DESTINATION

Tuscany is one of the most popular places to visit in a country that is itself one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. From the Etruscans to the Romans to the Renaissance, Tuscany is possibly the greatest repository of art in the world, home to remarkable paintings, sculptures, frescoes and ancient architectural masterpieces. Visitors to Tuscany come for many reasons: Many come in search of fine art, others to explore the extraordinary countryside: Gourmets and wine buffs descend on Tuscany to enjoy the simple yet wonderful cuisine and wine: Explore Tuscany combined with the never-ending charm of Rome, a perfect combination for a lifetime experience.

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Main program includes:

• Round-trip airfare from Indianapolis (IND); fuel surcharges and air taxes are included (valid at present time)

• First class hotel accommodation in Montecatini for 5 nights at the centrally located 4* hotel Torretta, 3 nights in Rome at the 4* hotel TH Roma Carpegna, or similar hotels, including hotel tax service charges and city tax.

• Baggage handling at the Hotel for your arrival and departure. (Based on one bag per person)

• Services of a professional tour director throughout the program

• Daily breakfasts, meals as per program (mineral water and a glass of wine are included)

• Deluxe air-conditioned motor coach transportation or train for all transfers, tours and guided excursions

• Guided tours as per program: Florence, Siena, Lucca, Assisi, Rome

• Papal Audience with Pope Francis based on scheduling

• Entrance fees:  Siena Cathedral, Colosseum, Roman Forum, Vatican Museums

• Wine tasting

• Headsets on guided tour

• Optional tours offered to Pisa with cooking class.  Cost $149 per person.

 

Optional Pre-Post tours:

• Amalfi Coast 4-night Pre Tour: Featuring Sorrento, Amalfi Coast, Capri, Pompeii.

• Venice 2-night Post Tour:  Featuring a Walking tour of Venice and St Marks’ Basilica.

ITINERARY:

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Day 1: Oct 29, 2023 - Departure from the USA on your overnight flight to Italy.

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Day 2: Oct 30, 2023 - Rome: Upon arrival at Rome airport, proceed through customs and collect your luggage. A Jet Vacations professional guide will personally greet you. Depart and transfer by deluxe coach to your hotel centrally located in Rome.  Romans say “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, nor can Rome be seen in a day. One could live in the Eternal City for years and still not see everything. It’s hard to say what you’ll find most breathtaking: Etruscan tombs,  imperial temples, early Christian churches,  baroque basilicas or Renaissance palaces.  After checking in at your hotel, the remainder of the day is at leisure.  Some suggestions, stop at a “trattoria” in Trastevere to try the local cuisine, sit outside of a café on elegant Via Veneto or maybe shop in fashionable Via Condotti for some shopping. .A welcome dinner is included at hotel restaurant (Dinner)

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Day 3: Oct 31, 2023 - Rome Imperial Rome: Enjoy breakfast at the Hotel. We start our discovery of Rome. Our first objective is visiting the Churches dedicated to St. Vincent de Paul in Rome then continue to a guided tour to discover the splendor of the classic Roman Empire. Your experienced local guide will introduce to the history of Imperial Rome walking along Via dei Fori Imperiali. Visit the Roman Forum, the most important archaeological area in the city and once the center of the public life; visit the Colosseum, the most famous monument of ancient Rome and an impressive testament to her past greatness. Enjoy the rest of the day at leisure (Breakfast)

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Day 4: Nov 1, 2023 - Rome VATICAN MUSEUMS: After breakfast at Hotel depart for a guided tour of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. The Vatican Museums and their immense wealth of art, resulting from centuries of papal collections, offer an extraordinary experience. Amongst others, see the great masterpieces of Michelangelo, “The Last Judgement” in the Sistine Chapel. End the tour visiting St. Peter’s Basilica to admire the art treasures of the largest Roman Catholic Church in the world including Michelangelo’s Pietà. Based on the Pope’s schedule and audience will be scheduled for the group and included.  (Breakfast)

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Day 5: Nov 2, 2023 – Assisi & Tuscany: After breakfast check out and depart for Montecatini in Tuscany. Before reaching Tuscany we visit Assisi, the city of birds and silence.  Walk the path of St. Francis with a guided tour visiting the Church of Santa Chiara where St. Francis was born, walk through the narrow streets reach Piazza del Comune with the Palazzo dei Priori, The Palazzo del Popolo and the Temple of Minerva. Continue to the Basilica of St. Francis with masterpieces and experience the silence of his tomb buried deep within the enormous basilica, decorated with works by the leading early Renaissance masters including Giotto and Cimabue. Explore the huge 13th century Basilica which contains many of the possessions of St Francis and a series of frescoes depicting his life. Later, proceed to Montecatini, an exclusive world-renowned spa resort, famed for its spring waters, thermal baths and numerous spa treatments for centuries. Beyond the array of fine spas featuring treatments old and new, today’s visitors come for the shopping, dining and sporting offerings, as well.  After check in and little time for rest your tour guide will take you on an orientation tour of Montecatini,  dinner at the hotel tonight. (Dinner)

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Day 6: Nov 3, 2023 - Montecatini / Lucca / Montecatini: After breakfast we depart for a tour of Lucca among the richest cities in the world for its architecture, history, and  artistic background. We reach Lucca where our guide awaits us for a walking guided tour. Lovely Lucca offers up cobblestoned streets and elegant palaces, elaborate churches and a ring of Renaissance-era fortification walls that have been turned into biking and walking paths. For music aficionados, it also happens to be where the composer Giacomo Puccini was born. The Guinigi Tower, the Cathedral of Lucca, the Amphitheatre Square: our guided tour in Lucca will teach you the soul of the city with a pleasant stroll through the picturesque streets of the old town. Lunch will be on your own in Lucca.  Later, return to Montecatini for some time at leisure before included dinner at the Hotel.  (Breakfast, Dinner)

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Day 7: Nov 4, 2023 - Montecatini / Florence / Montecatini: After breakfast at the Hotel we depart to discover Florence, sublime birthplace of the Renaissance. It is full to bursting with elegant squares, imposing palaces, magnificent churches, and museums displaying riches conceived by some of the most famous names in the history of art and architecture enjoy a guided tour of Florence. See the Cathedral, whose gigantic “cupola” is the symbol of Florence’s artistic achievements, the Baptistery (from outside) with its fine bronze doors adorned with the famous gates of Paradise and the Piazza della Signoria. Lunch is included today at local restaurant. There will be time at leisure in the afternoon to explore Florence on own; you may visit important museums, Uffizi Gallery or Accademia Gallery or simply stroll along the narrow picturesque streets of central Florence and enjoy opportunities for great shopping. Return to Montecatini, evening at leisure. (Breakfast, Lunch)

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Day 8: Nov 5, 2023 - Montecatini / Optional tour Pisa with cooking demonstration and lunch/ Montecatini: Have breakfast at the Hotel. Enjoy the day at leisure to relax or indulge in a spa treatment in Montecatini. If you want to get what must be the most iconic photo in Italy, Pisa’s your place, join us to the optional tour to Pisa. Yes, the Leaning Tower is spectacular even more so in person than in pictures, but there’s much more to Pisa than that: the medieval city also boasts an 11th-century Duomo chock-full of gorgeous art, the elaborate Baptistery, and beautiful palaces. Enjoy a guided tour and and a cooking demonstration with lunch. The remainder of the day and evening is at your leisure in Montecatini. (Breakfast, light lunch)

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Day 9: Nov 6, 2023 - Montecatini / Siena & Chianti / Montecatini: After breakfast at the hotel, depart for your excursion to Siena, set in the most beautiful Tuscan countryside of rolling hills, lush vines, and gray-green olive trees, Siena offers much to see, from the fine palaces that line the narrow-cobbled streets and the superb Duomo, to the celebrated Piazza del Campo where the famed Palio horserace is run yearly. Enjoy a guided tour to visit the Dome, Piazza del Campo, Salimbeni Square and Chigi Palace.  Enjoy some free time, you may experience one of the many local restaurants in Siena for some authentic Tuscan cuisine. Later we depart to discover the Chianti region a perfect work of art, so beautiful as a whole that it is impossible to decide which component is the most wonderful: the gorgeous grapes shining in the sun, the forest green hills, the ancient villas decorating the landscape, the richness of typical products, great food, superb wine, cultural visits or easy relaxing. The beauty of this territory, known for its wineries, lies in the perfect equilibrium between the soft forms of slopes and the thousand nuances of color and the crowded woods populated by ancient castles, secular parishes, and beautiful villas. Farewell dinner included at local winery. (Breakfast, Dinner)

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Day 10: Nov 7, 2023 - Montecatini/U.S.: After breakfast transfer to Florence airport for your return flight home. (B)

 

PRE TOUR - AMALFI COAST – 6 Days – 4 Nights

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Day 1: Oct 25, 2023 - US/Italy: Depart US (Indianapolis) for Italy.

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Day 2: Oct 26, 2023 - Naples/Sorrento: After arriving in Naples airport proceed to baggage claim. Once clearing customs, you will be met by your Jet Vacations local representative and transferred to your hotel located in Sorrento. The famed Amalfi Coast or Costiera Amalfitana is a stunning coastline set along the rugged mountains and winds down the western coast of Italy from Sorrento to Salerno in the region of Campania. Many miles of hairpin-turns offer spectacular vistas with changing views of landscapes, rocks plunging vertically in to the clear sea, charming fishing villages, with brightly colored boats set in the small harbors, vibrant vegetation and colorful flowering plants, houses and hotels nestled high in the rocks above the winding coastline all contrasting dramatically with the brilliant blues of the Mediterranean waters. After check-in at hotel, you will have an orientation tour of Sorrento. Poets and writers have described Sorrento as the land of colors and mermaids. Sorrento is indeed a very pretty city where kindness and hospitality are a combination that is handed down from one generation to the next. Tonight, enjoy our Welcome to Italia dinner at the Hotel with fine regional cuisine. (Dinner)

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Day 3: Oct 27, 2023 - Sorrento/Amalfi Coast/Sorrento: After breakfast, enjoy a full-day excursion exploring the enchanting towns along the picturesque Costiera Amalfitana. As we make our way to Amalfi, we will stop and see Positano from above, and glimpse its buildings, clinging to the rocks. We reach Amalfi, whose origins date back to both the Roman and Byzantine Empires. It once rivaled Genoa and Pisa in its maritime importance and still retains its fishing traditions today. The first view of Amalfi is unforgettable, with its tightly packed villas and palaces seeming to tumble down the cliff side into the fishing port and beach below. Continue to Ravello, one of the most attractive destinations on the Amalfi Coast, with a population of around 2,000; the settlement perches high above Amalfi, overlooking the Mediterranean. A renowned musical festival is held in Ravello every year, with classical music concerts taking place in gardens with breathtaking views. Visit Villa Rufolo and the medieval Cathedral. Lunch is included at local restaurant. (Breakfast, Lunch)

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Day 4: Oct 28, 2023 - Sorrento/Capri (Optional Tour) /Sorrento: Day at leisure to relax and discover the hidden corners of Sorrento. You may choose to join us to an optional tour to the island of  Capri. You will reach Sorrento harbor for your journey to Capri by high-speed boat for an experience of a lifetime! Capri is one of the most scenic islands in the world! . Is one of the most wanted and visited island in the South of Italy. It is surrounded by a unique natural beauty and an explosive glamour. The impressive Natural Arch, the beautiful Faraglioni (rocks) and the air-filled perfume scent of the Mediterranean flowers and sea breeze, all come into play as you tour this earthly paradise.  They make for one of the most romantic and magical moments you will experience while visiting Capri. Upon arrival to Marina Grande, the port, transfer by minibus to Anacapri. You'll have free time to visit Villa San Michele, located on the northeastern side of Anacapri, the home of Swedish doctor and writer Axel Munthe. Return to Capri. Time at leisure for lunch on your own and t o discover the famous Piazzetta where you’ll really enjoy the Caprese atmosphere and/or take a walk to Augustus' Gardens and have free time to see the narrow and elegant roads of Capri, before returning to your hotel. Dinner on own tonight (Breakfast)

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Day 5: Oct 29, 2023 - Sorrento/Paestum (Optional Tour) / Sorrento: After breakfast, the day is at leisure to do your shopping, have an Italian ice cream, cappuccino sitting at a lovely café. Our proposal for today is an optional tour of Paestum, where you’ll visit its Greek temples. With its impressive and solemn churches and its splendidly preserved walls, Paestum is one of the most famous and important archaeological sites in Italy. The ruins of Paestum include the walls, four majestic and well-preserved temples, other religious buildings, the amphitheater and the Via Sacra. The area is also famous as a producer of the best Buffalo Mozzarella. After visiting the excavations, we will stop at an authentic Mozzarella Cheese factory for a demonstration, you will enjoy a personalized tour of the cheese factory, and learn how it has been produced, from the first drop of milk to the final product. Enjoy a fabulous lunch made with their fresh products, you will try their exquisite mozzarella, ricotta and homemade bread. Return to Sorrento in the afternoon. (Breakfast, Lunch for optional tour only)

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Day 6: Oct 30 ,2023 - Sorrento/Pompei / Rome: After breakfast check out and departure to Rome. Along the way visit Pompeii, Italy’s most famous and unique archeological site. Pompeii, with the background of the majestic Vesuvius author of this prodigious misfortune, will be the scene in this charming promenade equally rich in history and human depth. The spa, the forum, the theatre, the shops, the houses and the famous Villa of the Mysteries , are just some of the ancient ruins of Pompeii which we will explore during  our guided visit. Frozen in time when the city was buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D., Pompeii is, now, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Its excavation has provided a picture of life during the height of the Roman Empire. After Pompei drive to Rome to continue your tour and join other participants (Breakfast) 

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Pre tour to Amalfi includes:

• Round-trip airfare from Indianapolis (IND); fuel surcharges and air taxes are included (valid at present time)

• 4 nights BB basis hotel 4* located in central Sorrento

• Professional local Tour Manager throughout the program

• Services of a deluxe touring coach throughout the program 

• Buffet Breakfasts daily, 1 lunch and 1 dinner including beverages ( ½ mineral water,  glass of wine per person)

• Orientation tour of Sorrento upon arrival with your Tour Manager

• Full day tour of the Amalfi coast including visits to Amalfi and Ravello

• Tour of Pompeii entrance fee included

• Headsets on guided tour for perfect listening

• All VAT and local taxes, city tax

• Baggage handling at the Hotel  based on one piece per person

• Optional Tour of Capri and Pasteum with Buffalo Mozzarella Farm visit and tasting, available at additional cost(s)

 

POST TOUR - VENICE – 3 Days – 2 Nights.

 

Day 10: Nov 7, 2023 - Venice: After Breakfast check out from your hotel and transfer to Venice. Your private water taxi will lead you directly to your hotel in central Venice. Prepare to be enchanted by the world's most romantic city as you wander through its picturesque cobblestone alleyways and through the Grand Canal. Your local guide will offer a guided walking tour of Venice and admire its hidden treasures, squares, bridges and narrow streets. Visit Piazza San Marco, see the majestic Doge’s Palace, visit St. Mark’s Basilica, a marble and golden fantasy and one of the most gorgeous containers ever built to display the relics of a saint. Spend the day at leisure (Breakfast)

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Day 11: Nov 8, 2023 - Venice & Optional Tour Murano: After breakfast at the hotel enjoy the day at leisure leaving the crowds behind to explore a labyrinth of narrow passageways, alleys, canals and delicate bridges; see Campo Santa Maria Formosa, Marco Polo's House, the Rialto Bridge or join us on an optional tour to discover Murano, one of the famous islands of the lagoon famous for glass blowing production. (Breakfast)

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Day 12: Nov 9, 2023 - Departure: After Breakfast board your private water taxi. Transfer to the airport for your flight back home. (Breakfast)
 
Post Tour to VENICE includes:

• 2-night accommodation at Hotel Duodo Palace 4* or similar in Venice. Hotel taxes and service charges are included.

• Daily breakfast

• Arrival and departure transfer by motor coach and water taxi

• Guided walking tour of Venice

• Entrance fee St. Mark’s Basilica

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