Unwind with an Italian aperitivo on Portofino’s Piazzetta, watching sunset over the harbour as waiters set out olives and focaccia. Choose a bittersweet spritz or local vermouth.

Savour the pre-dinner ritual that defines Ligurian evenings, when conversation stretches and colours deepen. Optional experience at additional cost, bookable on tour with your Tour Manager.

Explore the Piazza dei Miracoli with a local expert, admiring the famous tilt of the Leaning Tower as you step inside the cathedral and marble baptistry. Hear the baptistry’s remarkable acoustics and see inlaid floors and sculpted pulpits.

Uncover Pisan Romanesque style and contemplate the Camposanto monumental cemetery, long linked to soil from Golgotha. Quiet cloisters and restored frescoes reveal a contemplative side of a square often known only for its tower.

Explore Porto Venere, where a cliff-top fortress surveys a harbour of tall, painted houses. Thread medieval lanes to the striped Church of San Pietro, poised on a rocky point above turquoise water.

Savour the Gulf of the Poets over an included seafood lunch with fragrant pesto. En route, glimpse the gleaming Carrara marble quarries that supplied Michelangelo—a dramatic prelude to Liguria’s rugged coast.

Join a guided city tour through Genoa’s labyrinthine caruggi and the elegant Strada Nuova. Admire frescoed facades and grand staircases in the UNESCO-listed Palazzi dei Rolli, once hosts to Europe’s elite.

Hear how La Superba rose as a maritime republic, its wealth flowing from Mediterranean trade. The regenerated port and historic centre reveal a gritty, art-rich city alive with stories of explorers and bankers.

Cruise the coast on a private boat cruise to the Cinque Terre, skimming beneath cliffs laced with steep terraced vineyards. Step ashore in a selection of villages—perhaps Vernazza and Manarola—to wander harbourfronts and church squares.

Learn how generations carved dry-stone walls and fished anchovy-rich waters that flavour local menus. From the water the pastel palette glows against rugged headlands, offering perspectives overland routes rarely match.

Sail to Portofino and step into the pastel amphitheatre of the Piazzetta, where glossy tenders and fishing boats share a perfect natural harbour. Browse boutiques or follow the cobbled path towards the headland.

Take a walk to the headland for sweeping harbour views from Castello Brown or the lighthouse. Cypress and olive slopes frame a chic yet timeless village shaped by sea, light and stone.

Taste a traditional Tuscan dinner at a local restaurant, where simple, seasonal recipes shine. Sample regional wines alongside ribollita, pappardelle al cinghiale or grilled bistecca, finishing with cantuccini and vin santo.

Your host celebrates produce from the Lucca hills—peppery extra-virgin olive oil, pecorino and aromatic herbs—reflecting a cuisine rooted in rural rhythms and convivial tables.

Discover Genoa’s signature sauce with a visit to basil greenhouses and a hands-on lesson. Under guidance, make pesto by mortar and pestle using tiny-leaf basil, pine nuts, Parmigiano and Ligurian oil.

Enjoy a tasting of pesto and focaccia paired with crisp local whites, and learn how climate shapes flavour. Optional experience at additional cost, bookable on tour with your Tour Manager, subject to minimum numbers and availability.

Discover Lucca on a guided walking tour within its Renaissance walls. Trace the Roman street grid through cobbled lanes and piazzas, and stand in the oval Roman amphitheatre, today encircled by pastel facades.

Hear stories of Etruscan origins and medieval merchants, pause by San Michele in Foro and the Guinigi Tower, and sense the city’s link to Puccini—the birthplace of Puccini still hums with rehearsal arias.