By Rhonda Campbell
Italy is a country replete with historic buildings, monuments, texts and lush landscape. According to the U.S. Department of State, the country has approximately 60 million citizens. Italy is culturally and politically diverse but widely Roman Catholic. Great artists, writers and actresses like Michelangelo, Elisabetta Sirani, Leonardo Da Vinci, Gioacchino Rossini and Sophia Loren are from Italy. There is a wealth of places to visit. Rome, San Marino, Naples, Milan and Florence are but a few of the cities you can tour with a group while you are in the country.
Italian Excursion
Italian Excursion group tours are intimate trips that are limited to 10 people per group. The tours cover Tuscany, Umbria and northern Lazio. Included in the tours are one week of lodging, breakfast, ground transportation and daily guided sightseeing trips. The first two days of the tour take you through ancient Civita Castellana. You will explore the city, learn about its history and enjoy delicious foods and wines. Days three and four of the trip take you to the Tuscan and Umbrian borders where you visit Bomarzo and the hill country of Orvieto. Days five and six of the trip lead you through Lake Bolsena and the area cheese factory. You cook with an experienced Italian chef at one of the local restaurants. Sovana, Pittliagno and Sorano are the next towns that you explore with your experienced guide. The last day of the trip is spent hiking, swimming or bike riding, whatever the tour group prefers. The cost of the group tour starts at $2,350 per person.
Lombardy Delights
Lombardy Delights offers summer and autumn group tours that escort you through Milan's San Alberto di Butrio and Oltrepo Pavese. Tour guides meet you at the airport and take you to your bed and breakfast hotel in Varzi. After you get settled in, you enjoy dinner at a local restaurant, Ra Cànva da Berto. Remaining tour dates take you through the Staffora and Trebbia countrysides, down by Lake Como, through Oltrepo Pavese, San Alberto Di Butrio, Vigevano and Milan. The tour covers your hotel and lasts for nine days and is designed for up to eight people. Cost of the tour is $3,300 per person.
Select Italy
Select Italy is a seven-day group tour designed for six to 10 people. Stay at the Lloyd's Baia Hotel, Palazzo Piccolomini and Logge dei Mercanti. Meals and guided sightseeing excursions are included in the cost of the tour, which is about $3,600 per person. During the tour you travel through Pompeii, Capri, Amalfi, Ravello and Cava dei Tirreni. Concerts, arts centers, historic sites and outdoor nature walks are activities that you engage in during this group tour of Italy.
Avventure Bellissime
Avventure Bellissime offers small and private group tours of Rome, Florence and Venice, three of Italy's largest and most frequently visited cities. They also offer group tours of cities like Verona, Ravenna and Milan. Group tours are led by a licensed guide who is a native of the visited city. Private group walking tours last for three hours and take you to historic landmarks like the leaning towers of Bologna, the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua and to view The Last Supper painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. Costs for private walking tours start at 26 euros per person and go up to 44 euros.
Avventure Bellissime's small group tours of Pompeii and Amalfi last eight hours and costs 169 euros per person for a group of 14 people. The shore tours start dock side at your cruise ship and take you along the coast to explore ancient ruins as old as 80 B.C. You visit the beautiful beaches of Positano, learn about the gladiators while you walk through the famous amphitheatres, enjoy a lunch of Italian cuisine and explore Amalfi's Mediterranean architecture, naval history and art.
Tour Italy Now
Tour Italy Now offers a 10 day trek through Rome, Florence, Venice, Sorrento, Pompeii, Naples, Capri and Bologna. You visit castles, the Basilica of St. Francis, cathedrals, art and historic centers. The tour includes an experienced bilingual guide, meals, hotel stay, transportation and luggage service. You stay at three and four star hotels, eat home made Italian cuisine at local restaurants and taste local wines. Cost of the tour per person for a single hotel room is about 2045 euros. If you get a double or triple room, the cost per person drops to 1540 euros.
Resources
About the Author:
Rhonda Campbell is an entrepreneur, radio host and author. She has more than 17 years of business, human resources and project management experience and decades of book, newspaper, magazine, radio and business writing experience. Her works have appeared in leading periodicals like "Madame Noire," "Halogen TV," "The Network Journal," "Essence," "Your Church Magazine," "The Trenton Times," "Pittsburgh Quarterly" and "New Citizens Press."
