Classic Italy

• Itinerary
• Prices & Information

1. Overnight Flight
We depart from MSP for our overnight flight to Venice, Italy.  Sit back, relax and enjoy your flight.  Your R & J Tour Director is there to assist you. 
Included Meals: Inflight Meals

2. Arrive in Venice, Italy
Arrive in Venice and meet your Italian guide.  Check into your charming hotel which sits along a gentle bend on the Tolentini Canal, within walking distance of the train station and many major historic sights, restaurants, and shopping.  Enjoy two nights here in Venice.  Enjoy a welcome dinner tonight at a local favorite restaurant.
Included Meals: Dinner
Hotel: Hotel Principe Venice

3. Venice
Start morning sightseeing in style as you glide by private boat along the Giudecca canal to meet your resident expert. Highlights of your walking tour are St. Mark’s Square and the Byzantine Basilica, lavish Doge’s Palace and the Bridge of Sighs. Also watch Venetian Glass Blowers fashion their delicate objects in an age-old traditional manner. Then enjoy Venice at your own pace for the remainder of the day.  Perhaps an optional private gondola ride along the canal will be apart of your plans.                              
Included Meals: Breakfast
 
4. Venice to Florence
A morning stop in Pudua, city of St. Anthony the Hermit, for a visit to the majestic six-doomed Basilica de St. Antonio.  Motor across the beautiful wooded Etruscan Apennine Mountains enroute to Pisa. Few buildings any-where have captured imaginations as much as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  See the Cathedral where Calileo’s Lamp hangs.  Continue to Florence, the Art Capital of Italy.  This amazing city is home of the Renaissance and birthplace of our modern world contains some of the most impressive art treasures in the world.   Spend two nights here at the Grand Hotel Baglioni,  an integral part of the cultural identity of Florence, as it has shared more than a century of history. Over the years its nineteenth century walls have housed rulers and heads of state, artists, intellectuals and travelers. All of the glamour of tradition and comforts of modernity in a setting which has become a legend, in Florence and around the world.  This evening you are free to choose from the many extraordinary restaurants Florence has to offer.
Hotel: Grand Hotel Baglioni
Included Meals: Breakfast

5. Florence
Visit the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia that offer art, sculpture, and artifacts which will fill your cultural appetite.  You may wish to join the group for a renaissance walk through the city center. We will have a guide each step of the way. Or, you may spend hours perusing the contents of one of its famous museums. We will see the famous Duomo, Florence’s Gothic cathedral which has the third largest nave in Christendom.  This evening travel to the hills surrounding Florence and enjoy a delightful dinner complete with wine and local entertainment at a picturesque Tuscan Villa.
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

6. Florence to Rome
A scenic drive through breathtaking Tuscany country to Assisi, the ancient Umbrian city of Asisium, with its magnificent location on artificial terraces on an outlier of Monte Subasio. See many well-preserved medieval streets and buildings, including a visit to Basilica of St. Francis. Stop in Orvieto, situated on a 984-foot plateau overlooking vineyards below. Enjoy a trattoria lunch near the Piazza del Duomo, before we continue through the wine-producing regions of Umbria. Continue through the district of Umbria to Rome, the “Eternal City” with it’s 300 baroque fountains and over 2,000 years of history.  Spend 3 nights in this beautiful city.  Your hotel is centrally located, within walking distance from the Opera House, railway station, Via Veneto, and the Roman National Museum.
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Hotel: Palatino Hotel

7.  Rome
The Romans ruled half of the known world for 700 years, forging Western Civilization as we know it.  Today explore the splendor of ancient Rome, the great Coliseum, the Forum Romanum and also the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. Then make a visit to  St. John Lateran Church where Christians first worshiped after the persecution and finally visit St. Mary Major, one of the four major basilicas in Rome, and the largest church in the world dedicated to Our Lady.  The rest of the day is free in Rome.  This evening dinner is on your own to choose from the many outstanding restaurants.
Included Meals: Breakfast

8. Rome
Visit the magnificent Basilica of St. Peter, masterpiece of Michelangelo and Bernini, built on the site of St. Peter’s tomb. Marvel at the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Museums. We will then enter the magnificent Basilica as we admire the Pieta, ascend the dome (if you wish) and explore the grand column lining St. Peter‘s Square.  This afternoon visit the Basilica St. Paul outside the walls, built over the burial place of the Apostle of the Gentiles and consecrated in 324. The building of the first place of worship over St. Paul’s tomb has been attributed to the Emperor Constantine. Visit a Catacomb where Christians conducted worship during the persecution.  Later enjoy some free time here in Rome.  This evening you are special guests as we dine and celebrate at the Restaurant Tanagra.  Enjoy excellent Italian traditional cooking while listening to some of the most famous opera arias interpreted by Tanagra’s singers from the Rome Opera House.  Cap your evening with a tour of illuminated Rome by night!
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

9. Rome to Home
Today we catch our flight for home.  You are invited to extend your Italian  holiday by visiting the amazing Amalfi Coast for 3 Nights. (See Extension.)
Included Meals: Breakfast

Amalfi Coast Extension

November 9 -12th 2008. 4 days/3 nights.

9. Rome to Amalfi Coast
Leave Rome and drive south to Naples to see an altogether different Italy. In Naples take a ferry to the island of Capri,  where we enjoy views over the Faraglioni Rocks and Marina Piccola. Visit the Piazzetta, where the rich and famous sip their cappuccinos, followed by free time to perhaps ascend to Anacapri.  This afternoon take a ferry to Sorrento and proceed to the charming town of Minori, situated in the characteristic and imposing scenery of the Amalfi-Coast.  We’ll check into the cliff top hotel overlooking the Amalfi Bay and only a short walk to the center of Amalfi town.
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Hotel: Hotel Miramalfi, Amalfi Coast

10. Amalfi Coast
Today we will traverse the famous Amalfi drive. This road which literally hangs over the sea coast is an engineering marvel.  We will continue for a visit to the ruins of Pompei, the city which was destroyed by the volcano Vesuvius in minutes back in 79 AD. The ruins will give us an excellent view of Roman life 2,000 years ago. Return to the hotel and enjoy dinner here overlooking the coast.
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

11. Amalfi Coast to Naples to Amalfi
Today enjoy a full day excursion to Naples, including a visit to the National Archaeological Museum, featuring a superb collection of Greco-Roman sculptures – some found locally in Pompeii and Herculaneum.   See the fabulous “Mosaics of Pompeii” followed by the Galleria Antica di Napoli which houses exhibits on the history of Naples. Lunch is included  at a local favorite restaurant in the historical center of Naples. Proceeding up the Capodimonte hill, we will visit the National Gallery of Capodimonte. We will conclude our tour in the lush park that surrounds the Royal Palace where we will enjoy a breathtaking view of the Bay of Naples before you return back to your hotel for Farewell dinner.
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

12. Amalfi Coast to Home
Today board our flight for home with memories of a grand Italian holiday.
Included Meals: Breakfast

Extension Price Per Person:
$1,099  double    $1,259 single

Optional Travel Protection for Extension:
$105 Double per person  $137 Single per person

Price Includes:
All Airfare, Superior Hotel, Tour Director, 7 meals, & all sights as stated.