Travel Review: Italy Family Vacation, Venice, Florence, Tuscany, Bologna, Verona, Lake Como, Cooking Class, Wine Tasting

The hotel our agent found for us in Bellagio was absolutely STUNNING - the view: unbeatable! Our agent arranged for a private boat/guide to take us around lake Como for the day - stopping at beautiful Villa Carlotta for a private personal history tour - the trip complete with gelato and prosecco :)

Venice was unbelievable.  The apartment our agent found for us had a magical terrace where we enjoyed amazing dinners/lunch/breakfast that we made from the Rialto market. Our windows overlooked the canals and provided us free serenades by the Gondoliers passing though the canals countless times.  Our private tour guide our agent arranged for us was amazingly insightful and kind - She was great at reading what our group’s interests were - aside from showing us the history of the square/church of San Marco- she expertly guided us through the beautiful streets of Venice where there were practically NO tourists - and it was just SO relaxing. Our travel agent set up all of our water taxi transportation - which  made everything run so smoothly - no stress.

Upon our agent's suggestion - we stopped in Bologna for half a day on our way to San Casciano. She arranged a 6 course lunch of Bolognan Pasta (yum) and our tour guide took us to such beautiful places in this city - she was approachable and receptive to our motives (i.e. drinks and food) - In addition to the scheduled Church Sight seeing - she pointed out some great cheese/pasta/meat shops - and the Oldest Bar in the city… of we had to stop in there for a drink :) We went a bit over the planned trip time span - but our guide was gracious and made sure she showed us everything on the tour plan and we didn’t at any time feel rushed etc.

Our hotel in San Casciano was magical.  It was breathtaking. Our travel agent arranged a Cooking class for our group.

Our driver who pretty much drove us EVERYWHERE while we were in Tuscany/Florence was unbelievable-   He told us so much about Tuscany and the cities we were visiting- and pulled over for the best photo stops of the countryside and of course, gelato. EVERYONE LOVED HIM - and I feel like he became our friend by the end of the trip.

Our favorite, unexpected part of the trip was the "Wine Tasting"  our agent scheduled for our group and certainly not something we would have been able to find for ourselves.  It was magical.

Florence was an amazing city and one you should not skip - our tour guide felt like she was part of our family after our second tour.