Tantalizing Gastronomy Tour of Venice, Florence, Rome, and Amalfi Coast

The travel agency did a wonderful job, helping us plan our itinerary in Italy. We visited Venice, Florence, the Tuscany region, Sorrento, and the Amalfi Coast. The travel agency arranged for us to have private and small group tours, which allowed us to engage in conversation with the Italian people. Everyone was so kind and welcoming! The history was fascinating, as we visited museums and cathedrals in Venice and Florence. We enjoyed wonderful food at the winery, our pizza party, pasta making party, and at the goat cheese farm in Tuscany. We enjoyed wonderful grilled out food while overlooking the beautiful Tuscany region at a family owned, organic olive oil producing company.  In Sorrento, and on the Amalfi coast, we enjoyed the beautiful, coastal views, and the abundance of lemon trees. Our drivers were on time, with car seats when needed for our three grandchildren, ages 4, 2, and five months. The travel company was very attentive to our needs, and we are grateful for their help in making this a wonderful vacation!

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!

Overall, we LOVED this trip and we are thrilled we found this company. It was a dream trip for us that we waited to celebrate in honor of our retirement from work. The package was originally more money than what we intended to spend but we loved the ability to help design our own trip and in the end was well worth it!  What we liked was that it had first class amenities, no worry guidance throughout  and provided unique participative activities.  Our agent was a pleasure to work with, and we were so happy that a conference call from her in Italy was a critical part of the planning process. We were very pleased with the quality of the hotels, the guided transportation to each city and the quality of the people we dealt with; the two hiking guides were a definite highlight and your overall customer service/responses from our agent while on the trip was excellent. One of the most unique services we enjoyed was the providing of an Italy based smart phone to use on the trip. This was priceless in terms of communicating with you when changes had to made to the itinerary, plus was an absolute necessity in Venice when we used the map programs several times to find our way back to our hotel! It was also helpful in helping us navigate to some of the other towns sights.  By also providing us with some minutes to call,  it allowed us to check in with our family a few times. That was a definite bonus! A great plus to your service. 

For a more detailed review; 

Hotels- Loved your choices! Rooms were Superior or above. Except for Venice, we always had a great view out our deck or window, and most had a cool rooftop bar to have a nightcap and a great view of the city! Stresa , Radda, Florence & Positano were particularly spectacular. Unfortunately the rooftop bar in our Rome hotel was under construction, so we were unable to enjoy it. The Venice hotel, while "on the Grand Canal" had no view and a small bar, and I think this hotel did not meet the standard of all the other hotels. We were also amazed by the size (spacious) and modernness of the rooms in our hotels. Very new & comfortable.  By and large also, each hotel offered an included breakfast, which was a very nice way to start each day.

Activities- we particularly loved the guided hikes in Tuscany & Positano! The guides were absolutely welcoming, providing us with great history and local stories. And the fact that they were long hikes, taking several hours or most of the day, made it more special. We were never rushed and we enjoyed every minute with them. The lunch made by our guide, in his backyard, was amazing. He was a fantastic host to us and we enjoyed his company and his homemade food! We still can't believe this was included in the hike. Our guide in Positano was also charming- he even showed us his personal farm, and when we return, we will definitely take him up on his offer to share some of his homemade wine (when in season). 

  Other guides- we also loved that our guides in Stresa,  Venice & Pompeii - our guide grew up in the town (as did our hiking guides). They were very proud of their heritage and it showed in their enthusiastic approach. We learned a lot from them & they were fun to be with. Our guide in Florence was informative, but we didn't get the same feel as the more  "local" guides mentioned above. 

  We were glad we declined the Murano glass factory, perfume factory & the Vespa tour. Unfortunately the private boat tour to Amalfi Coast was cancelled,(which sounded fantastic) but perhaps substituting/offering some other participative activities would have further enhanced our trip. 

  The stop at the farm in San Gemignano on the way to Radda was awesome! The owners were great hosts-we got to enjoy a fantastic homemade lunch, sampling many of the foods they grow & make there- not to mention the wine! The fact that we were again not rushed, but had almost 2 hours to enjoy the food & company was very memorable, and a highlight. I'd like to have a lunch like that again! 

   Transit- the trains were very good- clean & comfortable, on time and easy to board & unboard. We loved being dropped off & then met for each trip- it took the worry out of finding our way. Again, worth the extra cost. Other than the mixup at the Stresa train station(we were supposed to be driven to Milan) all went smoothly. (A quick call to our agent provided us with a cab ride to Milan and we made the train).

     We also appreciated our agent helping us get to Rome when our return flight to the US  via Naples to Frankfurt was cancelled last minute. We are glad that she did the "right" thing by not charging us additional fees- especially given that our boat tour was cancelled in Amalfi & we declined some of the other activities. 

    Lastly, we also enjoyed the cooking class in Rome. We think there was a mixup somehow that day with the Tour (no fault of yours) and the class was larger than usual (according to them), but it turned out to be fun with the other couples. The place where we had it was spectacular, and we enjoyed learning some of the history of Italian cooking, the chef, the use of his apartment in a movie, and a walk through the Jewish Ghetto. In the end, the food we had was probably the best we had on the whole trip. So fresh. 

  Tickets/Vouchers- all worked out perfectly. We were glad that we had them and it got us easily into each site and on the right trains. 

Possible Recommendations- 

  The hotel in Venice- should look for another choice, with a better view and a better bar. Good but not great. 

   Positano hike- We were fortunate that we are in good enough shape & health to do the 6 hour hike in Positano. It was strenuous & extremely fun, but was far more difficult than we imagined. With the elevation & cliff issues, we suggest you be more descriptive in your offering in the event your clients are unfit to do such a hike.  (The challenge for us, however , absolutely made this a memorable hike for us and we're glad we did it!)

Don L (husband of Beth A) 

We wish to think our travel specialist from the travel company for a fantastic trip to a beautiful country! It all started when I inquired on the Internet for a reputable travel agent. I was directed to our travel specialist and sent her a communication to which she promptly telephoned me. She asked a few basic questions and outlined a tentative trip. After minimal back-and-forth the trip was finalized. Airline reservations were separate, and we made those. I contacted our travel specialist as the trip approached to confirm that everything was OK – which is was of course.

Hotels: All hotels were well chosen. They were in the center of activity. Within walking distance of necessary sites. Always air-conditioned and comfortable. In many we had balconies which we especially appreciated an the Amalfi coast and Venice as they overlooked the water. All hotel fees were paid including breakfast and taxes. In one hotel we used their laundry service which was efficient and timely. At another hotel we used their packing so we could ship souvenirs home as we had exceeded our luggage capacity. Hotel staff was always friendly and helpful.

Transfers: At each location we were met at the airport or train station and transported to our hotel. In like fashion we were transported back. In some instances we were transported to and from our tours. All drivers drove Mercedes vehicles which were clean and well kept. The drivers all spoke good English and were very friendly and helpful. Although their job was not as a tour director we did learn much about Italy from them. Porter service was included in Positano which was a must! We had delightful boat tours in Amalfi and Venice including a trip to the island of Capri and the Five Lands near Florence.

Tours / Guides: We had tours in each city to see the major sites. These were combinations of walking, driving or boats (The boat taxis in Venice were particularly exhilarating). All tour guides were outstanding English speakers and most had advanced degrees in topics related to our visit such as a degree in Artistry. We enjoyed each and every one of them very much and appreciated our time with them. We found the tours to be perfect in length. Not too long and not too short. Nothing seem to get redundant and we were always excited to see the next thing on the agenda.

Trains: The high-speed trains were on time and comfortable. We had reserved first class seats together. Very few stops. Very efficient transportation.

Special Activities: Our travel specialist arranged such things as an elegant tasting meal with wine pairings, an Italian cooking class, several beautiful lunches and many other delights. All were well executed and enjoyable. I would say of our meals the cooking class was our highlight. We enjoyed a lovely gondola ride in Venice and were amazed with the water taxis! We went to Capri and had a boat tour of Como. So many special activities!

Food: We found the food in Rome and the Amalfi coast to be most pleasing to us. Different than the United States and seemed very fresh with simple spices. As we got further north it seem to be more Americanized but still very good. We focused on the pastas primarily and the many variations available. We had limited beef and fish which was our preference. You won’t go hungry!

Shopping: My friend’s favorite part of the trip! Although there is great shopping everywhere, we did most of our shopping along the Amalfi coast in Positano. Lots of beautiful boutiques there which had Italian made items. Did not seem overly priced and we enjoyed the variety. Many of the other stops seemed to focus on typical touristy type items and although we bought our assortment doing so was more mandatory than fun.

Destinations: We had a lovely trip of Rome, the Amalfi coast, Florence, Venice, and Como. Our itinerary had adequate time to see all the major sites in each location along with time for relaxation, shopping, eating, etc. At every location we had skip the line tickets for efficient use of our time with our excellent tour guides.

Tipping: Not as customary in Italy as in the US. We tipped all guides and many others based on their level of expertise and the time amount of time we spent with him. Our tipping at restaurants was hit or miss. Interesting that when you pay by credit card you cannot add the tip to the credit card charge.

Money: We chose to use ATMs to get cash in Euros. They were usually conveniently available. Most major purchases were made on the credit card.

Dress: Dress in Europe is casual and similar to that of the United States. The only qualifier is that you must cover your shoulders and knees to go into most of the churches.

Phone/ Internet: Before leaving we made sure we were on the international plan which was a few dollars a day extra. This gave us full use of our phones, Internet, texting, etc. All hotels had Internet available as did many other places.

Driving: We did not rent a car nor try to drive and I would recommend against it in any of the major cities. Much more congested and very much a free for all compared to the US.

Problems: We had one issue that we had to deal with. Our travel specialist was very helpful in getting this resolved for us. She had to go to some trouble to accomplish this so it was very much appreciated. She is certainly a professional at her work.

Our travel specialist and the travel company: This was our first time using them. They were very professional, helpful, set up a great itinerary and executed it in a flawless fashion. In addition our one stumble was completely resolved. Highly recommended! Thank you to our travel specialist for a once in a lifetime experience in Italy!