Travel Review: Luxury Italy Vacation, Milan, Rome, Florence, Naples, Venice, Asiago, Siena, Sorrento, Tuscany Castle Stay, Pompeii

Review by traveler

Mark V.

7.12.2015

General Info

Traveler Review

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

Italy

Your overall comments on the trip and the travel company:

We planned a 15 day, 14 night vacation in Italy with this Italy travel agency and it was the trip of a lifetime. We couldn’t have been happier with the vacation experience and the service was top notch.

We started the planning process by looking at all the options. We researched companies using the internet and talked with many of our friends that have taken similar trips to Italy. Many friends suggestions including plan it ourselves, an escort tour company, work with a local agent and AAA. To start the search, I googled Italy vacations which brought up Zicasso which looked like an interesting option. Submit my request and have several companies propose trip options. Within a day, 2 companies got back to me with rough costs and itineraries for a trip. I looked over the options and got back to the companies with questions.

In the end, we chose this agency because it was a customized vacation that was closest to our needs, they seemed very flexible in adjusting the vacation and it was the lowest cost. This ended up being a great decision. Over the following weeks and months, we worked on an itinerary that best meet our needs and our agent was very flexible. As an example, I have family in Asiago Italy and we were able to include a day trip there while traveling from Milan to Venice. They arranged the car that allowed us to experience Italy on the Autostrada, dropping off the car in Vicenza and continuing by train to Venice.

Our agency worked with us the way we wanted to communicate, via e-mail and the occasional phone call. If our agent wasn't available, he would call me back within a couple hours when I left a message. He changed the dates around at our request and gave us options several times as we planned the trip and found out about additional sites to see and excursions. During one call, he mentioned that he had just been to Tuscany and stayed in a castle during his last visit to Italy. From his description, I knew my wife would love it so we added it to the trip. This turned out to be a once in a lifetime experience. My wife absolutely loved it.

During our trip, our agent was there whenever I had questions or needed help. Our flight from New York to Milan was delayed and the bags didn’t make the flight and we missed the tour of the Duomo in Milan. Our agent rescheduled the tour for another day and even sent us a bottle of Prosecco in Venice after I mentioned that things weren’t going well. It was a nice touch.

If you are looking for a vacation package to Italy and the bulk tours with headsets and impersonal service. Look no further, you should give this agency a call and the opportunity to customize a tour for you. I was surprised at the cost and delighted with the service.

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

There were so many parts of the vacation that were enjoyable and memorable that it is hard to pick just one. The gondola ride in Venice, tours of the Duomo’s in each of the cities we visited, the pizza in Napoli, looking over the ruins in Rome with the colosseum in the distance and the tour of the Vatican. Everything and every day was a once in a lifetime experience and it’s difficult to pick out just one. The two that stand out in my mind are the day we rented a moped and drove up the Amalfi coast and the day in Sienna and staying at a castle outside the city.

The ride down the coast was turn after turn of fantastic views, lunch at a beach restaurant and swimming in the clear blue sea. This wasn’t for the faint of heart. The zigging and zagging in and out of traffic, the sheer cliffs to the sea, and cars zipping past in both directions. It was a little nerve racking at first but after a couple minutes on the road it was worth it. Unforgettable and almost impossible to accurately describe so I included a couple pictures.

The night at the castle was after a quick tour of Sienna. We had some time after our drive down from Florence and ate lunch at La Taverna di San Giuseppe. The ambiance of the restaurant was fantastic, the service was great and the food and wine was outstanding. We had limited time before our tour of the Duomo and helped us have a great lunch and meet our time restrictions. After the visit to Sienna, we headed over to the castle where we were greeted by a note to call the caretaker who would bring us the keys. Yes, the keys to the castle. A quick call and minutes later we had the keys to the castle and were in our rooms. They did have to winch our luggage up 4th floor, which was pretty cool. We then headed to a nearby store, recommended by the person that brought the keys to the castle and picked up some fresh tomatoes, prosciutto, bread, bottle of wine and berries. One of the best dinners of the trip, authentic Tuscany dinner. It was all fresh and delicious. We will remember the night in the castle for years to come, it was fantastic.

One final addition, the tour guides in Venice, Rome and Florence were exceptional.

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

There really isn’t much that we would change. We did fit a lot in the 2 weeks and almost everything was fantastic.

We could have done one less day in Rome, we stayed there 4 nights, and could still see everything that we wanted to see. Don’t get me wrong it was fantastic, but probably didn’t need that extra night.

Instead, we could have used one more night in Sorrento. We skipped a tour of Pompeii and Vesuvius to rent a moped and ride up the Amalfi coast. Let me say, best decision ever. That day was a highlight. We would have also liked to take a day trip to Capri as well. We enjoy the outdoors and seeing today’s sites more than yesterday’s history, Capri would have been a great addition.

Photos

Travel Review: Luxury Italy Vacation, Milan, Rome, Florence, Naples, Venice, Asiago, Siena, Sorrento, Tuscany Castle Stay, Pompeii

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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