7 Days featuring Rome

DAY 1
Depart USA

DAY 2
Arrive in Rome. Welcome!
Our team will receive you at the Rome International Airport and will help you through the baggage claim and customs formalities. You will be driven by private limousine to your first class hotel in downtown Rome.
Your first day is at leisure, so it will be up to you whether to relax and recover from jet-lag or to start to discover the city using 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
Let’s start! Your contact with Roman archeology and art will commence today by visiting the most important ancient sites, such as the Coliseum, the Imperial and Republican Fora, the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, the Domus Aurea, the Circus Maximus, the Republican Temples in the Campus Martius (the very place where Julius Caesar was assassinated) and Emperor
Hadrian’s Tomb – later turned into a fortress and then renamed Castel Sant Angelo –
At the end of a full day your private guide and chauffeur will take you back to your hotel.
Tonight dinner is on your own. Your guide will be happy to recommend some restaurants you might enjoy.

DAY 4
American breakfast
A very special itinerary has been organized today in order to show you important examples of early Roman Christian art (particularly concerning the mosaic decoration) and architecture. In the morning, you will see the treasures hidden in the churches of St. Clemente, St. Sabina, St. Prassede, St. Mary Major and St. Johns in Lateran.
A relaxing lunch break including wine is set up today in a nice local restaurant.
This afternoon, your personal crew will drive you and guide you through the magnificent Vatican Museums (including the Sistine Chapel, the Raphael Rooms,and other highlights) and St. Peter’s Basilica.
Dinner this evening is on your own.

DAY 5
American breakfast
Your fourth day in Italy is dedicated completely to the Etruscan civilization, to which Rome owes much of its social and cultural development. We will begin by visiting the Etruscan Museum at Villa Giulia. Then we will take you to the northern section of the Latium region, driving panoramically along the west coast. Our destination is the interesting Necropolis of Cerveteri. Next, we will view the world famous frescoed Tombs of Tarquinia (VI-IV century B.C.).
A seafood lunch is provided today along the way.
Dinner will be on your own after we return to the hotel.

DAY 6
American breakfast
Our selection of Roman art will focus today mainly on two artists who have been both considered revolutionary innovators in their fields: for painting, Caravaggio – whose real name was Michelangelo Merisi – and for sculpture and architecture, Gian Lorenzo Bernini. We’ll start our day guiding you through the squares and churches that still contain their precious art works which so dramatically characterized the beginning of Baroque style. We specifically visit the churches of St. Maria del Popolo, St. Augustine, St. Luigi, St. Maria della Vittoria, Piazza Navona and the Trevi Fountain. In the early afternoon we’ll take you to enjoy the incredible rooms of the Borghese Gallery, built and enriched originally by Cardinal Scipione Borghese around 1610-3, a splendid and unique example of the old passion of collecting art.
Despite the full schedule today, we shall try to give you some little time to shop in the area of the Spanish Steps.
Dinner tonight is served in a fine restaurant.

DAY 7
American breakfast
For the last day of your memorable Roman holiday we have chosen some of the most exiting archaeological sites around the city, such as the well preserved remains of Ostia, the ancient city port, the little known but important pagan Tombs on the Latina Way and the imposing vestiges of Emperor Hadrian’s Villa near Tivoli.
A farewell dinner is planned tonight in one of Rome’s best restaurants.

DAY 8
American breakfast
Depart to airport.