Hello, in September I will be enjoy this Rick Steve’s tour with the destinations of::
Varenna (Lake Como) > Dolomites > Venice > Florence > Cinque Terre > Siena > Umbria and Rome
As there will be free time at each destination, I am interested in any “off tour time” experiences that you would recommend in the above locations.
Thank you in advance!
Ciao!
While I haven't taken this tour, I have visited most of the places you will be going. And it IS on my bucket list. Here are my contributions to your post.....In Venice, I have enjoyed the Cicchetti tour given by Alessandro Schezzini a couple of times. It was entertaining and informative, offering lots of cicchettis, drinks and lots of fun. Here is his website: http://www.schezzini.it In Rome, we took the eatingitaly food tour (Testaccio district but have heard the Travestere one is also quite good). Again, the tour was wonderfully informative, lots of food and drink and lots of fun. Do you see a pattern here??😄. In Rome, a day trip to Ostica Antica was terrific. Also a visit to the English Cemetery was interesting and a lovely day away from the hustle and bustle of the City. Hiking is amazing in the Cinque Terre and also the Dolomites. I know you'll enjoy the tour. Have fun!
I agree with going to Trastevere in Rome and we also toured the Capuchin Crypt and it was quite fascinating and unique (not for the squeamish). Galileo museum in Florence was very interesting and worth the time. If your tour will not go to Burano I would definitely go there and to Torcello while you're in Venice.
I took this tour in October, 2016, wonderful memories. I'm still friends with several of my tourmates, I went as a solo. In trying to recall what I did in my free time, I mostly went around with others to explore neighborhoods, etc. One afternoon in Rome, we walked all over trying to find a restaurant that served artichokes because they were in season. We did not find that restaurant but we found another one and had a fun lunch! No artichokes though.
You will not run out of things to do.
Lake Como, we went on the boat ride and toured the Villa Carlotta and its extensive gardens. Cinque Terre, we took the boat all the way to the last village and then went to each of the 5 villages via train, a most fun day! We hiked in the Dolomites, woke up that morning with snow on the ground, more of a dusting.
Umbria, we stayed at a Winery and Resort, can't remember the name now. On a free day, a bunch of us went to Orvieto and explored, a magnificent cathedral and toured a small Museum devoted to Etruscan culture.
In Florence, we went to the Pitti Palace, amazing place with art you cannot believe. Also, some of our tourmates climbed the 400, approx., steps to the top of the Duomo.
I hope you will write a trip report when you come back!
Hello kbbingo,
I am on this tour 9-21-18.
Here are some of things I have penciled in for free time.
Stay the day before the tour in Milan: Last Supper, Duomo, Sforza castle to see M's Ronandino Pieta, Crazy Cat Cafe, Luini's Cafe.
Varenna: Hike up to see Castello di Vezio before tour starts, next day by a silk scarf (or two) at Azalea in Bellagio
Verona: Look at the arena, walk to the Adige and stand on Ponte Pietra (bridge)
Dolomites: go with the flow, take a hike
Venice: go on a gondola ride, visit Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, get lost
Florence: Duomo Museum to see M's Deposition Pieta, Bargello Museum to see Donatello's David
Pisa: Take a walk to the Arno, stand on the Ponte di Mezzo, buy lunch at the market
Cinque Terre: Visit Convent of the Caphuchin Friars, take a train to Corniglia, hike to Vernazza, boat back to Monterossa
Rome: Staying 2 extra days, Walks of Italy hidden gems and catacombs, Trastavere food walk, Borghese Gallery, visit cat colony at Torre Argentina
Have a great trip!
We took this tour in October 2017 and had a wonderful time. One thing to remember is that your schedule can change, so "hold lightly" to whatever you plan for your free time and be prepared to go with the flow. For instance, the weather was predicted to be wonderfully clear when we were in the Dolomites, so our tour guide had us visit Bolzano on our way to Castelrotto rather than on our way to Venice. That freed up the next day to take a drive deeper into the mountains and ride a gondola way up to a peak where we had lunch and enjoyed fantastic views. This meant we arrived in Venice a bit later, plus she had a "wild card" group dinner and had booked us into a restaurant in Venice that evening. Both activities were worth every minute. A similar thing happened in Rome when a church tour was added since the Forum had been closed down by a demonstration. By the time we finished the tour, the Forum was open again, so we missed nothing on the original itinerary, but our afternoon in "ancient" Rome merged with our Dolce Vita walk. Again totally worth it.
That said, we used our day before the tour to visit the Duomo in Milan. The day the tour started we hiked up to the castle in Varenna. In Florence we climbed the bell tower, visited the Galileo Museum and crossed the river to San Miniato Church for mass and sung Vespers. In Pisa we visited the Baptistery on the half hour when the docents demonstrated the perfect acoustics of the building--spine-tingling. That was something our tour guide suggested as we pulled into town. We hiked and used the train to visit all 5 villages in the Cinque Terre. In Sienna we took the Porta di Cielo tour in the Duomo and also climbed to a parapet in the unfinished "wing" of the Duomo (something that didn't get built because the Black Death wiped out a large portion of the population of the city at the time). While up there we could hear drumming coming from various points in the city and wandered until we found the source--the various contrade were training the next generation to drum and throw flags for the when it would be their turn to perform before the Palio.
I like to plan tightly and vacation loosely. Having plans for what to do head of time, but going with the flow on the day, definitely made this a wonderful tour.
Wow, thank you for all the ideas, much appreciated! It was especially good to be reminded that schedules change so be be careful about booking/planning too much. Even with that in mind, ha, I have gone ahead and scheduled a couple of things so hope that the timing works out. I enjoy attending cooking classes so in Lake Como (before the actual tour starts) and then in Sienna I have scheduled an Italian cooking class/demonstration. I also scheduled a Tapas sunset boat tour while in Cinque Terre.
I am checking into the Schezzini food tours and the Eating Italy walking tours but worried that might be pushing my luck but thinking I will pick one in Venice. I am not much of a shopper in any sense of that word so these hands on food type experiences I really love! I think for the rest of the days, I am going to take your ideas along with other information that I have found and have these notes available if I ever find myself wondering what I should to today : )
I will write up a trip report to let others know of my thoughts, successes and not so successes! Thank you again for all your ideas!!!
