Day 1
Board your overnight transatlantic flight.

Day 2 – Arrival in Rome, Italy.
Time to rest or to start exploring the “Eternal City.” At 6 pm, meet your Tour Director and traveling companions and leave the hotel for a special welcome dinner with wine at one of Rome’s lively restaurants. (D)

Day 3 – Rome.
Sightseeing with your Local Guide starts with a visit to the VATICAN MUSEUMS and SISTINE CHAPEL, world famous for Michelangelo’s ceiling paintings and The Last Judgement. Continue to monumental ST. PETER’S SQUARE and BASILICA. Cross the Tiber and visit the COLOSSEUM and the ROMAN FORUM, where Roman legions marched in triumph. Then, time for independent activities and exciting optional excursion possibilities. (B)

Day 4 – Rome–Orvieto–Tuscany.
Following the Tiber Valley, reach Orvieto, perched high atop a volcanic rock. Access, denied to many a would–be conqueror through the ages, is easy for you. Ride a modern FUNICULAR right through the forbidding ramparts. Time to browse through tempting shops in the lanes off Piazza del Duomo and to find the right angle for a picture of the fabulous gothic façade of the CATHEDRAL. Next, drive through the Chianti wine area and the spa resort of Montecatini in Tuscany. (B)

Day 5 – Tuscany. Excursion to Florence.
All day dedicated to Florence, “Cradle of the Renaissance”. Your guided walking tour includes a visit to Michelangelo’s David in the ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS and the magnificent CATHEDRAL, Giotto’s Bell Tower, the Baptistry’s heavy bronze “Gate of Paradise,” and sculpture–studded SIGNORIA SQUARE. Afternoon for independent sightseeing and browsing through the many shops. Florentine leather goods and gold jewelry sold by the ounce are attractive buys. (B,D)

Day 6 – Tuscany–Pisa–Venice.
A short drive to Pisa. Take your pictures of the amazing Leaning Tower, 180 feet high and no less than 12 feet out of the perpendicular. Next, enjoy a comfortable drive north to Venice, a powerful magnet for romantics and art lovers from around the world. (B)

Day 7 – Venice.
Enter in style by PRIVATE BOAT to meet your Local Guide. Highlights of your walking tour are ST. MARK’S SQUARE and its byzantine BASILICA, lavish DOGES’ PALACE and the BRIDGE OF SIGHS. Also watch skilled GLASSBLOWERS fashion their delicate objects in an age–old traditional manner. Then, enjoy Venice at your own pace or join an optional excursion to the island of Burano. (B,D)

Day 8 – Venice–Assisi.
Through the Apennine Mountains to peaceful Assisi. Meet your Local Guide and visit the CHURCH of ST. CLARE and the massive 13th–century lower BASILICA of ST. FRANCIS built above the Saint’s grave. (B,D)

Day 9 – Assisi–Pompeii–Naples–Capri.
South on the Highway of the Sun to famous POMPEII. Meet your Local Guide and start your highlight visit of this Roman city both destroyed and preserved by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. See a patrician home, public baths, and shops that give a striking picture of what day–to–day life was like in Rome at its apex of power. Next, drive to Naples, cross the blue bay by JETFOIL to the beautiful Isle of Capri for your two–night stay, and ride the FUNICULAR to Capri village. (B,D)

Day 10 – Capri.
This morning, enjoy sightseeing with a Local Guide. Highlight is a visit to VILLA SAN MICHELE in Anacapri. Afternoon and evening are at leisure to stroll around and discover the beauty of this famous island. (B)

Day 11 – Capri–Sorrento–Rome.
Speed across the bay to the charming resort of Sorrento. Enjoy time to stroll around and check out the local shops before returning to Rome. Why not join an optional dinner tonight in one of Rome’s fine restaurants to celebrate the success of your vacation? (B)

Day 12
Your homebound flight arrives the same day. (B)