I arrive in Italy on Friday for another small group tour to Italy. We have 10 experienced travelers this time. We are bypassing some of the traditional sites on this trip. Although we stay in Florence for 4 nights, we will day trip to Lucca, the Chianti region, spend a couple of days in Florence digging deeper into this Renaissance city. Then we go to the un-touristy city of Padua where we will base ourselves. We'll spend some time there and also visit Shakespeare's Verona, Vicenza, and the better-than-Lake-Come destination, Lake Garda. Look at the blog post for our itinerary.
Whenever I am on a tour to Italy, especially Florence, I like to go into the countryside. The hills are filled with olive trees and grape vines. Bicyclists go up and down the hills. It seems like on every distant hilltop sits a small fortified town. Read my blog post to find out more about my tour of the Chianti region.