Travel Review: Anniversary Vacation in Italy, Rome, Sorrento, Puglia. Matera, Capri Boat Tour, Colosseum & Forum Tour, Wineries

My wife and I have wanted to travel to Italy for almost a decade, so picking the right travel agent was a very important step for us. Zicasso connected us with several agencies. We ultimately selected this company and worked with this travel agent to plan our trip. We could not have been more pleased with our experience.

One of the reasons we selected this travel agent was because she was based out of Italy. We felt more comfortable with someone living in the country as opposed to a travel agent who had simply visited Italy. Her expertise definitely improved many aspects of our trip. Our must-haves included a multi-night stay in Rome and Pompeii. Our agent crafted a 11-day vacation for us that included Rome, Pompeii, Sorrento, Matera, and Puglia. Each detail of our trip was planned perfectly.

We were picked up by private automobile transport at the airport and had private tours through almost our entire trip. Our tour groups ranged in size from just us to 10 people. The tour guides that our agent selected were incredibly knowledgeable and personable. They were enthusiastic and clearly very passionate about their tours. She also recommended a variety of restaurants and made reservations for us for every evening we were in Italy. She offered options for each day and we were able to select the tours that best suited our interests (Roman Catacombs, Food tour, Jewish Ghetto, etc.). We had 4-star accommodations throughout the trip. Not only were all the hotels great, they were in perfect locations in the center of the cities we visited.

When it was time to travel to Sorrento, our agent arranged travel by train and then private automobile pickup to our final destinations. We spent a day in Sorrento, another day in Capri, and our last day touring the Amalfi coast. We were able to take a boat tour around Capri and visit multiple cities along Amalfi. We tried our first ever Michelin rated restaurant and it was delicious. We couldn't believe that she arranged for a private driver to spend 12 hours with us along the Amalfi Coast (he dropped us off at designated cities and picked us up an hour or two later).

For our next step, our agent took us off the common tourist path and had us visit Matera and Puglia. It was a great cultural contrast to Rome and Sorrento. We slept in a Grotto (hotel) in Matera and had splendid views of the country and old city. In Puglia, we visited a winery and dined along the Adriatic Sea.

It was a memorable trip that we could not have been more thankful for. During multiple times on the trip, my wife and I remarked how lucky we were to have a travel agent so knowledgeable.

Our agent called us several times to check-in on us and immediately remedied a situation where our itinerary was forced to change. We had her number 24-7 for any needs. We had a stress-free trip. We could not have planned this trip on our own, so we are grateful to have had our agent's wisdom. We had contemplated doing our own research, but we could not have recreated the magic of this trip.

When we travel to Italy again, we will definitely be using this travel company!