Day 1: Arrival to Rome
Arrive at the airport of Rome.
Transfer to Rome Hotel.
The rest of the day is at your leasure.
Day 2: Ancient Rome and the Most Beautiful Piazzas of Rome
The most famous site of the city, and perhaps of Italy, the Colosseum is one of the must see attractions on any trip to Rome. And now it’s even more exciting with access to areas once off limits to visitors.
You’ll enter the Colosseum via the ‘Gladiator’s Gate’ – the side entrance once used exclusively by gladiators. This VIP entrance is not only the quickest way to get into the Colosseum; it gives you the full gladiator-eye-view of what it was like to enter the amphitheater for combat nearly 2,000 years ago.
After we travel up to the Colosseum’s Belvedere, the upper layers. The 3rd, 4th and 5th floors were reserved for the poor and women, and just like theatres today, these were the cheap seats. Those who sat here felt detached from the action in the arena, it was a long way away, but today it’s a different story as there are many visitors who want to visit this restricted area to see the views!
Leave the Colosseum and climb the Palatine Hill, where Romulus and Remus (the founders of Rome) were suckled by a she-wolf, and where the traces of the city’s first settlements were found. We will finish the tour at the official seat of the spirit of Rome, the Roman Forum and the Imperial Forums. Originally a marshy and insalubrious area used to bury the dead of the first inhabitants of the city, nobody could ever have imagined that two centuries later the center of political, religious and business life would all be here.
After lunch meet your guide for Rome’s Piazzas guided tour.
Start in splendid Piazza Navona and admire its three fountains − the Fountain of the Moor, the Fountain of Neptune and the most important one at the center, the Fountain of the Four Rivers. Move to the refined and elegant Piazza Rotonda, also known as the Piazza of the Pantheon, the maximum expression of the glory of Rome. Your next destination will be an impressive display at the termination of the ancient Roman Virgo aqueduct, 49m long and 26m high, the largest fountain in all Rome, and undisputedly the most beautiful in the city – the Trevi Fountain. Now continue to the Piazza Spagna and immerse yourself in an 18th-century atmosphere created by ochre-colored buildings, the Bernini fountain and a monumental staircase. It is one of the most famous images of the city. End the tour at the Pincio Terrace, one of the most picturesque and romantic places in Rome, offering a breathtaking view of Piazza del Popolo and the city. During your stay in Rome you will have a lot of great photo opportunities, but believe us, this one will undoubtedly be the best.
Tranfer to your hotel and have the evening at your leasure.
Day 3: Pompei and Sorrento
Check-out from the hotel in Rome. Meet your driver, board the bus and depart from Rome.
Your first destination today will be Pompei. Once a bustling, blue collar port town, Pompeii’s fate was sealed with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 7.9 A.D. Today, Pompeii is a UNESCO World Heritage site, one of the most visited sites in Italy and one of the most visited archaeological sites in all the world. Have a guided tour of Pompei with one of our fun and experienced guide in the afternoon.
In the morning on your arrival to Pompei have a pizza making lesson at an exclusive restaurant located in the most picturesque part of Pompei. One of their fabiolous chefs will guide through the Italian tradition of preparing pizza, explain techniques on making the best dough, and teach you how to properly dress your pizza. At the end you will eat what you’ve prepared.
On arrival to Sorrento check-in into your room and have some rest before going to dinner at one of the local restaurants.
Day 4: Sorrento and a Day Trip to Capri
Capri is a simply breathtaking island, and there's no better way to discover it than by sea.
Departure at 10 am with a private boat from the port of Sorrento with a leisurely sail to Capri. On arrival to Capri you'll skirt some of the most breathtaking coastline around the island and make our first stop for a swim near Punta Campanella (optional, not guaranteed). After the tour will continue around the island with a stop and entrance to the Blue Grotto. At 1 pm make a stop in Marina Piccola where you can disembark. Here you can decide to relax on the beach, have a meal at a restaurant, or take the bus uphill to the Piazzetta and Capri town centre or even Anacapri.
Departure back to Sorrento is at about 4pm with arriving to the port of Sorrento at about 5pm.
The boat. For the tour we will use a 7−10 meter long wooden "Gozzo" with sun deck and awning, ice box, and shower. All boats are insured and equipped with all safety equipment (including life jackets for adults and children).
Day 5: Cooking in Sorrento
Today the morning and early afternoon is at your leasure.
Late in the afternoon the chef of an old taverna will be waiting for you to offer you one of his cooking lessons in his kitchen (situated the heart of the historical center of Sorrento) to enable you to learn how to cook like a real Italian chef and give you the opportunity not only of trying the dishes that make Italian cuisine unique and loved all over the world, but also of learning the secrets of recreating these dishes in your own home anytime you wish.
The course starts at 17:30 and ends approximately at 20:30.
Day 6: Lemon Tour and Ravello
In the morning check out from your hotel in Sorrento and move to Minori for a Lemon Tour. The tour includes everything that you want to know about Lemons and Limoncello. You will start with a guided tour to the lemon garden with explanation of how they cultivate the “Amalfi Coast Lemon” I.G.P. (about 2 hours). You will visit to the collection center which cures the selection process and the manufacturing of the “Amalfi Coast Lemon” I.G.P. You will continue to a small craft distillery with presentation of the “Limoncello” and his production process. Traditional liquors tasting will be offered.
And the tour will be finished at a sea sight terrace where a typical lemon flavored lunch will be served and some little secrets about the multiple uses of this fruit unique in the world will be revealed, either in the culinary and therapeutic fields.
After lunch move to Ravello and explore the town and its beautiful villas of Rufolo and Cimbrone on your own. Founded in the 6th century, Ravello is situated in one of the broadest views of the coast. Its historical origins are not certain; it was probably founded by a Roman colony in the 6th century. Trade flourished between the 10th and 13th centuries after becoming the seat of diocese and thanks to the flourishing maritime trade, and the production of cotton and wool. The village still treasures its medieval aspect: the windy streets, houses, churches with beautiful mosaics testify the Roman, Byzantine and Southern Arab influence.
Continue to Positano to your hotel.
Day 7: Amalfi
Meet your driver in the morning to go to discover beautiful Amalfi.
Start your day with a guided visit of Amalfi Paper Museum located in a 14th cent. paper mill. The paper of Amalfi, called “bambagina”, is a very thick, soft, elegant paper that is still appreciated by artists around the world. The strong paper-making tradition of Amalfi dates back to the 10th century, when the town was a thriving sea power with a wide network of trade routes. The high demand for paper, needed to document the transactions between merchants, propelled the Amalfitans to learn the technique of paper-making from the Arabs, and Amalfi eventually became a major center for this craft - the method of producing blank sheets was so painstaking and tedious that it was considered an art.
Continue to explore Amalfi on your own. Amalfi is one of the pearls of the south Italy, the biggest city of the Amalfi Coast, the oldest Marine Republic of Italy, and today it represents the most attractive city with Positano of the entire coast in Campania. Its foundation goes back to the Romans; from the ninth century, it was the first of the the Marine Republics and rivaled Pisa, Venice and Genoa for the control of the Mediterranean Sea.
3 must things to do in Amalfi:
- visit the Amalfi Cathedral and the cloister of paradise,
- get lost in the Valle delle Ferriere behind the city of Amalfi,
- enjoy a superlative seafood lunch with a glass of limoncello.
Day 8: Furore
Have morning at your leasure. Meet your driver at about noon to go to Furrore for a wine tour, wine tasting and lunch at an amazing local winery.
"Try a wine and savour all the authentic taste of a remarkable territory. Furore, the village clinging to the Divina Costiera, breathes the charm of the Gulf of Amalfi. Furore! Neverland. Don’t look for a ring of houses standing round a square here. You won’t find it. Furore, the village that isn’t a village, with its houses scattered on the slopes of the mountain, dropping sheer down to the sea, offers tiny samples of itself, allowing itself to be discovered with flirtatious bashfulness. You will walk along paths and “petingoli”, squeezed between small plots of land claimed miraculously from the rock and cultivated with age-old love, almost stubbornly. You will drink fresh and lively wines – both red and white, “capable of filling you with all the sunshine and joyfulness possible”. You will admire vineyards and gardens, terraces and pergolas, hillocks and bending roads that plunge down to the sea. And walls: dry stone walls, painted walls, illustrated walls. Speaking walls. Artistic walls. And churches, tall bell towers and Arab-influenced domes. A vortex of panoramas bathed in silent light, suspended, unreal and secret, just like a fairy tale. You will listen to the silence. You will capture the breath of the universe in the distant voice of the sea. You will sense the perfume of myth in the breath of a nymph who’s in love and has always inhabited these ravines. You will live in a dreamy, yet disturbing atmosphere, where every glance is an emotion and every thought a dream."
Raffaele Ferraioli
Day 9: Positano – Rome
Today you leave Positano and go back to Rome. Have stop for lunch on your way to Rome.
Arrive to Rome in the afternoon. Have the evening at your leasure.
Day 10: Rome
Meet one of the Roman chefs in the morning for a Market and Cooking Class. Start your experience shopping in Campo dei Fiori market, choosing fresh ingredients to use in your cooking class. Then prepare your meal in an exclusive apartment located in the heart of the Eternal City. You will make homemade pasta such as ravioli or fettucine and prepare other dishes under the guidance of your personal chef in order to produce a full meal. At the end of the course, enjoy the dishes you’ve created accompanied by your choice of the perfect red or white wine your chef has selected to complement your lunch.
Have the rest of the day at your leasure.
Day 11: Day trip from Rome to Orvieto and Civita di Bagnoregio
Many visitors spend more than one day in the beautiful city of Orvieto, but on this tour, we have enough time to see the highlights, giving you a taster to return another time. Situated on a high cliff, and surrounded by defensive walls, Orvieto dates back to the time of the Etruscans. However, the city was probably more significant following the collapse of the Roman Empire. Take time to explore the monuments and historical buildings, such as the Papal residence, and the magnificent Duomo with its striped black and white façade, similar to the cathedral in Siena.
To complete your experience of Orvieto we move on to the countryside, just outside the centre, for a ‘taste’ of something very special from one of the most renowned wine producers in Umbria. Visit the winery, the vineyard and the cantinas where the grapes are turned into some of the finest wines in the region. The tour continues inside the open vaulted rooms of the winery, where you end your day sampling some of the outstanding vintages produced on the estate, accompanied by some tempting appetisers.
Continue to Civita di Bagnoregio. Founded two and a half thousand years ago by the Etruscans, today the tiny hilltop village of Civita di Bagnoreggio, is a precious and protected site. An island in the sky, the village sits on a plateau from which many of the residents fled following an earthquake at the end of the 17th century. Today, the crumbling plateau has been reinforced and once again offers people an unspoilt and simple way of life. Return to Rome. Evening is at your leasure.
Day 12: Departure
Check out from your hotel.
Travel to Rome Airport.
