Italy 18-Day Luxury Private Tour

Welcome to Italy. Most international flights reach Catania through Rome or another European hub; if you connect in Rome, the flight from Rome to Catania is included. Your driver meets you at Catania airport for the drive of about an hour to Taormina. The road follows the coast with Mount Etna rising inland. Your hotel sits on the hillside above the sea, so take the rest of the day to settle in and recover from the flight. In the evening you might walk the main street, Corso Umberto, and stop for an aperitivo on a terrace looking down to the bay. Your guide will be in touch about the coming days.

After breakfast your private guide walks you through Taormina. Start at the Greek theatre, built into the hillside in the third century BC and later rebuilt by the Romans, with Etna and the coastline framed behind the stage. Continue through medieval lanes to the cathedral square and the public gardens. The afternoon is free. Take the cable car down to Mazzarò and the little island of Isola Bella for a swim in the warmer months, or stay at the hotel pool. Dinner is at your leisure, perhaps fresh fish by the sea.

Today your driver and an experienced Etna guide take you up Europe’s most active volcano, about an hour from Taormina. Walk around the Silvestri craters at about 1,900 meters, among old lava flows and black slopes. If you would like to go higher, the cable car and off-road vehicles toward the summit area can be added, weather and volcanic activity permitting. Bring a warm layer, as it is much cooler up there. Lunch is included at a country restaurant on the lower slopes, with food grown in the rich volcanic soil. You are back by mid-afternoon.

After a slow breakfast your driver takes you south to Syracuse, about an hour and a half along the coast. Your hotel is on Ortigia, the small island that has been the heart of the city for almost three thousand years. In the afternoon your guide shows you around: the cathedral, built into a Greek temple of Athena whose columns are still visible in the walls, the elegant Piazza Duomo and the Fountain of Arethusa by the sea. In the evening the waterfront promenade fills with locals, an easy place for dinner.

This morning your guide takes you to Noto, about 40 minutes away. The town was rebuilt after the earthquake of 1693 in a single golden Baroque style, and its cathedral, palaces and balconies glow in the sunlight. Walk the main street at an easy pace and stop for an almond granita in a café. Back in Ortigia, the afternoon is free. You might visit the Greek theatre in the archaeological park of Neapolis, or simply rest. Tonight dinner is included at a restaurant serving Sicilian seafood and local pasta dishes.

Today is a travel day, planned so it feels easy. After breakfast your driver takes you to Catania airport, about an hour away, for the flight to Naples of about an hour. Another driver meets you and follows the coast road to your hotel on the Amalfi Coast, about an hour and a half, with Vesuvius across the bay and the road curving above the sea. Arrive in time to rest and enjoy the view from your terrace. Dinner tonight is at your leisure, perhaps lemon pasta and fresh fish in a small restaurant nearby.

After breakfast your driver takes you to Pompeii, about an hour away, where your private guide is waiting. The town was buried by Vesuvius in AD 79 and preserved under the ash, so you can walk its paved streets, step into houses with painted walls and stand in the forum with the volcano behind it. Your guide chooses a route that shows the highlights without too much walking in the sun. You are back on the coast by mid-afternoon, with time for the pool or a walk down to the beach.

This morning your driver follows the coast road to Amalfi, once a powerful sea republic, where steep steps lead up to its striped cathedral. Then climb to Ravello, high above the sea, and wander the gardens of Villa Rufolo, whose terrace has one of the most famous views on the coast. Back at the hotel by early afternoon, the rest of the day is yours. If you would like a day at sea instead, a boat trip to Capri can be arranged as an extra. Dinner is at your leisure tonight.

After breakfast your driver takes you to Naples, about an hour and a half, for the fast train to Rome, which takes just over an hour. Another driver meets you at the station and brings you to your hotel in the historic center. After a late lunch, spend the afternoon at your own pace. A good first walk leads past the Pantheon, still roofed by its ancient concrete dome, to the Trevi Fountain and Piazza Navona as the lights come on. Dinner is at your leisure tonight, perhaps in a trattoria in the old center.

Meet your private guide after breakfast and start at the Colosseum, ideally early before the day warms up. Walk through the arena where crowds once gathered for the games, then continue into the Roman Forum and up the Palatine Hill, where the emperors built their palaces above the city. Your guide brings the ruins to life without rushing you, with plenty of shade breaks and time for photographs from the hill over the Circus Maximus. The afternoon is free. You might stroll to the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain, or simply rest at the hotel before dinner.

This morning your guide takes you through the Vatican Museums, past the map gallery and the Raphael Rooms to the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo’s ceiling. Then step into St. Peter’s Basilica, with its great dome and Michelangelo’s Pietà, and out into the curving colonnades of St. Peter’s Square. The museums are closed on most Sundays, so we plan this visit around your dates. Comfortable shoes help, as the museums are large. The afternoon is yours for a long lunch or a rest, and tonight dinner is included at a well-chosen Roman restaurant.

After a relaxed breakfast your driver takes you to the station for the fast train to Florence, about an hour and a half, through the green hills of Umbria and Tuscany. Another driver meets you on arrival and brings you to your hotel. Take the afternoon at your own pace. A first walk might lead past the cathedral and its striped marble bell tower to the Ponte Vecchio, where goldsmiths have kept their shops since the sixteenth century. Stay for the evening light on the Arno, then find a quiet table for dinner nearby.

Your private guide meets you after breakfast for a walk through the heart of Renaissance Florence. Start at the Galleria dell’Accademia to see Michelangelo’s David, then continue to the Duomo square and Brunelleschi’s dome. Your guide points out the details most people walk past. The Uffizi can be added if you would like more time with Botticelli and Leonardo. After a free afternoon, join a cooking class in the early evening. A local chef shows you how to make fresh pasta and a classic Tuscan dish, and you sit down to dinner together.

Today your driver takes you south into the Chianti hills, a landscape of cypress-lined lanes, olive groves and stone farmhouses. Stop at a family olive-oil farm to see how the oil is made, then sit down to an included lunch at a country restaurant with views over the hills. In the afternoon continue to Siena, about an hour from Florence, where your guide walks you through the shell-shaped Piazza del Campo and into the striped cathedral with its inlaid marble floor. There is time for a slice of panforte or a coffee in the square. You are back in Florence by early evening, with no plans except dinner.

Breakfast at leisure, then a transfer to the station and the fast train to Venice, about two and a quarter hours through the Apennines and across the plain of the Po. The last stretch crosses the lagoon, and a boat takes you along the canals to your hotel. Spend the rest of the day settling in. Late afternoon is a good time for a first walk, losing yourself in the small lanes and crossing the Rialto Bridge as the light softens over the Grand Canal. Dinner tonight is at your leisure.

Meet your private guide this morning in St. Mark’s Square. Visit St. Mark’s Basilica, glowing with gold mosaics, and the Doge’s Palace, where the old republic was governed, crossing the Bridge of Sighs inside. Arriving early means the basilica is calm and the light through the domes is soft. Your guide also shows you quieter corners of the city that most visitors never find. The afternoon is free for a gondola ride, a coffee in a historic café or a rest at the hotel. Tonight dinner is included at a restaurant chosen for its Venetian cooking.

Today has no fixed program. Take a boat across the lagoon to Murano, where glassmakers still work their furnaces, and on to Burano, with its brightly painted houses and lace shops. Lunch by the water is easy to find. Or stay in Venice for the Accademia Gallery, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection or a quiet walk through Dorsoduro. Your local team can arrange a private boat or a guide if you would like one. In the evening, the squares grow quiet once the day visitors have gone, a fitting end to a long journey through Italy.

Enjoy a last breakfast in Venice. Depending on your flight time, there may be a moment for a final coffee by the water or one more walk through the lanes before your private transfer to Venice airport, about 30 minutes away by car or water taxi. Your hotel can store your luggage if your flight leaves later in the day. We say goodbye at the airport and hope you leave with the volcano, the coast, the great cities and the lagoon all still fresh in your mind.