ITALIAN TREASURES - 2010

11 days incl. travel, or 10 days from Rome to Rome (ZK)

Return to Italy Escorted Tours

Vacation Overview

This vacation includes Rome, Florence, and Venice, as well as overnight stays in Lucca and St. Francis’ Assisi. All major sights are included, such as St. Peter’s, the Sistine Chapel, and the Colosseum in Rome, Michelangelo’s David in Florence, St. Mark’s, Doges’ Palace, and the Bridge of Sighs in Venice (which you enter by private boat), and St. Francis’ Basilica and St. Clare’s Church in Assisi. Enjoy a welcome dinner in Rome, a stop at Pisa’s Leaning Tower, walking tours of Lucca and Siena, and time in picturesque San Gimignano, at Verrazzano Castle to learn about the famous Chianti wine, and in Romeo & Juliet’s Verona. Also travel along the stunning coastline to Ravenna, admire the mosaics in the 6th-century Basilica of St. Apollinaris in Classe, and stop in Orvieto for a funicular ride right through its ramparts!

Note:
Dec 21st Departure - Christmas Eve in Florence

Things to see on your vacation: View Vacation Photo Slideshow

A Vacation Story Siena

"Siena’s Piazza del Campo is a town square shaped like an oval slopping gently down to the Palazzo Pubblico and the Torre del Mangia, it is divided into sections representing the city’s nine rulers in the 1400s, known (bluntly enough) as the Council of Nine. But the Piazza’s striking medieval ambiance is not only due to the surrounding architecture – but for a race. For most of June, July and August, the entire city is devoted to Il Palio, a series of horse races held in the Piazza whose ancient passions makes the Kentucky Derby seem like a fly-by-night event. The festival’s contours have not changed since the 1100s, when members of the city’s 17 contrade, or town districts, began to compete with one another in track events. The two central races are held every July 2 and August 16, but the pageantry and excitement dominate Siena for the entire summer. "