Day 1: Arrive in Rome

• Arrive at the airport where you’ll be met at the airport by Rudy Maxa’s concierge and whisked to your hotel.
• Join Rudy and your fellow guests for a briefing at your hotel.
• Evening stroll to the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, and the Piazza del Popolo before dining al fresco at Hotel de Russie
• Meal highlights: Dinner at Hotel de Russie

Day 2: Rome

• Tour options will include such iconic sites as the Sistine Chapel, the Roman Forum, the Jewish Quarter, the Pantheon, the Colosseum.

• In the evening, visit the Catacombe di Priscilla.

• Meal highlights: Dinner at local restaurant, Da Lucia.

Day 3: Rome to the Amalfi Coast

• Depart late afternoon from Rome to Naples via high-speed train.
• Connect for a short train ride to the gateway to the Amalfi Coast, the beautiful, perched town of Sorrento.
• Grand Hotel Ambasciatori 5* or the Imperial Tramontano Hotel 4*

Day 4: Sorrento and Pompeii

• After a leisurely breakfast, spend the morning getting to know Sorrento.

• Visit to the city once covered in volcanic ash, Pompeii.

• Or you may visit Naples to explore the old city and its legendary food market and, if desired, take a pizza-making lesson.

• Grand Hotel Ambasciatori 5* or the Imperial Tramontano Hotel 4*

Day 6: Almafi Coast, then fly to Sicily

• A leisurely morning drive along the Amalfi Coast to the town of Ravello, with a panoramic view of the Mediterranean from the extensive gardens of the Hotel Villa Cimbrone.

• Waterside lunch at the Lido Azzurro known for its seafood.

• Complete the coastal tour and leave from the Naples airport for the island of Sicily.

• Grand Hotel Villa Igiea 5* or Mercure Hotel Central 4* or NH Palermo Hotel 4*

Day 7: Palermo

• Visit Palermo and its architecture, which speaks to the Arab and Norman invaders that have at various times controlled the region. Moorish windows, Byzantine mosaics, and Islamic decorative art give Palermo a dramatically different look than other Italian cities. At the Cathedral of Monreale, built in 1174, the handiwork of North African craftsmen is obvious. The cathedral and other buildings led UNESCO to designate Palermo as a World Heritage site, “an outstanding example of a socio-cultural syncretism between Western, Islamic, and Byzantine cultures.”

• Grand Hotel Villa Igiea 5* or Mercure Hotel Central 4* or NH Palermo Hotel 4*

Day 8: Segesta and Erice

• Leave Palermo and head west to one of the best preserved and most beautiful Greek archaeological sites in all the Mediterranean: Segesta. Built in 430 BC and surrounded by lush greenery with a view to the sea, a Doric-style temple is the pride and joy of the region.
• For lunch, stop at Erice, a medieval, hilltop town famous for its Marsala wine, and legend has it, the former home of Venus.
• Check into your nearby hotel, a gorgeous resort called Verdura.
• Spend the afternoon at the infinity pool or continue to the Valley of Temples, showcase of the most spectacular architectural of the classical cultural Sicily.
• Verdura Hotel 5*

Day 10: Mount Etna

• After breakfast, you’ll get picked up by a four-wheel-drive vehicle for the journey up Mount Etna.
• Lunch at a winery after examining a crater rim and walking (carefully) on the volcanic terrain. The wine from the vineyards on the slopes of Mt. Etna is world famous for what is said to be its health-giving qualities thanks to the dry, volcanic soil in which the grapes are grown.
• Head to the last major city on the tour, Taormina, famous for its Greco-Roman theater (still in use today) and its lively piazza.
• Dinner at the hotel in Catania. 
• Romano Palace Luxury Hotel 5*

Day 11: Departure

• Morning is at leisure.

• Departure from Catania’s nearby airport.

  * Restaurants and Hotels are subject to change to equal or better