Charm & Romance in Italy’s Countryside: Tuscany and Umbria Tour

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.

My husband and I, along with our 2 children (age 20 and 17), enjoyed a wonderful Italian vacation booked through Zicasso and this travel agency.  Our travel consultants listened to my ideas and arranged for us a fantastic custom itinerary.   They stayed within the budget allotted, offered choices for beautiful hotels and private tours, and made several revisions as per our request.  We departed from New York on our 25th anniversary, and spent 10 days traveling the country within the month of November.  This off-season time proved to be a great decision as reservations were easy to obtain, crowds were minimal (mostly all locals), and the weather was conducive for walking and sightseeing (average 60 degrees F).  Transportation and the personal drivers were top notch; with Mercedes SUVs or minivans to take my family from Milan-Chianti-Florence-Verona-Venice and then the high speed train down to Rome.  Accommodations arranged for us were phenomenal!  We stayed in a 12th century castle in Chianti, in the heart of the city center in Florence, and near the Spanish Steps in Rome.  The personal tour guides were friendly and knowledgable, and were happy to recommend eateries preferred by locals.  All in all, everything was flawless. We plan to return some day to see the Amalfi coast, Positano and Capri.  We would absolutely recommend these travel consultants, and the travel company team to anyone who is looking for a personalized Italian vacation.

My husband and I wanted this "trip of a lifetime" to Italy to go well and I didn't have the hours to research and then be sorry if I didn't choose right so our Italy travel company's customized travel plan was perfect!  I had put my name into Zicasso to say where we wanted to go and 2 travel agencies that specialize in Italy contacted me to find out what we wanted to do (go to Venice, Florence, Assisi and Rome) and then they contacted us with their suggested itinerary.  We chose our agency because theirs was a much more detailed itinerary and they definitely had a better knowledge of Italy.  Our agency booked our hotels (which all included breakfast), transportation and some tours and we were on our own for whatever else we wanted to do.

Our agency provided us with a detailed itinerary summarized with dates, times and phone numbers on one page and in the packet were our maps, tickets and vouchers for trains and tours.  We flew into Venice and had a map of where to get the private water taxi from the airport to our hotel.  From the dock in Venice we were very close to our Hotel which was easy to find and in a GREAT location.  The breakfast buffet was wonderful and service was very good.  We chose not to take the gondola ride and instead used the public water taxis and toured Venice on our own for 2 nights. On the third day we met our private water taxi driver at the same dock to take us to the train station in Venice to go to Florence.  

The first class train even had it's own computer for each person and lots of room.  In Florence we were met by our driver with a sign with our name and driven to our hotel with a view of the Duomo where we stayed for 3 nights.  This hotel had a private room and a shared suite with free snacks and coffee and tea and breakfast was around the corner at a pastery shop.  We followed the map provided to the tour office and toured the Uffizi Gallery, Streets of Florence Tour and a very fun cooking class with 4 course dinner and lots of good wine!  Our third day in Florence, we were met with a private driver at our door and driven around Tuscany, stopping at an abby and few small towns including Greve and eating on a veranda at a winery which we also toured. This was one of our favorite days of our trip.  

We wanted to go to Assisi and our travel agent said they do not have a place to store bags at Assisi (though the other agent who contacted me said there WAS but our agent was right!) so she at first had planned a private driver to take us to Assisi and wait for us and drive us to Rome but instead we decided to take the train to Assisi and stay overnight and take the train to Rome the next day.  The room in our hotel in Assisi had such a beautiful view we wished we had chosen to stay there another night!  

After taking the train to Rome,  our driver took us to our hotel which was just around the corner from the massive Victor Emmanuel Monument so within walking distance to all the major Rome attractions.  This hotel had a private elevator that opened directly into our suite and a little deck with a table and chairs to eat outside.  Breakfast was ordered daily and sent to our room (though they could not get our order right most days but the great location made up for this!)  For our 5 nights in Rome, our only scheduled tours were the Ancient Rome Tour and the Vatican tour.  All of our tours were with at most 10 other people and sometimes it was just us.  

In the itinerary our agent recommended restaurants and other places to see in each location which we did take advantage of and we used the Rick Stevens Guidebook extensively. Our driver picked us up right on time at the hotel the last day to take us to the airport.

We loved that we had some support but could explore on our own!  We highly recommend this Italy travel company!

Locations Visited: Venice, Verona, Florence, San Gimignano, Siena, Pienze, Rome, Pompeii, Positano

My husband and I planned this trip for our 10-year anniversary. I’m a person with high expectation and this travel agency exceeded all my expectations. The entire trip was dream.

We opted for personalized tours and transport for 95% of our trip. All of our drivers were wonderful. They arrived on time and made sure we made it to all of our destinations without issue. They had the contact information for the tour guides we were meeting. Upon arrival to our first hotel, a local cell phone and gift were given to us. Having the iPhone during our trip made any needed communication with our agent and his team a breeze. In addition, we used the phone apps for navigation throughout the cities we visited. We made a last-minute request for an additional private transport, and our agent was able to make it happen. We greatly appreciated their customer service.

We participated in a several unique experiences while in Italy. We went truffle hunting in Pienza, which was amazing. After, we were served a meal that highlighted truffles and the cheeses made locally. In addition, we did a cooking day in Rome. This was a private cooking class where we made pasta, several sauces, and appetizers. The one disappointment is that we never received the recipes from the chef (we were told by the chef that they would be emailed to us). However, this is a knock on the chef and not our travel agent. Once the class was done, we were served a meal in a private garden area. Lastly, we did a food walking tour in Rome. This was an amazing way to find local cuisine that we wouldn’t have known about otherwise. A wonderful experience.

All of our tour guides were excellent. They were knowledgeable, friendly, and familiar with the cities. We had one guide that really went into the details and reasons for expressions in the art. We didn’t care for that, but we didn’t specify that ahead of time or to the guide. It was wonderful seeing her excitement and passion for all of the amazing working works of art and sculpture that we saw.

Overall, I would highly recommend this travel agent and his team if you are traveling to Italy!! You will not be disappointed. We gave him our wish list of activities, accommodation preferences, etc. ahead of time and he made sure we got them all! Thank you for such a wonderful and memorable trip. If we are able to return to Italy, you will be hearing from us.