CA
Tours
Italy Uncovered
Venice to Rome with Rustic Mountain Towns & Wine Country
13 DAYS
$8,999
pp*
*Rate is per person, land only, double occupancy, tour inclusions and available options may vary based on departure date.
Please select a date below for more details.
Please select a date below for more details.
About This Tour
Uncover Italy’s soul on a journey that ventures off the beaten path, revealing the country’s hidden gems and enduring allure. From the romantic canals of Venice to the Renaissance splendour of Urbino and the eternal allure of Rome, you’ll journey through Italy’s eastern coast, where history, culture, and adventure intertwine. Journey to the wine-producing Romagna countryside for a relaxing 3-night stay in a wine resort, and visit the Republic of San Marino, an enclave state within Italy. Explore the serene Marche countryside, a breathtaking landscape of rolling hills reminiscent of Tuscany but blissfully uncrowded. Discover Urbino, a Renaissance gem that once rivaled Florence in artistic brilliance. Then, venture into the rugged mountains of Gran Sasso in the Abruzzo region, where ancient mountain villages preserve their ancestral traditions and pastoral way of life. Stay in “albergo diffuso” (scattered hotel) within a medieval village, where the accommodations reflect the rustic charm of the past: tall beds requiring steps, bathtubs in bedrooms, and other unique features from the era, plus very little technology. Designed for the curious and adventurous traveller, this tour invites you to embrace the history, art, and romance of Italy while discovering its best-kept secrets.
Your Tour Includes
- 5 Handpicked Accommodations
- 18 Meals
Included Highlights
- Venice
- Winery Tour & Tasting
- Republic of San Marino
- Cooking Class
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Your Tour at a Glance
Customize Your Tour
Getting Prepared
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Accommodations
Hotel Abbazia
Nights 1-2
Borgo Conde Wine Resort
Nights 3-5
Hotel Charlie in Pesaro
Nights 6-7
Sextantio Albergo Diffuso
Nights 8-9
Ponte Sisto Hotel
Nights 10-11
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Trip Reviews
Live, Unedited, & Independent Traveler Reviews
Rating
123 reviews
4.7
Out of 5
Based on 123 independent reviews
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Accommodations were not what I expected for a first class tourJack De Leon
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This tour offered the right amount of free time and educational site touring. Everything was top notch including the tour guide. Best of everything!
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Every aspect of the trip surpassed our expectations!Michelle Duplantis
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Your tour guide Chiara Brandi was outstanding. Her historical knowledge was impressive. She kept everyone on time withiut coming across pushy.Michael Foster
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Well planned Fun Educational I especially enjoyed the gondola ride in Venice Loved every minute in Florence —would have liked more time there and in Venice,and less at the wine resortMarilyn Miller
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some inclusions were not interesting
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Great value for everything I saw and experienced about Italy. The history, food and culture was wonderful! Our guide Manny was so knowledgeable and helpful. 5 stars for him!
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In one of the hotels I slept on a pull out chair. The tub in Rome was too high to get in or out safely
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Collette tours are very organized and customer service is great. Our tour guide Allesendro was excellent!Ruma Das
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Guide was excellent. Daily balance of events was well planned. The overview and experiences superbGeraldine Tibbits
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Spending 3 days at winery was too much. No options to do anything at night .
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Awesome trip to rememberLinda Wagner
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Great experience of a tripBrenda Garrison
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Wonderful fun experience!
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Lots of wonderful people!
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Great tour. Would recommended this to others.
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Great experience Tour Guide Alexa was amazing
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Best of Italy vacation was an experience of a lifetime.
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everything was perfect. especially the leaderMargaret Daugherty
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Alexa was excellent ! Was on top of things. Had a surprise for us, the American cemetery in Florence . Great surprise. Very friendly , knowledgeable and genuine .
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Great places to stay, great places to visit, great local guides, and great tour manger. We were well taken care of. I especially liked that our tour group was small, 24 people.Laura Kruger
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The locations, logistical planning and tour manager expertise
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Our tour manager, Julia, was magnificent! She was communicative, well-informed, professional, personable, has a great sense of humor. To name just a few of the most memorable experiences, I include the Baroque-era-chamber concert by the Venice Music Project, the gondola ride through Venice, the gondola workshop demonstration, and the tours of San Marino, Ravenna, Orvieto.Kenneth Herring
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our tour manger michaela was fantastic, always enthusiastic and engaged and available. she went over and beyond.my favoirte experience was t aking a water taxi from venice airport and winding up on thegrand canal, st. marks sq., burrano, our hotel in the wine region, the duno in florence and the walking tour through rome which ends on the street to the vaticanHoward Vingan
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The tour manager was wonderful and we saw some very cool off the beaten path sites. It was a great tour with a good balance of activity and free time.
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The tour was excellent, great mix of large cities and smaller towns. Friendly small group of curious travelers. Excellent guide, Alice, who always had the answers to our questions and was very personable. She also got us into the Pantheon in Rome when it wasn't on the itinerary and that was a highlight. Another highlight was visiting the technical high school and talking to the students - they also served us a delicious lunch. The only way it could be more inclusive is if Collette included more meals and/or tips, but the meals we had, including the food tour in Trastavere were very good. The hotels were great on the inside, but sometimes very noisy on the outside with people partying under hotel windows. I would not hesitate to recommend it.
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Appreciate the side excursions that are off the beaten path.
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Great tour manager!! Everything went just as Collette said it would. I would recamend Collette to anyone.
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There were many missed opportunities for in depth excursions of historic or cultural significance. Very little was included. We did not need a walking tour of trastevere restaurants in Rome none of which were memorable. One good quality restaurant would have been preferable. The leather shop and goldsmith in Florence were thinly disguised shopping events, not anything to do with making leather or jewelry products. That was a waste of time. An extra day in Florence would have been wonderful. Most memorable events on this tour we arranged ourselves. Our most memorable experience was our general audience with the Pope on our extra day post tour in Rome.
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The itinerary for the first 3 days was too light with not much to do, but after that the tour was great. Valentina did a great job as tour manager. Venice, was beautiful, as was Florence, Romagna, Orvieto, and San Marino. The excursions at the glass factory and cheese making school were very interesting. The wine resort was beautiful.Randall Beaty
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I loved staying at the winery. I loved Venice and San Marino. It was all wonderful. It was the best vacation that I have been on in my entire life!Christopher Jay Ingrum
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We could have not asked for a better tour of Venice, Florence and Rome, Italy. Everything was exceptional! The schedule, accommodations, and experiences was magical. And we had the best tour manager! Valeria took care of every detail and was the ultimate tour manager! We had the best time and loved everything Italy!!!Darla Tanner
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This tour has the perfect balance of guided tour and free time. The accomodations were nicer than expected and centrally located to major attractions and restaurants. To do this exact itinerary on your own would cost twice as much vs. booking everything in your own. What we got for the price, the transportation, the ease of the schedule was fantastic. Highly recommend!
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Venice.
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Ben Slavin our tour manager made our trip fantastic, his knowledge, personality, recommendations, humor, made our trip very interesting. The places we visited were just what we wanted to see. The local guides made the areas we visited unique, places and experiences I would have never envisioned. Collette will definitely be considered for another trip in other parts of the world.John Grebenc
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Venice, enjoyed the city.Cherry Peterson
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Everything was wonderful. Vanessa, our tour guide, was amazing! She was so much fun and very attentive to everyone’s needs.Lisa Mackenzie
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WonderfulMarisela Cooper
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From the wonder and surprise of Venice to the history and grandeur of Rome, the Best of Italy is an informative and fabulous tour. Most favorable moment? There are several! The visit to Murano and the Vivaldi concert in Venice; the farm-to-table lunch in the Po Valley; the exploration of San Marino; beholding St Mark's in Venice, Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, and St Peter's in Vatican City.Joanna Haston
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Best of Italy was a lovely tour with a great overview of some of Italy's highlights. Excellent for the 1st time traveler to Italy. My favorite activity was the Vivaldi concert in Venice. The hotels were all very nice and in excellent locations so that exploring the cities on our own in our free time was very easy. Tour manager, Davide, was extremely knowledgeable and helpful.Karen Ratcliffe
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Ravenna and Republic of San Marino - off the beaten track and memorable
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Wonderful tour! Highly recommend!
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We had the best time! We had the time of our lives. Simone was kind, funny, informative and kept us on time. I enjoyed every stop and adventure!
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This was an excellent tour; it covered many different types of museums, buildings, gardens, and gave us a good overview of the country of Italy.Jane Lafferty
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Savio and Daniel the buss driver were the Best. Both were Wonderfull. I wouldn't change a thing about our trip. It was perfect. Bottles of drinking water is the only struggle we had and the was only a minor problem.
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Tour manager was amazing. Went to many places you would not on your own. Catacombs, Raving Mosiac church, as well as all the key highlights in the cities. Great trip HIGHLY recommend it.Robin Erickson
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The tour included many of the high profile sites, and included unusual visits to a hands on cooking class, a visit to a parmigiana-reggiano cheese school; and the process of making balsamic vinegar. A very interesting presentation on the craftsmanship of oar making in Venice. A unique visit to San Marino. The Catacombs visit was remarkable, as was the Sistine Chapel. Throughout our tour Ned provided intricate detail of each city and places of interest which were valuable. His care throughout the trip was evident and truly appreciated.
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The trip was fantastic and our guide Ned was just great. Very pleasant, accommodating and knowledgeable.
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There were too many wonderful aspects of the trip to really pin down one favorite. If pushed…I would choose the city of Florence!!! The little towns of Ravenna and Chiusi were also a highlight.Amy Benevides
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Mara, the tour manager, was great with her insight and suggestions for our free time. Particularly enjoyed our day in San Marino and vatican tour.Allen Johnson
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Absolutely loved the whole tour, especially the vineyard we stayed at and the hands on cooking class we had making piadinni flatbread. Was awestruck by the beautiful churches with the mosaic tile ceilings and walls and the Vatican and Sistine chapel. I also loved visiting the high school culinary and hospitality class and learning about how the Parmesan cheese and balsamic vinegar are made and the tremendous luncheon they made for us. The food tour on our last day was also so much fun. Loved the gondola ride in Venice and the Murano glass blowing. Our tour guides were all extremely knowledgeable and especially Guilo Passiarella whose humor and tremendous knowledge made everyday so much fun!
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Excellent all the way around. The tour manager was extremely knowledgeable about each city, street, museum, hotel, restaurant, language, safety, history, and mode of transportation. The hotels were incredible and in the heart of each city. Our guide made the Best of Italy fabulous. My travel agent was incredible. She made everything possible. I couldn't be happier with all the details that went into all the planning.
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Everything was great and the tour manager was over the top fantastic! My only concern... it would be great to have a way to keep those who are not suited for a tour. The activity level was 3 (moderate activity, steps, uneven surfaces, etc.). There were 5 of 24 who were not suited for the tour which meant the remainder of the group had to go slower - sometimes oppressively slower. It diminished the potential experience we could have had.
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Everything was great, especially the tour manager - over the top fantastic! The only thing which would have made the tour better if there was a way to prevent those who should not have been on the tour. Specifically, the tour is listed as an activity level 3 (moderate activity, steps, etc.). The tour group was slowed by 5 of the 24 attendees including one who used a cane periodically to walk.
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I think the tour guide, Minnie makes the tour! We were told 16 passengers, had 24! Not cool! Places you visit are great, individual tour guides are a roll of the dice. Some were good? Others knew their stuff, but walked at their pace, and rambled off so many facts, you remembered none! Taking pictures was routinely done on the run!! Hotels are middle of the road, for the price I expected better. One had a broken toilet seat, and when repaired eventually, had 2 pieces of metal, dropped into to bowl! Overall, the meals were very heavy in pasta, and prosciutto, with hardly a fresh or cooked vegetable in sight! I believe we had one meal with chicken, and 3 with badly cooked fish! So, not impressed there!Judith Hermann
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Rome was the best with Vsicsand St Peter’s basilicaJoseph Kirkland
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Venice— taking water taxis and gondola ride Romagna countryside—the wonderful wine resort, wine tour, bread making class and glass blowing Florence—all the wonderful churches museums Rome—Sistine chapel and seeing the Pope in St. Peter’s square
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The plane ride homeKenneth Smith
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Famous iconic sites and museums were not included and then sold out! Also illness / Covid was brought into the bus first day then spread throughout. We were so sick by the end of trip we missed all of Rome and part of Florence. In addition, gondola ride was canceled with no compensation.Mary Smith
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It was great, plenty busy, but not overly. Saw some beautiful sites and loved Giulio!Pamela Klein
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Enjoyed the mix of planned and unplanned time as well as the variety of excursions and cultural activities.Ray Brooks
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My favorite place was the wine resort in Tuscany. I loved my huge private room overlooking the vineyard. I enjoyed the hands-on cooking class and every meal there.
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The visit to the Murano Glass factory was amazing. Watching the guy start with a molten piece of glass and end up with a beautiful horse was such a surprise! There were such beautiful vases and glasses in the shop, I wish I could have bought so many things.Jean Herron
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I enjoyed the tour as a whole, I don't think there was a favorite thing. Our time in Romagna at the wine resort was especially nice. One thing I was disappointed in was the Vatican tour, it was supposed to be a before hours, breakfast at the Vatican private tour. Instead it was just the normal tour.
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I loved riding in the gondola in Venice. The food was delicious, the countryside was beautiful, the Colosseum and Vatican were impressive. The whole trip was wonderful!
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Hotels, breakfasts, and provided meals were great. Stops along the way were very enjoyable and informative. Favorite bonus stop that I would never have thought to do was SanMarino. I wish we'd have had more time there. Was disappointed that food "cooking " class was not what I had hoped for, neither was wine tasting. Wine was great, but there wasn't really instructional experience despite staying at winery. Those were 2 things i was really looking forward to and left me wanting. History and outside guides were very good, particularly Venice tour guide.
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The overall experience was great! Italy is beautiful. The flight over was miserable. The inability to see our seat assignment until we reached the airport was frustrating. I called Collette several times to ask about upgrading to premium economy. The Collette representative in each case was not knowledgeable or helpful with the cost or even the possibility of upgrading. I was told twice that someone from 'the flight desk' would call me back with information. I received one call back and was quoted a price so high I assumed it had to be a mistake. The tour manager was extraordinary. She was incredibly knowledgeable, personable and attentive. The accommodations were very nice. As for the itinerary I would have preferred more time in Venice, Florence and Rome and less time at the Borgo Conde Wine Resort. We will see Italy again...but we will book our own flights.
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The entire tour was incredible. Our tour guide, Mara, was amazing and our coordinator, Chuck Cinelli, was the perfect host. Italy is an amazing land. We’ll return on one of Chuck’s tours in the future.Rod Singletary
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professional and friendly tour director. Great overall accomodations and dinners.
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The Best of Italy failed to include "the Best of Italy. We had to pay extra to go into the Colosseum &The Pathanon. Not enough time spent at the Vatican, it was rushed. The odd things they included was a pontoon ride on the Po River. It was ecological excursion that wasn't what I expected to do in Italy. Then went to a local school where we thought we would see the art of making cheese and balsamic vinegar, instead students just told us about these things. We also spent three nights at a wine resort, one night would have been fine, it would have been nice to have more time in Florence, we only had 2 days.
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The best of Italy Collette tour to with my tour manager Chiara was really run. She had a very inviting personality and made me feel included with the group. She was also very knowledgeable about all things Italian. She’s a real history buff, which I appreciated because it made the commutes to the places we were visiting in Italy (which were a bit long at times) more exciting! She also took the time to give the group some really amazing recommendations of places to visit or dine at in Florence, Venice and Rome. All and all I had a great time sight seeing and experiencing Italy with Chiara and the amazing people I got to know in our group. I would highly recommended her to a family member or friend and also I would love for her to be my tour manager again.Chyna Lowers
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Every aspect of the trip surpassed our expectations!Michelle Duplantis
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This tour offered the right amount of free time and educational site touring. Everything was top notch including the tour guide. Best of everything!
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Accommodations were not what I expected for a first class tourJack De Leon
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Your tour guide Chiara Brandi was outstanding. Her historical knowledge was impressive. She kept everyone on time withiut coming across pushy.Michael Foster
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Well planned Fun Educational I especially enjoyed the gondola ride in Venice Loved every minute in Florence —would have liked more time there and in Venice,and less at the wine resortMarilyn Miller
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some inclusions were not interesting
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In one of the hotels I slept on a pull out chair. The tub in Rome was too high to get in or out safely
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Great value for everything I saw and experienced about Italy. The history, food and culture was wonderful! Our guide Manny was so knowledgeable and helpful. 5 stars for him!
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Collette tours are very organized and customer service is great. Our tour guide Allesendro was excellent!Ruma Das
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Guide was excellent. Daily balance of events was well planned. The overview and experiences superbGeraldine Tibbits
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Lots of wonderful people!
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Wonderful fun experience!
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Great experience of a tripBrenda Garrison
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Awesome trip to rememberLinda Wagner
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Spending 3 days at winery was too much. No options to do anything at night .
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Great experience Tour Guide Alexa was amazing
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Great tour. Would recommended this to others.
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Best of Italy vacation was an experience of a lifetime.
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everything was perfect. especially the leaderMargaret Daugherty
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Alexa was excellent ! Was on top of things. Had a surprise for us, the American cemetery in Florence . Great surprise. Very friendly , knowledgeable and genuine .
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Great places to stay, great places to visit, great local guides, and great tour manger. We were well taken care of. I especially liked that our tour group was small, 24 people.Laura Kruger
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The locations, logistical planning and tour manager expertise
