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In all my travels to Italy and the countless trips guiding tourists there, whenever we've done a Farm Agriturismo stay, my tourists always say the time spent on the Farm was the absolute BEST days of the whole trip. So, let's explore why this is true, .....when I go on vacation with my family to Italy I go to the same farm I know in Southern Tuscany near Pienza in the Val D'Orcia and stay for a week,.....see below....... When I experienced my first Agriturismo Farm stay in the fall of 2013, I knew I was in for a special treat but had no idea how great it would be to experience Italy like a local, staying in a relaxing country farmhouse adjacent to a family who takes great pride in hundreds of years of their tradition in Farming, Wine making, Olive oil production etc. Here's the best part,......the Farm stay costs are WAY lower then staying in any big city! The Agriturismo Farm program is partially funded by the Italian government to get tourists to come to Italy so the owners are not allowed to make any more money as hoteliers then they're making as farmers, a typical double occupancy room with breakfast included is under 150 Euro a night, less then half or more than any large Italian city....you get double the culture for half the price,...... When I book you for a few days on an Agriturismo Farm stay in the country, most likely I've already vetted that location and have stayed there in the past, but I have booked Farms where it's my first time there but I know what to look for in a Agriturismo so you'll have a great relaxing time. Most importantly is the time away from the bigger tourist cities where a much needed break is needed from the hustle and bustle! These are stress free stays with day trips to smaller cities close by, or days of doing nothing but enjoying the farm and the people that run it. We definitely need a car to get to these Agriturismo Farms because the trains will get you to the nearest big city close by but not close enough to the farms. Tuscany seems to be where most tourists are dreaming of but these Agriturismo Farm stays are all over Italy from high up in the North to the Calabria in the South, to Sicily and Sardinia too. When we book an Agriturismo Farm stay in Italy you get a clean, rustic room with a bathroom, European Italian breakfast is always included and then the option to eat dinner on the farm for around 30 to 40 Euro each and everything included. I like the smaller farms that have 4 or 5 rooms compared to the larger farms that have many rooms and a restaurant that has a set menu every night of the week. Don't get me wrong, the larger farms are very charming but just not as intimate.....when you pull up to any of these Farms it's just like you see in the movies......the views are picture perfect postcards! Back in the fall of 2023 I had a couple who said they didn't want to stay in any cities, so I booked them on a Agriturismo Farm outside of Florence, then my favorite farm outside of Pienza, a Farm outside of Rome near Frascati, up the mountain on a Farm outside of Sorrento and a Farm outside of Matera on the East Coast,....... 22 days in all and not one city stay...... www.customtoursofitaly.com

If you have 3 weeks and you're ready to go to Italy, here's a possible Italy vacation package that covers a lot of the 6 popular places I would guide you on. We fly into Milan and stay 3 nights and see sights like the Duomo, the Last Supper painting and the La Scala Opera house. Milan is big urban city but has so much great history so it's a great beginning to your Italy vacation trip. Next up is the high speed train to Venice for 3 nights. Dreaming of a Gondola ride?..me too!. Venice is so unique and romantic but it can be touristy and expensive - you need a private guide for a place like Venice. Piazza Saint Marco is one of the most iconic in all of Italy. We also day trip it to the island of Murano for the glass blowing factories and we can also possibly do day trip it to gorgeous Verona. Next we take the train to Florence and get a rental car after arriving there but go to my favorite farm Agriturismo in Southern Tuscany for 3 or 4 nights. My past travelers always say this was the best part of their trip so I book this portion of your Italy vacation first as the Farm stays fill up fast. Imagine waking up in the rolling hills of Tuscany on a farm just like you see in the movies. Here we do day trips to smaller Medieval towns and have a more relaxing pace. We also do a cooking class on the farm as well. After the Farm stay we drive back to Florence, ditch the car and stay in heart of the Renaissance for 3 or 4 nights. So much Art and culture to see here, I never get tired of it. The Uffizzi art Museum, Michelangelo's statue of David, the Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio and of course the food...the food! oh, and the wine! After Florence, you ready to go to Rome?.......we train it from Florence to Rome and stay for 3 nights. Rome is exactly what you see in the Movies and TV! Ancient history everywhere you turn, busy as heck but so great to immerse yourself back in the splendors Rome. The Colosseum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and of course Saint Peters Basilica and the Vatican Museum. After you're done with the big city we hop 2 trains, one to wild and crazy Naples BUT we don't stay there because we then get a smaller train to the much quieter Sorrento which is one hour south so we can be on the gorgeous Amalfi coast. I hope you like lemons? We stay here for 3 nights and do day trips to the island of Capri, Pompeii and the Amalfi coast....flat out amazing and a great wind down on your trip. When we're done with Sorrento we reverse it back up north to Rome for one night but stay right by the airport in order to fly the following morning from Rome. You will not believe how fast your 21 day Italy travel package has gone by, BUT you'll have long lasting lifetime memories and you did it all with a private guide within your budget.

If you think you can book your airfare, your hotels and all your tourist activities and you've NEVER BEEN to Italy before think again. Yes, we do have this thing called the internet and all things are possible but it is information overload when it comes to Italy. It's definintley not for the first timers. There's lots of information on all the websites that have reviews from other travelers and their experiences,....but are they really real reviews? This is the problem, sometimes they're not. All these companies are trying to get your business and well, they're just not going to be great truthful information. Trip advisor is flooded with fake posts, Yelp has fake restaurant reviews,.....see where this is going? There's nothing better then an experienced Italy travel guide who's been to where you want to go many many times. So, now you're thinking how in the world can I possibly afford a private Italian tour guide? I'll tell ya,....... If you're looking at a medium priced tour company pre-packaged Italy tour like Trafalgar, Globus, Perillo, etc - you're looking at $400 to $500 per day per person without airfare. That will have pre-set hotels with breakfast included, a few lunches and a few dinners and all the pre-set tourist activties. Those tours will have you on a bus with 25 other people and they don't have you staying any longer then 2 nights anywhere so you're always unpacking and packing up your things so much you'll feel like you're on a workout vacation instead of a relaxing dream vacation to Italy. I craft my tours around how many days you want to go, what you like to do and then we never stay less then 3 nights anywhere PLUS, I only usually schedule one tourist activity after breakfast and another one after lunch and never schedule one on a travel day just in case of changes. We don't jam in 3 things a day and whisk you around so you feel like you have "tour whiplash". "What's this going to cost me"? well, it's going to cost you exactly what you want to afford. I only book what you can afford and want to do......this is why I started Custom Tours of Italy. I wanted to share this great country with you and escort you on your trip because I'm so passionate about Italy being the greatest country to visit in Europe. Yes you do have an extra person, me, to pay for but it's an investment in your trip that doesn't break the bank. I only do Italy and I only work bymself. Let me show you how you can afford a private guide to Italy, so return to the home page and email me or call me and let's get you on your private Italy vacation soon. Ciao........

If you've already been to Italy a few times to the most touristed major cities of Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, Tuscany, Naples, and the Amalfi coast but have never been to Puglia, pronounced "POOL YA", well you're in for one of Italy's greatest regions that is NOT over touristed yet. Puglia is a little harder to get to as it's usuallly a flight to one of the major hubs of Milan or Rome and then a short flight to Bari. Often times I fly into Rome and then drive across to the east coast. Bari is fairly big port town that has cleaned up it's act quite a bit and it has a few things that are attractive for tourists. South of Bari are the towns of Polignano Mare and Monopoli - true coastal gems with great history, some great restaurants and coastal sights. Farthest southwest in this region is Matera and many visit this region just for this town. Matera is supposedly the 3rd oldest town in the world and it's has a great old world vibe to it and it's enjoying a renaissance with many hotels and restaurants built right into where the old caves used to be. It's a fascinating place and a must in this area. Not too far from Bari is the small town of Castellana Grotte, actually where two of my great grandparents came from and I have still have cousins in this area. You go to Castellana Grotte to visit the underground caves there. It's a very interesting site with a great guided tour and amazing day for all my tour groups. The small town of Alberobello is another big attraction because of the "Trulli" huts that are the round houses that have a pointed tops to them. These were originally buildings built by the Turks way back when and now they are converted to Hotels, Restaurants and farm stay Agriturismo's. The Olive oil in Puglia is some of the best in the world. The Olive trees are some the oldest in Italy because actually they originally came from Greece. Yes, that's right Greece. Southern Italy and Sicily were called "Magna Greccia" as it was ruled by the Greeks in 500 BC. Also, the bread and Pasta in Puglia are incredible as is the local produce and of course the Seafood. The whole region has a less hectic vibe to it and a much more relaxed way of life. I love bringing tourists to Puglia. Let's talk about your private tour of Italy in Puglia.

As you start thinking about finally going to "bella Italia", beautiful Italy, the first thing you do is Google Italy vacation packages and you get page one of all the set tour Italy vacation companies selling Italian vacation packages pitching you on what they think you should do on your trip. Well, I can tell you that Custom Tours of Italy comes up on page one of Google as well and we are not a "set Italy vacation pacakge" company at all. In fact, we are the complete opposite. The "we" is me, me, myself and I. I set up travel packages to Italy that are taylor made for each client and trip and then I personally accompany you on your Italian vacation package. Your own personal tour guide with you the whole trip. I work alone and am the Italy travel expert speaking with you, emailing with you, Face-timing with you setting up your Italian dream vacation with your input along the way. We determine together where you want to visit and why and then start the process. If you love art galleries then we do as much of that as you want to. Not a huge art gallery fan?, they we won't do any of that at all. If you're a huge food and wine person then we book as many food experiences as possible,....cooking classes, winery outings and agriculture outings. See where this is going? Italy trip packages with Custom Tours of Italy are custom made usually around 6 months or longer in advance. Spring through the Fall is peak season and airline reservations must happen first, then the advance reservations for your Hotel and Farm stays should happen next and then most of the tourist attractions happen afterwards. Restaurant reservations fall into place last with about a month in advance booking. So let's start planning your Italy vacation page soon.....ciao!

Here's the reasons why I think a personalized Custom tour of Italy is more rewarding for my travel clients then a pre-packaged tour. You get to customize, shape and configure your Italy vacation with me so you're invested in the vacation with ALL your interests in mind and not just a generalized approach to Italy. You get to pick the locations you want to visit instead of the tour company picking them for you. Sure, if you've never been to Italy before then it's common to want to go to Venice, Florence and Rome, but lets say you've heard how over-crowded, high priced and touristy Venice is so you want to skip it?, well, you can't do that on a pre-packaged tour can you?....nope! You get to pick what you want to see tourist attraction wise instead of the tour company picking it for you. I've had travelers tell me they just aren't fans of Art galleries and paintings,.....so you now what?, I don't take them to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, which is one of the largest collections of Italian Renaisance collections anywhere in the world. These are the things we do in advance on your trip.... .a customized Italy vacation tour. You get to experience Italy on your own pace, not the tour company's pace. Most of the pre-packaged tours have you staying no more then 2 nights anywhere and often sometimes one night somewhere,....one night stands are inefficient. It's just too much moving, unpacking and packing up and trying to see and do too much in Italy. Italy is so much better when you slow it down a bit and stay a minimum of 3 nights in each location. I've found this to be the best because your travel day is busy and intense and you really cannot do much except arrive in your next town, check into your stay in the afternoon and explore a bit and have dinner that night. I never book any hard reservations for things on these travel days in case of curves balls thrown at you-which is all the time in Italy. So in reality, you're really only in a town for two and a half days. On a customized vacation tour of Italy, you get to control all of your own travel costs and not the tour company controlling your travel costs. I've planned all types of trips for all types of travelers and their budget comfort zones and have found that it's better to have my clients choose their level of Hotel stays and tourist activities instead of me pre-packaging them for them. We also do this with restaurants and eating while in Italy. The flexibility of the customized Italian vacation tour has been my main selling point for years and years now. You get to work with me directly, no extensive staff, plus, I love meeting new people and welcome the new and different challenges when planning a new tour for them and I hope to do one for you soon.

If you're dreaming of Italy and watching the new Stanley Tucci series on Nat Geo "Tucci in Italy" and you're saying,...."honey, we've got to go and see Italy".....then the most common first trip is to Venice, Florence and Rome. NOW, if you're stuck on whether to pick a "pre packaged" tour or to try to do it all yourselves, why not consider hiring me as your own private guide for the whole vacation trip in Italy for the same cost as one of those pre packaged tours,...no kidding, what you pay for a pre-packaged tour is about what I charge all in per day per person, but you get your own exclusive tour guide with you the whole way and no big tour bus with other people-just your group! - many of my trips are around $400 USD per day per person including me with all costs often times including the airfare, not including meals!.....I like to find your airfare as well and meet you in transit, so why not customize it? We start by flying into Venice's Marco Polo airport, spend at least 4 nights there. The first night is a wash as you'll be arriving that day and all you can do is have dinner and get some rest. Then we do Venice for 3 days, Saint Mark's Cathedral, the Doge's Palace, the Church of the Friari, a Gondola ride with my favorite Gondolier I know since 1997, yes, you read that right, 1997,...and then we day trip to the islands of Murano and Burano, Murano for Glass blowing and Glass Art and then Burano for the Lace making and beautiful sights......don't want to visit the islands? then we can day trip to Verona, so many options near Venice. The second part of your trip is an easy train trip to Florence and 4 nights there. You don't need a car traveling to the major cities while in Italy, simply just a hassle. I'm an expert at mangaing your train reservations and travel. Florence is the heart of the Renaissance and warrants 4 nights there because there is so much to see and do. I book all your tourist attractions months in advance so we have entry to everything with very little hassle. Sure there's big crowds there but there's big crowds in all the main cities in Italy. We'll visit the Duomo, the Accademia to see the original Michaelangelo David Statue (there's others that are copies throughout Florence), Palazzo Vecchio, The Ponte Vecchio and the other side of the river called the Oltrano. Great art at the Uffizi Gallery, great walking, great food and wine and great evenings after dinner strolling and hearing concert quality music in the streets. You tell me what you like to see and I book everything for you in advance. I don't have set itineraries and re-use cookie cutter past trips - I customize all you want to do. The third part of your trip and the finale is in Rome. It's another easy train ride there and BAM, you're in the cradle of our modern Western Civiliaztion. So much history and things to do so we stay for 4 nights here as well. The obvious sights are the Colosseum, Saint Peter's Vatican Church and Museum (2 separate places, some think it's all in one), the Pantheon (not free anymore-5 Euros now) and then the Rome free sights walk of Piazza Navonna, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. Rome is brutal if you don't prepare for it with reservations for everything and this is what I do for you a few months before your trip. There's many inside museums like the Borghese Gallery but Rome outside is also a Museum by itself. We try to walk as much as possible because you see everythig when you do. The trip to the Vatican is a Metro subway ride as that's way too far unless you're staying close tot he Vatican but I never stay that close to it because all the other main sights are NOT near the Vatican. Many novice travelers make this mistake. These are the things I know from all my travels to Italy and I want to share them with you. After we finish Rome we leave out of the airport here which is 45 minutes to the coast and you've completed your first trip to Italy and I betcha you'll return to see more of it with Custom Tours of Italy! Ciao, Chris

There are many factors in choosing the best privately guided 15 day vacation tour of Italy to the 4 most popular cities, Venice, Florence, Rome and Sorrento when you're deciding with your travel partner, your spouse or your travel family and or friends. The first thing to decide is how many days you can allow for your Italy vacation. If you're still working and can only get 17 days you must factor in that there are two days of travel that ARE NOT part of your vacation in Italy, this leaves you with 15 days of actual time there. Once you've determined your vacation length, then you have to decide on how may locations you want to visit and how much you want to see while you're there. When you pick a pre-packaged tour with "another company" you don't get to pick the amount of days in each location, you get what they've picked out for you, and often times it's just NOT enough time in these locations to fully enjoy yourself in Italy. With Custom Tours of Italy, you get to customize your Italian vacation locations, the time spent in each place and all of your tourist attractions while there. In all my trips the general consensus is that a minimum of 3 or 4 nights in each place is the lowest number of nights to stay. So here's what a possible 15 day vacation in Italy might look like if your desire is to visit the 4 most commonly visited cities in Italy..... Venice, Florence, Rome and Sorrento, with day trips from each one of these locations. Nights 1 - 4, Fly into VENICE arriving at Marco Polo Airport and spend 4 nights in Venice city center. Your first night there is relaxation with no tourist activities planned on your arrival day. I never schedule tourist activities on these travel days in case of travel changes or delays....Venice is a perfectly preserved city and a must do if you want experience the iconic tourist activities you can only do there such as a Gondola ride..(I still search out and find my very first Gondolier Marco Mingardi when I'm there-we're friends since 1997)......a visit to Saint Mark's Cathedral, a day trip visit to a glass blowing factory on the island of Murano and a memorable Canal-side dinner. Piazza San Marco is one of the best squares in all of Italy with cafes, live Orchestras and shops. Nights 5 - 8, Train it to FLORENCE (as you don't need a car into any of the big cities) and stay for 4 nights in the city that was the heart of Renaissance. Florence has so much to offer so it warrants a 4 nights stay - with the Accademia where you'll see Michael-Angelo's original David Statue, the Galleria di Uffizi where you'll see the greatest collection of Italian paintings anywhere, the Bargelo where you'll see the most amazing statues, the Galileo Museum where you'll see all of his scientific achievements. The red-roofed Duomo is a must with a climb inside the dome with the best 360 degree view of Florence at the top. The Duomo museum is an easy visit with the original Baptistry doors designed by Ghiberti which kicked off the Renaissance across from the Duomo. Florence is an easy city to walk and the sights are all fairly close by in the city center. While you're staying in Florence there are many day trip train possibilities such as to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower and also a visit to the town of Lucca, a true gem. The Cinque Terre is a little too far for a day trip from Florence although many will try this - too much travel time there and back! Nights 9 - 12, rent a car after Florence and spend 4 nights on a Farm Agriturismo in Tuscany! I’ve staying on a few farms but I have one I actually try to schedule my trips around when they have rooms available. It’s near Pienza in the Val D’orcia region and I discovered it in the Fall of 2013 and I’ve been going there with travelers ever since. It only has four rooms so it books well in advance but the family there has been my extended Italian family ever since. I also recently discovered a great farm east of Florence and this has become my favorite near there. When  you stay on a farm, you take day trips to the surrounding local towns and really get the salt of the earth local Italian living. You go to local wineries, you go to local foodie artisan farms where you can do a Cheese making farm, and Olive oil farm, a farm that specializes in harvesting wheat and making Pasta,……these days are always described as the best part of any of my travelers reviews! I think it’s important to balance your trip with some time in the countryside! 4 Nights 13-16, train it down to Naples where you then take the local train to the Amalfi coast and Sorrento, base yourself in Sorrento and do day trips from here. The must do's in this area is a day trip to Pompeii to see the city that was buried by the Vesuvius Volcano in 79 AD. Pompeii is a perfect snapshot of what a Rome dominated city was like back then - flat out amazing! I always try to include a boat trip to Capri where you'll spend most of the day on a small chartered boat exploring the Amalfi Coast and then eventually going into the famed Blue Grotto Cave, waves permitting. Also included in the boat trip is a stop at a small port for lunch and a trip up to Capri or Anacapri. Sorrento is all things lemon so we'll stop by the Cataldi Garden to see a lemon grove and taste limoncello at their factory. And then finally what many are dreaming of, a day trip touring on the stunning Amalfi cost to the small towns of Positano and Amalfi - tour buses or a small hired van is the way we do this if we don't have a car. 5 Nights 17-20, train it to ROME, the eternal city. Rome is gigantic but surprisingly walkable with many of the historic sights near the city center. Top visits are of course the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navonna, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon and the Vatican Church and Museum. The Vatican is the farthest away attraction and can be accessed by Metro subway or Taxi cab unless you're staying close to it, it is not an easy walk to it from the other main sites in Rome. The Vatican Church and the Vatican Museum are separate visits next to each other, the church is free to enter with only a security line while the Museum requires a ticket in advance. An easy day trip from Rome is the beautiful hilltop city of Orvieto just an hour and a half north,....Since Rome is your last city on your private Italy vacation you don't have to rush around at all to take it all in. Rome can be exhausting and you'll be walking a lot on your whole trip so many times we'll stop and have a drink or meal in a peaceful, non touristy location in order to experience Italy like the locals do, as we say,..il dolce far niente,..the sweetness of doing nothing. When I schedule your tour activities for you, we can usually only do one activity after breakfast and one activity after lunch..night time is when the charm comes out in Italy, the day tourists have all gone away, walking before dinner, called the "passagiatta" is a must to see Italians strutting their stuff, dinner starts at 8pm and ends when you're done, there's no rush, and an after dinner walk to a lively bar for a night cap of Limoncello, Grappa or Amaro is typical. 6 Day 21 you'll fly out from Rome back to the USA,....Rome's airport is about 45 minutes to the West Coast of Rome and many times we stay in the small city of Fiumicino next to the airport the night before you leave in order to make an early morning departure,..there are some great restaurants along the river in the town there,.....these are the things I do at Custom Tours of Italy that you cannot do with any pre-packaged Italian tour companies out there. www.customtoursofitaly.com

There are many factors in choosing the best privately guided 12 day vacation tour of Italy to the 3 most popular cities, Venice, Florence and Rome when you're deciding with your travel partner, your spouse or your travel family and or friends. The first thing to decide is how many days you can allow for your Italy vacation. If you're still working and can only get 2 weeks off (14 days) you must factor in that there are two days of travel that ARE NOT part of your vacation in Italy, this leaves you with 12 days of actual time there. Once you've determined your vacation length, then you have to decide on how may locations you want to visit and how much you want to see while you're there. When you pick a pre-packaged tour with "another company" you don't get to pick the amount of days in each location, you get what they've picked out for you, and often times it's just NOT enough time in these locations to fully enjoy yourself in Italy. With Custom Tours of Italy, you get to customize your Italian vacation locations, the time spent in each place and all of your tourist attractions while there. In all my trips the general consensus is that a minimum of 3 or 4 nights in each place is the lowest number of nights to stay. So here's what a possible 12 day vacation in Italy might look like if your desire is to visit the 3 most commonly visited cities in Italy..... Venice, Florence and Rome, with day trips from each one of these locations. Nights 1 - 4, Fly into VENICE arriving at Marco Polo Airport and spend 4 nights in Venice city center. Your first night there is relaxation with no tourist activities planned on your arrival day. I never schedule tourist activities on these travel days in case of travel changes or delays....Venice is a perfectly preserved city and a must do if you want experience the iconic tourist activities you can only do there such as a Gondola ride..(I still search out and find my very first Gondolier Marco Mingardi when I'm there-we're friends since 1997)......a visit to Saint Mark's Cathedral, a day trip visit to a glass blowing factory on the island of Murano and a memorable Canal-side dinner. Piazza San Marco is one of the best squares in all of Italy with cafes, live Orchestras and shops. Nights 5 - 8, Train it to FLORENCE (as you don't need a car into any of the big cities) and stay for 4 nights in the city that was the heart of Renaissance. Florence has so much to offer with the Accademia where you'll see Michael-Angelo's original David Statue, the Galleria di Uffizi where you'll see the greatest collection of Italian paintings anywhere, the Bargelo where you'll see the most amazing statues, the Galileo Museum where you'll see all of his scientific achievements. The red-roofed Duomo is a must with a climb inside the dome with the best 360 degree view of Florence at the top. The Duomo museum is an easy visit with the original Baptistry doors designed by Ghiberti which kicked off the Renaissance across from the Duomo. Florence is an easy city to walk and the sights are all fairly closeby in the city center. While you're staying in Florence there are many day trip train possibilities such as to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower and also a visit to the town of Lucca, a true gem. The Cinque Terre is a little too far for a day trip from Florence although many will try this - too much travel time there and back! Nights 9 - 12, train it to ROME, the eternal city. Rome is gigantic but surprisingly walkable with many of the historic sights near the city center. Top visits are of course the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navonna, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon and the Vatican Church and Museum. The Vatican is the farthest away attraction and can be accessed by Metro subway or Taxi cab unless you're staying close to it, it is not an easy walk to it from the other main sites in Rome. The Vatican Church and the Vatican Museum are separate visits next to each other, the church is free to enter with only a security line while the Museum requires a ticket in advance. An easy day trip from Rome is the beautiful hilltop city of Orvieto just an hour and a half north,....Since Rome is your last city on your private Italy vacation you don't have to rush around at all to take it all in. Rome can be exhausting and you'll be walking a lot on your whole trip so many times we'll stop and have a drink or meal in a peaceful, non touristy location in order to experience Italy like the locals do, as we say,..il dolce far niente,..the sweetness of doing nothing. When I schedule your tour activities for you, we can usually only do one activity after breakfast and one activity after lunch..night time is when the charm comes out in Italy, the day tourists have all gone away, walking before dinner, called the "passagiatta" is a must to see Italians strutting their stuff, dinner starts at 8pm and ends when you're done, there's no rush, and an after dinner walk to a lively bar for a night cap of Limoncello, Grappa or Amaro is typical. Day 13 you'll fly out from Rome back to the USA,....Rome's airport is about 45 minutes to the West Coast of Rome and many times we stay in the small city of Fiumicino next to the airport the night before you leave in order to make an early morning departure,..there are some great restaurants along the river in the town there,.....these are the things I do at Custom Tours of Italy that you cannot do with any pre-packaged Italian tour companies out there. www.customtoursofitaly.com

There are many factors in choosing the best privately guided 15 day vacation tour of Italy to the 4 most popular cities, Venice, Florence, Rome and Sorrento when you're deciding with your travel partner, your spouse or your travel family and or friends. The first thing to decide is how many days you can allow for your Italy vacation. If you're still working and can only get 17 days you must factor in that there are two days of travel that ARE NOT part of your vacation in Italy, this leaves you with 15 days of actual time there. Once you've determined your vacation length, then you have to decide on how may locations you want to visit and how much you want to see while you're there. When you pick a pre-packaged tour with "another company" you don't get to pick the amount of days in each location, you get what they've picked out for you, and often times it's just NOT enough time in these locations to fully enjoy yourself in Italy. With Custom Tours of Italy, you get to customize your Italian vacation locations, the time spent in each place and all of your tourist attractions while there. In all my trips the general consensus is that a minimum of 3 or 4 nights in each place is the lowest number of nights to stay. So here's what a possible 15 day vacation in Italy might look like if your desire is to visit the 4 most commonly visited cities in Italy..... Venice, Florence, Rome and Sorrento, with day trips from each one of these locations. Nights 1 - 4, Fly into VENICE arriving at Marco Polo Airport and spend 4 nights in Venice city center. Your first night there is relaxation with no tourist activities planned on your arrival day. I never schedule tourist activities on these travel days in case of travel changes or delays....Venice is a perfectly preserved city and a must do if you want experience the iconic tourist activities you can only do there such as a Gondola ride..(I still search out and find my very first Gondolier Marco Mingardi when I'm there-we're friends since 1997)......a visit to Saint Mark's Cathedral, a day trip visit to a glass blowing factory on the island of Murano and a memorable Canal-side dinner. Piazza San Marco is one of the best squares in all of Italy with cafes, live Orchestras and shops. Nights 5 - 8, Train it to FLORENCE (as you don't need a car into any of the big cities) and stay for 4 nights in the city that was the heart of Renaissance. Florence has so much to offer so it warrants a 4 nights stay - with the Accademia where you'll see Michael-Angelo's original David Statue, the Galleria di Uffizi where you'll see the greatest collection of Italian paintings anywhere, the Bargelo where you'll see the most amazing statues, the Galileo Museum where you'll see all of his scientific achievements. The red-roofed Duomo is a must with a climb inside the dome with the best 360 degree view of Florence at the top. The Duomo museum is an easy visit with the original Baptistry doors designed by Ghiberti which kicked off the Renaissance across from the Duomo. Florence is an easy city to walk and the sights are all fairly closeby in the city center. While you're staying in Florence there are many day trip train possibilities such as to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower and also a visit to the town of Lucca, a true gem. The Cinque Terre is a little too far for a day trip from Florence although many will try this - too much travel time there and back! Nights 9 - 12, train it down to Naples where you then take the local train to the Amalfi coast and Sorrento, base yourself in Sorrento and do day trips from here. The must do's in this area is a day trip to Pompeii to see the city that was buried by the Vesuvius Volcano in 79 AD. Pompeii is a perfect snapshot of what a Rome dominated city was like back then - flat out amazing! I always try to include a boat trip to Capri where you'll spend most of the day on a small chartered boat exploring the Amalfi Coast and then eventually going into the famed Blue Grotto Cave, waves permitting. Also included in the boat trip is a stop at a small port for lunch and a trip up to Capri or Anacapri. Sorrento is all things lemon so we'll stop by the Cataldi Garden to see a lemon grove and taste limoncello at their factory. And then finally what many are dreaming of, a day trip touring on the stunning Amalfi cost to the small towns of Positano and Amalfi - tour buses or a small hired van is the way we do this if we don't have a car. Nights 13 - 16, train it to ROME, the eternal city. Rome is gigantic but surprisingly walkable with many of the historic sights near the city center. Top visits are of course the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navonna, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon and the Vatican Church and Museum. The Vatican is the farthest away attraction and can be accessed by Metro subway or Taxi cab unless you're staying close to it, it is not an easy walk to it from the other main sites in Rome. The Vatican Church and the Vatican Museum are separate visits next to each other, the church is free to enter with only a security line while the Museum requires a ticket in advance. An easy day trip from Rome is the beautiful hilltop city of Orvieto just an hour and a half north,....Since Rome is your last city on your private Italy vacation you don't have to rush around at all to take it all in. Rome can be exhausting and you'll be walking a lot on your whole trip so many times we'll stop and have a drink or meal in a peaceful, non touristy location in order to experience Italy like the locals do, as we say,..il dolce far niente,..the sweetness of doing nothing. When I schedule your tour activities for you, we can usually only do one activity after breakfast and one activity after lunch..night time is when the charm comes out in Italy, the day tourists have all gone away, walking before dinner, called the "passagiatta" is a must to see Italians strutting their stuff, dinner starts at 8pm and ends when you're done, there's no rush, and an after dinner walk to a lively bar for a night cap of Limoncello, Grappa or Amaro is typical. Day 17 you'll fly out from Rome back to the USA,....Rome's airport is about 45 minutes to the West Coast of Rome and many times we stay in the small city of Fiumicino next to the airport the night before you leave in order to make an early morning departure,..there are some great restaurants along the river in the town there,.....these are the things I do at Custom Tours of Italy that you cannot do with any pre-packaged Italian tour companies out there. www.customtoursofitaly.com

So, you're poking around the internet and you see a lot of options for trips that say they offer a "privately guided custom vacation trip to Italy" for you but then they have pre-made itineraries already made up for you to look at? How is that a custom trip? The reason you want your own custom private tour guide for your whole trip in Italy is that a professional private guide can just book the way you want to travel and book the things that interest you and your traveling party! What I do is communicate with you by text, email, Zoom, and cell phone often times Facetime on iPhones and actually ask you: when you'd like to go to Italy, where you'd like to go in Italy, what you'd like to do in those places and and how you'd like to do it! Right now I'm putting together a trip for May of 2026 for a couple to go to Abruzzo, Puglia and Sicily for 17 days in total, they've been to Italy before so now he wants to explore more Castles and she likes smaller more chill towns... you don't get this with any other Italian tour guide agency. I work alone and love to talk to perspective Italy travelers to try to craft them a custom tour of Italy for the best possible time there. Many other times my clients are first time travelers to Italy so sometimes it's obvious they want to hit the 4 most common places, Venice, Florence, Rome and the Amalfi Coast. BUT, within those 4 places, lets say Venice first, they tell me they don't really want to go on a Gondola ride while in Venice. Well, on one of those pre-packaged tours - they have you pre-paying this option within your trip already, so you have to go on it......maybe someone is afraid of the water? What I do is I find out EXACTLY what you want to do, for instance: you're really really really interested in paintings and wall art,..... well, if you are, then for sure you want to visit the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. If you're interested in Catholic churches and all that comes with that then we're for sure going into Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, (which is free by the way-just a security line outside). I have people that tell me they don't want to go into any Churches at all because they're Jewish but they want to visit the Jewish Quarter in Rome and Florence and visit the synagogues. There's a whole lot of Jewish history in both cities especailly in Rome and it's fascinating to visit these places. Do you want just a coastal culture Italy vacation on some of the most iconic beach resorts? well, that's the Cinque Terre 3 hours north of Florence - pronounced CHIN QWA TERRA.....the beaches aren't the best white sand beaches like the Caribbean but the 5 little Towns sure are great for Italian coastal culture. Seafood restaurants overlooking the water, boat trips and hiking in this area are the top hits. The Amalfi coast and Sorrento is another great location for coastal culture. You also visit the isle of Capri when in this area - pronounced COP PREE......These are the type of things I know as a long time experienced private Italian tour guide only working in Italy. I could go on and on but that's a conversation for us over the phone to get you started on your own very personal Custom privately guided vacation tour of Italy!

Sure, the internet is a great source of information when you think you can try book your own custom tour of Italy but what you don't get when you're reading those "top ten things to do while in Italy" Tripadvisor reviews is you don't get the experience of someone who goes to Italy 3 times a year for many years now. Why trust anyone else when thinking of going on a private Italy vacation then someone who knows the country and prides themselves on all the details which can make or break the success of your trip? In my opinion, Italy is one of the hardest countries to travel to because of a few of these reasons below: Knowing how to travel in Italy,......do we go by Trains or Cars or Buses? Well, I can tell you, you definitely DO NOT need a car near any of the big cities like Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, the Cinque Terre or the Sorrento coast....I drove in Florence once when I first started out and it was a nightmare even finding the rental car return - never again. We go by Train when going from city to city and I book all the Train reservations in advance.. you also have to know that Italy has Train strikes from time to time......I know how to find when those are happening in advance,......when going to the countryside of Tuscany and Umbria to explore, we rent a car because you really cannot get there any other way. Knowing where to stay in Italy?,....booking the right Hotel or Farm stay in the right location takes years of experience. When people show me where they've booked their stays themselves and then I look where they actually are located, I cringe because most of the time they're not located remotely close enough to the things you want to see and do. For example: want to see the Vatican Church and Museum in Rome so you book a hotel close to there?,....well did you know that ALL, and I mean ALL of the other major sights like the Colosseum, Pantheon, Piazza Navonna, Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps are WAY across the Tiber river not even walking distance from the Vatican area. These are the things that I know. Knowing about the tourist activities......there's huge crowds at all the main sites in the main cities Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome and the Sorrento coast and all those people want to go there all at the same time....want to have all your tourist attractions booked well in advance for the right times? it literally takes weeks to book all these if you've never done it before, I'm an expert at it and will save you time and money by doing it all for you. Knowing about the great restaurants and where to eat,.....one of the joys of being in Italy is the food and wine there!........often times when I'm in Italy I see the main Piazza's full of tourists sitting down eating lunch and dinner in the most crowded restaurants thinking they're getting a great meal just because the places are "busy and full" so it must be good right?...... if you see a sign in English saying "no frozen food" on the most expensive square in Florence or Rome,.....RUN, don't walk away from it. Those places are low quality tourist food and high prices......I have so many relationships with so many great restaurants after all these years the owners are like family now. One of best Michelin star restaurants in Sorrento is owned by a man I met in 1997 when he was just the head waiter at the bar Fauno in the Main Piazza Tazzo, I went back in 1999 and he had opened an incredible restaurant that I still go to everytime I'm in Sorrento.....these are a few of the small things that make a big difference when you trust someone to book all of your custom tour of Italy. Let me put together your private Italy vacation so you can have one of the best guided tours to Italy ever. www.customtoursofitaly.com