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When I started going to Italy with just my wife many years ago before I started Custom Tours of Italy, we would move around a lot by trains and try to see as many things as possible for the obvious reasons of being younger and the mindset we would miss things if we didn't "try to do it all" in 2 or 3 weeks there. Things change when you get experienced and you slow things down and try to soak in Italy the way they want you to experience it - slower and more appreciative. When I travel guide folks now I try to adhere to a minimum of 3 nights in one place, some places like Rome or Florence or a Farm Agriturismo can even warrant a longer stay for longer, on our travel days either by train or car I NEVER schedule a set tourist reservation later in the day just in case there are travel curve balls thrown at you by Italy (which is very common) and then you chance missing a reserved, paid for tourist activity. Italy simply is not as much fun if you're rushing through it - THEY CERTAINLY ARE NOT rushing through life, and you will see this! My philosophy is you're not going on a "sprint" on your vacation but a "marathon" at a slower pace. Most hotel or Farms will want you checking out by 11am or 12 noon latest and your next destination doesn't allow you to check in by 3 or 4:00pm - so the time in between should be your travel time to your next destination - this is traveling smartly. Sure, we may stop off in a town on the way in order to sight-see on the way to your next location, we'll have lunch there along the way and the aim to arrive in the later afternoon where we'll stay for 3 nights or more. There will be things to do in the new location that aren't scheduled that first night but are iconic to the town or city,.....free things that you don't need to be scheduled such as the stroll before dinner to get an Aperitivo drink during our walk called the "passegiatta" - this is where locals are all out walking and meeting each other, checking in with each other out for the latest news in town, the latest gossip,....then it's off to dinner. This is "slow Italy" at it's best, and also noted, when you go to eat dinner, that is not usually before 8pm at night and when you're there-there's no rushing through dinner, it can easily be 2 to 3 hours with all the courses followed by an after drink like Limoncello or Amaro....this is part of the beauty of why you picked to go Italy - their lifestyle and this is traveling smart to not rush through things while there!....often time we use the phrase "il dolce far niente",.... translated means "the sweetness of doing nothing"..... www.customtoursofitaly.com

I began my quest in 1997 to put together the best guided tour of Italy with my then girlfriend (who I was trying to impress) who became my fiance' after our first private tour of Italy - she later became my wife in 1998. She convinced me that I was a natural tour guide for Italy and to do this as a business! ....so I married her and we're still married and when I'm not guiding people in Italy, we go there and explore and our two grown children love it as well. Back then, I was determined to go to Italy and not do one of those bus tours with 25 other people I didn't know and I definintley didn't want to be another tacky American tourist. Being Italian American I decided to read and study every Italy guide book possible and also learn enough Italian to go to Italy on our own......it was the best decision ever and this was the inception of Custom Tours of Italy. I put together private Italy tours and love sharing this great country with people... www.customtoursofitaly.com

How to begin to plan for one of my best guided private vacation tours to Italy.... 2025 is a Jubilee year for Italy and things are going to get busy and booked up faster this year....January is almost over and you should now be thinking (about 4 months in advance) about a Spring or Summer custom tour of Italy. Prime tourist season in Italy is essentially May thru October but many will say "you're crazy if you go to Italy in July or August",....but I go,....sure it's hot in the summer in Italy but it usually cools down at night and thats when most of the daily influx of tourists get back on their tour bus or their Cruise ship. Evening is when the charm comes out and the night time fun begins. So, how to begin planning for your private tour to Italy? The best way to start is to start looking at guide books/ Youtube's or Italy travel by consulting the internet for some of the best things to do in italy. Then, you have to match up what you like to do and start making notes of this. If you're NOT into crowds and being inside Museums, then skip the lines and what you DON'T want to do,..and if I was guiding you, we surely wouldn't doing those things. This is the beauty of Custom Tours of Italy and what I do, by myself, when I guide you on your own private, guided vacation tour of Italy. The packaged bus tours don't give you a choice on these options. I do. Once you contact me, I begin with your airfare searches as I like to be able to fly with or at least meet my travelers on the way to Italy. Then we plan out what you want to see in Italy and I begin to book the hotels, the tourist activites, the train travel/car rental and also the restaurants in advance. I charge for all up front EXCEPT the lunches and dinners as we don't know what those costs will be. January and February are great months to get a jump on booking your Spring or Summer vacation to Italy. For Fall vacations, April and May are good months to begin booking things for your private vacation tour of Italy in September through the end of October. www.customtoursofitaly.com

When searching around on the internet for Italy vacation packages, a myriad of options come up, but how many are there where you can create your own, small group customized Italy tour with the owner/operator who escorts you on your whole trip? There's only one, Custom Tours of Italy. My passion to share this great country with people is the driving force behind what I do with my travelers. I love to see the smiles on my tourists faces when they finally get to see what they invisioned Italy to be. I only work alone and work with you to determine what you would like to do in Italy, then I create a day by day itinerary for you and your small group vacation to Italy. Most of the pre-packaged tours have you moving around too much and only staying 1 or 2 nights in various locations - I don't do that. We do a minimum of 3 nights everywhere and sometimes we stay in places more then that. For example, I often book your custom, private guided vacation to Italy around the availability of my favorite farm "Agriturismo" in Southern Tuscany near Montepulciano. I like to suggest you balance the big tourist cities with a stay in the country in Tuscany. Everyone one of my past travelers have said the farm stay was the best part of their trip. I've been going to this farm since the Fall of 2013 and now the owners are "family". When you book Custom Tours of Italy for your private guided vacation to Italy you get to "order" what you want to do. You're not a huge fan of museums with just paintings? Then we don't plan that for you,....you don't get that choice with a big tour company tour with 25 other people on a bus going to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence......You're a big Roman history buff? well, you're going to the right place then, but let's plan more than 3 nights in Rome....the other tour guide agencies do not have this flexibility....so, let's create your own customized, personalized Italy vacation soon. Grazie mille! www.customtoursofitaly.com

You get to experience Italy on the local level with someone who is a 3rd generation Italian American, who has dual citizenship with Italy who ONLY tour guides in Italy and is just as excited to be there as you are. You get to customize your tour of Italy with your tourist activity likes and dislikes, ....don't like to see too many Museums with paintings? we only visit the ones you really want to see. You love to visit Churches and Christian iconogrraphy? Italy has plenty of that, You want to do winery and food tours, Italy has plenty of that etc... You get to pick your Hotel preferences in advance instead of the pre-packaged tour company picking them for you. You get to meet and interface with your tour guide in advance when planning your vacation for one of the best guided tours of Italy. You get to pick your budget and the total amount of days you're actually in Italy as opposed to the pre-packaged tour company picking them for you. I really only like to do a minimum of 3 nights in each location...many lower budget tours have you staying 2 nights and even 1 night sometimes, they move you around too much, I don't make any commission money off of booking you into anything from 2nd party tour attractions, I only charge a per day fee and all my expenses! You get the possibility to stay on a farm called an Agriturismo in the countryside in Italy to experience the way real Italians live and work...I often book my tours around some of my favorite farm stays in Italy. You get to meet some of my long time friends that own restaurants and experience Italian food NOT in the "tourist" places in some of the iconic cities in Italy like Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome and Sorrento. You get to pick who you're traveling with instead of the pre-packaged tours putting you in a group of 20 other people you've NEVER met! You get an personal guide who speaks fluent Italian who can ease your apprehension of the language barrier. You get the security of a private tour guide who is with you insuring that you have a safe and incident free time while on your vacation in Italy. www.customtoursofitaly.com