Travel Review: Italy Vacation, Venice, Florence, Burano, Sorrento, St. Mark's Square, Walking Tours, Gondola Ride, Cooking Class

Review by traveler

Stacie R.

10.6.2019

General Info

Traveler Review

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

Italy

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

After engaging with the two travel companies recommended by Zicasso and reviewing their preliminary proposals, we chose this one as our travel guide. We worked directly with the co-founder and owner of the company who recommended, planned and implemented a most memorable Italy adventure for my husband and me.
She provided us with outstanding service both before and during our trip including: suggestions tailored to our tastes, capabilities, interests and budget; a very detailed itinerary with accompanying information; local highlights and restaurant recommendations; small tour guides and local contacts; and all hotel and transportation reservations from the time we arrived & departed from the airport.
We had a very complex 2 week itinerary traveling by train, boat and private car with stays in Venice, Florence and Sorrento (as our base for Amalfi coast exploration). We were met every step of the way (15 connections in all) with absolutely no problems or missteps. In spite of the complexity of our travels within Italy, it was an incredibly smooth and easy experience; my husband and I never had to do a lick of work to make it happen. The owner worked her magic for us! And she also provided us with a personalized mobile phone (preloaded with her contact info as well as her key staff members; as well as PDF copies of all our hotel, museum, boat trip and train vouchers for the trip in case I lost or misplaced my printed copies she provided to us a week prior to our flight to Italy). She texted and called occasionally to check in with us and insure all was going smoothly. The owner had the phone waiting for us at the front desk when we checked in to our 1st hotel, and she provided the return package for us to leave the phone with the last hotel the day we departed Italy. Having the phone and knowing that the owner & her staff were available 24 X 7 gave us great peace of mind. As it turns out, we never had anything go wrong at all during the 2 weeks, but we nonetheless appreciated the assurance we could get instant help from the travel company if needed.

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

Besides the beauty, grandeur and history of all the city-states that comprise what has been Italy since 1863, we'll remember the friendliness of the locals, the competence and good fun we had with the small tour guides; and, of course, the food!!
In particular, we enjoyed the private 2 hour walking tours we had in Venice and Florence; a private gondola ride through quiet canals away from the busy touristy canals; the cooking class in Florence/Chianti; the boat trips from Sorrento to Capri and along the Amalfi Coast; dancing in Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square) one evening as small ensembles played beautiful music; the museums; the lovely island of Burano (Venice lagoon); the peaceful, beautiful town of Lucca (day trip from Florence); and the wonderful locations of all our accommodations arranged by the owner.
Two experiences deserve special mention: The first is the Tuscan Cooking Class hosted by the Cooking School. This was an unexpected delight for my husband and me, mainly because of the chef we were fortunate to be with that day....! The chef is not only a delightful, instructive and entertaining chef, but he is also one of the best Italian good-will ambassadors a person will ever meet. He is special.
The next was our visit to Pompeii. Like the Tuscan Cooking Class, this became very special to us purely because of our private guide. Our guide is a very personable, interesting and easy-to-be with young man. He is not only passionate about Pompeii and its history, but also has an incredible depth of knowledge about architecture, the socio-economic issues of the populace, subtleties of the societies in Pompeii, Rome and other powers of the time, mythology, etc. He literally made the ruins come alive! Thanks to our guide, we could envision life in those times from the early days of Pompeii through the final cataclysm that ended it all.

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

This trip was one of major exploration and "sampling" for us. We have spent significant time in Rome, but had never been to Venice, Florence of Sorrento.
The first thing we would do differently is book earlier! For personal reasons we did not begin planning the trip until July. And we did not realize that September was still an incredibly busy tourist season. We were surprised by the multitude of tourists! Accordingly, we might wait until mid-October for a return visit.
Next, we would not visit as many areas and do as much inter-city traveling. We would focus on just one area....likely, Florence....and spend more time at our leisure, taking an occasional day trip from Florence to Sienna, Lucca, etc. Now that we are familiar with Florence, we would do more exploring on our own, rather than with tours (although we'd positively do another Cooking Class).
We are ever grateful to the owner and the travel company for putting together such a memorable experience for us; and to Zicasso for introducing us to the owner of this company.

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Travel Review: Italy Vacation, Venice, Florence, Burano, Sorrento, St. Mark's Square, Walking Tours, Gondola Ride, Cooking Class

General Info

Which Country (Countries) did you visit on this trip?

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

What were the most enjoyable or memorable parts of your trip?

If you could take your trip again, what would you do differently?

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