About Around Italy Tour

FLORENCE | Tuscany Drive and Florence City Center
A fast drive down Autostrada del Sole through Umbria and Tuscany brings you to Florence. Here you see Michelangelo's Tomb (Santa Croce) then head to the Accademia to view his most famous sculpture, "David". With pre-booked tickets (optional) you avoid the lines. Then you head to the Duomo and Baptistry, just ten minutes away. Lunch in a special Florentine setting, followed by a stroll through the piazzas and a walk over the Ponte Vecchio.

After a shopping break the afternoon continues with a drive through spectacular Chianti countryside and a stop in Orvieto.

NAPLES AND POMPEII | and Amalfi Coast (optional)
Nothing compares to the magic and mystery of Pompeii. You view the seemingly tranquil Mt. Vesuvius and then walk among the remains of a city buried underneath 30 feet of ash during its violent eruption. A bakery, theatre, gymnasium and public bath all stand sentinels to a time and lifestyle literally sucked breathless in a split second then entombed for a thousand years.

extension to Amalfi Coast and Positano: The dazzling turquoise water and brilliant sunshine of the bay of Naples is dramatic. Tiny, colourful villages clinging to steep cliffs high above the sea, islands and coast ablaze with lemon groves make the South unforgettable.

TIVOLI | Hadrian's Villa and the Villa d'Este
We'll drive you to the slopes of the Apennine Mountains East of Rome. Here in the fabled medieval city of Tivoli you visit two spectacular sites. The Villa d'Este is home to arguably the most spectacular fountains and gardens of the world. This palatial residence of Cardinal d'Este (son of Lucrecia Borgia) harbors over 1,000 fountains and clearly illustrates the opulent lifestyle of the Renaissance aristocracy. Then we're off to the former country estate of the Emperor Hadrian. Ruler at the height of Rome's power and influence, Hadrian fancied himself an architect and patron of the arts. The ruins of this Villa bear witness to his talents, vision and empirical taste. These two private dream residences, separated by a thousand years, are similar in vision and grandeur.

Florence
Florence is universally recognized as a city of Art, with a priceless heritage of architecture, paintings, sculptures, historical memories and scientific, that form the fabric citizen, like a button museum widespread. The heart of Florence is Piazza della Signoria, with the majestic Palazzo Vecchio, with the gallery of sculptural masterpieces in the Loggia dei Lanzi and the nearby Galleria degli Uffizi, a museum of art best known in the world. Not far away is the religious center of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, with the majestic dome that, at the time of the Grand, said that with his shadow coming to cover the whole Tuscany, the huge cathedral is beautifully accompanied by Campanile Giotto, one of the most beautiful in Italy, and the Baptistery of San Giovanni, with the famous bronze doors among which stands out the golden door of paradise.

Pompei
Pompeii has ancient origins as those of Rome, in fact the gens Pompeia descended from one of the first Italic peoples, Oschi. Only after the mid-seventh century BC, a primitive settlement had to decide on the future place of Pompeii: perhaps not a village itself, but more likely a small agglomeration around the commercial node that saw the crossroads of three major roads, ricalcate in full by historical routes from Cumae, Nola and Stabia.

Tivoli
Ancient city with the Latin name Tibur, called by Virgil with the title of Tibur Superbum (Aeneid, Lib. VII) which still stands in the national emblem, boasts of being the oldest of Rome (1265 BC). The site was born archaic and fortificò on the left bank dell'Aniene, where the Acropolis were built and old buildings (and then returned to arroccarsi citizens tiburtini the Middle Ages), taking advantage of dominant position in the ford which was the shortest distance to transhumance flocks between the Tiber and Abruzzo, along the director who would later become the way Valeria. Even today the district of the Acropolis is called "Castrovetere."