Choose your dinner venue from a selection of hand-picked restaurants during a Dine-Around evening at Lake Maggiore. The format gives you a choice of setting and regional dishes while keeping the meal part of the tour experience.

Lakeside dining reflects the area’s position between northern Italy’s mountains and waterside towns. This curated evening is an opportunity to settle into the local restaurant atmosphere and discover the flavours that appeal most to you.

Choose a regional dining experience in Sorrento to sample local specialties during an evening on the Bay of Naples. It offers a food-focused way to spend time in this clifftop coastal town.

The cooking of the surrounding Campania region draws on produce from both land and sea, giving the meal a strong sense of place. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour; the specific menu is not stated in the itinerary.

• 7 Dinner (D)
• 12 Breakfast (B)

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

• Hand sanitizer is freely available on board for you to use throughout the day.

Insight Vacations

Meet your Travel Director over a welcome dinner with wine at a local restaurant in Rome. Share a table with fellow travellers while enjoying Italian cooking in the city where your journey begins.

Rome’s neighbourhood restaurants offer a welcoming introduction to the rhythms of local dining: conversation unfolds over the meal, and wine is part of the occasion. This hosted evening provides a chance to get acquainted with your group.

Explore the Vatican Museums with a Local Expert, discovering artworks collected by generations of popes. Enter the Sistine Chapel to look up at Michelangelo’s celebrated ceiling and see the setting where papal conclaves elect a new pope.

The collections trace centuries of artistic patronage at the heart of the Catholic Church. If Vatican Museums tickets are unavailable, this experience is replaced by a visit to Rome’s Capitoline Museums, renowned for Roman art and archaeology.

See the landmarks of ancient Rome, including the Colosseum, where gladiatorial spectacles drew vast crowds, and the sweeping Circus Maximus, once the setting for chariot races.

Admire the Arch of Constantine, raised to commemorate the emperor’s victory at the Milvian Bridge, and look towards Palatine Hill. According to legend, Romulus founded Rome on this hill; it later became an address for imperial residences. These sites reveal the scale and ambition of the Roman world.

Walk Siena’s medieval streets to Piazza del Campo, the shell-shaped civic square where the Palio horse race is held. See the Fountain of Joy and admire the striped marble exterior of Siena’s cathedral.

The city’s winding lanes and brick-built palaces preserve the character of a powerful medieval republic. Standing in the Campo offers a sense of how the square serves both as Siena’s gathering place and the dramatic stage for its long-held racing tradition.

Walk through Renaissance Florence with a Local Expert, seeing the marble facades of the Duomo, bell tower and baptistery, including its gilded Gates of Paradise. Explore Piazza della Signoria, where sculptures stand among buildings associated with the city’s civic past.

Watch demonstrations of Florentine leatherwork and gold craftsmanship, traditions that remain part of the city’s artisan identity. Together, the streets, monuments and workshops show how artistic ambition shaped Florence in both grand public spaces and skilled handwork.

Choose to visit the Accademia Gallery and stand before Michelangelo’s David. Seeing the monumental marble sculpture in person reveals details of its poised stance and anatomical precision that are difficult to appreciate in reproduction.

Created in the early 16th century, David became a symbol of Florentine civic identity as well as a defining work of Renaissance sculpture. This is one of two included Insight Choice activities in Florence; you select it instead of the local-treat experience.

Join your Travel Director for a short walk to a local favourite in Florence and sample a traditional Italian treat. Hear how it became a familiar part of the area’s food culture.

This small-scale tasting focuses on a flavour residents grow up with and return to, rather than a formal restaurant meal. It offers a glimpse of everyday Florence through its neighbourhood food traditions. This is one of two included Insight Choice activities; you select it instead of the Accademia Gallery visit.

Taste Bistecca alla Fiorentina, Florence’s traditional steak, at a dinner paired with local wine. This substantial Tuscan specialty makes the region’s culinary heritage the focus of the evening.

Florentine steak is associated with thick cuts of beef cooked simply, allowing the flavour of the meat to take centre stage. Shared over dinner, it offers a distinctive way to experience a dish closely tied to Florence and the surrounding Tuscan countryside.

Explore Pisa’s Cathedral Square with your Travel Director and see its ensemble of marble monuments: the cathedral, baptistery and famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. Notice the tower’s stacked arcades and unmistakable tilt.

The tower was built as the cathedral’s bell tower, while the surrounding buildings reflect Pisa’s medieval wealth and maritime influence. An orientation lets you take in the architectural grouping and appreciate why this square is far more than a backdrop for photographs.

Visit a family-owned winery in Franciacorta, near Lake Iseo, to learn about an estate passed down through generations. Meet the winemaking tradition through a tasting of its vintages.

The vineyards lie close to the southern fringes of the Alps, in a region particularly known for traditional-method sparkling wine. Hearing about the estate’s history while tasting its wines connects the flavours in the glass with the people and landscape that produce them.

Travel by private boat along Venice’s waterways as your Travel Director introduces the city from the water. Pass historic palazzi and take in views towards the Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Square.

Venice developed around canals rather than roads, so arriving by boat reveals how its grand facades were designed to face the water. The journey offers a perspective on the city’s trading past, its lagoon setting and the architecture that made La Serenissima distinctive.

Visit a traditional Venetian glassblowing workshop and watch a master craftsperson shape molten glass into a delicate piece. See how heat, breath and practiced movements transform the glowing material.

Venetian glassmaking has centuries of history, particularly associated with the island of Murano. The demonstration brings an enduring local craft into focus and shows the precision needed to preserve techniques handed down through generations of artisans.

Glide through Venice’s canals by gondola, passing beneath bridges and alongside the facades of waterside palaces. Your gondolier navigates the narrow waterways while a serenade adds to the atmosphere.

From the low vantage point of a gondola, the city’s stone steps, reflected windows and small canals come into view at an intimate pace. This classic Venetian experience offers a contrast to the broader lagoon panorama seen from a larger boat.

Explore Assisi’s cobbled medieval lanes with a Local Expert, see the Church of St. Mary of the Angels and visit the Basilica of St. Francis. The hilltop town’s pale stone buildings and views across the Umbrian landscape form the setting for its religious heritage.

Built in honour of St. Francis, the basilica is celebrated for its art and its place in European pilgrimage. Your expert provides context for the saint’s legacy and the importance of this remarkable church.

Cross the blue waters of the Bay of Naples by jetfoil to Capri, then explore Capri town with a Local Expert. Wander winding alleyways past whitewashed buildings, cafés, boutiques and artisan studios, with views towards the Tyrrhenian Sea.

The island’s steep terrain and coastal position give its streets a character unlike the mainland resorts. Enjoy its mix of village lanes and fashionable shopfronts, with time to absorb the scenery before the return journey to Sorrento.

Take in the panorama from clifftop Anacapri, looking across the Bay of Naples towards Mount Vesuvius. From this elevated part of the island, the sea and distant volcanic skyline define the view.

Anacapri sits above the busier streets of Capri town, offering a different perspective on the island’s dramatic relief. The viewpoint makes clear how Capri rises sharply from the water and why its coastal scenery has long drawn visitors.

Walk through Pompeii with a Local Expert, following ancient streets past shops, villas and temples. Look for frescoes preserved beneath volcanic ash and details that reveal how people lived in this Roman town.

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 buried Pompeii, preserving an unusually detailed record of daily life. Its excavated streets make Roman history tangible: public spaces, homes and painted walls remain within the layout of a once-busy community.

Celebrate your time in Italy over a Rome farewell dinner with food, wine and music. A private operetta performance brings Italy’s theatrical song tradition into the evening.

Operetta combines music and drama in a lighter form than grand opera, making this more than a conventional restaurant meal. The performance and lively neighbourhood atmosphere provide a distinctly Roman setting for a final shared gathering with your travelling companions.

Choose an optional Tuscan dinner during your stay in Florence, pairing regional cooking with local wines. It is an opportunity to devote an evening to the food traditions of the surrounding countryside.

Tuscan cuisine is known for straightforward preparations that place emphasis on good ingredients and flavours suited to the region’s wines. This experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour, giving you the choice of a hosted dining evening or independent plans.

Visit San Gimignano, the Tuscan hill town known for its surviving medieval towers. Explore its historic streets, hear stories of the rival families who built skyward and enjoy a specially selected local delicacy.

The towers give the town its distinctive skyline and a glimpse of the wealth and competition of medieval Tuscany. This excursion is at additional cost and bookable on tour, offering a focused visit beyond Florence to one of the region’s best-known historic towns.

Explore Positano and the Amalfi Coast on an optional excursion from Sorrento. Positano’s houses descend steeply towards the sea, creating one of the coast’s most recognisable views.

Along this stretch of southern Italy, settlements cling to hillsides above the Tyrrhenian Sea, with dramatic changes in elevation shaping the scenery. The excursion offers a closer look at this celebrated coastal landscape. It is at additional cost and bookable on tour; further route details are not specified.

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