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Best of Italy - Premium - 01 Apr 2027 to 28 Oct 2027
Operated by Trafalgar
Tripcode: 4E922M27
Overview
Destination:
Italy,
Vatican City,
Duration:11 days
Type:Group tour (max 45)
Travel Period
April 2027 - October 2027
Experience Italy, from first taste to final aria. In Rome, you’ll trace nearly 3,000 years of history through grand piazzas, weathered ruins and treasures tucked inside its churches. Near the Bay of Naples, you sit down to lunch on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, tasting traditional produce grown in the region’s volcanic soil. Venice begins aboard a private boat drifting by churches and palaces before a gondola carries you along narrow canals. Your Italian adventure ends over dinner as singers perform much-loved operatic songs and arias, leaving the final notes hanging in the air before you say arrivederci.
Highlights:
Standard inclusions
- 5 Dinner (D)
- 10 Breakfast (B)
- 1 Lunch (L)
- Air-conditioned, 40-seat coach with double the standard legroom and onboard washroom
- An expert Travel Director and professional Driver
- Audio headsets for flexible sightseeing
- All hotel tips, charges and local taxes
- We carry your bags for you and promptly deliver them to your hotel door
- From time to time, your Travel Director will delight you with a local specialty representing the destination.
- Complimentary coach and hotel Wi-Fi where available
Itinerary
Expand all 
Collapse all
Collapse allBegin Your Italian Journey in Rome
You arrive in Rome, where scooter engines hum past ancient columns, the scent of coffee wafts from doorways and Renaissance palaces rise above streets woven with medieval stone and Baroque curves. As you settle in, you might hear church bells ringing between the rooftops and watch evening light soften the city’s ochre stone. Later, join your Travel Director and fellow travellers for dinner at a local restaurant, sharing Roman specialities as names become familiar around the table.
Rome’s Icons: Vatican to Colosseum
Beneath gilded ceilings, you'll follow your Local Specialist through the Vatican Museums, passing cool marble, richly painted walls and treasures collected by generations of Popes. Inside the Sistine Chapel, you gaze at Michelangelo’s nine scenes of Genesis, from the delicate reach of two hands to prophets, sibyls and the sweeping figures of The Last Judgement. Back in the open air, you pause before the pale stone, grand facade and rising dome of St Peter’s Basilica, then cross the Tiber towards ancient Rome. The Colosseum waits beyond, its tiered arches catching light and shadow as you move through stone passages and hear how the arena used to fill with the roar of spectators and the dust of combat. Later, perhaps continue through Rome’s piazzas, where water spills through sculpted fountains and polished stone glows beneath the city lights. Occasionally, access to the Vatican Museums is limited. If tickets are unavailable, you’ll instead explore the Capitoline Museums, home to iconic Roman art and archaeology.
San Gimignano to Florence
As Rome recedes, you'll travel north through Lazio and into Tuscany, where vineyards sweep over the Chianti hills, olive leaves flash silver and cypress trees stand like dark brushstrokes beside pale country roads. Approaching Florence, you may catch terracotta rooftops spreading beyond the hills, your first hint of the Renaissance city ahead. Later enjoy a meal with fantastic flavours and regional wine.
Discover Renaissance Florence and Tuscan Craft
In Florence, your choice experience begins either at the Accademia Museum or a local cafe. You can study Michelangelo’s David, from his watchful gaze and taut hand to the concealed sling showing him poised before his confrontation with Goliath, or join your Travel Director for an Italian treat. At the cathedral, you take in green, white and pink marble flowing across the facade and Giotto’s bell tower, while the Baptistery’s recreated Gates of Paradise gleam with gilded detail. Renaissance sculpture occupies every angle of Piazza della Signoria, Florence’s political heart, with Neptune, Hercules and Cacus outside the Palazzo Vecchio. Later, you watch artisans demonstrate Florence’s leatherworking and goldsmithing traditions, catching the rich scent of worked leather and the glint of gold as skilled hands cut, shape and finish intricate pieces.
Travel From Pisa to the Venetian Lagoon
On Pisa’s Square of Miracles, you stand beneath an expanse of sky as white marble glows across the cathedral, baptistery and the Leaning Tower’s rising arcades. Beyond Tuscany, marsh grasses and salt water stretch across the Venetian Lagoon before you cross the causeway into Venice. As day-trippers return to the mainland, the city grows quieter and you catch the hollow knock of boats at their moorings from your hotel. Over dinner, you taste Venetian cooking as your first night in the city unfolds beside the canals.
Explore Venice by Boat and Gondola
Aboard your private boat, you'll pass churches and palaces spanning seven centuries, their carved balconies, arched windows and layers of faded plaster mirrored in the wake. Along the waterfront, you catch sight of the enclosed Bridge of Sighs and the patterned Gothic stonework of the Doge’s Palace, where Casanova made his daring escape. Round the corner, St Mark’s Square stretches wide, with the basilica’s clustered domes and mosaic-lined arches commanding your gaze. From your seat in a traditional gondola, you travel beneath small bridges as a serenade echoes along the narrow canals. Later, heat radiates from the furnace at a Venetian glassblowing workshop as master glassmakers turn long iron rods, molten glass burning orange while practiced hands shape it using centuries-old techniques.
Umbria’s Sacred Heart: Assisi and St Francis
Across the Umbrian valley, Assisi climbs Mount Subasio before you in rose and cream, its bell towers lifting above the plain. In the valley, you see the Basilica of St Mary of the Angels, which shelters the Chapel of the Transitus where St Francis died in 1226. In the upper town, you enter the Basilica of St Francis with your Local Specialist, leaving Assisi’s pale streets for shadowed chapels washed in blue, gold and earth-red. Giotto’s frescoes spread across the walls of the Upper Basilica in tender, human scenes, their expressive faces and gestures a radical break from earlier European art. During free time, perhaps follow Via San Francesco, where savoury aromas might drift from restaurants and bakeries as you browse keepsakes and locally crafted wares.
Southern Italy: Cassino to Sorrento
Travelling south, you pass Cassino, where Allied and German forces fought around Monte Cassino during one of the fiercest battles of the Second World War. The road then curls along the Sorrento cliffs, with the Bay of Naples widening below at each bend. Closer to the coast, you might catch the scent of citrus from hillside gardens as Mount Vesuvius anchors the far side of the bay. After checking in, the rest of the day is yours to explore the surroundings or enjoy the comfort of your hotel.
Bay of Naples: Sorrento to Capri
By boat, you’ll cross the Bay of Naples towards Capri, where great pale limestone cliffs descend into the Tyrrhenian Sea. The island’s admirers span 2,000 years, from Emperor Tiberius to Gracie Fields. High above Marina Grande, you join your Local Specialist in Capri town, where the sea flashes between whitewashed walls and shaded lanes weave past polished boutique windows. The funicular carries you down the steep hillside to the port before your return to Sorrento. The rest of the day is yours, perhaps in Positano, where ochre, peach and rose houses line the Amalfi Coast above the water.
Explore Pompeii and Dine in Rome
Beneath Vesuvius, you’ll explore Pompeii with your Local Specialist, following dark basalt streets through a Roman town preserved beneath ash in AD 79. At the Forum, columns break against the open sky, while you peer into shopfronts and patrician villas for traces of daily life in painted walls still standing after almost two millennia. The same volcano enriches the soil at Casa Barone, one of the few farms in the world to cultivate the endangered Piennolo tomato. During this MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience, you meet the Barone family, learn how they farm sustainably and see the small, pointed tomatoes bound into hanging clusters to intensify their aroma and flavour. Taste them during a farm-to-table lunch before continuing to Rome, where dinner with local wine becomes an intimate setting for popular songs and arias from Italy’s best-loved operas.
Bid Farewell to Italy’s Cities and Coast
As you leave Italy, its ancient cities, storied landmarks and changing landscapes remain vivid in your mind. So do the smaller moments: meals shared, flavours savoured and the final notes of opera over dinner in Rome.
Dates
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Operator
Trafalgar
The best of the world unlocked for you. Imagine unmissable experiences you’ve always dreamed of, getting to know the locals and having everything taken care of every step of the way. Here's what you'll experience: Must-sees to local secrets: Visiting bucket list sites are a highlight of travelling, however, travelling on your own can make them hard work. Don’t queue with other sightseers for hours, with Trafalgar our experts unlock doors – think exclusive access to the Vatican out of hours or a tour of Versailles and its grounds with an expert. This, coupled with the intimate glimpses and hidden gems our local specialists show you, are the life-changing experiences that make you feel like an insider, not a tourist. One-of-a-kind experiences: Thanks to our global network you’ll unlock local access to communities and people around the world. Our 100+ Be My Guest experiences are a signature Trafalgar exclusive, where you will enjoy the hospitality of locals as you are welcomed into their homes to hear their stories and learn about their cultures. In every destination, you’ll also enjoy unique “Stays with stories” accommodation: more than just a place to rest your head, they are part of the heritage and fabric of the communities you visit. Responsible travel at heart: When you choose Trafalgar, you are choosing to make your travels a force for good and support our goal to MAKE TRAVEL MATTER®. We recognise our responsibility to ensure we make a positive impact on the planet we call home, the people we visit, and the rich wildlife we find. We ensure that the impacts of our business and your travels are positive in two ways: through our TreadRight Foundation, and our 5-year sustainability strategy How We Tread Right.
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per person twin share
10 nights
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