DAY 1
Depart USA

DAY 2
Arrive in Rome. Welcome!
Our team will receive you at Rome’s International Airport and will help you with collecting your bags and through customs. You will be driven by private limousine to your first class hotel in downtown Rome.
This first day is at leisure, so it will be up to you whether to relax and recover from your jet-lag or to start to discover the city with the help and advice of your personal guide.
A first close encounter with typical Roman foods and wines is planned for you tonight in a local restaurant.
Buon appetito!

DAY 3
American breakfast
Here we start our deep exploration of Rome and today’s program will start with a visit to the Vatican City where your guide shall cover many details concerning the incredible collection of art works preserved there: ancient statuary, tapestries, the immortal frescoes of Raphael in the apartment of Pope Julius, and the world famous ones of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. Then we enter St. Peter’s Basilica to discover its religious and artistic grandiosity. Here you will see masterpieces created by Michelangelo (both the “Pieta’” and the church dome) and G. L. Bernini, creator of the Bronze Canopy, the overall marble and mosaic decoration, and some of the popes’ tombs visible in the basilica.
After some time for buying stamps and souvenirs in the Vatican gift shop, we will have a light lunch with wine. We will proceed to the heart of town by a horse-drawn cab: it will be a beautiful ,relaxing 2 hour ride to reach and visit the Villa Borghese park, the Pincio panoramic terrace, Piazza del Popolo and its surroundings to end at the Spanish steps (Piazza di Spagna), focal point of the main shopping district. Time for you to look at the latest fashions in the many boutiques in the area, followed by a good cup of tea and a pastry at the famous Caffe' Greco - established by a Greek merchant in 1760 and run since 1873 by the same Gubinelli Grimaldi family – you will return to your hotel.
Dinner tonight is on your own.

DAY 4
American breakfast
This morning you are free to explore more of Rome’s beauty on your own.
Around 2 p.m., your guide and chauffeur will come to escort you to see the Catacombs (the early Christian cemeteries on the Old Appian Way) and then on to Tivoli, the famous hill-town east of Rome, where you shall visit Villa d’Este with its gardens and fountains dated back to about 1550, the time of the founder, Cardinal Ippolito d’Este.
Dinner will follow at the renowned local “Sibilla” restaurant, overlooking an ancient Roman temple.

DAY 5
American breakfast
This is the day we will introduce you to the palaces of the Roman nobility, incredible residences developed mainly during the 1600’s and 1700’s by the most affluent families of the city. Specifically you will visit the Colonna Palace (so rich and luxurious inside it was used for some scenes in “Roman Holiday”, with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck)and the Doria-Pamphilj’s with its famous picture gallery (paintings by Raphael, Caravaggio, Velazquez and many others).
While we are in the city center, we will also visit the Pantheon and have an espresso coffee at St. Eustachio’s, the best roasting house in Rome.
In the afternoon you shall visit the Borghese Gallery, considered the prototype of private art collections, started in the magnificent palace in the park around 1610 by Cardinal Scipione Borghese; there, you will enjoy famous frescoes on the ceilings, paintings by Caravaggio, Raphael, Titian, and ancient statuary and other renowned marble works by Bernini and Canova.
Dinner is on your own.

DAY 6
American breakfast
Your last day in Rome will let you breathe along with the ancient Roman citizens, when the Capitol of the Roman Empire ruled the civilized world. We will begin on the Capitoline hill with its most spectacular view of the Forum, then we will visit the Mamertinum (the jail where St. Peter and St. Paul were imprisoned before suffering their martyrdom); a few minutes away and we reach the Coliseum, the largest ancient stadium used for gladiatorial combats. Next, we will see the remains of Nero’s house, the “Domus Aurea”.
On the way back to your hotel, we’ll be sure to stop at Trevi Fountain. Legend has it that tossing a coin into its waters will ensure your return to the Eternal City.
Your farewell dinner is served tonight in one of the finest restaurant.

DAY 7
American breakfast
Depart to Rome airport