Tuscan & Umbrian Countryside

everything was top notch.

There is no way we could have planned a trip on our our and packed so much in 12 days. It was a great variety of experiences!

Other than our flights which, in one case were booked too closely and we missed our connection (and I HAVE YET ago hear back from Collette), and on the way home the trip was WAY TOO LONG). The rest of the trip was great! I loved visiting the small villages with a city or two peppered in.

The guide and driver we had during the whole trip were outstanding. Mariangela and Pasquale made us feel comfortable and well taken care of. All of the experiences and local guides were excellent.

We really enjoyed the overall tour experience.

I loved seeing how olive oil was made! It was so fun to spend time on the farm and learn from the people who are doing it.

All of it; small group, exceptional tour guide/manager.

See above comments. Tour was disappointment.

Wine tasting and cooking class plus meals

The history , wine and cooking class.

Luciana Lyons was a huge part of the success of this excursion. Her bubbly personality was infectious and she made everyone feel special. Her commentary throughout the trip was interesting and informative. We all loved her!!!

I bought 4 bottles of wine, olive oil, soap made with olive oil, and two blouses. i am very happy with all my purchases.

Excellent tour of smaller, less visited hilltop towns.

Every day was busy, hot and tiring but absolutely fantastic. We had good local guides at each of the towns we visited. The hotels were very good and the included meals were excellent. The cookery class was really good.

I like the smaller group. This is the first tour I've been on. Most of my travel has been with one to four people with a personal tour guide. It was fun to meet new people and learn about them.

Countryside breathtaking.

We were treated with great love and caring by our guides.

The tour moved smoothly from one experience to the next. Our tour manager was full of valuable suggestions for interesting ways to utilize our free time. Staying in the smaller towns allowed me to feel less like a tourist and experience the daily life of a local.

This was of the best tours I have taken. From the minute we met our tour guide Siblia I knew my friend and I were going to have a fantastic time. All the hotels, the tours, the people on our tour and the people that we met, to the bus driver Luigi and the local guides it was a win win tour. No wonder Collette is celebrating 100 years in the travel business. Happy Birthday Collette and thank you for a wonderful trip.

Loved the regions we visited and the ability to obtain a intimate perspective of the culture and people that lived in the country and hill top towns. Beautiful vistas and experience.

Meeting the people at the wineries and the cooking class and at the olive oil grove and the wonderful food.

Dinner with Umbrian family. Tour of the winery & olive oil farm.

Everything to cooking class and visit the family farm.

Lunch at local Italian family. American husband / Italian wife that rebuilt a stable into a lovely home. Delicious meal prepared by Italian grandmother.

Lunch with a local family in the Umbria Region.

Lunch hosted by Italian family at their country home.

Everything about the trip was perfect, very talented and knowledgeable local guides made all the visited sites memorable. The tour manager was able to make the tour a very pleasurable experience.

Read our review. We were an English speaking group and our Collette guide seemed to ignore that fact, so did the bus driver. The countryside was beautiful and the 1st wine tasting was nice. The 2nd was unacceptable. Florence and Assisi are beautiful places. Local guides were ok but seemed to think the only thing we wanted to see were churches! The home hosted lunch was very nice.

Siena and getting to the airport! We were signed up to see the Leonardo da Vinci museum and the tour guide said she knew nothing about it!

Lunch at a private home with an Italian family.

We loved the smaller group and focus on small hillside towns! Highlights include the visit to the olive oil farm, Carletti, where the intimate setting was marvelous as was the olive oil. The cooking class in Vallo di Nera was a lot of fun and laughs. The small town is worth walking around too. The meal at a home near Bevagna was spectacular! What an idealistic home and place to live! The small towns and history the represent was also fabulous like the fortress town of Monteriggioni. Assisi and its history, cathedral are amazing and inspiring. Saint Francis is fascinating as he didn't start off as such a nice young man, but he certainly grew into a very special person. Learning of the painter Giotto who painted fresco's in the Assisi cathedral and was also the architect of the Florence bell town was beyond description. We also made some very nice and fun trip friends, Mary and Nancy, who made the trip more enjoyable with many laughs. Our tour manager was exceptional, *Personal details removed by Feefo*, and in addition to his tour management capabilities, he can sing beautifully. The weather during our tour was cooler than I expected so it's a reminder to be very prepared for expended cold weather or it could have gotten warm and Italy mandates no A/C until 6/1. We recommend this tour and Collette.

If you can't sleep, you can't enjoy touring being weary! Tour seem to be pinching pennies as you had to buy water on the but.

The tour of Siena was wonderful and informative and the city is beautiful and different. I really enjoyed this day.

Best vacation we have ever taken! Our tour manager, was very knowledgeable, organized and entertaining. We were able to go to places that we would have never found on our own. Loved the local guide, Romana. Lunch at the private home was outstanding. Everything about the trip exceeded our expectations!

My favorite day was the trip to the olive oil factory and the cooking class.

A very well planned tour with a varied itinerary. Nice pace. Wonderful guides. Excellent hotels. It may have been luck that the group was small and particularly congenial. The entire experience was delightful. My favourite part was the stay in Umbria where we stayed in lovely Spoleto and visited places I doubt many tourists find.