Designing and Developing an AI Agent, Inspired by Own My Family's "Italian Journey".
From Novellara, Italy to a 21-Year Journey of Passion and Purpose.
Family, or "La Famiglia" in Italian, holds a profound significance for me and countless others across the globe. Regardless of origin, family universally represents a core value. In Italy, family is especially paramount, embodying a central aspect of life.
I have spent 21 years of my life, more than half of my life now, going to and from Italy. I make the journey nearly every year to Italy. For me, it is my absolute passion. The country and its language, people, traditions, food, norms, quirks, art, history, fashion, and culture are so deeply rooted in who I am as a designer, as a professional, as a person, and most recently as a father.
No, I am not Italian, I am actually of Irish descent. So you're probably wondering, how the hell did I end up going to Italy and spending 21 years of my life back and forth? A great question!
The short answer is I spent a semester abroad not in Italy but in Sweden in the Winter of 2003. In a tiny town called Linköping. It was there where I studied international business in the winter of 2003 and it was also there where I met two of my dearest and now what I consider to be lifelong friends. Luca and Emanuele.
Like me, they too were also studying abroad and had arrived from Novellara, Italy (RE). We became fast friends and shared many great memories studying together. So much so, that after our time together studying they happily invited me to come stay that summer with them in Italy for several weeks. Of course, at the time in 2003, had never stepped foot in the country of Italy, nor did I know anything of its culture outside of what I had learned just 6 months prior with my two new friends in school.
It was that summer of 2003 that fell in love with the country of Italy. The town of Novellara sits in the Po River valley in Italy's fertile agriculturally rich region of Emilia Romagna, near Bologna, also known as Italy's food capital. It is in that region where some of Italy's greatest exports come and the world's most beloved products were born. The king of cheese Parmigiano Reggiano, Prosciutto di Parma, Balsamico di Modena, Tortellini, Maserati, Ferrari & Ducati all born and come from this very prosperous and beautiful central region of Italy.
After spending a solid portion of my summer in 2003 in Italy, I was hooked. I came back home and immersed myself in the language, studying feverishly as fluently as I could to speak the Italian language and study the culture of this beautiful country as much as I could.
I since have spent the last 20 years going back and forth building my Italian language skills and many more great memories with my dear friends.
Solving Real Travel Problems for Families, Using AI Agents.
For my 40th birthday, not long ago, I spent a month in Italy. Traveling and visiting my friends, except this time it was extra special because I was taking my son, whom my wife and I named, Luca to visit Italy for the first time.
My wife is of Italian descent and still has family there so we needed to take our son Luca to meet her extended family in Borgo a Mazzano (Province of Lucca, Italy).
What we quickly realized and knew before the trip was that it would be very difficult traveling with a 2-year-old toddler in a foreign country where the days were long and we wanted to be able to do many activities out and about.
One of the major problems was just finding things for children to do during the day for any parents out there you know this can be extremely challenging even more so while you're traveling.
We didn't want him just sitting in the stroller the whole time and also wanted him to be able to get out and burn energy since most little boys his age have tons of it!
So the problem became, "What can we do with our son" while we are all traveling? We need unique experiences for children and most certainly playgrounds available so they can get out and run around during the day, I mean after all most 2-year-olds will not enjoy a museum or architecture tour.
Blending a Passion for Italy and Innovation: How CiaoLuca.Ai, My New AI Creation, is Redefining Family Travel Experiences
Since returning I have put a lot of thought into how I can use product design and AI and combine it with my passion for Italy. Nearly 60 million people a year travel to Italy and many of them with families and young children. This is something that many families struggle with not only in Italy but in EVERY country around the world. Italy does not necessarily have a ton of things for children to do especially if they are very young.
Finding a playground or children’s museum can be quite difficult and limited in the offering. This can certainly make traveling with young children a bit stressful at times.
The idea for the AI chat platform was inspired by the challenges and joys of traveling with family, making it a tool that values connection, culture, and convenience.
This is not going to be solely limited to families with children CiaoLuca.Ai will be a platform for everyone who wants to explore the beautiful country of Italy. It makes me SO incredibly happy to share my passion for this country with others.
I want to be able to reduce headaches and tantrums by allowing people to reach into their pockets and with one simple gesture have recommendations for what they can do that is more family-friendly. I have spent time building the very first version of what I am calling CiaoLuca.Ai. I am naming it after my son, Luca who I love so very much.
CiaoLuca.ai is an AI-powered travel companion designed to revolutionize the way people experience Italy. With a focus on personalization and curation, the platform offers tailored recommendations for travelers based on their unique situations, preferences, and real-time location.
The very first version of this is an AI-powered chatbot that I have built as you can see from the demo below. Version 2.0 will be a mobile application that will be a fully baked AI agent that will use OpenAi's voice capabilities and offer highly customized suggestions based on your specific scenario and needs.
Features of CiaoLuca.Ai
Planned Features of CiaoLuca.ai
Personalized Itineraries
On-Demand Recommendations
Local Insider Insights
Travel with Children Support
Interactive Conversational AI
Booking Assistance
Cultural and Practical Tips
Offline Functionality
AI-Enhanced Family Journal
CiaoLuca.ai is designed to provide a seamless, immersive experience, blending advanced AI capabilities with a deep understanding of Italian culture and travel.
In the meantime while I am developing the app and the website you can test and play around with the chatbot, which you can find here: or in the ChatGPT store under the name CiaoLuca.Ai
I hope you all enjoy it and if you have any questions feel free to contact me.
Cheers,
Brandon Breon
www.brandonbreonux.com