We are into our 2nd week on our small group tour to Italy and we have a wonderful group of 12 travelers enjoying the weather, great food, wonderful wine and the history/culture of Italy. In Rome we saw the Colosseum, Forum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Pantheon. A special tour of the Vatican will be remembered for years to come. After taking the high-speed train up to Florence yesterday, we went on a tour into the Italian countryside with a visit to a Tuscan winery. Read more about our small group tour in the blog post.
Our small group tour to Italy consisting of 12 adult travelers starts when we meet in Rome on Tuesday. We have a full and active itinerary planned for the whole time we are there. What I like about this trip (and all of my trips) is that I enjoy the hotels, we tour on our schedule and not the schedule of some big tour company, we have some great guides lined up, the itinerary is paced so that not only is it active, we have some really lazy but fun days like when we drive into the Tuscan countryside to visit some old hill towns and wineries. It will be a fun time in Italy and I invite you to look at our itinerary in this blog post.
I have been to Italy many times in April, but never with great weather like this. No rain, temps in the 70's. I could use less crowds but for the most part, they have been A-OK. Since my first report we have continued to roam about Rome, headed up to Florence, traversed over to Padua and Venice. I have seen most of the sights while leading my small group tours to Italy, so I am doing my best to enjoy the weather, relax, and eat some good food.
Florence is one of my favorites when taking people on my small group tours to Italy. And one of our favorite things to do is EAT! I like authentic dishes like riboletta, a Tuscan bean soup made with black cabbage. Let's not forget about the famous Florentine steak. And then there are the wonderful Tuscan cheeses, breads, and olive oils. Read the blog post and look at my favorite places to eat when on tour to Florence.
Winter in Europe can be an amazing time to travel. The crowds are gone, airfares are low. Travelers have their pick of hotels and restaurants. I particularly like traveling to Italy, especially Florence during this time of year. In this guest blog post, Karen Mills of www.Anamericaninitaly.com provides her perspective of traveling to Florence in the wintertime.
I usually don't run deals on my small group tours to Italy but we need just a few people to fill up two of our tours. On of our Italy tours is in April and the other one is in March. It is a terrific time to visit Italy - airfares are low, the crowds are sparse, and the weather is extremely pleasant. So, jump on this great deal to Italy and enjoy a Traveling Professor small group tour to Italy. Read the blog post to get the details on this tour of Italy, including pricing, itineraries, and what's included.
Some people make the mistake of trying to do too much when they take a tour of Italy. For instance, they will want to go to Rome, Florence, Venice, the Amalfi Coast, Cinque Terre, Milan, etc. all in one trip. My advice is to just take Italy in comfortable segments of a week or two. In this blog post, I lay out a typical one week Italy travel itineary.
On our tours to Italy, Florence has become a city that everyone wants to go to. They are enamored with the art, the history of the Medicis and the famous artists and writers, the food ain't bad either. One of the reasons I love to visit Florence is because it is so compact - just about everything is within easy walking distance. There are also quite a few "hidden" spots we visit in Florence too - like the artisan shops and newly discovered places like the Last Supper of Saint Appolonia, painted 50 years before da Vinci's masterpiece. So while everyone loves to visit Rome and Venice, I find Florence to be my favorite stop on my tour of Italy.