Travel Italy: Vacation Packages, Tips, Tours of Italy

Tuscan Heartland tour: discover the best of Tuscany.

Explore the Medieval towns of Siena and San Gimignano, the Etruscan Cortona, the Renaissance town of Pienza.

Swim in thermal waters and enjoy a final night in the hill top town of Cortona famous as the setting for the film and book “Under the Tuscan Sun” .

This tour includes visits to the town of Montalcino with its imposing fortress and Brunello wine, and to the abbey of St. Antimo famous for its Gregorian chants.
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Cooking Classes and Wine Tasting in Venice

Learning to cook in Venice, in a villa located at 40 minutes driving from Venice; you can choose among 2 different Cooking School (3 days and 4/5 days ) including a Wine Tasting.

Theoretical-practical lessons on the execution of traditional menus, suitable for friends’ dinners and of refined menus, suitable for special occasions.

Introduction to the Italian wine world: the vintage and guided tasting of typical Italian wine; guided visits to wine cellars and to a ham producer in San Daniele.
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Experience a taste of Tuscany with “Tuscany Under the Skin”

“Tuscany Under the Skin” is a Italian-Australian tour operator offering holidays in Tuscany, with focus on the countryside, its lifestyle and culture. Visits to the best of Medieval, Renaissance and Etruscan Tuscany, walks through Tuscan hills, villages, vineyards and olive groves, wine tasting and cookinig classes are scheduled in any of “Tuscany Under the Skin” tours.

Tours are fully guided by Ugo or Barbara Mariotti who live on an old farm producing wine and olive oil at Trove, in Southern Tuscany. They are bi-lingual qualified tourist guide and love good food, history, hiking, horseriding.

Point-of-contact in Australia for the Tuscany Under the Skin tours is Lesley Neil, a tour co-ordinator with a special interest and extensive experience in soft adventure holidays.

Discover more of “Tuscany Under the Skin” by visiting their website and have a look to ‘letters of Tuscany’ written by Ugo and Barbara Mariotti.

The ‘Calabrian Affair’ Holiday

10 days spent in excursions to islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea and to mountains National Parks, archaeological tours to the ancient Greek and Roman ruins of Calabria and Sicily, and visits to the most appreciated sea resorts of Sicily and Calabria.

The Heolian Islands, the group of islands just north of the Sicilian coast in the Tyrrhenian Sea, Scilla, perhaps Italy’s most picturesque fishing village well-known for ‘The Odyssey’, Reggio to view the world renowned National Museum where the famous Bronzes of Riace are kept along with the finest collection of artefacts of the Magna Graecia period, the National Park of Aspromonte, the beach of Taormina, just to list a few sights you’ll visit in this personally guided leisure, cultural, historical and gastronomic tours of sunny Mediterranean Calabria and Sicily.

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This 4 days tour includes visits to sights of historic and scenic interest such as the fishing and the Medieval villages of the Cinque Terre, as well as to the Isles of Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto.

Cinque Terre: the village of Vernazza

Below the details:

Day 1 : Lerici
Afternoon arrival in Lerici, on the east-side of the Gulf of La Spezia, check in at the hotel. After dinner, the English speaking tour guide will give a presentation of the program. Overnight in hotel.

Day 2 : Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazzza, Monterosso
Breakfast at hotel. Depart by rail for Riomaggiore and visit of the fishing village. First part of the excursion on foot walking through “La Via dell’Amore”, to Manarola (about 30 minutes) and visit of the village. Proceed on foot to Corniglia and from here arrive in Vernazza. Stop en route to eat ther packed lunch. Visit of this beautiful fishing village, famous for its Church of Santa Margherita d’Antiochia, built directly on the sea (the foundations are under water), and for its octagonal Bell Tower. In the afternoon continue the excursion on foot until the Medieval village of Monterosso. Dinner and taste the famous “Sciacchetra`”, a typical local dessert wine. Overnight in hotel.

Day3 : Levanto
After breakfast visit of the ancient town and start on foot to Levanto. Walk through the scenic path of Punta Mesco, along a mule-road surrounded by pines, oaks and other Mediterranean woodlands. Stop to eat the packed lunch. In the afternoon continue through farm land and narrow paths until you get to the sea promenade of Levanto. This town has preserved, well visible the signs of its prestigious history. Dinner and overnight in hotel.

Day 4 : La Spezia - Campiglia - Portovenere - Isles of Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto
Breakfast at hotel. Transfer by train to La Spezia and then by bus to the medieval village of Campiglia. From here continue on foot to Portovenere. Time to eat the packed lunch. Visit the fishing district and the Church of St. Peter, built in the 6th century on the promontory of the “Grotta Arpaia” so dear to the poet Lord George Gordon Byron. Return to La Spezia by ferryboat with tour of the Isles of Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto. Proceed by minibus to Lerici. Dinner and overnight in hotel.

If the above itinerary don’t meet your needs, you can build your own tour