ITALY'S GREAT CITIES - 2010

9 days incl. travel, or 8 days from Rome to Rome (ZJ)

Return to Italy Escorted Tours

Vacation Overview

This vacation shows you Italy’s most famous cities and landmarks—from St. Peter’s, the Sistine Chapel, and the Colosseum in Rome and Michelangelo’s David in Florence to St. Mark’s Basilica, Doges’ Palace, and the Bridge of Sighs in Venice. Local Guides in these cities will answer all your questions. Also included: a welcome dinner with wine in a Roman restaurant, as well as stops in Pisa to admire the Leaning Tower and in Romeo & Juliet’s Verona to see Juliet’s balcony and the Arena. Enjoy scenic vistas along the Tyrrhenian coast, the Lombardian plains, the flat Po area, the wooded Etruscan Apennine mountain range, and Tuscany’s Chianti wine country. In Venice, a private boat ride and a glassblowing demonstration are included.

Things to see on your vacation: View Vacation Photo Slideshow

A Vacation Story Vatican Museums

"In the early 1500s, Rome was full of neglected ruins from the days of the ancient Empire, which still contained artworks buried amongst the rubble. The Renaissance had seen a sudden growth of interest in all things classical, and the popes – cultivated men who were in touch with the intellectual currents of the day – were the richest art collectors in Italy. They began offering substantial cash rewards for any sculptures, until Rome was scoured by freelance treasure hunters on the hunt for pagan masterpieces. The most dramatic discovery occurred in 1506, when a Roman father-and-son team of excavators reported a promising find near the ruined Baths of Titus. The artist Michelangelo himself excitedly hurried over to help with the work, followed by the pope’s official agent, Guiliano da Sangallo. When the excavators brushed away the dirt of 1,000 years, they found an enormous marble sculpture, perfectly intact, of a muscular Trojan hero being attacked by giant snakes. Guilano cried out in amazement, “This is the very Laocoön described by (the ancient Roman author) Pliny!” The sculpture was carted off to the Vatican Museum."