DAY 1:  Welcome to Rome! Dolce Vita Walking Tour

Your driver will be waiting for you at Rome’s Leonardo Da Vinci Airport and will escort you by private car to your accommodations in the historic center of Rome. After relaxing you will be picked up by your private local tour guide who will accompany you on your “Dolce Vita” Tour. You’ll uncover the secrets locked in Bernini’s work, marvel at the Pantheon (ancient Rome's best preserved 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 as if you were a native.

DAY 2:  Walk in the Footsteps of the Ancient Romans

Your guide will pick you up at your accommodations 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 accommodations 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. In leading you through the museums, your guide will convey 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 unknowingly with Raphael himself and some of his contemporaries. In the Sistine Chapel, below the largest and most renowned fresco in the world, your tour guide will explain the intriguing history of this work and the hidden messages Michelangelo painted into it. After the museum, you’ll visit St. Peter’s Basilica, the largest Catholic church in the world, where you can see Michelangelo’s magnificent Pietà, Bernini’s acclaimed altar canopy, and the tombs of the Popes, including that of John Paul II.

DAY 4:  Tour Hadrian's Villa and Villa D'Este in Tivoli

Your private driver will pick you up at your accommodations for an excursion to the Roman hill town Tivoli, where you will visit two splendid villas with your private local guide: the ancient Roman villa of the Emperor Hadrian and the Renaissance Villa d’Este. Hadrian’s Villa, the largest of its kind in Roman times, testifies to the remarkable skills of Roman architects and builders, while the Villa d’Este, commissioned in 1550 by Cardinal Ippolito II D’Este, is famous for its masterpieces of Renaissance art and, in particular, for its many pools and fountains. Afterwards, you will enjoy lunch at the extraordinary La Sibilla restaurant (not included).

DAY 5:  Culinary Adventure

VISIT THE LOCAL MARKET FOLLOWED BY A PRIVATE COOKING CLASS

This culinary endeavor is perfect for experienced cooks as well as novices, and includes shopping, cooking, and a taste of Italian culture. We’ll begin, as the Italians would, with visits to a variety of local stores and marketplaces, such as an artisan butchery, fish shop, cheese store, bakery, and produce market. We will then head to your kitchen or ours, where we cook. The class will be tailored to your individual tastes, and can include Italian favorites or unique new menus.

OR

ENJOY A PRIVATE WALKING FOOD AND WINE TOUR IN TRENDY TRASTEVERE

Trastevere is a neighborhood like no other. Its cobblestone streets come alive at night, earning it comparisons to Greenwich Village and Paris’s Left Bank. It’s where Romans choose to eat with their families on a Sunday and where young Romans go for buzzing nightlife on evenings and weekends. On this private four-hour walking tour with a sommelier, you will explore 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. Enjoy Rome at night with the guidance of a local who knows the streets!

DAY 6:  Tour the Works of the Masters of the Renaissance

Your tour guide will pick you up at your accommodations for a delightful tour exploring the paintings, sculptures, and architecture of Michelangelo, Borromini or Caravaggio or a combination of all three!

DAY 7:  Departure 

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