Family Vacation in Italy: Rome, Vatican, Tuscan Countryside, Pisa, Chianti, Pompeii, Isle of Capri, Amalfi Coast, Positano

We spent 12 days in Italy in August. 2 nights in Rome, 5 nights in Tuscany and 4 nights in Positano on the Amalfi Coast. Our travel agent was wonderful and attentive -- she was incredibly accommodating and willing to help us plan a trip that was unique to our family. My husband and three kids wanted to spend 12 days in Italy, but didn't want to spend the entire time sightseeing as we wanted it to be a vacation as well. This is tough in Italy where there is so much to see - but we were able to craft an itinerary that left enough time in the schedule to have relaxing time as well. During the planning of our trip she listened well and helped us determine the right chronology of our trip, and rearranged the itinerary several times to accommodate different flight schedules from the US. We had one hiccup on the hotel booking where we thought a hotel had been reserved and unfortunately it had not, and we lost the rooms. But, our travel agent made up for it by finding another hotel in a very-crowded Positano and also picking up the cost of one of our dinners during the trip. The drivers and tour guides that the travel company selected were so pleasant and helpful (Private tours included Ancient Rome, the Vatican, Chianti region in Tuscany, Florence, Pisa, Pompeii, and Paestem). All spoke good English. They obviously work with the travel company a lot and understand the level of services they want clients to receive. We worked closely with our travel agent to select the hotels and they were all lovely. We had a couple of trip-ups in restaurants she recommended not being open during the August holidays. We probably should have double checked this before trekking across the city. Overall the trip was wonderful and the planning and organization was top notch. We never really had to think of anything except picking where and when we would find our next meal!