Italy Vacations in December

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.

I have to begin by saying I've told everyone how pleased I am with Zicasso and the travel agent they recommended.  I also have to say that I was very hesitant to book my trip with a company that I had only communicated with via email.  Turns out I had nothing to worry about.

The initial response I received from my agent was immediate and continued right up until our actual trip while we were in Italy.  I let her know where I wanted to go, what I wanted to see, told her I was interested in a mix of arranged tours and time on our own.  She listened and also made great suggestions.  I honestly can't say enough about how wonderful she was to work with, along with her co-worker.

They arranged for all our hotels, transportation and tours.  Every driver and guide we had was top notch.  They made a point of keeping us in small groups, sometimes only the two of us and the guide.

Our 19 day trip began in Venice where we were met at the airport and driven to a private water taxi.  That driver walked us out of the boat and made sure we knew how to find our hotel. Our departure was just as seamless.  A guide met us in our lobby, walked with us to the water taxi, came into the train station with us and explained the board to us, pointing out our train and track number.  

We continued on to Verona, Cinque Terre, Tuscany, Florence, Naples, the Amalfi Coast and Rome.  Since we weren't in any one place longer than three days it was extremely helpful to have guides, even for just a couple of hours to orient us, which saved us a lot of time.  We had guides for a walking tour in Venice, a morning in Cinque Terre traveling with us between the villages, the Accademia in Florence, Pompeii, an Amalfi Coast drive and the Vatican in Rome.  Every one of the them was passionate and proud and we learned so much.  We had a car in Tuscany and saw many other places on our own, Lucca, Pisa, San Gimignano, Siena, Montalcino, Montepulciano.  We stayed in Sorrento, spent one day on Capri and another full day on a tour to Positano, Amalfi and Ravello, which included a short boat ride along the coast.  Spectacular.  Our only tour in Rome was the Vatican but we saw all the other major sites on our own, taking the metro, bus, taxis and walking, lots of walking.  It was the perfect mix of free time and arranged tours.

And, they also worked with our children who surprised us with a dinner in Venice for our anniversary after a gondola ride!

One great advantage to having your tour guide in the country you're visiting, you're in the same time zone.  We had one mishap with a train and were able to talk to them right away.  Other than that, everything worked liked clockwork.

I would definitely use them again and have told everyone I know what a wonderful job they did for us.

My family of 6  (Michigan, USA) made a once in a lifetime trip to Italy in June 2018.

We worked with this travel agent as recommended by Zicasso, for 9 months starting in August 2017 in order to customize a trip for us to privately see the all the places we wished to see in June 2018. Our travel agent was very responsive and accommodating in working within a budget and the planning process. He provided alternatives to choose from when suggesting accommodation’s and activities. We ended up with 2 fabulous weeks touring the entire country, stopping for private tours (yes…just the 6 of us) in the following cities.

Pompeii - Amalfi Coast - Island of Capri - Naples - Rome - Assisi - Cascia - Florence - Siena - Pisa - Bologna - Verona - Venice

We were greeted at the airports and personally escorted throughout the arrival and departure process which was invaluable when you do not speak/read or comprehend Italian. Our agent set up private transportation with English speaking drivers, within and in between each city, for our family which made our experience with the local culture and communities that much more rich. The travel guides in each city were very well selected and highly educated. They took their time giving us fun facts as well as historical information about their city and its traditions. They were also accommodating with all of our requests for bathroom or food breaks, recommendations to local restaurants and additional activities. Our overnight hotel accommodations were extremely luxurious and we felt very lucky to be treated so special. Each hotel offered complimentary breakfast so we were able to start each day with excitement and full stomachs.

We would highly recommend this travel agent to schedule anyone’s tour in the beautiful county of Italy.

Zicasso’s trip planner did a superb job. We requested a custom itinerary with a non-traditional combination of stops that two other agencies would not do for us. Our plan involved some longer driving transfers, but it was what we wanted. Our travel company arranged for us to have the same driver the whole time, which was very comforting.

Our agent and her team also booked incredible outings and restaurants based on our requests. The communication from the owner, her coordinators, tour guides, and drivers was outstanding and immediate.

We visited Venice and had a lovely walking tour, and Verona on our way to Gardone at Lake Garda. We did a full-day boat tour of the lake, took a ferry, and visited Malcesine before the Monte Baldo cable (which was incredible). We had a wine tasting and a stop at Santuario de la Madonna della Corona. We were also able to visit Vicenza on our way to Cortina D'Ampezzo in the Dolomites. We did an unbelievable hike at Cinque Torri while staying in Cortina.

The hotels, tours and transfers were pretty good.

We had some excellent tour guides in Milan and Assisi, and good ones in Venice and Florence.

Hotels were very well located, with the exception of one, which although well located, it is very noisy during day and night.

Things that we didn't like were the following:

1) The hotel in Venice provided us with a room with no view, the window was on a dark internal passage.

2) Transfer from Florence to Monterosso, and from Monterosso to Milan was provided by a very kind gentleman, but the air conditioning in the Mercedes Van worked only the first hour. Afterwards it was very uncomfortable, as the air didn't work and the windows couldn't been opened.

3) Transfer from Como to Venice, with stop in Verona. We waited half an hour at midday in the street in Verona in a very hot day, although I called to the mobile phone of the driver several times to pick us up, with no answer.

4) Some train connections were too tight. In Rome Termini, our train arrived with a delay of 43 minutes, and we had to run 2 km in order to catch the train. This is too stressed and demanding for people over 75.