Northern Italy/Tuscany/Venice

Tour Inclusio ns:
Attractive group fares
Porterage for one bag per person throughout.
Riccardo Filaci
Invites You To Experience
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Hosted by Gwin’s Travel group escort, Vicki Kopp
Professional driver with exclusive use motorcoach
Guided by Riccardo Filaci, Chiron Travel, LLC
First Class hotel accommodation for 10 nights includes twin-bedded rooms with
private facilities.
All hotel service charges and tips, baggage handling fees and local taxes.
Touring by luxury air-conditioned coach
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LAKE MAGGIORE
GENOVA
FLORENCE
VENICE
BOLZANO
MILAN
Sightseeing Highlights:
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l MILAN Sforza Castle, The Opera Theatre, La Scala, the Duomo, Gothic
Dining Highlights:
Not Included:
Tipping to local guides on city tours
Items of personal nature such as drinks, laundry, phone charges, luggage
charges by the airlines, etc.
Cathedral, Certosa di Pavia, Pedestrian “corso” shopping area
l ITALIAN RIVIERA Cinque Terre; LaSpezia, Porto Venere and the Five Lands,
Monterosso,\ al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, Riomaggiore
l TUSCANY Florence, Academy of Fine Arts to see the “David”, walking city tour of
Florence, to view the Duomo, Giotto’s Bell Tower and the Church of Santa Croce,
Pisa, Lucca region for winery and farm tour with dinner
l VENICE
Private cruise to Murano for a glass blowing demonstration.
Cruise lagoon of Venice by private water taxi to
the Grand Canal
l BOLZANO Mountain village of Cortina D’ Ampezzo, Prosecco
Valley drive through the Dolomites
l VERONA Juliet’s Balcony, 2000 year Roman Arena
l AND AS ALWAYS…..RICCARDO SURPRISES
DOUBLE
SINGLE
Airfare from St. Louis is included in the above price
Call for airline rates from alternative gateway cities!
l 10 breakfasts
l 8 dinners with wine
Some with local
entertainment
October 25 - November 5, 2016
We will check in to our flights to Milan, Italy. Dinner and a
light breakfast will be served on our flight.
NORTHERN ITALY & THE LAKE DISTRICT
Upon arrival, we will head to check-in and relax at our
sumptuous lake-front luxury hotel on famous Lake Maggiore.
This evening we will have our Trip Welcome meeting and
dinner party with wonderful Piedmontese wines overlooking
the Lake.
This morning we drive along the castle and garden strewn
shores of Lake Maggiore into Italy’s Northern neighbour
Switzerland for a relaxing lunchtime visit of Lugano, before
heading to Lake Como for some free time there. Back at our
beautiful hotel we will have some downtime before a good
dinner with wine in the restaurant tonight.
This morning we will have a leisurely departure to fully
enjoy our arrivederci to the Italian lakes before we head
south to Santa Margherita and the Italian Riviera. We visit
the ancient Certosa di Pavia en route. After time for lunch at
Santa Margherita we visit magic Portofino with free time
before heading to Genova. Tonight we will have a Pesto
Genovese dinner with wine at Genova’s lively historic port.
This morning we head to La Spezia to start our full day
excursion to Porto Venere and the Five Lands, the Cinque
Terre, with our local expert Pirate guide who will show us
the coves and haunts where the first pirates to use the skull
and crossbones came from. Later we return to Genova and
our hotel for a leisurely evening with dinner on your own.
October 25 – November 5, 2016
Today we drive south along the Italian Riviera towards Florence.
We will stop in Pisa for a chance to take pictures of the Leaning
Tower of Pisa before lunch in the Lucca countryside, to have a
wonderful wine tasting lunch/dinner at a Tuscan Farmhouse
vinery. Then we continue to Firenze, driving through the Arno
River Valley. After we check into our hotel and enjoy some free
time, this evening we will visit the old city center.
We start today with a guided walking sightseeing trough the
. We visit the
with the famous
the Duomo, Giotto’s bell tower and the
church of Santa Croce: Your afternoon is free for shopping for gold
and leather, or for visiting some of the city’s important museums.
Tonite explore the streets of Florence and find yoursaelf a quaint
restaurant for your dinner at leisure.
Today we leave beautiful Florence to head towards the Queen of
the Adriatic, Venice. After crossing the Apennines we will stop for
a lunchtime visit of Bologna, a real cultural capital and the home
of some of Italy’s best culinary products. In the afternoon we
arrive at our Venetian Palazzo hotel in Treviso—how sumptuous!
Tonight’s dinner party with wine prepares us for La Serenissima
tomorrow!
This morning your private cruise takes you to Murano for a
demonstration of the beautiful art of
in one of the
few glass factory still existing! We will continue our cruise in the
lagoon of Venice by private water taxi in order to be able to ride
admiring the magnificent and elegant buildings, we
the
will see the place where they filmed the “Italian job”, Rialto Bridge,
fish market and reach one of the most great human creation -St.
Mark’s Square
where we’ll have time to admire the famous Doge’s Palace, St. Mark
Basilica and off course more time to “get lost” trough the little streets
and visit many famous and not, bridges! Time to explore, have lunch
and enjoy a local Spritz. Later, slowly, (piano, piano) you will relax and
ride one of the magical gondolas of Venice with a beautiful serenade!
What a different day, a city with no cars! Tonight ready for another
magnificent Dinner with a nice Cabernet!
Your day starts by driving north through the
valley on the
spectacular and ancients Dolomites mountains. From the sea level to
4000 ft. in a breathtaking landscape and reach
a
beautiful mountain village. Then we continue to Bolzano chief town of
the autonomous region of Sùd Tirol, indeed here you could speak three
languages: German, Ladino(spoken also in some little Swiss valley) and
off course “some” Italian! Enjoy the most northern Italian province town.
Tonight dinner with a good wine or a good beer!
(1 Night – Dinner with wine, American Buffet breakfast)
This morning after breakfast we drive to another famous town, Verona.
A nice walk will take us to Juliet’s balcony, in Shakespeare’s Italy! A
2000 year Roman Arena and beautiful –pedestrian “Corso”, with great
shops and bars. After free time we drive to Milan capital of fashion and
culture! Here your expert guide will show you the Galleria, aristocratic
and old shopping center, the stunning Gothic Cathedral full of
innumerable statues, and the famous Opera house
. then to the
castle to see one of the Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings,
by Michelangelo, among other great works. Tonight our “Last
Supper” , we will say Arrivederci and off course enjoy the farewell
dinner and a great Oltrepo’ wine!
After breakfast we will make our way to the airport for our flights home.
Hasta la Victoria siempre!
Milano is the most densely populated region in Italy. The city lies in the
middle of the Po River Valley and is the key commercial centre. It is an ideal
starting point for visits to the Alpine lakes of Lake Maggiore and Lake Como.
The second largest lake in Italy has borders in Piedmont, Lombardy and the
Tico Canton in Switzerland. The towns are embellished with churches and
paintings from 1449 with villas and gardens of the 18th-19th centuries. The
beautiful village of Stressa is an old fishing village dating from before 1000
and is a highlight of our tour. Close by is the beautiful island Isole Borromee,
famous for the elegant palazzi and magnificent gardens of the Borromeo
family (dating back to 1632).
The
third largest lake in Italy and the deepest, is shaped like a sprawling upside
down “Y”. With numerous restaruants hotels ant a scenic road that follows
the ancient Strada Regina, lined with elegant villas and gardens. Como’s
Duomo is a photographer’s dream!
Beautiful Cinque Terre (the five lands) where a rugged portion of coast on
the Italian Riviera is punctuated by picturesque small fishing villages. After
driving through Tuscany to Cinque Terre village enjoy panoramic views and
take spectacular pictures of the land and coast. After a walk through a
delightful village, why not stop at one of the local bars for a glass of wine
accompanied by bruschetta.
Built on a series of low mud banks and wooden piers amid the tidal waters
of the Adriatic and slowly sinking is one of the wonders of the world to me!
This fall, succumb to the magic of this city of the past. Walk the ancient
streets , lose yourself in the maze of canals and cobblestone streets, enjoy a
Gondola ride, experience the outer islands of Murano and Burano. You will
definitely want to return again and again
A vast and beautiful monument to the Renaissance, the artistic and cultural
reawakening of the 15th century. Paintings and sculptures or artists such as
Botticelli, Michelangelo, and Donatello turned the city into one of the World’s
greatest artistic capitals. Experience with a walking tour of the city, shop for
gold and silver on the oldest covered bridge in the city (1345), originally the
domain of blacksmiths, butchers and tanners - now a shoppers paradise. Visit
multitudes of museums and churches and absolutely find a table in a square
for wine and cheese to watch the passing crowds.
Straddling the River Arno just before it empties into the Tyrrhenian Sea, Pisa
is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide
for its leaning tower of Pisa, it contains more than 20 other historic churches,
several medieval palaces and various bridges across the River Arno.