We will board our respective overnight transatlantic flights

We arrive in Rome, Italy It\'s time to rest or start exploring the Eternal City. At 6 pm we\'ll meet our Tour Director and traveling companions. We�ll depart the hotel for a special welcome dinner with wine at one of Rome�s lively restaurants. (Included: Dinner)

Rome This morning we\'ll enjoy touring ancient Rome with our Local Guide, where Roman legions marched in triumph. Our stops will include the Colesseum and the Roman Forum. Then, we\'ll have time for independent activities and exciting optional excursion possibilities. Story about the Colesseum: "Thanks to Hollywood recreations such as Gladiator, nothing symbolizes the cruelty of Imperial Rome as much as the Colosseum. In truth, the games held there were even more extreme and theatrical than modern film directors dare to suggest. A day at the Empire�s most famous arena was a total entertainment package, mixing bouts of savage violence with solemn religious pageantry, sexual titillation, slapstick comedy and kitschy stage shows." Story about the Roman Forum: "Visitors can be a little confused by the Roman Forum; at first glance, it is a rather lifeless array of marble fragments. But we must remember that in ancient times, this space was far more than the temples and monuments whose ruins we can explore today. It was filled with bustling, noisy life as the popular crossroads of the city of the predecessor, in fact, of the modern Italian piazza. Every morning at dawn, average Romans would escape their cramped, dark apartment blocks (called insulae or "islands") and spent their days outdoors. (Included: Breakfast)

Rome and Florence Today we start with a guided tour of the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel , world famous for Michelangelo\'s ceiling paintings and The Last Judgement. Next, we\'ll visit monumental St. Peters Square and Basilica. In the early afternoon, we drive along the Highway of the Sun north into Tuscany and its hill-clad vineyards which house the famous Chianti wine. Then on to Florence, the �Cradle of the Renaissance�. Story about the Vatican Museums: "In the early 1500s, Rome was full of neglected ruins from the days of the ancient Empire, which still contained artworks buried amongst the rubble. The Renaissance had seen a sudden growth of interest in all things classical, and the popes\' cultivated men who were in touch with the intellectual currents of the day were the richest art collectors in Italy. They began offering substantial cash rewards for any sculptures, until Rome was scoured by freelance treasure hunters on the hunt for pagan masterpieces. The most dramatic discovery occurred in 1506, when a Roman father-and-son team of excavators reported a promising find near the ruined Baths of Titus. The artist Michelangelo himself excitedly hurried over to help with the work, followed by the pope�s official agent, Guiliano da Sangallo. When the excavators brushed away the dirt of 1,000 years, they found an enormous marble sculpture, perfectly intact, of a muscular Trojan hero being attacked by giant snakes. Guilano cried out in amazement, "This is the very Loco" and described by (the ancient Roman author) Pliny! The sculpture was carted off to the Vatican Museum." (Included: Breakfast)

Florence We follow our Local Guide to the Academy of Fine Art with Michelangelo\'s celebrated David and the magnificent Cathedral. We�ll admire Giotto\'s Bell Tower, the Baptistry�s heavy bronze "Gate of Paradise" and sculpture-studded Signoria Square. Story about La Piazza Della Signora: "What�s the best vantage point to ponder the most illustrious town square in Florence, the Signoria? An outdoor table in the venerable Caff� Rivoire � preferably over a delicious, if not painfully expensive cioccolata con pane, a dark and mud-thick hot chocolate. Late at night, when the crowds have gone, you can search the long shadows and imagine that very little has changed here since the 1400s. The Signoria is the most elegant sculpture garden in Europe. Masterpieces include the splendid Neptune Fountain by Ammannati, Hercules and Cacus by Bandinelli and a precise copy of Michelangelo�s David, all strategically poised in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. This grand public space has been the centerpiece of Florence since the 15th Century, the golden age when the city was established as the most beautiful in Europe. Eminent merchants in their ostentatious finery met here to discuss business in the midst of Florence�s raucous daily life." This afternoon we�ll be at leisure. If you are interested in shopping, Florentine leather goods and gold jewelry sold by the ounce are attractive buys. You may wish to join an optional dinner outing to a fine Tuscan restaurant and try out the Chianti wines. (Included: Breakfast)

Florence - Venice Through the wooded Apennine Hills and the lush plains of the River Po, the largest river in Italy, to Venice, a powerful magnet for romantics and art lovers from around the globe. We\'ll enter in style by Private Boat to meet our Local Guide. Highlights of our walking tour are St. Mark\'s Square and the byzantine Balisilca, lavish Doges Palace and the Bridge of Sighs. We\'ll Also watch skilled Glassblowers fashion their delicate objects in an age-old traditional manner. Story about the Bridge of Sighs: "The world\'s most poetically-named bridge, Il Ponte dei Sospiri, the Bridge of Sighs, was built in 1614 so that prisoners of the Venetian state could be transferred in secret from the Doge�s Palace to the so-called Nuovi Prigioni, or New Prisons. The wistful name was actually conceived by the English poet Lord Byron in the early 1800s that imagined the horror of prisoners taking their last glimpse of Venice before going underground to captivity." (Included: Breakfast)

At Leisure in Venice We\'ll have the whole day to explore Venice on our own. Join the locals, have a cappuccino at a sidewalk cafe, or wander through the narrow streets and discover Rialto Bridge. To top it all, why not join an optional cruise to the charming island of Burano, followed by a dinner of local specialties to celebrate the success of your Italian vacation? (Included: Breakfast)

Our homebound flight from Venice arrives the same day. Have a safe journey home! (Included: Breakfast)