Highlights of Italy from the North

Itinerary

• Day 1: Arrival in Venice

  Arriving at Marco Polo Airport, you will meet your driver who is ready to transfer you to Piazzale Roma and assist you in getting a private boat to your hotel in the city center.

  Meet your guide in the hotel lobby and start a private gondola tour (takes about 30 minutes) to marvel at the great charm of Venice and its preserved palaces, churches and bridges soaring above the banks of the Grand Canal.

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• Day 2: Venice

  Follow your guide for a walking tour through the canal netted downtown to discover the exclusive history and culture of Venice. In this tour, you will pass by the Rialto Market packed with active vendors hawking to visitors, meet the locals who are enjoying an espresso at neighborhood bars, and marvel at the façade of St. Mark's Basilica.

  In the evening, continue with a 3-hour Cicchetti tour to explore the most authentic areas of Venice and enjoy the lively atmosphere of bacaros. During it, you will stop at three different bacaros, taste some delicious Venetian style tapas called Cicchetti while a local sommelier will guide you into the world of Prosecco, Spritz and other extraordinary wines from Veneto.

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• Day 3: Venice - Milan

  Take a private boat departing from your hotel in Venice and get on the private car to Milan with stopovers in Padua and Verona.

  Padua boasts a wealth of fine medieval, renaissance and modern architectures. Meet your guide in the downtown to visit the most important monuments of the town including the Medieval City Walls, the great civil and religious buildings, the University, the wonderful frescoes-cycles realized by Giotto and his followers, and later the works by Andrea Mantegna and Donatello.

  Verona is especially renowned for the legendary story of Romeo and Juliet. There, a local guide will lead you to walk through the heritage part of the old town, visit La Casa de Juliet and marvel at Verona Arena, a Roman amphitheater which is still used today.

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• Day 4: Milan

  Today you will be accompanied by a private guide to explore the city by public transportation. The exploration will start from the Santa Maria Delle Grazie Church which is famed for Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper inside the adjoining refectory. Later on, continue to Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan's oldest shopping mall dating back to the 19th century, where you will find a number of clues why Milan is the fashion capital of the world.

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• Day 5: Milan - Florence

  Private transfer from your hotel in Milano to the railway station for the first-class train to Florence, the historic center of the Renaissance. Upon arrival, you will be picked up and escorted to your hotel.

  Meet your guide at the hotel for a 3-hour private walking tour focused on the "Italian Genius in Florence". The guide will take you through the historical center to admire the city landmarks, avoiding the most crowded places. The itinerary will feature Ponte Vecchio Bridge, Piazza della Signoria with the Palazzo Vecchio, Via Tornabuoni and Palazzo Strozzi, Piazza della Repubblica. You will see the beautiful recently restored church of Santa Maria Novella, the Church of San Lorenzo with the Medici Chapels and, of course, the gorgeous Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral, with the Giotto Bell Tower.

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• Day 6: Florence

  Meet your driver after breakfast and take a trip to the Tuscan countryside for a private cooking lesson at a restaurant in Chianti region. The chef will instruct you on how to prepare authentic Tuscan recipes step by step.

  After lunch, you can return to Florence, or take the optional tour to the lively town of Greve for wine tasting. You could also visit the fortified village of Montefioralle, perched on a hill above the Tuscan hills.

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• Day 7: Florence

  It is a leisure day for you to explore more about the city in depth, say visit the Accademia Gallery and have the chance to stand face to face with Michelangelo's David or Uffizi. Or you may like to take an optional tour to Pisa.

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• Day 8: Florence - Rome

  Private transfer to the railway station for the first-class train to Rome. Meet your driver at the Rome railway station and then be transferred to your hotel near downtown. After checking into the hotel, do some exploration in the downtown on your own.

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• Day 9: Rome

  Start the morning with a walking tour from the Roman Forum with its spectacular ancient architecture to the Colosseum, one of the eight wonders of the world, and the Palatine Hill, the old city like in the miracle.

  Proceed to the Vatican this afternoon to marvel at the great architectures on St. Peter's Square including the homonymy basilica, the abundant artistic collections in Vatican Museums as well as Michelangelo's masterpiece of The Last Judgment in Sistine Chapel.

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• Day 10: Rome, Departure

  Time to say goodbye to Italy. Before meeting your driver and heading to the airport, you still have some free time to do some further exploring or last-minute shopping.

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