@theitalianchapter.com.

Package bookings. Travel packages designed under The Italian Chapter brand are organised by our tour operator partner, Effetto S.r.l., Piazza Cairoli, 2, 00186 Roma RM, Italy (VAT number 10739211000), which is the contractual organiser of the package, as set out in our Terms and Conditions. When you confirm a booking, the details needed to issue the package contract, invoice and keep statutory records may be shared with Effetto S.r.l. Effetto S.r.l. can be contacted at info@effettoitaly.com.

For any privacy question about this website or your enquiry, please write to retreats@theitalianchapter.com; we will pass on anything that falls to Effetto S.r.l.

Enquiry form. When you send an enquiry we collect:

• type of event, and whether you are enquiring directly, as an assistant or as an agency
• first and last name, email address and country
• company name and purpose of the gathering (corporate events), occasion (private celebrations) or planning support needed (weddings)
• approximate guest count, dates or planning stage, and preferred destination
• currency and approximate total budget
• anything else you choose to tell us in the optional free-text field
• confirmation that you have read this policy, with the date, time and policy version
• an enquiry reference and the address of the page from which the form was sent

Booking form. When you confirm a proposal we collect your name, email address, telephone number, proposal number, billing name and address, tax identifier where applicable and, for company invoices, a billing email and the name and role of the person submitting, together with your confirmation of the booking declarations and the date and time of submission.

During planning. Once you are a client, you or your assistant may share information about guests, such as names, travel details and rooming preferences. We use it only to arrange the services requested. If you share other people’s details, please let them know and share this policy with them; we remain responsible for how we handle that information.

Please do not include payment-card details, passport information or health, dietary, accessibility or other sensitive information about yourself or your guests in an initial enquiry.

Dietary requirements, allergies and accessibility needs. Once an event is being planned, we may ask for guests’ dietary requirements, allergies or accessibility needs where this is necessary to arrange meals, accommodation, transport or activities. We ask for this only at that stage, through a separate request that explains what is needed and why. Allergies and accessibility needs can be health information, a special category of data under Article 9 GDPR; we process it only with the explicit consent of the person concerned, given in that separate request, and it can be withdrawn at any time by writing to retreats@theitalianchapter.com, although we may then be unable to make the relevant arrangements. Access is limited to the people organising the event, and only the details each supplier needs (for example, a restaurant or hotel) are shared with that supplier. This information is deleted once the event has taken place and any related follow-up is complete. Ticking “I have read the Privacy Policy” on the enquiry form is not consent to this processing.

Ticking “I have read the Privacy Policy” confirms that you have seen this notice. It is not consent to marketing and is not the legal basis for handling your enquiry. We do not send newsletters or marketing emails, and we do not make decisions about you by automated means.

When you submit the enquiry form, your answers are saved in our secure website database and added to a Google Sheets spreadsheet that we use to organise and respond to enquiries, and an email notification is sent to our inbox. Only authorised people who need the information to respond to you can access these records.

Once your enquiry has been saved, you are taken to our Calendly page to choose a time for an introductory call. This is a link to Calendly, not an embedded calendar, and none of your enquiry answers are passed to Calendly: you enter your name and email there yourself.

We use the following providers, which process data on our behalf:

• Lovable Labs AB (Sweden) — website hosting, database and notification emails, using sub-processors including Cloudflare, Inc. and Supabase.
• Google Workspace, provided in Europe by Google Ireland Limited — business email and the Google Sheets record of enquiries.
• Calendly LLC (United States) — scheduling of introductory calls.
• Google Analytics, provided by Google Ireland Limited — website usage statistics, only if you accept analytics cookies.

The typefaces on this website are stored on our own hosting and do not connect your browser to Google Fonts.

Calendly’s own policy: Calendly Privacy Notice.

• Effetto S.r.l., for package bookings, as described in section 2.
• Venues, accommodation providers, transport operators and event suppliers — only once you have asked us to arrange services, and only the details each needs. They handle the data under their own responsibility. Initial enquiries are not shared with suppliers.
• Professional advisers, such as accountants and lawyers, and public authorities where the law requires.

Some providers may process data outside the European Economic Area, including in the United States. Google LLC and Calendly LLC are certified under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework, and their data-processing terms also include the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses. Cloudflare’s data-processing terms provide for standard contractual clauses and the Data Privacy Framework. Our website platform, Lovable, contracts through Lovable Labs AB in Sweden. The website database and stored booking documents are hosted in the European Union (Ireland). Where a service provider processes personal data outside the European Economic Area, any such transfer will be handled in accordance with applicable data-protection law and using an appropriate legal transfer mechanism where required. You can ask us for more information about these safeguards at retreats@theitalianchapter.com.

• We keep personal data only for as long as needed for the purpose for which it was collected, and longer only where the law or an authority requires it, or where you have given consent.
• Enquiries that do not lead to a booking: for as long as needed to reply to your enquiry and follow it up, after which we delete them from the website database, the spreadsheet and our inbox. Deletion is carried out manually; copies may remain in provider backups for the limited time set by those providers.
• Planning correspondence and project information for confirmed events: until the contract has been fully performed, or longer where needed for a legitimate interest, such as handling a complaint, until that interest has been satisfied.
• Data processed on the basis of your consent: until you withdraw your consent.
• Contracts, invoices and accounting records: for the period required by applicable Italian law.
• Records of your policy confirmation: for as long as the related enquiry or booking record is kept.
• Technical and security logs kept by our hosting providers: for the limited periods set by those providers.

Data may be kept longer only where needed to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.

We do not use advertising cookies. With your consent, given through the cookie banner, we use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use the website; it collects information such as pages viewed, device and browser type, approximate location and an online identifier. The legal basis is your consent, which you can withdraw at any time using "Cookie settings" in the footer. Google Analytics is not loaded unless you accept. Our hosting provider sets technical cookies needed to deliver the site securely, such as Cloudflare’s “__cf_bm”, which helps distinguish people from automated traffic, and a cookie called “__dpl”, which is set by our hosting platform and expires after 24 hours; its value appears to relate to the version of the website being served. The site uses your browser’s session storage to remember your scroll position between pages and, on the enquiry form, to keep your answers while you complete it and to prevent a duplicate submission; this is cleared when you close the tab. It is strictly necessary for the form to work and does not require consent. The booking calendar is provided by Calendly on its own website, which you open only after submitting an enquiry; Calendly’s use of cookies is described in its own policy. Full details are in our Cookie Policy.

Under the GDPR you have the right to:

• access the personal data we hold about you
• have inaccurate data corrected
• have your data erased
• restrict how your data is used
• receive data you provided in a portable format
• object to processing based on legitimate interests
• withdraw any consent you have given, without affecting earlier processing

To exercise these rights, write to retreats@theitalianchapter.com. We normally reply within one month; this may be extended by up to two further months for complex requests, in which case we will tell you why. You may also complain to the Italian data protection authority, the Garante per la protezione dei dati personali, or to the authority where you live or work.

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data, including encrypted connections and access limited to authorised people.

We may update this policy when our services or providers change. The date at the top of this page shows the current version.