Exploring Italian Wonders from Venice to Florence Tour

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.

We found this travel company wonderful.

All the cities were great

Great Restaurants. Amazing locations and tours.

Excellent hotels. Our favorites Piccolo Giardino in Taormina, Acqua dell'Arte in Catania, and Casato Licitra in Ragusa. Great service.

Loved our days on the beaches.

They were very helpful for the complete trip.

I can not say enough good words for the team of agents at this travel company. We are a family of 5 from North Carolina who took our first trip to Italy.  The expert guidance from this company that we received put us in a fabulous itinerary with comfortable and well located hotels and with the most the most knowledgable and amazing tour guides.  They also arranged all of our transfers which allowed us to really enjoy our time without the worry of getting from place to place. Our trip started in Venice (sadly we missed a day due to the airlines, our travel agents helped us with obtaining refunds for a missed mask making class.)  We highly recommend the hotel due to its location near Piazza San Marco and the wonderful outdoor seating for breakfast. From Venice we took the train to Florence and stayed at a hotel on Santa Maria Novella square.  Our highlights in Florence were the "Gastronomic Tour".  Our guide took us to a wonderful bakery where we met the owner and sampled the finest pastry in Florence.  From there we explored the local markets with prearranged samplings of different cheeses, prosciutto, salami, olives and wine!  

Our travel company arranged for a driver to take us to Al Gelso Bianco Agriturismo in the Chianti region where we had a cooking class making pasta, focaccia and much more followed by a wine tasting.  Following our meal, our driver took us to  San Gimignano, a lovely medieval village.

Our last day in Florence ended with a sunset Barchetto tour on the Arno. Serendipitously our tour was at the exact time as the final concert on the water during Italian brass week, 3 boats held an orchestra while we are on the only other boat on the river with crowds watching from the Ponte Vecchio bridge and the shores.  Amazing! 

Our journey ended in Rome, staying at a hotel that was 5 stars and centrally located.  Our guide was simply the most knowledgeable and engaging person you could ever hope for.

Simply put, we could not have put together a trip like this without the help of this travel team!!!!  Simply the best!

Trip was very good.  Everything was well coordinated and only a couple of hiccups.  

Overall comments:Rome: 4 days in room was perfect, wouldn't want to do more.  Can't trust taxis so happy we had drivers and guides.  The private guides are the only way to go.  We saved hours in lines, had personal feedback and was very cordial and polite.  Rome itself is great but it is disappointing to see how much better it could be if the city invested in a few things (toilets!).  Again - I'll mention that taxis were there to steal your money.  No issues at all with the travel plans and the plans made by zicasso were very good. The boutique hotel was a great choice.  Location was excellent, rooms very clean and new.  Breakfast was excellent there.  In general, all of the hotels we stayed at had a very good breakfast, this is the only way to go as it just takes that meal out of your schedule and starts the day out right.  Our biggest snafu was the car rental, we were supposed to have an Audi A3 or equivalent and all the car rental could offer was a ford fiesta... it really took away from our experience in Tuscany to have such a poor automobile on those roads.  Again - not zicasso's fault - car rentals are terrible everywhere and in Rome it was very poor service.  Our drive and trip to Tuscany was great, we stopped in Orvieto as zicasso recommended and had lunch there - one of the best restaurants during our whole trip.  We stayed at the hotel and it was excellent, the food and wine there was excellent - worth staying just for that.  It was a little difficult to get to - and a bit of a drive to anywhere from there - but no real complaints and it was worth it to stay there.  In all of Tuscany we enjoyed San Gimignano and Pienza the best.  We found Siena great but overcrowded, Pienza and San Gimagnano were just as (more) scenic and less hectic.  The day trip and guide in Florence was very good but we were glad we only spent 1 day in Florence.  This is a personal thing as I understand most people prefer more time in Florence.  We really enjoyed Bologna - the food tour was probably the highlight of our trip (the downside is we can no longer eat Parmigiano, Balsamic Vinegar or Prosciutto from any other place, it was THAT much better than anywhere else).   We took a day to go to Modena, see the Duomo there (best in all of Italy in our opinion), and we enjoyed the Ferrari museum.  I would highly recommend adding Bologna, the food tour and Modena to everyone's trip suggestions.. It is less crowded than the main touristy cities - and just as enjoyable... Loved this  part of the trip.  The hotel in Bologna was perfectly placed and very very nice, excellent choice.The train to Venice was perfect.  The pickup and ride to the hotel was good also.  The hotel was ok - but probably the least nice of all the places we stayed.  It was very good, just not as nice, more cramped and the breakfast was by far the worst.  I equate this to Venice as everything was more expensive and more cramped in Venice.    We loved Venice - more than I thought we would.  I could see 1 more day in Venice and 1 day less in Rome.  Just walking the streets - wonderful!Getting from hotel to airport was good - though it was much further than we'd thought. The airline we used sucks... no way around that - not Zicasso's problem - but flight was 1.5 hours delayed and well - as an airline it isn't very good.  I'm still not so sure that taking a full day train ride to get to Puglia wouldn't have been better?  (Venice to Naples to Puglia?) Pick up at airport in Puglia was good.  The driving service was good - same driver for all our trips in Puglia - but he didn't speak a word of English so that was a challenge.  Thank goodness for Google Translate!  We had a mix up where we interpreted the itinerary as us having a guide in Alberobello (see itinerary - says private tour - so we were confused).  The driver had a friend who gave us a personal private tour of the Trullo homes and some history - that was very nice he arranged that.  But it was a little embarrassing and confusing. It could have all been avoided if the driver spoke English as well as the itinerary being more clear.Ostuni and the guide were great.  We loved Ostuni as well as Alberobello and the caves.  We probably enjoyed those areas more than the renaissance areas of Florence, but that is just us.  Note: once we got to Ostuni we told our guide no more going inside churches... at some point - its just another beautiful church - but there is one on every corner in Italy!   The Hotel in Puglia is awesome.  Seriously this place is amazing.  The food was amazing the spa was amazing the service was over the top.  What a beautiful part of Italy...   We changed our schedule to spend the morning in Bari before catching the train to Rome - we could have easily spent more time there.  I probably liked the food in Puglia the best.  The focaccia is amazing (just like Grandma made!).  In general we loved Puglia though we'd probably have been better served to have a rental car as we were a long way from anything and it would likely have been less expensive than a dedicated driver.  We would have had much more flexibility in our schedule and planning if we had our own car.   Train back to the Rome train station and pickup was very good - though the Rome train station and driving out of Rome - is never a good experience.  The hotel we stayed at our last night was very nice but probably overkill since all we needed was a bed before we caught a flight out.  All in all - highly recommend zicasso, they did a great job for this trip.  Having guides and drivers on our first trip to Italy - priceless!

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.