Women-only Italy: Venice, Florence and Rome

1. Day 1: Arrive in Venice

   Venice Marco Polo Airport to your hotel in Venice by water taxi

   • By boat
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Venice
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE), where a water taxi takes you across the lagoon to your hotel in the historic centre, about 30 minutes on the water. If you arrive by train, we meet you at Santa Lucia station instead. Nothing is planned until 6:30 pm, so check in, sleep off the flight or take a slow first walk; the hotel is a short walk from the Rialto or San Marco. At 6:30 your See Sight Tours guide, a woman, meets the group for an honest briefing: covering shoulders and knees in the churches, how to answer unwanted attention in the street (walk on), pickpockets on crowded boats and buses, licensed taxis, and the places where it is easy to eat alone on free evenings. At about 7:30 we walk a few minutes to a welcome dinner of Venetian dishes, such as sarde in saor, risotto and lagoon fish. You are back at the hotel by about 9:30.

   Included

   • Water taxi from Venice Marco Polo Airport (VCE), or a meet at Santa Lucia station
   • Welcome briefing with your guide at 6:30 pm
   • Welcome dinner a short walk from the hotel

   Free time: Free until the 6:30 pm briefing

   Activity: Land by about 4 pm to reach the briefing comfortably; the exact time comes with your final itinerary.

2. Day 2: San Marco before the crowds

   A walking day in San Marco and Castello

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Venice
   Day 2 details

   We leave the hotel at about 7:30, while the day visitors are still on their trains and Piazza San Marco belongs to the café waiters and the pigeons. Coffee standing at a bar, then a walk round the square: the arcades, the Campanile, the clock tower and the waterfront columns. At 9 am, opening time, we go into the Doge's Palace with a local guide, a woman where available, through the council chambers where the Republic was governed and over the Bridge of Sighs into the old prisons. Late morning we enter St Mark's Basilica on a reserved slot to see its gold mosaics; cover shoulders and knees. On the way to lunch your guide stops at the Rialto, where a plaque on the town hall remembers Elena Cornaro Piscopia, born in Venice and in 1678 the first woman to receive a university degree. Lunch is a round of cicchetti, small bites eaten standing at a bacaro, the Venetian wine bar. The afternoon and evening are free: the Accademia galleries, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, or getting lost in Castello, the quiet district east of the square.

   Included

   • Early walk round Piazza San Marco with your guide
   • The Doge's Palace and the Bridge of Sighs at opening, with a local guide, a woman where available
   • St Mark's Basilica on a reserved entry
   • The Rialto and the plaque to Elena Cornaro Piscopia
   • Cicchetti lunch at a bacaro

   Optional experiences

   • Gondola ride
   • St Mark's Campanile
   • Gallerie dell'Accademia
   • Peggy Guggenheim Collection

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About three hours on your feet in the morning. St Mark's Basilica opens only in the afternoon on Sundays, so departures are set so this day is not a Sunday.

3. Day 3: Murano, Burano and Dorsoduro

   Venice to Murano and Burano by vaporetto, then Dorsoduro on foot

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Venice
   Day 3 details

   Your vaporetto pass covers today's boats. We cross the lagoon to Murano first, where Venice moved its glass furnaces in 1291 to keep fire away from the city, and watch a master shape a vase at a working furnace. Then on to Burano, about 40 minutes further across the water, with its fishermen's houses painted in strong colours. Burano's needle lace was made by the island's women for centuries, and at the Lace Museum in the old lace school lacemakers often sit working in the rooms, so you can watch a stitch that takes hours to make a centimetre. Lunch is a sit-down meal on Burano, where risotto with lagoon fish is the local dish. We are back in Venice by mid-afternoon for a rest. Around 5 pm your guide takes anyone who wants into Dorsoduro: the Zattere waterfront, the San Trovaso gondola yard and Campo Santa Margherita for a spritz at dusk, then walks back with anyone who would like company.

   Included

   • Vaporetto to Murano and Burano with your guide
   • Glassblowing demonstration at a Murano furnace
   • The Burano Lace Museum
   • Sit-down lunch on Burano
   • Evening walk in Dorsoduro: the Zattere, the San Trovaso boatyard and Campo Santa Margherita

   Easier option: See Murano only, then ride the vaporetto back down the Grand Canal at your own pace.

   More active option: Add Torcello, a short boat ride from Burano, for the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta and its Byzantine mosaics.

   Free time: Mid-afternoon and dinner free

   Activity: Boats are public vaporetti with steps on and off; the lagoon crossing can be choppy on windy days.

4. Day 4: Fast train to Bologna, then Florence

   Venice Santa Lucia to Bologna by fast train, then on to Florence

   • By boat
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Florence
   Day 4 details

   Your bags leave the hotel after breakfast and go to Florence by road in our vehicle, so you travel with a day bag only. A short boat ride takes us to Santa Lucia station, and the fast train reaches Bologna in about an hour and a half. Bologna is a working university city with few famous queues, which is exactly why we stop. Your guide walks you under its porticoes, the covered arcades listed by UNESCO in 2021, to Piazza Maggiore and the unfinished brick front of San Petronio, past the Two Towers and the Archiginnasio, the old university building, where Laura Bassi became the first woman to hold a university chair, in 1732, and into the Quadrilatero, the old market lanes of delis, fishmongers and pasta shops. Lunch is a long sit-down meal in a trattoria: tagliatelle al ragù, tortellini in broth and mortadella. Mid-afternoon a train takes about 40 minutes to Florence. Your bags are waiting at the hotel, and the evening is free for a first walk to the Duomo.

   Included

   • Your bags taken by road from your Venice hotel to your Florence hotel
   • Boat transfer to Santa Lucia station
   • Reserved fast trains from Venice to Bologna and from Bologna to Florence
   • Guided walk in Bologna: the porticoes, Piazza Maggiore, San Petronio, the Two Towers, the Archiginnasio and the Quadrilatero
   • Sit-down lunch in a Bologna trattoria

   Free time: Evening free in Florence

   Activity: About three hours on foot in Bologna, much of it under the porticoes. The Asinelli tower has been closed to climbers since 2023, so we see the Two Towers from the street.

   

5. Day 5: Florence: the Uffizi at opening

   A walking day in central Florence

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Florence
   Day 5 details

   We are at the Uffizi for the first entry at 8:15, before the corridors fill. A local art guide, a woman where available, takes us through the rooms in order, so the Renaissance reads as a story: Giotto's Ognissanti Madonna, Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera, Leonardo's Annunciation, and Artemisia Gentileschi's Judith Slaying Holofernes, painted by the first woman admitted to Florence's academy of artists, in 1616. Small groups wear quiet-guide headsets, so we never crowd a painting. Late morning the same guide walks us round the historic centre, a UNESCO site since 1982: Piazza della Signoria, Orsanmichele, the Baptistery doors and Brunelleschi's dome on the Duomo, then across the Ponte Vecchio. The afternoon is free, and lunch is your choice; the Mercato Centrale food hall is easy on your own. At about 6 pm your guide walks anyone who wants up to San Miniato al Monte and Piazzale Michelangelo for sunset, and back down together.

   Included

   • The Uffizi at 8:15 with a local art guide and headsets
   • Guided walk of the historic centre: Piazza della Signoria, Orsanmichele, the Baptistery, the Duomo and the Ponte Vecchio
   • Sunset walk to San Miniato al Monte and Piazzale Michelangelo, and back with your guide

   Optional experiences

   • Climb of Brunelleschi's dome (timed slots, booked ahead)
   • Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens
   • The Bargello

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: The Uffizi is closed on Mondays, so departures are set around it. The walk to Piazzale Michelangelo is a steady climb of about 20 minutes on steps and paths; a city bus goes up too.

6. Day 6: David, then Chianti and San Gimignano

   Florence to Greve in Chianti, a winery lunch, San Gimignano and back to Florence

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Florence
   Day 6 details

   Michelangelo's David stands in the Accademia, which opens at 8:15, and we are on the first entry with a local guide. With the hall nearly empty you can walk all the way round the marble figure, more than five metres tall and carved from 1501 to 1504, and see the unfinished Prisoners that line the gallery leading to it. By 10:30 we are in our own vehicle heading south into Chianti, about 45 minutes, to Greve and its arcaded triangular piazza. Lunch is a long one at a family winery, women-run where we can confirm one: a walk through the vines and the cellar, then Tuscan dishes with the estate's Chianti Classico and olive oil. Mid-afternoon we drive about an hour west to San Gimignano, a walled hill town and UNESCO site since 1990 that keeps 14 of its medieval towers. Most day coaches have left by late afternoon. Climb to the Rocca di Montestaffoli for the view of the towers, then it is about an hour back to Florence.

   Included

   • Michelangelo's David at the Accademia at 8:15, with a local guide
   • Greve in Chianti
   • Lunch at a Chianti winery, women-run where confirmed, with a walk in the vines, a cellar visit and a tasting
   • San Gimignano in the late afternoon and the Rocca di Montestaffoli

   Easier option: Stay in Florence after the Accademia, or take the city bus up to Fiesole for its Roman theatre and the view back over Florence.

   More active option: Walk the lane from Greve up to the walled hamlet of Montefioralle, about 2 km uphill, before lunch; the vehicle meets you at the top.

   Free time: Evening free in Florence

   Activity: About 2 hours 45 minutes of driving, 140 km, in three legs of an hour or less. The Accademia is closed on Mondays, so departures are set around it. Back in Florence around 7 pm.

   

7. Day 7: Fast train to Rome, the Pantheon and Trevi

   Florence to Rome by fast train, then the old centre on foot

   • By train
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Rome
   Day 7 details

   A slow morning. Your bags leave by road after breakfast, and you have until late morning to climb the Duomo, revisit a church or browse the leather stalls by San Lorenzo. The fast train to Rome takes about an hour and a half, south through the hills of Tuscany and Umbria. From Termini our vehicle takes the group to the hotel in the centre, and after lunch on your own your guide leads an easy afternoon walk through the old city. The Pantheon comes first, the best preserved building of ancient Rome, rebuilt under Hadrian with a concrete dome still open to the sky at its centre. A few minutes away is the Jesuit church of Sant'Ignazio, where Andrea Pozzo painted a ceiling that seems to open into heaven and a flat canvas that passes for a dome. We finish at the Trevi Fountain and Piazza Navona as the evening crowd comes out. Dinner is your choice.

   Included

   • Your bags taken by road from your Florence hotel to your Rome hotel
   • Reserved fast train from Florence to Rome
   • Transfer from Roma Termini to the hotel
   • Guided walk: the Pantheon (entry included), Sant'Ignazio, the Trevi Fountain and Piazza Navona

   Free time: Morning free in Florence, evening free in Rome; your guide suggests places to eat alone

   Activity: An easy walk of about 3 km on flat streets in the afternoon.

   

8. Day 8: The Vatican at opening

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

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Rome
   Day 8 details

   We take the first entry slot at the Vatican Museums, at 8 am, with a licensed Vatican guide, a woman where available, and headsets. The guide picks a route through the huge collection: the Pinecone Courtyard, the Gallery of Maps, the Raphael Rooms and finally the Sistine Chapel, where Michelangelo painted the ceiling from 1508 to 1512. The chapel is kept silent and photos are not allowed, so we explain what you are looking at before we go in. From there we cross to St Peter's Basilica for Michelangelo's Pietà and Bernini's bronze canopy; cover shoulders and knees. At about 1 pm we make lunch rather than order it: a pasta class with a Roman home cook, a woman where we can confirm one, rolling fettuccine and learning cacio e pepe and carbonara, then eating what we made. The late afternoon is free to rest, climb St Peter's dome or walk to Castel Sant'Angelo.

   Included

   • The Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel on the first entry slot, with a licensed guide and headsets
   • St Peter's Basilica
   • Pasta-making class and lunch with a Roman home cook

   Optional experiences

   • St Peter's dome climb
   • Castel Sant'Angelo
   • Galleria Borghese (timed entry, booked ahead)

   Easier option: After the Sistine Chapel, skip St Peter's and take a taxi to the hotel for an hour's rest before the pasta class.

   More active option: Climb the 551 steps to the top of St Peter's dome, or take the lift part of the way and climb the last 320.

   Free time: Late afternoon free

   Activity: About three hours on foot inside the museums, with stairs, then about three hours seated or standing at the cooking class. The museums close on Sundays except the last Sunday of the month, so this day falls Monday to Saturday.

   

9. Day 9: Ancient Rome and a Trastevere farewell

   The Colosseum, the Palatine and the Roman Forum, then Trastevere

   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Rome
   Day 9 details

   We are at the Colosseum for the first timed entry of the morning, with a licensed archaeological guide, a woman where available. Inside the amphitheatre, opened in AD 80, the guide shows how around fifty thousand spectators were seated by rank and how animals were lifted into the arena from the passages beneath its floor. Then we walk up the Palatine, the hill where the emperors built their palaces, and down into the Roman Forum along the Via Sacra, past the Arch of Titus and the Senate House. Lunch is on your own in Monti, the old neighbourhood behind the Forum, and the afternoon is free for the Capitoline Museums, the Borghese Gallery or a long rest. In the early evening we walk across the Tiber into Trastevere, with its ivy-hung lanes and the gold apse mosaics of Santa Maria in Trastevere, for a farewell dinner of Roman dishes, artichokes in season and saltimbocca, then a walk back across the river together.

   Included

   • The Colosseum, the Palatine and the Roman Forum on a timed entry, with a licensed guide and headsets
   • Evening walk into Trastevere and Santa Maria in Trastevere
   • Farewell dinner in Trastevere

   Optional experiences

   • Capitoline Museums
   • Galleria Borghese (timed entry, booked ahead)
   • The Colosseum underground (separate ticket, limited places)

   Easier option: Skip the Palatine climb: after the Colosseum, follow the flat Via dei Fori Imperiali, with views down into the Forum, and rest in Monti.

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: About four hours on foot in the morning on uneven ancient paving with little shade; bring water and a hat.

10. Day 10: Leave from Rome

    Your Rome hotel to Rome Fiumicino Airport

    • Drive about 45 min
    • Breakfast
    Day 10 details

    After breakfast the trip ends. Our vehicle takes you from the hotel to Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO), about 30 km and 45 minutes to an hour depending on traffic, at a time set for your flight; your guide checks everyone's departure details the evening before. For an unhurried morning, book a flight after about 11 am and allow three hours at the airport for flights leaving the Schengen area. If you are staying on, the hotel can hold your bags after check-out, and we can book extra nights in Rome or a transfer to Ciampino or Termini instead. Many first-time visitors add two or three days here: the Borghese Gallery, Ostia Antica and the Appian Way are all easy to reach from the centre, and your guide is happy to sketch a plan, including places that are easy alone, before you part.

    Included

    • Transfer to Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO)

    Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 11 am, or tell us your time and we set the transfer to match.

Wildlife and weather: Spring and autumn are mild and the best months. July and August are hot, often above 30°C in Florence and Rome, and crowded, so we start early and keep the middle of the day free. From October to January Venice can have acqua alta, high tides that flood low squares such as San Marco for a few hours.

• Venice3 nights
• Florence3 nights
• Rome3 nights