The Rabbinical Trail: A Jewish-Centric Exploration Tour of the Veneto Region

We booked a trip to Italy with this travel company.  We chose this travel specialist after interviewing a couple of different agencies.  We like to travel and explore places independently, with some private touring and guides that are flexible.

Our travel specialist listened carefully and came up with a plan that was more our style of traveling.   We chose from a few hotels in each area and he arranged for tours and when we had some last minute ideas, he was mostly able to accommodate us including a guide who got us into the Florence Academia to see the statue of David.   It would have been helpful to know about the need for advance tickets to get in there as well as the Duomo, something that would have been helpful in our travels.  

Our travel specialist set us up for a pasta cooking class which was in the chef's home with another family which was a fund night.  We had dinner and wine with the chef, his assistant and the other family and it was awesome.

We first went to Florence and stayed in a newly refurbished hotel, which was wonderful.  A guide took us the day we arrived to see the David and we had a wonderful first day.  Our second and third days were well planned with enough freedom to see the city on our own.   We were unable to see the Duomo because we were unaware of the need for advanced tickets as mentioned earlier.  We did see the Duomo in Sienna which was worth it so it kind of made up for what we missed in Florence.

We then went to Tuscany and stayed in a low key resort with a farm, animals where they made wine and grew olives.  It was in the town of San Gimigiarno, This was one of our travel specialist's recommendations and it was a good one.  We asked for advice on touring Tuscany and followed his advice as we visited a few towns.   He made sure we had a van for our luggage and getting our car in Florence was not a big deal.

We finished our three days and then dropped off the car and headed for Venice.   We had a problem on the train where apparently our ticket was cancelled as someone was sitting in our seat.   A tour guide we had in Venice suggested that the high speed trains sometimes do this to people, and it was not likely our agents fault.  After we paid for four new tickets, our travel specialist's staff received a copy of my receipt and said they would take care of it and reimburse us for it.  It all worked out ok and the train conductor found us a somewhat upgraded area in another car.

Got to Venice and our travel specialist arranged for our water transfer to and from the hotel which was nicely located.   We arranged through him to get tickets for Doges palace and for the basilica in advance.  This was after I had asked prior to leaving, since it is difficult to see these sites without advance purchase.  Our travel specialist had arranged for us to take a Gondola Ride the first day but we ended up going the second day due to scheduling.   The change was arranged by a woman he hired to give us a tour

The final day, we had cancelled a gondola rowing lesson since it was a little too touristy for our tastes and instead went to the Jewish ghetto that morning.  

In the afternoon, he set us up for a tour of Burano, Murano and Toriccello, three islands next to Venice. Personally, we would have preferred a more private tour of Burano and perhaps Toricello.  Burano is beautiful, Toricello is basically a park that has some older historical churches and buildings.  

Murano is home to the Murano glass factory and we were shuttled into a glass blowing demo and then their store, never really seeing the island. Alittle too touristy for us, would have preferred a more personal and less rushed experience.

Overall Trip was excellent- travel tips were extremely helpful and suggested activities helped very much.  We followed there travel suggestions and were very satisfied. 

Some specific comments;

Rome-  Hotel was great, excellent breakfast (best we had) -  Tour guide for Forum  was very good, guy for vatican talked a little to much but didn't say much, didn't use suggested restaurants just picked out roadside cafe's and it worked great.  

Positano-  Hotel very good although shower did not drain and even after repeated requests no body fixed it. Breakfast very good ( second best) and mornings on the porch were priceless.  Used suggested restaurant, a bit pricey but good ( we typically prefer more casual dinners and stayed on our own for dinner locations after that) - trip to Capri was good (crowds made it a bit difficult to get going) lot of climbing. Ravello was cool but public bus wasted a lot of time and wasn't comfortable at all-  some direction might have helped.

Pompeii- we should have prepared more to get more out of it

Florence-  really need time, but that was our fault-  room location wasn't bad but a little bland-  it worked though, nothing exciting.  Replacement tour guide worked out very well- very knowledgeable.   Food tour was excellent.

 Car rental-  worked excellent - really glad we did it 

Abbey - interesting but 3 nights there was to much-  frankly bed was terrible (felt like it was from the middle ages) breakfast just OK and it was always a long drive back-  we did quite a bit in those three days but found that driving back and forth to the abbey took a LOT of time.  Tasting dinner OK- we would have preferred just ordering off the menu.  Would have liked to see Sienna or other locations more. Frankly we didn't plan well and tracked over the same roads many times. Cooking class was excellent-very much worth it.

Opera 2 -  excellent, views great, interesting location- two days is right.  Tasting dinner was OK? but given the choice we would do something else.  Ferrari museums were just good, Lamborghini facility was much better.

Venice- amazing place and crowded.  Took some time to drop the car and find the two locations to validate the travel transit tickets , especially the place for the transfer back to airport- office is in the train station and poorly marked. took a bit of time. Hotel was great- once we found it- maps and google map on phone don't work well as you probably know. Did what we could in a day and half (Murano glass tour was excellent- people were great) 

Trip home long but uneventful-  thanks for a great trip we will always remember.   Joe S

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.

Our trip was fantastic! Zicasso’s travel team thought of everything, from having someone meet us outside of each train to lining up transportation from each destination. Everything was perfect!

Here are minor tips we learned along the way:

Florence bus tickets are purchased at the bus station and must be stamped before or after getting on the bus. A nice tourist suggested we do it, which we did, but the people behind us did not and they were fined 60 euros.

The Murano glass-blowing tour in Venice is a must-do. The only thing we recommend is to do it on your own time and not while on a guided tour. It will take over an hour and might eat up time you could use seeing more of the city. My suggestion? Have the tour guide drop you off there at the end of your tour. Getting back to the main island from there is easy and free via water taxis (they are paid by the town to get folks back and forth).

Our agent’s team compiled a very long and detailed list of things we could do and restaurants to focus on. We took a lot of their recommendations and it made things very easy. We especially liked their team helping us from the train station to things like the water taxi, and helping guide us through very busy train stations. Everyone was right where they needed to be when we needed them, so we never had to hunt or wait for anyone.

All the hotels were unique and full of individual charm, with our favorite being our hotel in Venice. Their restaurant for breakfast and dinner stood out as our favorite. We will 100% be back.

We will use our agent and her team on our next adventure to Italy.