Italian Treasures
Schedule
March 15 - 26, 2009
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 at one of Rome’s lively restaurants.
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 monumnetal 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.
Day 4 Rome at Leisure
Day 5 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.
Day 6 Lucca-San Gimignano-Siena-Florence A Scenic day in Tuscany. 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.
Day 7 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 shopping.
Day 8 Florence-Verona-Venice Stop in Verona, setting of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to see Juliet’s Balcony & the Arena, an incredibly well preserved 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. Enter in style by PRIVATE BOAT.
Day 9 Venice Morning sightseeing with your local Guide features ST.MARKS’S SQUARE and the Byzantine BASILICA, lavish DOGES’ PALCE & the BRIDGE OF SIGHS. Also watch skilled GLASSBLWERS fashion their delicate objects in an age-old traditional manner. Then enjoy Venice at your own pace. Join an optional gondola ride or dine at fine restaurants.
Day 10 Venice-Ravenna-Assisi Along the coastline of the Adriatic Sea to Ravenna. Here see the famous mosaics in the 6th-century Basilica of ST. APPOLLINARIS 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 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.
Day 11 Assisi-Orvieto-Rome Following the Tiber Valley, reach Orvieto, perched high atop a volcanic rock. Ride a modern FUNICULAR right through the forbidding ramparts. Time for lunch, browsing through tempting shops in the lanes off Piazza del Duomo, & finding the right angle for a picture of the fabulous gothic façade of ORVIETO CATHDRAL. 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?
Day 12 Your homebound flight arrives the same day.