Day 1:  Welcome to Rome! Introductory Dolce Vita Tour

Your driver will waiting for you at Rome’s Leonardo Da Vinci Airport and will escort you to your hotel in Rome. After relaxing, you will be picked up by your private for your “Dolce Vita” Tour, when you’ll uncover the secrets locked in Bernini’s work, marvel at the Pantheon, the best preserved ancient Roman monument, toss a coin in the Trevi Fountain to ensure your return to the Eternal City, and simply enjoy Rome’s charming streets in a leisurely Italian fashion. By the end of the tour, you will realize that your guide has not only shown you around Rome, but has taught you how to get around Rome almost like a native.

Day 2:  Walk in the Footsteps of the Ancient Romans

Your guide will pick you up at your hotel and accompany you to the Coliseum, one of the ancient world’s largest structures, where Romans once gathered to watch gladiator games, animal contests, and even reenactments of sea battles. A massive stone amphitheater that seated an estimated 60,000 spectators, it was built in only eight years. Your guide will tell you about its design and construction, political purposes, fighters (both willing and unwilling), and eventual demise as an arena. At the Imperial Roman Forum, you will hear about the myths and religions of ancient Rome as you wander through the ruins of meeting halls and temples, such as that of the Vestal Virgins, who maintained Vesta’s sacred fire and were considered to be almost goddesses. The most ancient Latin text ever found, the Lapis Niger (“black stone”), can also be found in the Forum, in the foundation of a column. Your tour will end on the Capitoline Hill, the smallest and most important of the seven hills of ancient Rome, which offers a wonderful view of the city and the Forum.

Day 3:  Explore The Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica

Your guide will pick you up at your hotel for this signature Your Own Italy tour of the Vatican Museum and St. Peter’s Basilica. The art of the Vatican is among the most recognizable in the world. Your guide knows the tantalizing background of these Renaissance masterpieces, the geniuses who created them, and the powers who commissioned them. In the stunning Raphael Rooms you will see the famous “School of Athens” fresco that depicts influential thinkers of ancient Greece mingling with Raphael himself and some of his contemporaries. In the Sistine Chapel, below the largest and most renowned fresco in the world, your guide will explain how this work came to be painted and the messages Michelangelo his within it. From here you will head to St. Peter’s Basilica, the largest Catholic church in the world, where you can see Michelangelo’s magnificent Pietà, Bernini’s unparalleled altar canopy, and the tombs of the Popes, including that of John Paul II.

Day 4:  Arrival in Florence, Introductory Tour and the Accademia Gallery

Your driver will pick you up at your hotel in Rome and accompany you to the train station for a high-speed train to Florence. You will be met at the train station in Florence by your driver who will accompany you to your hotel for check in. After you relax, your guide will take you on an afternoon tour of the historic center that will include the gothic cathedral dedicated to Santa Maria del Fiore and the Accademia Gallery to see Michelangelo’s incomparable David.

Day 5:  Lunch and Wine Tasting at Villa Machiavelli and Visit to San Gimignano

This delightful, relaxing tour begins when your driver-guide picks you up at your hotel and takes the picturesque local roads through the world-famous Chianti region. Lying between Florence and Siena and bordered on the east by the Chianti Mountains and the west by the Elsa River, this wine region boasts delightful vistas framing vine-covered rolling hills and ever-present cypresses, along with an unhurried pace of life and charming villages. You’ll visit the celebrated Machiavelli winery for a tour of the vineyard and a sampling of several different types of local wine, followed by a sumptuous lunch in the family’s villa. From here, it’s on for a visit to the medieval gem of San Gimignano, “city of beautiful towers.” In its heyday, the town boasted 72 towers. Now 14 remain, and, rising above Tuscany’s Elsa Valley, they give the town the appearance of a medieval dream. Your visit begins at the Piazza della Cisterna, Piazza del Duomo Collegiata, and the Romanesque cathedral, and continues with a stroll along the ancient pilgrimage road, the Via Francigena. There will also be time to visit shops, browse for lovely Santa Fina pottery and other handmade products, and purchase saffron, a local culinary specialty.

Day 6:  Tour of the Piazza della Signoria and the Uffizi Gallery

Your guide will take you on a tour of the Piazza della Signoria and its many sculptures. The graceful Loggia dei Lanzi houses the famed sculptures of Perseus Holding the Head of Medusa, by Cellini (1554), and the Rape of the Sabine Women, by Giambologna. The day culminates with a private tour of the incomparable Uffizi Gallery, with masterpieces by, among others, Giotto, Michelangelo, and Botticelli, after which you can relax with a glass of prosecco on the terrace overlooking the Piazza della Signoria.

Day 7:  Tour of Pisa, Climb up the Leaning Tower and Arrival in Monterosso

Your driver will pick you up at your hotel in Florence, destination Monterosso al Mare of the Cinque Terre. On the way, you’ll visit the Piazza del Duomo in Pisa, also known as the Piazza dei Miracoli. The Duomo is a splendid eleventh century Romanesque cathedral built using fantastic spoils captured in expeditions against the Muslims in Sicily. The marble Baptistery is a majestic circular-plan Romanesque building started in 1153, and the Leaning Tower is one of the most beautiful and famous bell towers in the world. This tower was in trouble from the start; its architect, Nicola Pisano, managed to complete only three tiers before the structure started to lean. With your reserved ticket in hand, you’ll reach the top of the tower for a truly memorable experience. After lunch in the nearby town of Lucca, your driver will drop you off at your hotel in Monterosso al Mare, one of the five villages of the Cinque Terre.

Day 8:  Introductory Tour of the Cinque Terre with Pesto-making Demonstration

Your private guide will pick you up at your hotel and take you on a memorable walk of three of the five towns of the Cinque Terre. The villages of the Cinque Terre were built in ancient times by people seeking refuge from barbarian invaders. Lying between the mountains and the sea, the villages of the Cinque Terre have for centuries been isolated from the rest of Italy. This aura of isolation, and the area’s dramatic coastal scenery, have made the Cinque Terre ever more attractive to visitors. You’ll take the local train between Monterosso, Vernazza and Manarola, exploring each one’s narrow alleys and pretty pastel squares overlooking the sea as well as make your own pesto the traditional way in breathtaking surroundings.

Day 9:  Private Boat Tour of the Cinque Terre Coastline

Experiencing the Cinque Terre from the water is a must! Your guide will pick you up at your hotel and accompany you to the port where your private boat and captain await you. You’ll admire the five villages clinginto to the cliffs, the terraces for farming grapes and olives, and the grottoes that dot the bottom of the cliffs as they meet the water. An hour or so into your journey, Riomaggiore, the southernmost town of the Cinque Terre, will come into view. You’ll dock and enter town, enjoying it’s central piazza, shops and cafe’s. After lunch, your guide will take you on the local train to Volastra, a town of 200 residents, where you will visit a Romanesque-style church. From there you’ll enjoy a picturesque hike to Corniglia on the path that made the Cinque Terre famous. You’ll have a well deserved gelato upon arrival before taking the local train back to Monterosso.

Day 10:  Return to Rome and Food and Wine Tour in Trendy Trastevere

You’ll take the local train to La Spezia followed by a high-speed train to Rome. Your driver will meet you at the train station and accompany you to your hotel in the historic center. That evening you’ll enjoy a food and wine walking tour with your sommelier-guide in the trendy Trastevere, a neighborhood that’s a bit of old-time Greenwich Village or Paris’s Left Bank, but Italian more than anything else. With cobblestone streets that come alive at night with the sound of young people hanging out, and the buzz of Roman families enjoying long Sunday dinner after church, Trastevere is a place you have to see, hear, smell, and taste. Your Own Italy’s guided 4-hour walking food tour will take you through this photogenic neighborhood by night. You’ll sample a sumptuous blend of Italian classics like pizza and pasta, real Roman street food, less-known meats and cheeses, and amazing wine in a secret cellar – its history will blow you away. Few activities in Rome deliver as many hidden surprises and enchanting moments as this. Be sure to take advantage of an unforgettable night in one of our favorite Rome neighborhoods.

Day 11:  Departure – Arrivederci !

Your driver will pick you up with plenty of time to make your flight home. Rome salutes you with a warm and heartfelt “arrivederci!” See you again! Now that you’ve travelled with Your Own Italy, you have friends here.