Sorrento and Rome
9 DAYS
Sorrento 3 • Rome 4
Basic Inclusions
Accommodations
Accommodations in centrally-located three-star or four-star hotels. Rooming on a triple basis. Double rooms: $50 per night, per person.
Meals
All breakfasts. All dinners.
Transportation
Round-trip transportation on scheduled airline. Deluxe touring motorcoach. All public transportation tickets included where applicable.
Guide
Services of a specially-trained passports Tour Director throughout. All tips are included in the Program Cost. Whisper headsets included.
Travel Protection
Passports provides and pays for a Post Departure Travel Protection Plan that includes coverage for Trip Interruption, Trip Delay, Medical Expense and Evacuation and more.
Tour Summary
Itinerary Includes
Unlimited public transportation
Days 1-2: Home - Sorrento
Naples
Day 3: Sorrento
Excursion to Pompeii
Day 4: Sorrento
Optional Excursion to Capri: Round trip shuttle to the port, Ferry Sorrento-Capri, Round-trip Capri funicular, Visit to Capri's Gardens of Augustus, Ferry Capri-Sorrento
Day 5: Sorrento - Rome
Guided above-ground visit at Baia Archaeological Park, Baia Underwater Archaeological Park aboard semi-submerged boat (in season and weather permitting), Visit to the Cumae Archaeological Park with the Sibyl's Cave
Day 6: Rome
Rome City Sightseeing: Local Guide, Visits to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, Visit to the Vatican Museums, Headset receiver for the Vatican sites, Visit to the Sistine Chapel, Visit to St. Peter's Basilica, Stroll on Piazza Navona, Visit to the Pantheon
Day 7: Rome
Visit to the Borghese Gallery
Visit to the Capitoline Museums
Day 8: Rome
Optional Excursion to Florence by High-Speed Train: High-speed train Rome-Florence, Local guide, Visit to the Accademia, Visit to the nave of Florence's Duomo (time permitting), Visit to the church of Santa Croce and its Pazzi Chapel
Optional Dinner with music
Day 9: Departure
Departure transfer
UNPARALLELED STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE
Detailed Itinerary
Days 1-2: Arrival Rome, Naples, Sorrento
Rome is your destination; a wide-bodied jet is your vehicle. Swoop down over the Alps and touch down on the wide concrete runway at Fiumicino Airport. You've arrived in Italy!
Board your coach and travel south on the autostrada to the Bay of Naples.
Stop in Naples, where a favorite landmark is the Opera House (Teatro San Carlo), first built in 1737 and an important institution in the world of music. The massive walls of Castel dell'Ovo, a Norman fortress begun in 1115, face the Santa Lucia harbor. Castel Capuano, another Norman fortress, built in 1165, served as the royal residence. There's also Castel Nuovo (often called Maschio Angioino), begun by the Angevin dynasty in 1279. On Piazza del Gesù Nuovo stands the Baroque Cathedral of San Gennaro.
Travel to the fabled town of poets and sunsets, also renowned for its embroidery and intarsia (wood-inlay).
The evening is free to enjoy Sorrento's scenic delights and spectacular views. For the finest overlook of all, you may want to go to Punta di Sorrento and watch the sunset from the belvedere.
Overnight: Sorrento
Day 3: Excursion to Pompeii
Walk through the Roman city recognized by UNESCO as a treasure of Western Civilization. See how well-to-do Romans lived 2,000 years ago, until Mt. Vesuvius all at once destroyed this city in one day and preserved it for all time.
The remainder of the day is free to plan as you wish.
You may want to check out the Museo Correale di Terranova, whose collections (notably Neapolitan paintings, Capodimonte porcelain, and Murano glassware) are housed in an elegant villa that overlooks the Bay of naples. Its Library holds books by the poet Torquato Tasso, born in Sorrento in 1544, whose best-known work is Gerusalemme liberata, an epic poem published in 1581 that's one of the classics of Italian literature.
Overnight: Sorrento
Day 4: Sorrento, Optional Excursion to Capri
Plan your free time or consider an optional excursion.
Descend the winding road to the port of Sorrento.
A ferry will take you to the Isle of Capri.
Transfer by funicular to the town of Capri's main square (Piazzetta), passing tropical gardens on the way. On the island stands Villa Jovis, the imperial residence from which Tiberius once ruled his empire. Recall tales of the Emperor Augustus, and of the mischievous Caligula.
From Capri's Piazzetta, it's an easy walk to the Gardens of Augustus, a magnificent public garden landscaped in the 1930s by the German industrialist Friedrich Krupp. Its terraces adorned with colorful and fragrant vegetation are perched atop a cliff with a sheer drop to the sea. The gardens face Capri's southern coast and provide splendid views of the 14th-century Charterhouse of San Giacomo, the Bay of Marina Piccola, down below, and the Faraglioni, the needle-like rocks that soar above the sea.
Board a ferry bound for Sorrento.
Overnight: Sorrento
Day 5: Baia, Cumae, Rome
Travel to Baia, located on the coast of the Gulf of Pozzuoli and named after Baios, the helmsman on Ulysses' boat.
In present-day Baia, you will see impressive ruins of a thermal bath complex (Thermae) with structures once mistaken for temples.
From the comfort of your boat's submerged cabin, discover the sunken city located a stone's throw from the ruins of Portus Julius, the first great Roman port, and imagine what Baia was like when it was the Las Vegas of its time. See floor mosaics, streets, remnants of important buildings, and marble statues, which all lie now below the sea due to a dramatic change in ground level.
Continue to the ruins of the once-influential Magna Graecia city of Cumae.
Perhaps the oldest settlement in Italy, Cumae is a hotbed of Greek mythology. During your your visit, you will see the Temple of Apollo, described by Virgil in The Aeneid which was transformed into a Christian church.
In the footsteps of Aeneas, you will enter the Sibyl's Cave. Among all the Sibyls of the ancient world, the Sibyl of Cumae was the most revered.
A coach ride up the autostrada brings you to the "Eternal City".
Proceed to your centrally-located hotel, settle in and get ready to explore your surroundings.
Overnight: Rome
Day 6: Rome City Sightseeing
Set out on a sightseeing tour of Rome.
A full-day local guide, well-educated and specially-trained on the history and culture of Rome, will accompany your group.
Walk through the best known monuments of Ancient Rome, the Colosseo and the Foro Romano. Once the heart of a vast empire, the Forum was filled with extravagant buildings and crowded with people from all over the known world.
Discover outstanding masterpieces collected for the Vatican Museums since the early 1500s. See exceptional statues from antiquity, such as Laocoön and His Son and the Apollo Belvedere, as well as stunning Renaissance paintings, notably the The School of Athens fresco in the Raphael Rooms.
Marvel at Michelangelo's Last Judgment and brightly-colored ceiling frescoes in the Cappella Sistina.
Enter the sanctuary recognized as the world's largest church. The Basilica di San Pietro also houses priceless works of art, in particular Michelangelo's Pietà and Bernini's Dove of the Holy Spirit.
Walk through the plaza built on the site of Domitian's Stadium. Lined with grand buildings and trendy cafes, this oblong square is adorned with statues and fountains, notably Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers.
Inside the "Temple to All the Gods," you will understand why it has been called one of the better-preserved and most harmonious monuments of antiquity.
Overnight: Rome
Day 7: Borghese Gallery, Capitoline Museums
Head to Rome's most beautiful park, Villa Borghese. to view the superb art collection on display in the Galleria Borghese. This museum owns notably Bernini masterpieces, such as David and Apollo and Daphne as well as Canova's famous statue of Pauline Borghese, the sister of Napoléon Bonaparte.
Head up Capitoline Hill, which was once the site of Rome's foremost temples. Enjoy a visit to the Capitoline Museums, housed in the neighboring Palazzo Nuovo and Palazzo dei Conservatori. Their collections include artifacts from all periods of the Roman Empire, in particular the marble statue known as the Dying Gaul, pieces of a colossal statue of Constantine the Great, Roman busts that stand as a kind of ancient Who's Who, and remarkable Renaissance paintings.
The remainder of the day is free to plan as you wish.
Take in some sights or indulge in some shopping. Italy is famous worldwide for its fashion designers such as Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Gianni Versace and Moschino. Consider a visit to the area surrounding Piazza del Popolo, a paradise of shopping, thanks to the high concentration of boutiques.
You may want to visit the famous Spanish Steps, a favorite spot for Romans and tourists alike. Attractions in the area include the last residence of the poet John Keats, the exclusive Babington Tea Rooms, and Via dei Condotti, lined with high fashion boutiques such as Armani, Prada, Versace, and Gucci.
Overnight: Rome
Day 8: Rome, Optional Excursion to Florence by High-Speed Train, Optional Dinner with Music
Plan your free time or consider an optional excursion.
Never in the history of mankind has so much genius, in all its forms, been concentrated in one place as it was in Firenze during the fifteenth century. Discover it all today, during a full-day excursion to the true Renaissance city.
A Frecciarossa or Frecciargento high-speed train will take you to Firenze, often called the "Jewel of the Renaissance." Never in the history of mankind has so much genius, in all its forms, been concentrated in one place as it was in Florence during the fifteenth century.
A local guide, well-educated and specially-trained on the history and culture of Florence, will accompany your group.
View a wealth of artwork from the 15th and 16th centuries at the Galleria dell'Accademia, including the best known of all Florentine treasures, Michelangelo's monumental David.
In the nave of the Cattedrale Santa Maria del Fiore, better known as the Duomo, visitors marvel at a cathedral begun in 1296 and consecrated in 1436 that remains one of the largest in Christendom. It houses precious masterpieces, notably Domenico di Michelino's 1320 painting titled Dante holding the Divine Comedy.
Next on your program: the church that's the final resting place of luminaries such as Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo. Santa Croce is also famous for its art treasures, notably the Cappella dei Pazzi, a chapel attributed to Brunelleschi that's hailed as a masterpiece of Renaissance architecture.
You may want to check out Florence's leather and jewelry shops, or the boutiques where you can acquire beautiful reproductions of Florentine artwork at reasonable prices.
Tonight, enjoy dinner while local singers and musicians entertain you with O Sole Mio, Volare and other favorite Italian songs.
Overnight: Rome
Day 9: Departure
Ciao, Europa! Statistics show that visitors do in fact return to Rome, although it may not have anything to do with coins in a fountain. Race the sun and arrive home later today, eager to share your discoveries with family and friends.
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Naples, Italy
Sorrento, Italy
Excursion to Pompeii
Optional Excursion to Capri
Visits to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum
Visit to the Vatican Museums
Free Time in Rome
Optional Excursion to Florence
Going Places Blog
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