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From
$2189.00
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Included
Features |
MEALS:
•
9
buffet breakfasts
•
4 three-course dinners, including a
special welcome dinner with wine in
Rome
QUALITY
HOTELS:
•
ROME
Cicerone
•
LUCCA Grand Hotel Guinigi
•
FLORENCE
Sheraton Firenze
•
VENICE All’Angelo
•
ASSISI Subasio
•
ROME Holiday Inn Rome West or Crowne Plaza
St.
Peter’s
Vacation
Highlights:
• ROME:
Welcome dinner at
a local restaurant; guided sightseeing including headsets,
visit the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, St.
Peter’s Square and Basilica, the Colosseum and Roman
Forum
•
PISA : Picture stop
at the Leaning Tower
•
LUCCA :Orientation
•
SAN GIMIGNANO:
Orientation
•
SIENA: Orientation
including Piazza del Campo
VERRAZZANO CASTLE
Wine tasting
•
FLORENCE: Guided
sightseeing including headsets, visit Michelangelo’s
David, the cathedral, and Signoria Square
•
VERONA:Orientation
including Juliet’s Balcony and the Arena
•
VENICE: Private
boat ride; guided sightseeing including headsets,
visit St. Mark’s Square and Basilica, Doges’ Palace
and the Bridge of Sighs; glassblowers’ demonstration
•
RAVENNA: Visit St.
Apollinaris in Classe
•
ASSISI: Guided sightseeing,
visit St. Francis’ Basilica
•
ORVIETO: Ride a
funicular through the ramparts to the cathedral
Inside
visits and special features are shown in UPPERCASE
in the tour description, including admission charges
when applicable |
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This
11-day vacation does not just include highlight cities like Rome,
Florence, and Venice, but also overnight stays in Lucca, and in
St. Francis’ Assisi. All major sights have been included, such as
St. Peter’s, the Sistine Chapel, and the Colosseum in Rome, Michelangelo’s
David in Florence, and in Venice, which you enter by private boat,
St. Mark’s, and the Doges’ Palace with the Bridge of Sighs. However,
this vacation offers even more: a special welcome dinner in a lively
Roman restaurant, visits to San Gimignano and Siena, famous for
the biannual, medieval-style horse race, the Palio, and stops at
Verrazzano Castle to learn about the famous Chianti wine, and in
Verona to take pictures of Juliet’s balcony. You’ll also travel
along the picturesque coastline to Ravenna and admire the mosaics
in the 6th-century Basilica of St. Apollinaris in Classe, and stop
in Orvieto, which you access by riding a funicular right through
its ramparts!
Itinerary:
Day 1: Board your overnight transatlantic flight.
Day
2 Arrival in Rome, Italy: Time to rest or start exploring
the Eternal City on your own. At 6 p.m. meet your Tour Director
and traveling companions and leave the hotel for a special welcome
dinner with wine in 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. Time for independent activities and exciting
optional excursion possibilities. (BB)
Day
4 Rome-Pisa-Lucca: This morning head north along the
Tyrrhenian coastline through an area where many a town was founded
at the very beginning of recorded history by the mysterious, highly
civilized Etruscans. Stop in Pisa for lunch and to take pictures
of its Leaning Tower, 180 feet high and no less than 12 feet out
of the perpendicular. Then continue to Lucca, and enjoy an orientation
walk and time to explore this pretty town on your own. (BB,D)
Day
5 Lucca-San Gimignano-Siena-Florence: A scenic day in
Tuscany. A morning visit to hilltop San Gimignano, the most picturesque
of Italy’s perfectly preserved medieval towns. On to Siena for
a leisurely lunchtime break and a walk through ancient narrow
lanes to beautiful PIAZZA DEL CAMPO, theater of the biannual Palio,
Siena’s spectacular medieval-style horse race. In the afternoon,
drive along the Chianti Road leading from Siena due north to Florence.
On the way, call at splendid VERRAZZANO CASTLE to hear about the
fine art of blending four types of grapes to obtain the famous
Chianti Classico. Enjoy WINE TASTING, accompanied by local specialties.
(BB,D)
Day
6 Florence: Follow your Local Guide to the ACADEMY OF
FINE ARTS with Michelangelo’s celebrated David and the magnificent
CATHEDRAL. Admire Giotto’s Bell Tower, the Baptistry’s heavy bronze
“Gate of Paradise,” and sculpture-studded SIGNORIA SQUARE. Afternoon
free for independent sightseeing and browsing through the shops.
Leather goods and gold jewelry sold by the ounce are attractive
buys. Why not try the culinary delights of a fine Florentine restaurant
tonight? (BB)
Day
7 Florence-Verona-Venice:
Stop in Verona, setting of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to see
Juliet’s Balcony and the Arena, an incredibly wellpreserved pink
marble Roman amphitheater. Built in the 1st century A.D., it is
now the magical venue for world famous opera performances. Tonight
you are in Venice, a powerful magnet for romantics and art lovers
from around the globe. Enter in style by PRIVATE BOAT. (BB)
Day
8 Venice: Morning
sightseeing with your Local Guide features ST. MARK’S SQUARE and
the 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 gondola ride Tonight is your
chance to sample the city’s fine restaurants. (BB)
Day
9 Venice-Ravenna-Assisi: Along the coastline of the Adriatic
Sea to Ravenna. Here see the famous mosaics in the 6th-century
Basilica of ST. APOLLINARIS IN CLASSE. In the afternoon arrive
in Assisi. From St. Clare’s church enjoy a pleasant walk with
your Local Guide, via pretty Piazza del Comune down to ST. FRANCIS’
BASILICA, the hub of a religious order devoted to the ideals of
humility, forgiveness, simplicity, and love for all God’s creatures.
Hear about monastic life and view the priceless frescoes adorning
the walls of the church. (BB,D)
Day
10 Assisi-Orvieto-Rome: 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
for lunch, browsing through tempting shops in the lanes off Piazza
del Duomo, and finding the right angle for a picture of the fabulous
Gothic facade of ORVIETO CATHEDRAL. In the late afternoon return
to Rome. Why not join an optional festive dinner at one of Rome’s
fine restaurants to bid farewell to the companions of a memorable
Italian vacation? (BB)
Day
11: Your homebound flight arrives the same day. (BB)
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Italian
Treasures