The trip was very well organized and it turned out exactly as we asked. If we were to plan it again, we would spend 3 days in Tuscany and one less day in Cinque Terre. The hiking was a little more vigorous than expected (Tracy), but we loved it. The hotel selections and the room selections far exceeded our expecations in terms of location and in terms of luxury and charm. Thank you to Barbara for checking in on me daily when I was under the weather. It was comforting and exactly why we chose this tour.
Florence: The location of Grand Hotel Minerva was convenient and the staff was amazing. They arranged for a doctor to meet me at the hotel within 30 minutes of my request. The cafe was on the square and we enjoyed having coffee and people watching. It was so nice to be adjacent to Basilica of Santa Maria Novella and just popping in when the lines were low.
Manarola: LaTorretta Hotel staff was very accomodating. We enjoyed the private terrace and the view of the hiking trail. The breakfast each morning was like high tea. The room was lovely.
Tuscany: Castello del Nero–our favorite. Beautiful property and our room was fantastic. The pool and the spa were great fun and we enjoyed an afternoon communing with people on the Backroads bike tour. We didn’t eat at the Michelin restaurant onsite, but were glad as other guests were complaining about it. The Pavilion food was adequate—the view from this restaurant was the attraction and we ate breakfast and two dinners there.
Rome: Our room at Hotel Palazzo Ripetta was amazing—well done! The hotel itself was lovely and the staff was amazing. What a surprise to have a loft with a steam shower and spa area. We couldn’t bear to leave for dinner, so we dined at the hotel and were so glad we did. The dinner staff was so accomodating—the bar manager even worked from a gin list to make my husband the best gin and tonic. We would definitely have enjoyed another night.
Path of Gods, Amalfi: 10/10 Beautiful hike. We bought hiking poles at a shop before embarking—that would be a good addition to recommended list of gear. Our guide, Marco, was great.
Uffizi Gallery: 8/10 We enjoyed this tour, although it was a little long as I (Tracy) had contracted a virus and found 3 hours on my feet was a lot. Our guide skillfully packed a lot into that time, and was clever in finding ways to see key exhibits from outside a side door or over a balcony to avoid waiting in lines.
Hiking in Cinque Terre: 10/10 The acsension from Manarola to Volastra is not for the faint of heart. It was a tough first hour of the hike. Again, hiking poles were a must. Our guide, Elisabetta Frega, was an absolute delight and a very professional and careful guide. We absolutely loved hiking with her. The lunch and wine pairing in Corniglia was so lovely and well-organized—a perfect treat at the end of the trail. The walking tour of Riomaggiorie didn’t hold as much appeal, as it was very much like Manarola and we were pretty tired after the hike. We would probably have preferred to move directly into the wine tour.
Wine tour Riomaggiorie: 8/10 The vineyard tour was interesting and gave us a more detailed appreciation of the terraced agriculture that we had observed on our hike. We would have preferred to have the wine tasting at the vineyard overlooking the sea. It broke up the experience to have to transfer by car with the vineyard manager and then taste the wine in a cellar. The wine was not to our tastes, but we found it interesting in how it reflected the terroir.
Truffle Hunt in Pisa;11/10 We loved this and it was better than we had anticipated. We thought it would be very touristy, but it was actually more like a day we would spend with friends foraging for mushrooms. We were enthusiastically greeted at the shop, and we had a fun, comical and successful hunt with our hunter Andrea and his dog Giotto. The truffle lunch was over the top great. We would have done this again the next day.
Monterinaldi Wine tour: 8/10 The guide spoke limited English and didn’t seem to have a great depth of wine knowledge. We were given a brief tour of the winemaking area (not the vineyard) and some comments about the wines, but it was pretty superficial. We would like to have had the vineyard experience we had in Cinque Terre with a winery in Tuscany so that we came away with more knowledge about the region and the wine. The food and wine at the lunch were very good.
Siena: 10/10 We enjoyed this tour and learned so much history. Our guide (?Monica) was lovely , well-spoken, kind and interesting. We spent a long time in the church of St. Domenico and every minute was an education. She was careful to pause in the shade whenever possible, which had a big impact on our enjoyment of the tour.
Vespa Tour Rome: 10/10 This was an amazing way to see Rome in a short time. Our Vespa guides were great and we felt safe at all times. We both agreed that this was one of our favorite events. We didn’t enjoy an espresso or gelato at a cafe as advertised in the description on our trip plan, but we grabbed one later on our own.
Drivers: 10/10 Across the board, all of the drivers were great. Each arrived on time or early, and all were excellent drivers. At least one did not speak English, but it was a very short drive and didn’t matter. The communication between the tour guides and the drivers was seamless.
Half day Florence and Accademia tour: 5/10 This was our least favorite tour due to the tour guide. I have lost her card so and I don’t remember her name. The tour was so infused with her personal history and her personal views on religion, belief and magic that we had a hard time extracting information on the history of the sites we visited. We didn’t visit the Ponte Vecchio, but we spent several minutes outside the shop of one her friends while she pointed out specific items that we might be interested in purchasing. We spent another several minutes discussing the politics of the ambulance corps, as it turns out she is an ambulance driver. The breaking point was the broad stereotypical and derogatory comments about Americans’ eating and cooking habits, which she persisted with despite our contrubtion of a more informed perspective. While we are aware of these views, we thought we would be shielded from them during a hired tour. This was a half day I would have preferred to be on our own.
Truffle hunt, Manarola hike and Rome vespa tour were our favorite experiences.
Memorable moments were the surprise of the unique features of each hotel and each room.
We noticed that we had great tables at every restaurant that was reserved for us. The highlight was Osteria Vini and Vecchi Sapori in Florence—it was small, a little out of the way and a local gem. The food was great. Other favorites were il Buco and Tavernallegra in Sorrento and Trattoria dal Billy in Manarolo.
Tracy and Louis Carmellini – October 2025
