Focused Historical Tour Help (Economic, Trade, & Finance)

We are arriving in Bologna tomorrow and want to do a day trip to Ravenna this week. We have a rental car so can drive there ourselves. I would love your recommendations on who to use for a day tour that covers all the most important sites. Would be great if it covered all admission tickets as well so that we didn’t have to deal with that. Could be a group tour or a private tour. Anybody you recommend?

In 2016, I took the Colosseum Underground and Third Tier tour.

I just read the headline: "Colosseum opens its underground for the first time in its history", and that "...this is the first time in the monument's history that the public has ever been allowed in."

Does anyone have information on whether this is available to book as a tour?

I'm so very excited.

Long story short, I had two other trips in planning that my teen daughter eventually vetoed :)

She has requested a culture/sightseeing/city trip over the 'nature' and 'beach' options. She's had a really tough year and with all the anxiety about heading into high school, I would love to make this happen for her. I have about a month to plan this trip, so here's my first attempt at an itinerary. We will be flying in and out of Rome (only option for a direct flight), which we'll be skipping as we have previously visited:

Day 0: overnight flight into Rome, arrive 7:30 am

Day 1: Rome to Naples via high speed train, Napoli, Overnight in Napoli

Day 2: Pompeii tour, Overnight in Napoli

Day 3: Amalfi coast tour (bus tour or private driver), Overnight in Napoli

Day 4: Napoli in the morning, leave for Florence via high speed train, Overnight in Florence

Day 5: Florence, Overnight in Florence

Day 6: Tuscany day trip (bus tour or private driver), Overnight in Florence

Day 7: Train to Cinque Terre w/ stopover in Pisa, Overnight in CT

Day 8: Cinque Terre, Overnight in Cinque Terre

Day 9: Train to Milan, Overnight in Milan

Day 10: Milan in the morning, train to Venice, Overnight in Venice

Day 11: Venice, Overnight in Venice

Day 12: Venice in the morning, Venice to Rome via high speed train or flight, Overnight Rome near airport

Day 13: fly home

Would love to hear your thoughts:

- We like fast paced, but is it too fast paced? Any suggestions?

- I feel like Milan is a bit of a 'detour' and I wonder if it's worth just for one day?

- Should we get TrainItalia passes? Which one?

- I would love to have some flexibility and not prebook hotels in case we want to linger in one area more - is this too much of a risk? (I wouldn't have considered it but i feel like we could 'wing it' this year?)

- Is there anything else I need to pre-book? (ie. tours, transportation, admission tickets, etc).

Thanks all in advance!

Has anyone book this tour and can give me some tips on the do and fonts or any addy information

We are visiting Venice this month and would like to schedule a private sunset boat tour. There will be 4 of us. I welcome all recommendations. Thank you, Cherie

I will be staying in Arezzo for 4-5 days in mid-September 2021. I would like to take a wine tour in Montepulciano and/or Montalcino, but I don’t want to drive myself because I don’t want to drink and drive. Can anyone recommend a wine tour leaving from Arezzo or a driver/guide? Or is there a different option, ie., taking a bus and visiting a winery or enoteca without a tour? Thanks!

We are arriving in Venice on the 19 th, 4 nights. Then on the 23 rd transferring to Florence for 5 nights.

We would like to do the Bologna food tour which starts at 7 am. The train schedules now are little help. Is there normally an early morning high speed train from Florence? Would it be better to do the tour on the 23 rd, leaving Venice very early? If so is there somewhere to store our luggage in Bologna?

Thank you.

We are staying in Montepulciano, but will be doing day trip to Montalcino. I LOVE Brunello.

I realize there are so many to choose from. We will hit Enoteca la Fortezza to taste, but I want to do one vineyard tour. However, we want an experience. I've heard Banfi is large, impersonal - that's not what we are looking for. Yes, I want a good Brunello (is there one that isn't?) but I want more of an experience. We want a beautiful cellar (the older the better), views and a family feel. If I could compare it to Napa/Sonoma in CA - we loved Kuleto (not a very good tour, but the views were unbelievable) and Pride (amazing tour and in the cellars showed us the wines at different ages), but our favorite was a little vineyard in Alexander Valley where a family ran it. As one of the brothers told us stories and even gave us some vegetables from the garden.

We won't want to just taste wine - we want to remember the place, the people, the food, the wine and tell the story for years to come. I've read on TripAdvisor that Tornesi is family run and you can have a meal - seems right up our alley. Pordere il Cocco looked interesting.

What's the one experience/tour that you would recommend ???

My husband and I are retired and we and our son are planning to travel from Rome to visit Pompeii and Herculaneum for two or three nights in late September or early October and had several questions:

Which is preferable as a base - Naples or Sorrento?

When you visit Pompeii - what can you reasonably expect to be able to do after the visit such as a museum or walking tour - same with Herculaneum.

Any recommendations for a tour guide for each place.

My mother and I will be taking a trip to Sicily to look into some family history in Bisacquino. We would like to hire a private tour for our 4 days in Sicily, preferably someone that can assist us with our genealogy search. I have done a lot of research on our family in Bisacquino and have been able to fill out a family tree going back several generations. However, we would like to add some color to my research and possibly find relatives or anything relevant to our family history. Any recommendations would be appreciated!