Start in Rome on this unforgettable Italy vacation and enjoy highlight visits like St. Peter’s Square and Basilica, the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. In Orvieto, atop a volcanic rock, ride a funicular to the cathedral, before continuing to your spa resort in Tuscany. Enjoy an excursion to Florence, where a guided sightseeing tour includes visits to the cathedral and the Academy of Fine Arts to admire Michelangelo’s David. Visit Pisa to take pictures of the Leaning Tower, then arrive in Venice, where you visit St. Mark’s Basilica and lavish Doges’ Palace with a Local Guide. On your tour, watch Venetian glassblowers at work. Drive to Ravenna along the Adriatic coast to visit the Basilica of St. Apollinaris in Classe and continue through the Apennine Mountains to St. Francis’ Assisi. Next, visit the excavations of Pompeii with a Local Guide, drive through lively Naples and board your jetfoil to the charming Isle of Capri, where you stay for two nights. A guided sightseeing tour includes a visit to Villa San Michele in Anacapri. Return to Rome with a stop in Sorrento. Why not join an optional dinner in one of Rome’s fine restaurants to celebrate the success of your vacation to Italy?

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, 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 paceor 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 Caprifor 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)

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