Southern Italy Itineraries & Tours

"Zicasso’s travel agency planned the trip of a lifetime for us. They were attentive, communicated with us daily, and responded to any concerns."

I asked Carmen and her team at the travel agency to help us with a special family vacation in south Italy.  My grandfather came from a small village in the hills of Calabria, well off of the beaten tourist path.  The travel agency arranged for a truly spectacular experience, customized to our needs.  We started with a few days in Sorrento, a driver to show us the Amalfi Coast, and a guides to help us experience Capri from the land and water, before venturing south to experience the Pertosa caves, and a small Calabrian community in which many residents share our last name.  The itinerary next brought us to stunning Tropea and its beaches, and then Cosenza and Napoli, including private guided tours of Pompeii and Herculaneum, with a wine-tasting lunch in the middle!  The mix of private, curated experiences and free time to explore my family's Calabrian roots was perfect.  The travel agency took care of all of our needs, from beautiful accommodations, to kind, knowledgeable guides and drivers.  The team was in frequent but unobtrusive contact, and always available, to make sure that we had everything that we needed, from driver and guide contact information to dinner reservation assistance, if desired. We were captivated by south Italy's beauty and its welcoming people.  Carmen's willingness to help us travel to a few areas infrequently visited by Americans provided my family and I with positive, unique interactions and experiences that will make us remember this trip forever.  I wholeheartedly recommend this travel company for anyone interested in a special visit to a really wonderful country. 

Trip was excellent.  All the arrangements made by the travel company worked flawlessly.  Although we have been traveling for more than 50 years this was the first time we have used a travel agency to both plan and arrange an overseas trip.  We were impressed with the agency because they listened to what we wanted to do and see.  There were discussions and a few iterations before the final itinerary. Take time and speak with them.  Furthermore they were able to accommodate our idiosyncrasies. We spent 10 nights in Sicily in Palermo, Agrigento, Ragusa Ibla, Siracusa and Catania.  All the hotels and B&B's were excellent and centrally located as we desired,  The drivers and guided tours were staffed with knowledgeable, professional and efficient people.  The agency kept in contact with us throughout the trip although this was not easy since we did have a mobile phone.  There were no problems at all.  Superb suggestions from the travel company that we had not thought about such as a chocolate making class in Modica, a market crawl/cooking class/lunch in Siracusa as well as a visit to a top quality olive oil production estate were some of the highlights of our trip.  The archeological visits also were magnificent. The agency even arranged for our attendance at a Bellini opera in the Teatro Bellini in Catania.  The overall trip was wonderful mostly due to the great travel arrangements.  It did not hurt that for the 10 day trip duration there was no rain, only a few rare clouds and moderate temperatures. We would not hesitate to work with this travel company again. 

The trip planning and organization done by the travel agency were amazing. They helped us put together an itinerary to visit most of Sicily starting in the west (Palermo) and making our way around the island ending up in Taormina. We chose to have drivers assist us getting around as train service between small towns is not great and we have driven there before. We managed to see almost all of the sites we were interested in but were in most hotels at least 2 nights and some 3 or 4. It was a somewhat aggressive agenda but with the drivers it was much less tiring. We had time for the outdoors, saw some spectacular Phoenician, Greek and Roman ruins and stayed in some very unique hotels.The tours and events they organized were also very well done. We had professional guides in all of the archeological sites and in general very informative and friendly guides and drivers. We also had downtime which was much appreciated. The great thing about working with them is you could design your own itinerary with their help and make it as active or restful as you want.Our trip started in Palermo and we made our way to the Zingaro Reserve - we were able to see Trapani, Erice, Mazara del Vallo and Marsala as well as the Phoenician settlement of Mozia. We saw the archeological parks of Selinunte, Valley of the Temples, Villa Casale and Siracusa. We ended our trip in Taormina which was perfect.Along the way we had farm lunches, olive grove visits and tours, wine tastings and several other interesting excursions.Veronica and the customer service team were always there for us if needed.