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Italy nine day tour was fantastic!

I had no idea what we were really signing up for. I have been on tours in Turkey and Israel before, and but they were very heavily scheduled. While those were a lot of fun, and very informative, my wife and I were looking for something a bit different. To start with, our tour guide Alfio was absolutely fantastic. Funny, caring, detailed. I left my backpack with my laptop on a vaporetto as we were leaving Venice, and Aflio did the impossible by arranging to get it back to me. The local guides were amazingly capitivating, and Alfio was a fount of useful tips, historical lore, and was a tremendous resource. He directed us to great restaurants, and got us the very, very best gelato I have ever had in my life. The people on the tour for the most part were outstanding as well.

This was a trip of a life time. Thanks Alfio!

Posted by
4 posts

I so totally agree with Jon about Alfio. He was a wonderful tour guide and brought a passion for his beloved country of Italy. Alfio never seemed to tire or appear to be annoyed with all our questions, comments and appeals for recommendations. If you take the Venice, Florence & Rome tour, he's the man!!
Thanks so much Alfio.
Rose

Posted by
5 posts

I agree totally with Jon. My husband and I have traveled the world independently and this was our first official "tour" with a group. We picked it because we enjoy RS's TV shows, and appreciate very much his "back door" philosophy to travel. Being our first time to Italy we didn't want to deal with a lot of details and the tour handled those beautifully for us. As stated, Alfio was fantastic. Guiding 28 individual personalities and temperaments through Italy must be a daunting task to say the least and he did it with humor, sincerity, caring and grace. He even gave up some of his free time in Rome to take those of us who wanted on an extra jaunt through the Eternal City! He topped that extra time off with the best gelato I've tasted! People ask me what was my favorite thing and frankly I can not narrow it down to any one thing. Everything was amazing to me! One highlight I'd like to mention is how Alfio presented Michelangelo's "David" to us. His passion with that presentation will last my lifetime. I had chills when I turned around to finally look at "David". Each local guide was a wealth of history and information and they shared their cities with passion. We hope to return to Italy a few times in the future. This tour was a trip of a lifetime as Jon mentioned above. It has made me want to dive deeper into this beautiful country. Thank you Alfio for making our trip exceed our hopes!

Posted by
7125 posts

Please, please, please share what place in Rome had the best gelato! : )

Posted by
25 posts

How nice to read these posts from my fellow tour members! They were a lot of fun and a big part of the reason why I thoroughly enjoyed my first RS tour! I enjoyed each beautiful city and absolutely agree with everything they stated. Alfio did an amazing job and our local guides (including the wonderful Francesca Caruso) were excellent as well. Seeing all the beautiful art, ancient ruins, churches and museums was an incredible experience, and I will always have such great memories of my tour experience.

Note - I also scheduled two additional sites (well in advance) to see after our tour ended in Rome -- the Borghese Gallery and Le Domus Romane di Palazzo Valentini; so happy I did, since both were incredible and I highly recommend them. The information I found on this website and from forum members was invaluable and very much appreciated.

p.s. - Jean, sorry I wish I could recall the name of the gelateria in Rome (it wasn't far from the Trevi fountain) but I believe it may have been Giolitti, a very famous place (very crowded too!) Hopefully another tour member can verify this:)

Donna