Length: 10 Days. Group educational tours for 12 or more students or adults. Self-designed custom tours typically led by teachers of high school juniors and seniors.
Highlights: Florence City Tour, Accademia, Straw Market, Orvieto, Rome City Tour, Colosseum, St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City and Vatican Museum, Pompeii, Delphi, Athens City Tour, Parthenon, Plaka, Dinner with Entertainment. Optional: 3-Night Cruise to Greek Isles and Turkey
Itinerary: Florence (1), Rome (2), Sorrento (1), Night Boat (1), Athens (2), Optional Cruise (3)
Day 1 – Air
Fly through the night to Italy.
Day 2 – Florence
Buon giorno! Welcome to Firenze. Explore Florence and take in the highlights of the city. On your City Tour, see the Piazza del Duomo with the magnificent cathedral and baptistery whose East door is Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise, a renowned landmark of Renaissance sculpture. Also see the Church of San Lorenzo, the Bargello, the Ponte Vecchio, and visit the Galleria dell’ Accademia, home of Michelangelo’s marble sculpture David.
Day 3 – Rome
Enjoy the morning in Florence on your own. Later, travel to the Eternal City of Rome via Orvieto, where you’ll stop to enjoy the quiet beauty of Piazza del Duomo. The facade of the stunning Cathedral is one of the most colorful Italian Gothic works.
Day 4 – Rome
Take a guided Rome City Tour to see Palatine Hill, Circus Maximus (seating capacity: 300,000!), the Arch of Constantine, the Imperial Forums, Piazza Venezia, and the Monument to Vittorio Emmanuel. Visit the Colosseum, scene of gladiatorial combats and early Christian martyrdom., then on to Capitoline Hill for a spectacular view of the Roman Forum. Continue to the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Piazza di Trevi, the Spanish Steps and the Piazza del Popolo. Leave Italy behind and enter the independent city-state of the Vatican. See Bernini’s legacy, St. Peter’s Square, and visit St. Peter’s Basilica, the largest church in the world. Covering over six acres, St. Peter’s Cathedral can accommodate 95,000 visitors. From St. Peter’s, continue your tour for a visit to the Vatican Museum. Among the impressive works is the Sistine Chapel’s vault by Michelangelo. This stunning depiction of the Old Testament was completed in four years and is perhaps the single greatest work of art ever created.
Day 5 – Sorrento
En route to Sorrento stop to explore Pompeii with its excavation sites that display the remains of the destruction caused by Mt. Vesuvius. You’ll find the reality of Roman life in the bakeries, wine-shops, groceries, villas and temples buried in showers of cinders and volcanic pebbles.
Day 6 – Night Boat
This morning is free to explore on your own. This afternoon journey to historic Brindisi to board your night boat.
Day 7 – Athens
Welcome to Greece! Your first visit will be Delphi, the site of the Oracle of Delphi, where pilgrims from throughout the Greek world came seeking answers to life’s perplexities.
Day 8 – Athens
Discover the wonders of Greece and the ancient cradle of European civilization. On an Athens City Tour you’ll visit the Acropolis to see the Parthenon and its other monuments, and see the remains of the Agora and the Olympic Stadium. This evening, enjoy a special Greek dinner with light entertainment in the Plaka.
Day 9 – Depart/Optional Cruise
Return home or board a three day luxury cruise to the Greek Isles. At Mykonos you can see the three famous windmills, relax on the beach or shop in the trendy boutiques along the quaint, narrow streets.
Day 10 – Optional Cruise
Arrive in Turkey and discover the ancient Roman port of Ephesus. Then sail on to Patmos where you can visit the fortified monastery.
Day 11 – Optional Cruise
Dock at beautiful Rhodes, then explore the island at your leisure, or choose to visit Lindos. Then sail to Athens, enjoying a starry night under the Mediterranean sky.
Day 12 – Depart
Disembark and board your flight home with new knowledge and wonderful memories of the ancient world!
Rome
- Rome city tour
- Ancient Rome tour with Colosseum
- Vatican City tour with Sistine Chapel
- St. Peter’s Basilica
- Basilica of St. John Lateran
- Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore
- Evening walking tour – Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona
- Borghese Gallery
- Pantheon
- Appian Way and the Catacombs
- Castel Sant’Angelo
- Nero’s Palace
- Baths of Caracalla
- Capitoline Museums
- National Roman Museum
- National Gallery of Roman Art
Florence
- Florence city tour
- Santa Maria del Fiore (Duomo)
- Campanile
- Baptistery of San Giovanni
- Basilica di Santa Croce
- Basilica di San Lorenzo
- Pitti Palace
- Uffizi Gallery
- Galleria Dell’Accademia
- San Miniato al Monte
- Bargello
- Medici Riccardi Palace
Bologna
- Bologna city tour
- Torre degli Asinelli
- Archaeological Museum
- Jewish Museum
- National Picture Gallery
- University Museums
- Lamborghini Museum
- Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca
Naples
- Naples city tour
- Duomo
- Santa Chiara Monastery
- San Lorenzo Maggiore
- Castel Nuovo
- Capodimonte Museum
- Teatro San Carlo
Cinque Terre
- Cinque Terre tour
Venice
- Venice city tour
- Doges’ Palace
- St. Mark’s Bascilica
- Galleria Dell’Accademia
- Ca’ d’Oro
- Museo Correr
- Ca’Rezzonico
- Peggy Guggenheim Collection
- Murano glass-making demonstration
- Burano
- Torcello
Genoa
- Genoa city tour
- Aquarium of Genoa
- Palazzo Bianco Gallery
- Palazzo Rosso Gallery
- Galata Seafaring Museum
- National Gallery
- Palazzo Ducale
- Museum of Sant’Agostino
Sorrento
- Sorrento city tour
- Teatro Tasso tarantella show
- Correale di Terranova Museum
- Isle of Capri
- Pompeii archaeological site
- Herculaneum archaeological site
- Amalfi
- Positano
Milan
- Milan city tour
- Duomo
- Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
- Castello Sforzesco
- Teatro alla Scala
- Santa Maria della Grazie (The Last Supper)
Pisa
- Pisa city tour
- Leaning Tower
- Duomo and Baptistery
- Museo dell’Opera del Duomo
Siena
- Siena city tour
- Duomo
- Pinacoteca Nazionale
- Torre del Mangia
- Museo dell’Opera Metropolitana
Athens
- Athens city tour
- Acropolis and the Parthenon
- New Acropolis Museum
- Dinner in the Plaka
- Historical Museum of Athens
- Athens City Museum
- Numismatic Museum
- Goulandris Museum
- Benaki Museum
Olympia
- Ancient Olympia site
- Archaeological Museum
- Museum of the Olympic Games
Thessaloniki
- Archaeological Museum
- Museum of Byzantine Culture
- White Tower
Patras
- Archaeological Museum
- Roman Odeon
- Castle of Patras
- Municipal Gallery
- St. Andrews Church
Delphi
- Archaeological site tour
- Museum of Delphi
- Angelos and Eva Sikelianos Museum
- Old Church of St. Constantine
Rome
- Tivoli – Hadrian’s Villa and Villa d’Este
- Pompeii archaeological site
- Hurculaneum archaeological site
- Ostia Antica
- Montepulciano
- Siena
- Orvieto
- Tarquinia
Athens
- Cape Sounion (Temple of Poseidon)
- Rafina
- Marathon
- Schinias
- Amfiaraion
- Vouliagmeni