Villages of Italy

Hi, mjshust!
Just so you know, most people on the forum don't go on the tours and aren't familiar with what places are on a particular tour.

It would help to name the specific towns/villages where you know you will need to find your own meal.
As a veteran of many RS tours, I find the guide is the best source of restaurant help, and they will point out possibilities in each location.

Have a great tour!

Depending on when your tour is, you may not have your free tour book yet. If you do, that is definitely your best source for ideas. If not, you can check the book out of your library to start planning now. Regarding ticket companies, my first plan is always to book direct with the place, not use a third party company. In case of snafus, the third party and the site tend to direct each to the other for resolution, and nothing good happens.

If you are talking about the Villages Italy tour we did this tour in May and it was wonderful. Even though the duomo in Siena was not on the itinerary the guide did buy us all tickets to it. I happened to ask her in the first days of the trip why that was not on the itinerary and she told me she would be buying us tickets. I think this is what you are asking. Our guide gave us lots of suggestions as to restaurants to go to in each place and they were spot on. I had some picked out that we never did. Also, she organized some dinners at places that we could go to with others in our group. I am an introvert by nature but everyone in our group was great and I loved these group dinners. It was not every free night by any means. The other thing is that sometimes after a big lunch like the olive oil farm we were not really interested in a big dinner. This is a wonderful tour.

Thank you so much for this information. I appreciate it very much.

Even though the duomo in Siena was not on the itinerary the guide did buy us all tickets to it.

RS guides have a discretionary budget. Every guide is different, though, so on the OP's trip maybe the guide spends the money elsewhere. It's great to look up ahead of time things you can do during free time but I'd hold off on buying tickets till you're there. The guide may buy tickets as above, offer something else you may like better, offer a walking tour (we did one thru vineyards on a France RS tour), etc

Also, she organized some dinners at places that we could go to with others in our group.

Consider yourself fortunate! I've been on a few tours and for free nites the guide suggested places (often listing them on the daily itinerary sheet) but I've never had one organize dinners.

"I've never had one organize dinners."

I've had that happen a few times out of the 12 tours I've done. Sometimes it was when we were free for dinner but had an activity in the early evening and the guide offered to make arrangements for people at a restaurant with everyone paying their own bill. The goal I realized later was to get everyone fed and to the meet up on time, lol.

I agree with waiting until you get on the tour and talk with the guide as well. The ticketing website does not look as easy to navigate as you'd want it to be, lol. On my long ago Village Italy the Duomo was a part of the tour, on a more recent Best of Italy our walking tour ended there and the guide bought us all tickets to the Duomo and the Museum complex. This is a fabulous cathedral with lots of parts/levels. I hope the floors are uncovered when you are there. They are not always on display but they are just magnificent. Do look at the Duomo's website for a little pre-visit research.

Enjoy the Village Italy tour! It's wonderful!