• 5 Dinner (D)
• 11 Breakfast (B)
• 1 Lunch (L)

• Business class coach with extended leg room
• Top-rated dining, from farm-to-table to local restaurants
• 4 & 5-star stays

• Vatican City: Visit the Vatican Museums and witness the genius of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel.

• Florence: Stand beside Michelangelo’s monumental statue, ‘David’, in the Accademia Gallery, and admire the exquisite technique and absorbing history behind the world’s most famous sculpture.
• Florence: Join your Travel Director on a short walk to a local spot loved by residents. Sample a classic Italian treat and hear how it became a staple of the area. It’s a chance to experience the flavours locals grow up with and return to time and again.

• San Gimignano: Ascend serpentine alleyways to the artisan gelato parlour of world champion gelato maestro, Sergio Dondoli for a taste of his finest frozen treats.
• Monterosso al Mare: Savour a freshly prepared Sea-to-Table lunch of locally sourced produce.
• Conegliano: Visit a local winery to taste regional prosecco and meet the vignerons who guide its production. Learn how this distinctive style has developed its own identity alongside France’s well-known counterpart and enjoy the shared experience of discovering a craft rooted in the Veneto. 
• Venice: Enjoy a delicious, typically Venetian dining experience.

Walk Renaissance Florence with a Local Specialist, circling the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (the Duomo), Giotto’s bell tower and the Baptistery with its recreated Gates of Paradise. The city’s stone facades, terracotta roofs and artisan workshops frame a compact historic core.

Arrive in Piazza della Signoria, Florence’s open-air sculpture gallery, where the Medici once ruled and civic life still unfolds. Learn how banking fortunes, artistic rivalry and humanist ideas fused here to reshape European art and architecture.

Choose to stand beside Michelangelo’s David in the Accademia Gallery, contemplating the marble athlete’s coiled energy and flawless proportions. Your guide explains how Michelangelo liberated form from stone with a visionary blend of anatomy, mathematics and faith.

Encounter works that chart Florence’s ascent from medieval guild city to cradle of the Renaissance. This included Trafalgar Choice visit offers a focused, art-led perspective on the ideals of beauty, civic virtue and human potential that defined a new era.

Alternatively, join your Travel Director for a short stroll to a neighborhood favorite and sample a classic Florentine treat cherished by residents. Discover why simple, seasonal ingredients and time-honored methods anchor everyday eating in this culinary-minded city.

Learn how cafés and counters shape local rhythms—from morning espresso rituals to afternoon bites—and hear anecdotes about food traditions families pass down. This included Trafalgar Choice experience connects you to the textures and flavors loved by locals.

Wander the cobbled lanes of San Gimignano, its skyline bristling with medieval towers that once proclaimed merchant wealth. Follow stone alleyways to the famed Gelateria Dondoli and taste world-champion gelato crafted by maestro Sergio Dondoli, where inventive flavors meet impeccable technique.

Soak in vistas over vineyards and olive groves beyond the town’s walls. Learn how local ingredients—saffron, wild herbs, seasonal fruit—shape gelato that balances Tuscan terroir with playful creativity.

Discover Pisa’s walled ceremonial field, the Piazza dei Miracoli, where white marble glows against emerald lawns. See the striped Cathedral and Baptistery, masterpieces of Pisan Romanesque, while the famed Leaning Tower of Pisa tilts gracefully behind.

Hear stories of medieval maritime power and scientific curiosity—Galileo is said to have tested theories here—while admiring ornate facades bristling with blind arcades, carvings and pinnacles. The setting invites you to pause for photos and reflection.

Set out from Santa Margherita Ligure to cruise the Ligurian coast, tracing coves, pine-clad headlands and pastel villages. Arrive in elegant Portofino, its tiny harbor ringed by painted palazzi that capture the rhythm of la dolce vita.

Stroll the waterfront and lanes tucked beneath Castello Brown, or linger over a coffee as yachts sway in the bay. This sea-air interlude showcases the Riviera’s light, color and easygoing charm (weather permitting).

Sail with a Local Specialist along the rugged, terraced shoreline of the Cinque Terre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Step ashore in two of the cliff-hugging villages to explore alleys strung with fishing nets, painted doorways and bougainvillea.

In Monterosso al Mare, savor a Sea-to-Table lunch highlighting the day’s catch—think anchovies, mussels or fragrant pesto—paired with coastal views. This blend of scenery, tradition and cuisine distills the spirit of the Ligurian Riviera (weather permitting).

Visit a boutique estate in Conegliano, meeting artisans who guide glera grapes from hillside rows to bottle. Enjoy a curated prosecco tasting, comparing crisp, aromatic profiles that reflect the cool foothill climate and careful second fermentation.

Hear how local soils and slopes in the UNESCO-listed Prosecco Hills shape this singular style, distinct from Champagne. Learn serving tips from those who meet the vignerons daily—ideal aperitivo sparkle for Venetian-inspired bites.

Glide by private boat along quiet canals and the Grand Canal’s palazzi to emerge in St. Mark’s Square, Venice’s theatrical heart. See the shimmering Basilica and the gothic tracery of the Doge’s Palace and Bridge of Sighs, icons of the Serenissima.

Absorb tales of merchants, maps and maritime might that fueled this lagoon-born republic. Your orientation highlights the square’s mosaics, campanile and arcades, offering an elegant frame for independent discovery.

Witness a master at work during a glassblowing demonstration on Murano, where sand, flame and breath become graceful vases and luminous goblets. Learn how guarded techniques and guild traditions sustained this centuries-old tradition through Venice’s rise as a trading powerhouse.

Feel the heat of the furnace and watch glowing glass stretch, twist and bloom into form. The artisan’s narration reveals both chemistry and craft, from color creation to the final annealing that fixes each piece’s clarity and strength.

Settle into a hand-crafted gondola for a gondola serenade, drifting along romantic canals as musicians accompany your glide. Slip beneath historic bridges and past timeworn facades where water meets stone, revealing intimate angles of the floating city.

Hear about the gondolier’s single-oar technique and the craft’s enduring symbolism. The music, light and gentle motion lend a contemplative mood, turning hidden waterways into a private Venetian salon.

Taste traditional Venetian dishes shaped by lagoon shores and spice-route influences. Expect lagoon-fresh seafood, risotti and vegetables from island gardens, all guided by seasonal produce and paired with regional local wines.

Your host brings the city’s culinary stories to life—from bàcari traditions of cicchetti to the merchant tables of the Serenissima. The setting and flavors together create a convivial close to a day surrounded by canals and campi.

Ride a cable car to a mountain summit for sweeping panoramic views over serrated limestone peaks, larch forests and emerald meadows of the Dolomites. High-alpine light and crisp air frame a landscape sculpted by ancient seas and glaciers.

Guides share insights on geology and seasonal life at altitude as you explore viewing terraces and trails. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour; availability can vary by weather and season.

Journey through dramatic mountain passes to a welcoming local restaurant for an Alpine dinner featuring regional specialties—think canederli dumplings, speck and mountain cheeses. Lantern-lit wood interiors and hearty recipes reflect centuries of high-valley hospitality.

Hear how Ladin and Tyrolean influences shaped dialects, dishes and traditions across these valleys. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour; routes and venues may vary with seasonal conditions.

Embark from St. Mark’s Basin to cruise the Venetian Lagoon, skimming past marsh islands and bell towers toward Burano. Stroll the canals edged by color-washed fishermen’s houses before sitting down to a seafood dinner celebrating the day’s catch.

Learn about Burano’s lace-making heritage and life in the outer islands as sunset softens the water and facades. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour; routing is weather dependent.

Explore the city’s imperial stage on a guided panoramic tour past the Circus Maximus, where thundering chariots once raced. Continue by the Arch of Constantine and gaze toward the Colosseum, its honey-hued arcades revealing the scale of Rome’s greatest amphitheatre.

Hear of gladiators, triumphs and the legends of Palatine Hill, cradle of Rome’s foundation myths. Your guide helps decode layers of history etched into stone and brick, bringing the city’s ancient theatre of power and spectacle vividly into view.

Discover the artistic heart of Vatican City with fast-tracked entry to the Vatican Museums, guided through galleries of classical statuary, tapestries and Renaissance masterpieces. Pause beneath the Sistine Chapel to admire Michelangelo’s frescoes, then continue into the grandeur of St. Peter’s Basilica, where marble, gilding and light converge beneath the soaring dome.

Gain context on papal patronage and the culture that shaped these treasures as your guide illuminates the stories behind the artworks. On some departures, museum access may be replaced by the Capitoline Museums, preserving a deep dive into Rome’s classical and Renaissance heritage.

Insight Vacations