Italy 14-Day Luxury Private Tour

Welcome to Italy. Your driver meets you at Rome airport and takes you to your hotel in the historic center, where you can settle in and rest after the flight. If you feel like a short walk later, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps are close by and much calmer in the evening. A simple dinner of pasta in a neighborhood trattoria is a good first taste of the city. Your local team is a phone call away for anything you need, from restaurant tips to the plan for tomorrow.

Meet your guide in the morning and step into ancient Rome at the Colosseum, then walk the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, where emperors once lived above the city. Your guide brings the stones to life and keeps the pace comfortable. After lunch, wander through the old center to the Pantheon, still roofed by its great concrete dome after almost two thousand years, and on to Piazza Navona. The rest of the afternoon is yours, perhaps for a coffee in the square or a quiet hour at the hotel.

A day for the Vatican, the smallest country in the world. With your guide and pre-booked tickets, walk through the Vatican Museums, past classical sculpture and the Raphael Rooms, to the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo’s ceiling. Finish in St Peter’s Basilica, whose size is hard to take in at first sight. Shoulders and knees should be covered, and your guide plans around closing days and religious events. The afternoon is free for the cobbled lanes of Trastevere or a slow walk along the Tiber. Dinner tonight is included in a classic Roman restaurant.

After breakfast, your driver takes you to the station for the fast train to Naples, a little over an hour. A private driver meets you on the platform and takes you about forty minutes to Pompeii. With a local guide, walk the paved streets of the Roman town buried by Vesuvius in AD 79, past painted houses, bakeries and the old Forum. The site is large and unshaded, so a hat and water help. After lunch, continue about forty minutes along the coast to Sorrento and settle into your hotel above the bay, with the evening free.

A day for the most beautiful coastline in Italy, at a relaxed pace. Your private driver takes the winding coast road to Positano, where pastel houses tumble down to the beach, and on to Amalfi with its cathedral and lemon groves. If you prefer, part of the day can be done by boat, which avoids the summer traffic and gives the best views of the villages. Your driver knows the road well and stops wherever the view is worth it. You are back in Sorrento by late afternoon, and dinner tonight is included, with views over the sea.

A day with nothing planned, which on a two-week journey is a real luxury. Sleep late, have breakfast on the terrace and spend the morning by the pool or wandering the lanes of the old town, where shops sell limoncello and inlaid wood. Walk down to Marina Grande, the little fishing harbor, for a long seafood lunch by the water. If you would like more, your local team can arrange a boat to Capri, a visit to a lemon grove or a cooking lesson, at extra cost. Otherwise, simply enjoy the sunset over Vesuvius.

This is the longest travel day of the journey, so we keep everything else simple and the timing comfortable. Your driver takes you back to Naples station, about an hour, for the fast train to Florence, about three hours, and a driver meets you on arrival. Settle into your hotel near the historic center, then take a gentle first walk across the Ponte Vecchio as the lights come on along the Arno. Dinner can be light tonight, in a small trattoria close to the hotel, with Florence waiting for you in the morning.

Start the day with a local food guide at the Sant’Ambrogio or San Lorenzo market, where Florentines shop for their lunch. Taste olive oil, pecorino, Tuscan salami and schiacciata bread, try a lampredotto sandwich if you are brave, and finish with a coffee and a pastry in a historic café. The tour is a relaxed walk through the center and lunch is more or less taken care of. The afternoon is free for the leather and paper workshops of the Oltrarno, the Boboli Gardens or a rest at your hotel.

Spend an unhurried morning with your guide among the great works of the Renaissance. See Michelangelo’s David at the Accademia Gallery, then walk past the cathedral to Piazza della Signoria and the Uffizi Gallery, home to Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. Both galleries close on Mondays, so we plan around that. The afternoon is free for a long lunch or a quiet hour, and sunset from Piazzale Michelangelo, with the whole city spread out below you, is worth the short ride. Dinner tonight is included in a classic Florentine restaurant.

A slow, scenic day in the Tuscan hills with your private driver. A typical route takes you through the hills of Chianti to San Gimignano, the hill town of medieval towers, and on to Siena and its shell-shaped Piazza del Campo. Lunch is included, ideally at a country restaurant among the olive groves. Drives between stops are short and scenic, and the day can be shaped around food, art or landscapes. Dinner tonight is included in the Tuscan hills before the drive back to Florence, about an hour.

After breakfast, your private driver takes you about an hour and a quarter over the Apennines to Bologna, the food capital of Italy. Stroll under the covered porticoes to Piazza Maggiore and through the old market streets, where shops sell mortadella, Parmigiano and fresh tortellini, then sit down for a long lunch. In the afternoon, continue about two hours to Venice, where a private boat carries you along the canals to your hotel. The evening is free for a first walk by the water as the boats go by.

Start early with your Venetian guide at St Mark’s Square, before the crowds, and visit the golden mosaics of St Mark’s Basilica. Continue to the Doge’s Palace, crossing the Bridge of Sighs from the inside on the way to the old prisons. Your guide then leads you through the Rialto market and quieter neighborhoods where Venetians still shop and meet. The afternoon is free, and a boat to Murano and Burano or a gondola through the small canals can be added if you wish. Dinner tonight is included in a Venetian restaurant.

Choose how to spend your last full day. Verona is just over an hour away by fast train, with its Roman arena, the elegant Piazza delle Erbe and the balcony linked to Romeo and Juliet. Or your driver can take you about an hour and a quarter north to Asolo, a small hill town of arcades, villa gardens and wide views over the plain, for a slow walk and lunch on a terrace. Either way, you are back in Venice in good time for a last, unhurried evening in the city, perhaps with dinner by the water.

Enjoy a final breakfast and, if your flight allows, one last walk along the water. Your private transfer, by boat or by car, takes you to Venice Marco Polo Airport at the right time for your flight, about thirty minutes from the city center, and your local team stays in touch until you leave. Extra nights in Venice or a few days on Lake Como can easily be added before you fly home. If you are traveling on by train, we take you to the station instead.