Immerse yourself in Italy with short private walking or cooking tours for 2 or more people, and experience Italy up close with top local guides and welcoming chefs.
2-3 DAY COOKING TOURS
| • | Shop in the colorful food market and cook with a chef in Florence, taste Tuscany’s top wines and stay in the hotel with the unique Room with a View |
| • | Be welcomed into a private home for a cooking lesson and lunch on the Amalfi Coast, and stay at a lovely hotel just steps from the beach in Positano |
| • | Learn to shape cheese into plump provola, bake bread in a wood-fired oven, taste chocolate spiced with hot pepper in Sicily, and find the best cannoli |
2-3 DAY WALKING TOURS
| • | Explore Italian Connection’s backyard in Sicily, walk a canyon dotted with cave dwellings up to delightful Baroque Ragusa, and follow the local kids to the best gelateria |
| • | Follow the path of Leonardo Da Vinci where he tested his flying machines in Tuscany, and explore the backstreets of the Renaissance from a welcoming hotel in Florence |
COOK FLORENCE
DAY-BY-DAY ITINERARY
Day One
Morning transfer from Florence train station to your lovely centrally located 4-diamond hotel, the Hotel degli Orafi, where you’ll be shown to your spacious room. In the afternoon, meet your guide for a visit to an enoteca and a tasting of 3 Tuscan wines, including Chianti Classico and Riserva, and Tuscany’s most prestigious wine, ruby red Brunello. This evening enjoy dinner in a traditional Tuscan trattoria.
Day Two
Meet your Florentine cook for a walking tour of the colorful food market and rub elbows with the locals as you pick the freshest seasonal ingredients for today’s cooking lesson. Stroll to a historic palazzo where you prepare lunch, taking time to quaff appropriate Tuscan wines with each course.
Day Three
Transfer to the Florence train station. Arrivederci!
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Honeymoon Upgrade
Stay in the “Room with a View” for 2 nights. Immortalized in the romantic film by James Ivory, this splendid room has a magnificent terrace offering a unique view over the Ponte Vecchio. Includes a complimentary bottle of spumante and fresh fruit in the room. Add 150 euro per person.
COOK AMALFI COAST
DAY-BY-DAY ITINERARY
Day One
Private transfer from Naples airport or train station to the dramatically beautiful Amalfi coast. Check into the lovely 4-diamond Hotel Ancora in the center of Positano, where your spacious jr. suite enjoys stunning sea views. The rest of the day is at leisure to explore the town. This evening, stroll to dinner in an intimate ristorante with a fabulous sea view, where delectable fresh fish and exquisite desserts are the specialty.
Day Two
After a buffet breakfast, private transfer to our cooking venue, located in Ravello, with spectacular sea views and lush gardens. You will be welcomed into a lovely private home, and enjoy a cooking lesson using the best local ingredients, then lunch on the terrace overlooking the turquoise sea. Stroll through Ravello and Amalfi, then transfer back to town and your 4-diamond haven.
Day Three
Buffet breakfast. Private transfer to Naples airport or train station. Arrivederci!
Honeymooners receive a complimentary bottle of spumante and fresh fruit in the room.
Optional extra days: Excursion to Capri by private boat or a guided walk along the Pathway of the Gods with a private picnic lunch, from 300 euro per person. Special hotel rates for extra nights.
Call us to design the perfect honeymoon: 1-800-462-7911
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COOK SICILY
DAY-BY-DAY ITINERARY
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Day One
Meet in Catania or Syracuse and transfer to Ragusa, where we’ll lunch on traditional arancini, made of savory rice, and learn to make creamy cannoli. Walk up the narrow stairways to our family-run 3-diamond inn in the heart of the lovely Baroque town of Ragusa Ibla. Take the evening passeggiata through the beautiful piazza, then dine with the locals at a favorite trattoria.
Day Two
Transfer to a converted dairy farm, our cooking headquarters near Ragusa, where we’ll be greeted by our chefs. We’ll watch the preparation of cheese from the morning’s milk, and try our hand at shaping the traditional provola cheese. Prepare pasta from the locally grown hard wheat flour, and make fanciful San Giuseppe festival breads that we bake in a wood-burning oven. After lunch we stroll by the seaside through a nature park to the mouth of the river where giant carp frolic at the water’s edge. In the evening, head to the town’s favorite pizzeria, and then follow the local kids to the best gelateria.
Day Three
We head through the narrow alleys of the town of Modica, famous for its dark chocolate, and we’ll learn to make chocolate spiced with everything from orange peel to hot pepper, before we vote on the best! After lunch we’ll drive north with a visit to the attractive town of Palazzolo Acreide and its tiny Greek theatre. Last stop for sweets in the town’s sumptuous pastry shops before we end in either Catania or Syracuse. Arrivederci!
Optional dinner at Il Duomo, Sicily’s only 2-star Michelin restaurant, may be added to the trip on request.
WALK SICILY
DAY-BY-DAY ITINERARY
Day One
Check-in at your family-run hotel tucked into a maze of winding streets in the center of Ragusa Ibla. Rest of day at leisure to explore this stunning Baroque town or follow the local kids to the best gelateria.
Day Two
Take a fascinating walk up the steep stairways that connect the upper and lower town of Ragusa, pausing to admire the Baroque masterpiece church of San Giorgio. Lunch in an award-winning café where locals in the know come for the typical arancini and divine selection of pastries. Choose from creamy cannoli with ricotta made from the milk of cows or sheep-or try both! Continue your walk past fashionable shops to an ancient pathway that winds past palm trees and lemon groves with beautiful views of the city. Return to your hotel in time to join the evening passeggiata through the piazza.
Day Three
Traipse through a dramatic limestone canyon dotted with prehistoric cave-dwellings, and follow a rock-cut mule track once used to transport wheat to the valley mills. Lunch in an excellent trattoria with local specialties of focaccia stuffed with mustard greens and fennel-spiced sausage, and wash it down with a fragrant Nero’d’Avola wine. Continue your walk up the hidden stairways into Ragusa, and taste the spicy Aztec-style chocolate, brought to Sicily by Spanish rulers in the 16th century. Stroll through the public gardens before returning to your hotel.
Day Four
Leisurely buffet breakfast. Arrivederci!
WALK FLORENCE
DAY-BY-DAY ITINERARY
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Day One
Embark on a walking tour of the city with a local guide and explore the back streets of the Renaissance in the footsteps of the Medici family. Stop for lunch at a friendly trattoria accompanied by a wine-tasting of fine Tuscan vintages. Check-in to your welcoming hotel in the heart of Florence, just steps from the beautiful Duomo.
Day Two
Private transfer to the hills above Florence, where Leonardo da Vinci tested his flying machines. Walk with your private guide through a classic Tuscan landscape of cypress trees and lavish villas with great views over the city. Peek into the carefully tended gardens along the way, before arriving in Settignano, where Michelangelo once came to sketch the quarry workers. Relax over a typical Tuscan lunch of bruschetta and seasonal pasta, and a fine roast scented with rosemary. Return to town, with a sampling of chocolate at the historic Café Rivoire, before returning to your hotel.
Day Three
Leisurely buffet breakfast. Arrivederci!
Don’t see what you are looking for? Want a longer trip? We can customize a Great Escape just for you! Call us toll-free: 1-800-462-7911 or 780-438-5712.