Florence & Venice Spring Tour
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FLORENCE & VENICE SPRING TOUR • Join me on a special spring tour featuring Freya from Freya’s Florence for a wonderful inside look of Florence and Venice. We explore these two beautiful cities over 8 days/7 nights discovering secret alleyways, hidden canals and local art. Florence & Venice are two of Italy’s most important cities. They are filled with amazing architecture, art and unique monuments. In Florence, we discover Michelangelo, The Medici Family, Food and Wine and of course, fashion! Venice brings Palazzo’s, Gondola’s, Canal’s, Bridges and colorful neighborhood markets. This city has been unchanged for centuries and we get to explore every corner of this fascinating floating city!
TOUR DATES:
On Request
Please note: The Winter Tour features a day trip to beautiful Arezzo instead of the Tuscan countryside.
DAY 1 | FLORENCE: 4 NIGHTS • Arrive this afternoon at the hotel and settle in. We start off our week with a peek into the city: we learn all about the wealthy merchant families and how they lived during the 1300’s and 1400’s. We’ll visit Palazzo Davanzati, the most perfectly preserved merchant home in Italy and visit the Medici-Riccardi Palace, home of Lorenzo the Magnificent, then it’s off to discover Tuscan food and wine with a fabulous dinner at a local family run restaurant.
Dinner
DAY 2 | FLORENCE • Our morning is dedicated to the famous Florentine sculptor, Michelangelo. We get to see his amazing work such as the David, as well as some of his unfinished sculptures, then onto Piazza della Signoria and the Palazzo Vecchio, as well as other medieval and renaissance streets and a few local artisans who perfectly embody the Italian essence of creativity and style. Afternoon is free to explore more of Florence
Breakfast
DAY 3 | CHIANTI • Today we travel into the countryside of Tuscany. We visit a wonderful hill town and have a wine tasting, cellar tour and lunch at a local family-run organic winery. You have the evening free to discover more of Florence’s wonderful restaurants!
Breakfast, Wine Tasting & Lunch
DAY 4 | FLORENCE • Your morning is free to relax, perhaps visit the Mercato Centrale to watch the locals do their shopping or take a morning stroll through one of the lovely gardens nearby. We meet mid-day for lunch then visit the beautiful Santa Croce church, where you can find the tombs of some famous Florentines. We then make our way up to the 1000-year old monastery, San Miniato al Monte, which has been described as one of the finest Romanesque structures in Tuscany and one of the most scenic churches in Italy. You will also find one of the best best views of the city from here. As we stroll back down to Florence. exploring the wonderful little streets, we visit a fabulous jewelry maker like no other!!
Breakfast and Lunch
DAY 5 | VENICE: 3 NIGHTS • This morning we travel by train to Venice. Once settled into our new home and after lunch together, we start our exploration of this city with a visit to a fabulous bead making jeweler for a demonstration on how she makes her beautiful jewelry. Afterwards, we visit the wonderful Scuola Grande di San Rocco, with its lavish meeting hall and beautiful paintings. You have the evening to on your own to relax. I am happy to give you some restaurant suggestions!
Breakfast and Lunch
DAY 6 | VENICE • You have the morning/early afternoon to explore more of Venice on your own. Perhaps take the morning boat and visit the islands of Murano (glass factories) and/or Burano (originally known for its lace making but now more noted for its very colorful homes). We meet early evening for an aperitivo “Cicchetti”, across from the gondola boat yard, on our way to dinner.
Breakfast, Dinner
DAY 7 | VENICE • We start the day at the magnificent church of San Zaccaria, then on to the most important church, St. Mark’s Basilica. The church, with its gold floor mosaics and opulent interior, was the chapel of the Doges for most of its history but in 1807 it became the cathedral of Venice. After our visit to the church, we have a relaxing gondola ride before arriving to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. The gallery was once her home and is located along the Grand Canal. The view from here is spectacular! We meet this evening for our farewell dinner.
Breakfast and Dinner
DAY 8 | VENICE • Our fabulous week long tour concludes today after breakfast.
TOUR DETAILS:
Tour Begins: In the afternoon on Day 1 at 4:00pm in our hotel in Florence
Tour Concludes: After breakfast on Day 8 at our hotel in Venice
TOUR PRICE:
$4,650 Per person/Double occupancy
TOUR PRICE INCLUDES:
- 7 nights double occupancy lodging
- All breakfast
- 3 lunches with the local wine
- 3 dinners with the local wine
- All entry fees to museums
- Wine Tasting in Chianti
- Gondola ride
- All ground transportation during the tour
- Personal tour guide throughout the tour
TOUR DOES NOT INCLUDE:
- Air transportation
- Transfers to and from your hotels at the beginning and ending of the tour.
- Hotel tourist tax (see Roommates section below for details)
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Required Trip Insurance
Please note that trip insurance is required to join us on a Ciao Darcy trip. Trip cancellation insurance will protect all deposits and payments for land and air costs if you are required to cancel your tour. We recommend www.travelguard.com
Minimum Travelers
Minimum Travelers: To run this trip we require a minimum of 6 persons. If a trip has fewer attendees at 45 days before the trip dates, we will cancel the trip. However, if this were to happen, we can give you the option of a private tour with a surcharge applied.
Accommodations
We have partnered with boutique hotels that meet the Ciao Darcy standards of service.
Room Options
Double Occupancy: Double occupancy pricing is the price for (1) person to stay in a shared (i.e. double) room. In other words, each person staying in that room will pay the posted double occupancy rate. If you’re a couple or friends traveling together, please know that you’ll each pay the double occupancy rate.
Single Occupancy: Need some alone time? We hear you. That’s why we offer single occupancy rooms. The single occupancy rate is what you will pay to have the room all to yourself.
Roommates
If you do not have a travel partner, you can purchase single occupancy room and have it all to yourself! We do not pair up trip attendees because we find there is not enough privacy in the rooms to allow strangers to room together.
Please note: Many cities in Italy and France have recently implemented tourism taxes on hotel stays in order to “to ensure the quality of tourist, cultural and environmental services in addition to the efficiency of public transports.” We are unable to include these taxes in the tour price as the majority of hotels require the tax to be paid in cash upon check- out. The tax is usually 1 euro per hotel star per person per night. (A four star hotel will usually be four euro per person per night).
