Perfect Italy Vacation for Senior Travelers

Thanks for helping me organize my family (of 10 with diverse age from 15 to 63) trip to Italy, from Dec 17 to Dec 31. Whilst different member of my family have different expectation and requirement, I would like to comment you and your team on having planned an excellent trip that not only met each and everyone's interest and expectation but truly exceeded it.

Your planning have brought us to the lovely cities of Parma, Modena, Florence, Orvieto, Civita Di Bagnoregio, Naples, Rome, Venice, Cortina d'Amprezzo and back to our starting point Milan. Throughout the trip, we have a well balance itinerary that covered

- beautiful churches such as the Duomo in Milan, Rome, Florence,

- archeological site like Pompeii, Colosseum, Roman Forum, Pantheon, Pisa, Verona (learning more about romeo and Juliet)

- great local eating places (recommended by the guides you chose)

- lovely country side and unique sight in San Gimignano, Civita Di Bagnoregio, Orvieto, Lake Como,

- great gallery likes Uffizi, Academia

- Interesting activity such as Snow Mobile excursion in Cortina, Learning Cooking 

- Shopping activities

With so much, yet your team immaculate planning never have us rushing from sight to sight, we were both able to enjoy and learn as much as we can of each sight and at times added more activities.

The team of guides you chose, have truly turn stone and history into exciting stories that the provided the group deeper understanding of the sights we visited and saw. Really like to thank each on of them like our guides in Florence, Pisa, San Gimignano, Orvieto and Civita Di Bagnoregio, Naples and Pompeii, Rome, Verona, Venice and Milan.

But most importantly, thank you for getting our driver, he truly ensure our comfort whilst driving steadily through jams on our way to Naple and snow storm on our way to Cortina d Amprezzo and also took very good care of us ensuring we know what to do where we have no guides and leaving us clear instruction when we needed help. He is truly a wonder.

I will definitely tell my friends heading to Italy about this company.... A wonderfully great experience.

Our trip to Italy proved to be, indeed, 'fantastica'!  We traveled to Venice for 2 nights; by train to Florence for 2 nights where we stayed at the luxurious Palazzo Niccolini al Duomo; by train to Siena for 2 nights.  From there we speed-railed it by "TreniItalia" to Napoli where we were picked up in a private car to take us to the jaw dropping showcase Italian seacoast resort of Positano.  We stayed there for 3 glorious nights at the Covo dei Saraceni with the most breath taking views of the bay and the Amalfi Coast that you could ever see.  Finally, we were picked up in a private car and taken to Napoli for a train to Rome.  But first...we had a 2-hour stop with guided tour of Pompeii's ruins.  Finally, after training to Rome, we stayed at the quietly elegant Residenza di Ripetta hotel near the Piazza del Populo.

I've left out the most important parts which were the incredible tours that this Italy travel agency arranged for us.  We must've seen everything that this trip could offer.  And it was all done over two weeks.  We toured Venice during the calamitous weekend of George Clooney's wedding.  No, we couldn't go to the wedding but we had a fabulous time nonetheless!  Our agent and her team put us up at the quaint yet convenient Hotel Georgioni in Venice quite near the Rialto Bridge.  We had been picked up at the airport and water-taxied to our hotel.  During our fabulous 48-hour stay, we saw every nook and cranny of central Venice anchored by the eye-popping Piazza San Marco.  Included in our stay was a tour of the Doge's Palace with its art treasures galore and a tour of the markets area replete with a 30-minute gondola ride through a memory of photographs that I took that I will never forget.  The Rialto Bridge at night, along with the rest of Venice, is one of the most romantic sights in the world.  The lighting of this magnificent city at night is unforgettable.

From there it was on to the renaissance city and Medici capital of Florence to our luxurious hotel, the Palazzo Niccolini al Duomo right across the street from the magnificent Duomo itself.  We walked and toured everything; from the Accademia Gallery and the "David" masterpiece by Michelangelo to the Uffizzi Gallery and Vasari Corridor to the Ponte Vecchio where I bought my beautiful wife a golden ring the size of Sardinia.  We saw street musicians, vendors, activists and sellers of all kinds.  We even saw a Brahma bull towing a wagon hauling over a 1000 bottles of Chianti up the main street into the square.  The food? Indescribably memorable.  Just like all of Italy.  

On to Siena where the Medieval contrasts with the Renaissance of Florence beautifully.  These 2 cities, once rivals, are now bastions of art and relics dating back centuries...from every genius known to man.  Siena, with its massive "Campo" is the meeting point for all of Tuscany seemingly.  They run their horse race there every year around the Campo.  We didn't see it.  But we did see a huge nighttime sports car rally featuring the finest autos made by Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa-Romeo and others.

Taking the train in Italy is a far preferable way to travel than car.  We had the benefit of traveling in clean cars traveling almost 200 MPH in almost serene silence - with some of the greatest views ever.  It's fun...and grabbing a panini and a water is the perfect way to relax and have lunch aboard the train.  

Positano.  What can we say other than it was a 3-day dream.  Everything that you could possibly photograph is present in this sea coast paradise.  Staying at the singular Covo dei Saraceni provided us with a view out of our bedroom window that could stop time.  It was THAT beautiful!  The views of villas tucked into the mountains; the roads that snake their way down to the beach, the lovely little shops that adorn the narrow streets all make for fantastic photographs so compelling that friends would envy you and your experience.  From Positano, we took a day trip out to the Isle of Capri.  Capri, for us, was like Italy's Catalina Island - kinda honkytonk and overpriced yet still very fun.  Especially when you bus up to the top to take in the wildly sweeping and sometimes scary sights from Anacapri, the island's little town that's 'above it all.'  We toured the historic Villa San Michele with its stories of Axel Munthe, the one time owner and Renaissance man in his own right.

Finally, we finished with 3 days in exciting unstoppable "Roma".  Can there be any more excitement?  Any more history? Any more style?  We saw everything: the Colosseum, the Forum, the Pantheon, the Piazza Navone, the Carra Calla Baths, Circus Maximus, Palatine Hill, The Arch of Constantine, The Villas of Borghese.  We rowed boats, we road bicycle carts, we got lost.  Moreover, we ate gelato at the 150-flavors of Della Palma.  We heard stories about Roman Emperors and the various peccadilloes, their loves (and lovers!) and their battles.  Both won and lost.  

This whole trip will go down in our memory as arguably the greatest trip that we ever took.  We've been together almost 20 years and, thanks to our agent and her team at this travel company, we enjoyed our 2nd honeymoon to the max.  Not once in our 12-day itinerary did we have a hiccup.  Everything that our agency arranged for us from tours, to drivers to train departures and tickets etc went off without a hitch.  All the I's were dotted...all the t's were crossed.  I would recommend this travel agency as a 5-star travel agency to anyone who would ask.  I'd trust them completely.  Indeed, I have the pictures to last a lifetime.  I have memories that will last even longer.  

Great experience with this Italy travel agency. We would recommend Laura for anyone looking to make Italy their next travel destination. We went to cinque terre, Firenze, Siena and surrounding tuscan cities, Assisi and Rome in 15 days. All was awesome. Solid 4 stars.

In May, our family of five, all adults, took the best Italy tour from Milan to Rome. We visited Milan, Padua, Venice, Florence, the Tuscan countryside, Siena, Assisi, Cascia, Rome, and the Vatican. The tour was wonderful and well organized, thanks to our terrific Zicasso travel advisor. She was always available for questions and went out of her way to ensure all of our wants were accommodated in the trip plans.

The itinerary was well-thought out and we loved each of the destinations and the individual tour guides who educated us at the sites. They were thoughtful, informative, and interesting. Kudos to our agent for her excellent choices.

The hotels were also very good. We really liked the Tuscany hotel and would return there on our own. All of the hotels were well-located, which made for ease of getting around and walking the cities.

Our days were split between touring and having free time, which allowed us to explore on our own and spend time as a family. This schedule was perfect for us!

I would highly recommend this trip itinerary to anyone interested in seeing the north of Italy. Our agent did an amazing job attending to the details of the travel so we did not have to and providing special opportunities we would not have had on our own without a lot of hassles. We are definitely booking our next trips with her as she went above and beyond what we expected in her attention to us and our enjoyment of the trip!

We took this trip last year, and I realized when I came back to Zicasso to plan our next trip that I had never posted a review.

This was a 25th anniversary trip for my husband and me. We splurged on this trip. We wanted something special. We were overwhelmed by a trip that not only met, but far exceeded our expectations. Our Italy travel agent planned every detail and stayed in contact with us throughout our travels. She gave us a flip phone and called us shortly after we reached each destination to make sure everything was to our liking. And when we did run into a slight problem with our gondola ride in Venice, I was able to get in touch with our agent on a Sunday, and she took care of it immediately. Every driver and tour guide she set us up with was professional and well-informed about their part of the country. And they all spoke English very well. We felt pampered every step of the way.

Even with 2 weeks to spend in Italy, it felt like a whirlwind trip. Our agent managed to fit in everything we wanted to see and do and some things we hadn't even known we wanted:  A gondola ride and a tour of St. Mark's in Venice; a guided trip to the Accademia to see the statue of David and to the Uffizi Gallery, as well as time to walk across the Ponte Vecchio in Florence; wine tasting in Tuscany, not only of Chianti but also Brunello di Montalcino (what a treat); visits to Siena, San Gimignano, Montepulciano, and others in the area; a guided tour of Pompeii; visits to Amalfi, Ravello, and an inland winery near the Amalfi coast; a private cooking class; guided tours of the Colosseum, the Forum, the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica.

My husband and I would wholeheartedly recommend this agent and her travel company to anyone who is planning a trip to Italy.