Country Roads of Southern Italy and Sicily (Summer, Classic)

Highlights

• Rome: Sightsee the local way, with a leisurely passeggiata through the backstreets, where a friend in Rome will explain how modern life takes place, around ancient treasures like the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and Piazza Navona.
• Capri: Discover the luxuriant Gardens of Augustus with a Local Expert and admire views of the Faraglioni rocks.
• Capri: Cruise by jetfoil to this famous isle through beautiful blue Mediterranean waters to meet your Local Expert.
• Alberobello: Led by a Local Expert, explore this UNESCO World Heritage Site showcasing the Trulli of Alberobello. Circular structures with conical roofs that are domed within, built from local limestone and stacked without using mortar.
• Matera: With your Local Expert, visit the famous Sassi or cave dwellings, which were home to approximately 20,000 people until 1950 and are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Palermo: Visit the spectacular 12th Century Palatine Chapel. Its sombre exterior gives away few clues to the riches inside. Step into a world where the walls glitter with 12th century mosaics, the best of their kind in the world.
• Pompeii: Walk with a Local Expert through the cobbled streets of this ill-fated town, frozen in time since the 1st century.
• Messina: Cross the Straights of Messina to Sicily by ferry.
• Taormina: Should you awake early, you may see why this is known as 'The Dawn Coast of Europe.'
• Taormina: Visit the ancient Greek Ampitheatre with your Local Expert. Set on a cliff, open to the sky, take your seats and enjoy the view through the crumbling arches to Mount Etna.
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What's this trip about?

Indulge in Italy’s finest food and views during this 15-day guided tour. When in Rome, you will toss a coin into the Trevi Fountain during a walking tour with a Local Expert. In Sorrento, settle into a luxurious resort and take in the views of Mount Vesuvius, which buried Pompeii in a sea of lava in 79 A.D. A restaurant’s founder will share why he uses only organic ingredients that he grows himself — and you will indulge in those freshly picked vegetables during a farm-to-table dinner featuring fresh orecchiette pasta. In Palermo, a historian will take you through the old city, showing you its cathedral and the Palatine Chapel in the Palace of the Normans, where glittering 12th-century mosaics will surely take your breath away.

Accommodation