I went on the 10 nights Italian Highlights tour commencing in Rome and finishing in Milan. Wonderful, wonderful time. Our Globus tour guide, Sylvana, was a gem. She was very informative, caring, funny and helpful. She had a very warm nature. I doubt we could have a better guide for our tour. And without her it wouldn't have been the marvellous tour
...read more that it was. Our guide in Rome, Marco, we had for 2 days had an inexhaustible amount of knowledge that he delivered with so much passion. You could almost imagine you were back in ancient roman times.
Marco took us through the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. Siena and San Gimignano were two towns I would have especially liked to have spent more time exploring. I think they have more to offer than what we were shown. San Gimignano would have made a good overnight stopover and then on to Florence the following morning. We had a lot of spare time in the afternoon on day 5 of the tour in Florence and I felt that the hotel, Star Hotel Michelangelo, although very comfortable, was a bit too far from the centre of Florence. Pisa was wonderful though too rushed. Another half hour or hour there would have been better. Verrazano Castle......fantastic. The Venice, Burano and Murano Islands, gondola ride experience was marvellous. Loved the Hotel Mabapa on Lido Island. Wonderful Art Deco. I think I was lucky with the room I got as I did hear some complain that their rooms were very small. I must have hit the jackpot.
I was disappointed we did not visit St John Lateran Basilica to see the holy stairs which was on the itinerary for day 3 in Rome. And we probably could have given the gold and leather shop visit in Florence a miss as it was out of the price range for the majority of people on the tour. I was disappointed with the Florence part of the trip except for the tour with Sylvana in the morning and the wonderful restaurant we dined in that night. Day 9 Venice Island - Verona - Milan was too rushed. When you consider toilet stops for 44 people.
Overall it was a wonderful tour which I would recommend to future travellers. It could easily be extended to a 12 or 13 night tour with a more leisurely pace through some of the smaller towns like Sienna, San Gimignano, Verona and seeing more of Milan. These small towns also have a lot to offer and would benefit from the tourist dollar.