I am planning a trip for an Italian American Club that I am a member of. 60 individuals signed up as being interested to go to Southern Italy and Sicily for 8-10 days + 2 travel days. Most of the individuals are 60+ in age. I would love to have a tour group work with me on this but any suggestions? Just a note, as a club we have our own donkey cart. We had it built last year for our 1st Italian Festival in Fountain Inn, SC. We are having our second festival April 29th, 2023. We are expecting 10-12,000 attendees. So exciting. Thanks for your input.
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
1156 posts
Hello 2023iacgitalytrip - that sounds like a huge undertaking.
I don't have experience planning for a large group but my advice for even a small group would be with 8-10 days I would choose either Southern Italy or Sicily. To lose the days required for flights to Sicily and organizing everyone there on top of Rome seems like a shame because it will effectively knock a couple of days off your schedule.
If you decide to so Southern Italy I think Rome, Naples with day trips to Sorrento, Pompeii would probably be more than enough to tackle as a trip in that many days. I would usually recommend moving past Naples and staying in Sorrento, but if any large percentage of your "interested people" actually show up that is a really large group to try and get housed in a smaller town. So I would recommend staying in larger cities with larger hotels and more choices. Staying in larger cities allows people to use public transportation on their own because otherwise you're probably looking at trying to arrange a bus or even two for transportation which is another level of logistics.
Hopefully someone with group experience can recommend a travel agency source or something similar that can handle booking 20+ rooms at a time. Maybe there is a tour service that can provide support in terms of meeting your group at the airport, getting everyone tickets and instructions on the ground and provide some organized tours of the famous sites depending what experience you are looking for.
Sounds like an exciting adventure - good luck!
=Tod
Posted by
Sioux Falls, SD, USA
3109 posts
Wow. You are now going into the tour guide role with no training or knowledge.
Why don't you call RS and ask them? They are tour operators. This is what they do.
Are you planning on taking the donkey cart to Italy?
When is this tour going to be? Because with a group like this, you need a 6 month lead time to get hotels, etc. So, if it is less than that, you are going to have a lot of trouble getting this set up.
Posted by
OP
Greenville, SC
2 posts
No, I am not planning the trip, just the organizer. Looking for a tour agency. I have reached out to RS and am waiting to hear back. Many do not work with large groups. We would like to go in September.
Posted by
Florida, USA
250 posts
I reached out to a company we have used before called "Feeling Italy." This was my question to them. "Do you organize tours/lodging for large groups (30 or more)? If not do you recommend a company?" Sergio replied with this. " sure we can! please send details and/or a phone number. I'd be happy to help with best providers and activities.
Grazie
Sergio"
They main office is just outside of Sorrento. Here is the contact information:
Feeling Italy
www.feelingitaly.com
Corso Sant'Agata, 61/N - 80061 Sant'agata Sui Due Golfi (NA)
+39 081 1931 2378