Italy: Rome, the Amalfi Coast, Tuscany and Venice

1. Day 1: Arrive in Rome

   Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO) to your hotel in the historic centre

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Rome
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Rome Fiumicino (FCO), about 30 km west of the city, where a driver meets you in the arrivals hall and brings you to a central hotel within walking distance of Piazza Navona and the Pantheon. Plan to land by about 3 pm so you can rest before the evening; the exact meeting time comes with your final itinerary. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group in the hotel lobby for a short briefing on the fortnight: which days start early and why, how the train legs and luggage work, and where the free afternoons fall. Then we walk a few minutes through the lanes of the old centre, past Piazza Navona as the lamps come on, to a welcome dinner at a Roman trattoria: cacio e pepe, artichokes in season and a first glass of wine from Lazio. If your flight lands late, we keep your seat at the table and your guide catches you up over breakfast.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner at a trattoria in the old centre

   Free time: Free until the early evening briefing

2. Day 2: The Vatican at opening

   Rome: the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Basilica

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Rome
   Day 2 details

   We are at the Vatican Museums for our timed group entry at opening, ahead of the long midday lines, with a licensed local guide and quiet-guide headsets so twelve people can hear without blocking a corridor. The route runs through the Pinecone Courtyard, the Gallery of Maps and the Raphael Rooms to the Sistine Chapel, where Michelangelo painted the ceiling between 1508 and 1512 and the Last Judgement on the altar wall more than twenty years later. Photography is not allowed in the chapel, and the guards ask for quiet. Where the group passage is open we cross straight into St Peter's Basilica; otherwise we walk round through the square and its security line. Inside are Michelangelo's Pietà and the great dome over the papal altar. By early afternoon the guided part is done. Lunch is your choice in the Prati district, then the afternoon and evening are free: a nap, a gelato, or a walk across Ponte Sant'Angelo to see the dome lit at dusk.

   Included

   • Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel on a timed group entry at opening, with a licensed guide
   • St Peter's Basilica
   • Quiet-guide headsets for the museum visit

   Optional experiences

   • Climb to the top of St Peter's dome (about 550 steps, or a lift for the first part); pay on the day

   Easier option: Leave after the Sistine Chapel and rest at the hotel; the Basilica stays open into the evening.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 3 to 4 hours on foot, much of it standing, on marble floors and stairs.

   

3. Day 3: Ancient Rome and the Pantheon

   Rome: the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Palatine, then the old centre on foot

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Rome
   Day 3 details

   Another early start buys an emptier Colosseum. We enter at opening on a timed group ticket with a licensed guide and walk the rings of the amphitheatre inaugurated in AD 80, then cross to the Roman Forum and climb the Palatine Hill, where the emperors built their palaces above the Circus Maximus. By late morning, as the heat and the crowds build, we leave the ruins for the shade of the old centre. After a coffee stop the walk continues to the Pantheon, rebuilt under Hadrian in the 2nd century and still roofed by the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world, and on to the church of Sant'Ignazio, where Andrea Pozzo painted a ceiling that seems to open into the sky and a flat canvas that passes for a dome from the right spot on the floor. The Trevi Fountain is a few minutes away. Lunch, the afternoon and dinner are yours.

   Included

   • The Colosseum on a timed group entry at opening, with a licensed guide
   • The Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill
   • The Pantheon (entry included)
   • The church of Sant'Ignazio and the Trevi Fountain on foot with your guide

   Easier option: Sit out the Palatine climb in a cafe by the Forum and rejoin the group for the walk through the old centre.

   More active option: In the free afternoon, follow your guide's route over the Aventine Hill to the keyhole view of St Peter's and down into Trastevere.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 8 to 10 km on foot, on uneven Roman paving and a short climb on the Palatine.

   

4. Day 4: Fast train south and Pompeii

   Rome to Naples by high-speed train, then Pompeii and Sorrento

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Sorrento
   Day 4 details

   We check out after breakfast and take a reserved high-speed train from Roma Termini to Napoli Centrale, about 1 hour 10 minutes, faster than any road. Your bags travel in the carriage with us, and our vehicle and driver meet the train in Naples for the 25 km run down the bay to Pompeii. We have a sit-down lunch near the site first, then go in with a licensed archaeological guide in the early afternoon, when most of the morning coach groups have gone. Pompeii was buried by Vesuvius in AD 79 and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site; three hours is enough to walk the stepping stones of its paved streets, the Forum, a bakery with its mill stones, the baths and the painted houses that are open that day, with Vesuvius above it all. Afterwards it is about 40 minutes to Sorrento, our base for two nights, and the evening is free on its clifftop piazza.

   Included

   • Reserved high-speed train from Rome to Naples
   • Sit-down lunch near Pompeii
   • Pompeii with a licensed archaeological guide (entry included)
   • Transfer to Sorrento

   Easier option: Pompeii is flat but rough underfoot; your guide keeps a shorter loop near the Forum and a bench in the shade for anyone who wants it.

   Free time: Evening free in Sorrento

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot at Pompeii on big uneven paving stones with little shade; bring a hat and water.

   

5. Day 5: The Amalfi Coast and Ravello

   Sorrento to Positano, Amalfi and Ravello, back by ferry

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Sorrento
   Day 5 details

   The Amalfi Coast road is narrow and busy by mid-morning, so we leave Sorrento at 8 am in our own vehicle, sized for the bends, and stop above Positano while the light is still on its stacked houses. From there the road clings to the cliffs past Praiano and the Furore fjord to Amalfi, once a sea-trading republic, where the striped Cathedral of Sant'Andrea stands at the top of its steep stair. Then it is a short climb inland to Ravello, about 350 m above the sea, for the terraced gardens of Villa Rufolo and a long, sit-down lunch with the coast below. In the afternoon we drop back to Amalfi and, from about April to October, depending on the operator, take the public ferry back to Sorrento by way of Positano, so you see the cliffs from the water. Outside the ferry season, or when the sea is rough, our vehicle drives us back. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Drive along the Amalfi Coast road in our own vehicle, with a stop above Positano
   • Amalfi and the Cathedral of Sant'Andrea
   • Ravello and the gardens of Villa Rufolo (entry included)
   • Sit-down lunch in Ravello
   • Ferry from Amalfi to Sorrento in season

   Easier option: Spend a slow day in Sorrento instead; the group is back by late afternoon.

   More active option: Walk down from Ravello to Amalfi on the old stepped paths through lemon terraces, about an hour and a half and nearly all downhill, and meet the group at the ferry.

   Free time: Evening free in Sorrento

   Activity: The Amalfi road has tight bends; tell us if you get carsick and we seat you up front. Outside the ferry season or in rough seas we drive back instead: about 80 km for the day and about 3 hours on the road.

   

6. Day 6: North by train to Florence

   Sorrento to Naples, then high-speed train to Florence

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Florence
   Day 6 details

   A travel day, planned so it does not feel like one. Our vehicle takes us round the bay to Naples, about an hour and a quarter, and we stop for an early lunch of Neapolitan pizza, the city's own dish, at a pizzeria near the station before the train. The direct high-speed service to Firenze Santa Maria Novella takes about three hours, north through Lazio and southern Tuscany, which is faster and calmer than five or more hours on the motorway, with reserved seats and space for bags. We are in Florence by mid-afternoon, checking in to a central hotel within walking distance of the Duomo, our base for three nights. Rest, then join your guide for an easy first walk at dusk: along the Arno, over the Ponte Vecchio and up the steps to Piazzale Michelangelo, where the dome and the river turn gold as the sun goes down. Dinner tonight is your choice.

   Included

   • Transfer from Sorrento to Naples
   • Pizza lunch in Naples
   • Reserved high-speed train from Naples to Florence
   • Sunset walk to Piazzale Michelangelo with your guide

   Easier option: Skip the climb to Piazzale Michelangelo; your guide points out the bus that goes up.

   Free time: Dinner free

   Activity: The longest travel day: about 1 hour 15 minutes by road and 3 hours by train, broken by lunch.

7. Day 7: Florence: the Uffizi and the Renaissance centre

   Florence on foot: the Uffizi, Piazza della Signoria, the Duomo and the Mercato Centrale

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Florence
   Day 7 details

   We are at the Uffizi for a timed group entry at opening, 8:15, before the rooms fill. A licensed local guide takes you through the collection the Medici left to the city: Giotto's Madonna, Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera, Leonardo's Annunciation and the corridor windows that look down on the Arno. After a coffee we walk the centre on foot: Piazza della Signoria and the copy of David outside the Palazzo Vecchio, the Baptistery's bronze doors and Brunelleschi's dome over the Duomo, ending at the Mercato Centrale, where lunch is yours from the food stalls upstairs or a lampredotto sandwich from a cart outside. The afternoon is free. Climb the dome or Giotto's bell tower (tickets sell out, so tell us when you book), cross the river to the Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens, or rest. Your guide has a list of trattorias in Santo Spirito and Sant'Ambrogio for dinner.

   Included

   • The Uffizi Gallery on a timed group entry at opening, with a licensed guide
   • Walking tour of the centre: Piazza della Signoria, the Duomo and the Baptistery from outside

   Optional experiences

   • Brunelleschi's dome or Giotto's bell tower climb, booked ahead at the official price

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 3 hours standing in the gallery, then 3 to 4 km on foot.

8. Day 8: Siena, a country lunch and San Gimignano

   Florence to Siena, lunch in the hills, San Gimignano, back to Florence

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Florence
   Day 8 details

   Today is why a vehicle is worth having in Tuscany: the hill towns are poorly served by trains. We drive about an hour and a quarter south to Siena and walk up through its medieval lanes to the Piazza del Campo, the shell-shaped square where the Palio horse race is run on 2 July and 16 August, then on to the striped Duomo, whose inlaid marble floor is uncovered for part of each year. Around midday we head into the hills for a long, sit-down lunch at a family farm or wine estate, with its own olive oil and wines to taste. In the afternoon we reach San Gimignano, where about fourteen of its medieval towers still stand above the vineyards of Vernaccia. There is time to wander, try a gelato and walk out to the walls for the view, before the hour's drive back to Florence for a free evening.

   Included

   • Siena with your guide: the Piazza del Campo and the Duomo (entry included)
   • Sit-down lunch and tasting at a Tuscan farm or wine estate
   • San Gimignano

   Easier option: Stay in Florence for an unguided day; the group is back by about 6 pm.

   More active option: In Siena, climb the roughly 400 steps of the Torre del Mangia for the view over the Campo, when numbers allow.

   Free time: Evening free in Florence

   Activity: Three drives of about an hour each, and steep lanes in both hill towns.

9. Day 9: Michelangelo's David, then Bologna

   Florence: the Accademia, then by train to Bologna

   • By train
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Bologna
   Day 9 details

   A last early entry in Florence: the Galleria dell'Accademia at opening, before the queue, to stand under Michelangelo's David, carved from a single block of marble between 1501 and 1504, and to see his unfinished Prisoners straining out of the stone along the corridor. An hour is enough. Then we collect our bags and take the high-speed train to Bologna, about 40 minutes, most of it in tunnels under the Apennines. Bologna is a working university city of red brick and arcades: its porticoes, about 62 km of them, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021 and keep you dry in any weather. After check-in and a free hour, a local guide walks us through Piazza Maggiore and the Basilica of San Petronio, past the leaning Two Towers and into the Quadrilatero, the old market lanes of cheese shops and delis. Dinner together tonight is tagliatelle al ragu, the dish Bologna claims as its own.

   Included

   • The Galleria dell'Accademia and Michelangelo's David on a timed group entry
   • Reserved high-speed train from Florence to Bologna
   • Walking tour of Bologna with a local guide: Piazza Maggiore, San Petronio, the Two Towers (from outside) and the Quadrilatero
   • Dinner at a Bolognese trattoria

   Free time: An hour free after check-in

   Activity: About 5 km on foot, all of it flat and much of it under the arcades.

10. Day 10: Parmigiano, balsamic and Modena

    Bologna to a Parmigiano Reggiano dairy, a balsamic vinegar estate and Modena

    • Drive about 2.5 h
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Bologna
    Day 10 details

    An early start, with good reason: Parmigiano Reggiano is made in the first hours of the morning, so we leave at about 7:30 and drive an hour west to a dairy in the countryside between Modena and Reggio Emilia, to watch the cheesemakers lift the curd from copper vats and walk the ageing rooms where the wheels rest for at least twelve months. From there it is a short run to a family acetaia near Modena, where traditional balsamic vinegar ages for twelve years or more in rows of small barrels under the roof. Lunch is served at the estate, with the vinegar on the cheese and a glass of Lambrusco. Afterwards we stop in Modena itself for the Romanesque cathedral, the Ghirlandina tower and Piazza Grande, together a UNESCO site, before driving back to Bologna by mid-afternoon. The rest of the day is yours for the food shops, a museum or a long walk.

    Included

    • Parmigiano Reggiano dairy visit and tasting
    • Traditional balsamic vinegar estate (acetaia) visit and tasting
    • Lunch at the estate
    • Modena: the cathedral, the Ghirlandina and Piazza Grande

    Easier option: Sleep in and spend the day in Bologna; the group is back by mid-afternoon.

    More active option: In the free late afternoon, walk the 3.8 km portico of San Luca, 666 arches uphill, to the sanctuary above the city.

    Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

    Activity: The one start before 8 am on the trip, because the cheese is made early; little walking.

11. Day 11: By train to Venice

    Bologna to Venice by train, then by water taxi to your hotel

    • By train
    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Venice
    Day 11 details

    A slower morning, then a direct train to Venezia Santa Lucia, about an hour and a half across the Po plain. The station steps lead straight onto the Grand Canal, and a water taxi takes us and our bags to a hotel in the historic centre, so there is no dragging cases over bridges and no hotel on the mainland or the Lido. We stay three nights, long enough to see Venice before the day visitors arrive and after they leave. In the late afternoon your guide leads an orientation walk through Cannaregio and over the Rialto Bridge, shows you how to read the street signs and how to cross the Grand Canal by traghetto, the standing gondola ferry. We stop at a bacaro for cicchetti, the small plates Venetians eat with a glass of wine before dinner. Dinner itself is your choice, and the vaporetto pass for your Venice days starts today.

    Included

    • Reserved train from Bologna to Venice
    • Water taxi with luggage from the station to your hotel
    • Orientation walk with your guide, with a traghetto crossing of the Grand Canal
    • Cicchetti and a glass of wine at a bacaro
    • Vaporetto pass for days 11 to 13

    Free time: Morning in Bologna and dinner free

    Activity: Venice is all on foot over stepped bridges; pack a bag you can lift.

12. Day 12: St Mark's and the Doge's Palace

    Venice: St Mark's Basilica, the Doge's Palace and a free afternoon

    • By boat
    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Venice
    Day 12 details

    Piazza San Marco is at its best early, before the cruise and day-trip groups. We enter St Mark's Basilica on a timed group booking when the doors open, to see the gold mosaics that cover its domes, then cross to the Doge's Palace with a licensed guide: the Golden Staircase, the vast Hall of the Great Council with Tintoretto's Paradise, the old prisons and the walk across the Bridge of Sighs from the inside. By lunchtime the guided part is done and the rest of the day is yours. Take the vaporetto down the Grand Canal, see the Titians at the Frari, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection or the Accademia galleries, or simply get lost in Castello and Dorsoduro, the quieter districts. Your guide can book a shared gondola for anyone who wants one. In the evening the cafe orchestras play under the arcades of the piazza.

    Included

    • St Mark's Basilica on a timed group entry
    • The Doge's Palace and the Bridge of Sighs with a licensed guide (entry included)

    Optional experiences

    • A shared gondola ride at the official city tariff, booked by your guide

    Free time: Afternoon and evening free

    Activity: About 3 hours of guided walking and standing, then as much or as little as you like.

13. Day 13: Murano, Burano and a farewell dinner

    Venice to Murano and Burano by vaporetto, then back to the city

    • By boat
    • Breakfast and dinner
    • Stay in Venice
    Day 13 details

    Your vaporetto pass takes us across the lagoon this morning. First Murano, where the glass furnaces were moved out of the city in 1291 for fear of fire; we watch a furnace demonstration, with no obligation to buy. Then it is about half an hour further across the lagoon to Burano, a fishing island of brightly painted houses along small canals, known for its lace. The morning light suits its colours, and the island is quieter before the late-morning boats come in. We are back in the city by early afternoon, with lunch and the rest of the afternoon free: a last museum, a quiet campo, or a stroll along the Zattere to watch the boats on the Giudecca canal. In the evening we gather for a farewell dinner at a Venetian restaurant, risotto with lagoon seafood and sarde in saor if you like them, and raise a glass to the fortnight.

    Included

    • Murano and a glass furnace demonstration
    • Burano
    • Farewell dinner in Venice

    Easier option: Skip Burano and come back from Murano on your own with your vaporetto pass.

    Free time: Afternoon free

    Activity: Easy walking; about 2 hours on the water in all.

14. Day 14: Leave from Venice

    Your hotel to Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE) by water taxi

    • By boat
    • Breakfast
    Day 14 details

    Breakfast, then goodbye. A water taxi takes you and your bags from the hotel across the lagoon to Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE), about 30 to 40 minutes on the water, and the last view of the bell towers and domes is one of the best of the trip. We group the transfers by flight time, so flights leaving after about 11 am are easiest; earlier ones are fine, with an earlier boat. If you are staying on in Venice or carrying on by train to Verona, Milan or the Dolomites, we take you to Santa Lucia station instead, and we can book an extra night at the same hotel if you tell us when you book. Your guide sees the first transfer off and stays reachable by phone until the last guest has left, in case a flight changes or a bag goes missing.

    Included

    • Water taxi from your hotel to Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE) or Santa Lucia station

    Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 11 am for an unhurried morning.

Wildlife and weather: April to June and September to October are warm and right for walking; July and August are hot and crowded in every city, so we keep the outdoor sights to the mornings. From October, high tides (acqua alta) can flood parts of Venice for a few hours, and the Amalfi ferries run roughly April to October, depending on the operator; we confirm the season for your dates.

• Rome3 nights
• Sorrento2 nights
• Florence3 nights
• Bologna2 nights
• Venice3 nights