Italy 15-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 local guide meets you for the street food tour included in your journey: pizza fritta, sfogliatella pastries and a proper Neapolitan espresso, between churches and narrow lanes hung with washing. It is lively, noisy and great fun, and it takes care of lunch. In the afternoon, your private driver takes you about an hour and a quarter along the bay to Sorrento. Settle into your hotel, with the evening free to watch the sun set over Vesuvius.

After breakfast, your driver takes you about thirty-five minutes to Pompeii, ideally early before the heat and the crowds. With a local guide, walk the paved streets of the Roman town buried by Vesuvius in AD 79, past painted houses, bakeries, the theater and the old Forum. The site is large and unshaded, so a hat and water make it more comfortable. You are back in Sorrento for lunch, and the afternoon is free for the pool, the lanes of the old town or a drink above Marina Grande as the light softens.

After breakfast, walk or drive down to the harbor for the boat to Capri, about twenty to forty minutes across the bay. Ride the funicular up to the little piazzetta, then wander through lanes of white houses to the Gardens of Augustus, with their famous view over the Faraglioni rocks. If the sea is calm, a small boat around the island to the grottoes is a lovely optional extra. Boats depend on the weather, so we keep the day flexible and can swap it with another day in Sorrento. Return to Sorrento for a quiet evening.

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 past the cathedral and 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.

Spend an unhurried morning with your private guide among the great works of the Renaissance. See Michelangelo’s David at the Accademia, then walk past the cathedral to Piazza della Signoria and the Uffizi, home to Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. Both galleries close on Mondays, so we plan around that. After a free afternoon to rest or browse the leather and paper workshops, join a local chef for a cooking class: fresh pasta, a Tuscan sauce and a classic dessert, followed by dinner at the table with the dishes you made.

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 short drive back to Florence.

Leave Florence after breakfast with your private driver and reach Pisa in about an hour and a quarter. Visit the Field of Miracles, where the cathedral, the baptistery and the Leaning Tower stand on a lawn of bright green grass. Continue about an hour and a half to the Cinque Terre area, where your hotel may be in one of the villages, in Levanto or near Portovenere. Because cars cannot enter the villages, your team arranges the last stretch and your luggage. The evening is free by the sea.

A day to enjoy the five fishing villages strung along the cliffs, at your own pace. Your local team plans the day with you: the little coastal train links the villages in minutes and, in good weather, the boat gives the best view of the houses stacked above the water. See the harbor of Vernazza, the rocks of Manarola and the terraced hillsides above. If the coastal path is open and you enjoy walking, a short stretch is lovely in the morning. Dinner tonight is included, with fresh seafood and the pesto this coast is known for.

A longer travel day, broken up with a real stop. Your private driver takes you north over the Apennines to Verona, about two and three quarter hours. Walk to the Roman arena and the elegant Piazza delle Erbe, see the balcony linked to Romeo and Juliet, and sit down for a long lunch. In the afternoon, continue about an hour and a half 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.

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 away from the main routes to quieter squares and canals. The afternoon is free for the Rialto market, a plate of cicchetti, the small Venetian snacks, at a canal-side café, or the view from the top of the campanile. Dinner tonight is included in a Venetian restaurant.

A gentle last full day, with no fixed plans. Take a boat across the lagoon to Murano to watch the glassblowers, and on to Burano for its brightly painted houses and lace, or simply enjoy a slow morning, the Rialto market and lunch by the water. A gondola ride through the small canals can be arranged if you would like one. In the evening, your local team will suggest a good spot for a farewell dinner, and the city is at its loveliest once the day visitors have gone.

Enjoy a final breakfast and, if your flight allows, one last walk or coffee in the piazza. 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. If your flight home leaves from Rome or Milan, tell us and we will plan the last day around it. Extra nights, a few days on Lake Como or a stay in the Dolomites can easily be added before you fly home.