Ciao Fiorella,
Thank you so much!! 🩷🩷 We had the trip of a lifetime! Every tour, driver, hotel, everything was perfect!! We had an amazing time.
Here is more of a detailed report of our trip…I’m typing it on our first flight so that it’s all still fresh in my mind!
Day 1: driver from airport was great and it was so nice to have the day to adjust to the time difference and rest after a day of traveling. Our hotel was beautiful if you are ever thinking of using it – the staff were great, our room was stunning, and the location was very convenient.
Day 2 – San Gimignano – our driver Giacimo (not sure that I spelled that right) was so nice and was very knowledgeable. He suggested Gelateria Dondeli for gelato and it was awesome. He brought us to a beautiful restaurant on a vineyard for lunch, which we really enjoyed.
Day 3 – Palazzo Vecchio tour with Emilia – Emilia did a fantastic job engaging our family in the tour, she was kind, very easy to talk to, and knew so much. She also suggested a delicious lunch for us at Casella 18, which had some of our favorite pizza from the whole trip. The sunset cruise with Towns of Italy was beautiful and a great way to spend the evening. Seeing Florence at night from the Arno was truly magical. Our guide was very kind and knowledgeable.
Day 4 – Driver to Florence train station was great. We loved the business class seats. The only recommendation I have is that for the future, I’d book a coach with a higher number – our coach was number 2, and we had to walk pretty far down the platform to get down to it with all of our luggage. We managed ok but this was probably the only mildly stressful part of the trip. Our driver to our hotel was a little bit late but it was ok. I would probably not recommend our hotel that I booked. Although it was nice and the staff was great, its location was a bit far from sights (though we were able to walk to areas like Trevi, it was not the most convenient). This was my fault I know 🙂 We loved the food tour in Trastevere. Our guide Francesco was awesome!! He had us sample the most amazing food and taught us so much about the area. And his pesto lasagna at the end was definitely a highlight for all of us!
Day 5 – We loved the Ancient Rome tour! Our guide, Luca, was one of our favorites. Very easy to talk to and was very knowledgeable. He did he best to keep us cool even though it was extremely hot. It was absolutely incredible to see the Colosseum in person.
Day 6 – Knowing what we know now, we probably would have requested the pizza class on the prior day and spent an extra day in Sorrento, to have more time to see Amalfi. We realized it was too much time to explore Rome but that’s ok! With this being our very first trip, I thought we would need more time to see the sights, but we walked so much and it was so hot on day 5 that we just spent a lot of time resting. We loved the pizza and tiramisu class, our chef Faurio (not sure if that’s right but he’s in a couple of our pictures) was really great. Very nice and helpful and taught us so much. The pizza was some of the best from our whole trip!
Day 7 – driver to train station was great. After the train we really enjoyed our driver, Renato Cuomo, he was great to talk to and told us lots of stories about his family and his career, including famous people he’s driven! He drove us around for all of our time in Sorrento and did a fantastic job. Our guide at Pompeii, Fabri, was great! Very knowledgeable and adjusted the tour based on our feedback.
Ok – the Hotel in Continental – I cannot say enough wonderful things about it! The Ibsen suite was truly amazing – truly stunning views and so much space for all of us. The breakfast was so expansive and delicious, all of the staff were so friendly and helpful, and both the pool and proximity to the beach were great. We loved the location too, it was nice to be a little bit away from the square (with the noise at night) but still very close to the shops and restaurants. Definitely one of our favorite hotels and when we return, we want to stay there again!
Renato got us reservations at Donna Sofia – easily one of the best meals of our trip. Everyone’s food was incredible, we got pasta with zucchini cream sauce, gnocchi, and pesto ravioli – all truly amazing.
Day 8 – our favorite day of the trip!! Our captain Raphaela and our guide Lucio were the best!! Lucio was so funny, kind, and helpful. We just loved him! They took us to the most beautiful sights and Lucio had great recommendations for restaurants and sights to see in Capri. And the swimming off the boat was so cool – the water, the fish, the scenery – everything was breathtaking. Loved, loved this day!
Day 9 – Renato took us to Positano – the drive and views were so gorgeous. He did a great job finding a good location to park and allowed us to have free time. I think if we had more time we’d have gone all the way to Amalfi, but it was so nice to have the rest of the day to relax in the hotel pool. I tried swimming at the beach because it looked so beautiful from our room – it was such a cool experience. The water and scenery were amazing and Tobias, Jacob and I were able to wave to each other while they were on our balcony 🙂 We went to Basillica restaurant, which was recommended by our Pompeii guide Fabri – so so good!
Day 10 – Naples hotel was very good! Great location and a nice hotel. Breakfast was excellent and similar to Continental but slightly less expansive. Our guide Andrea was one of our favorites for sure. Such a sweet and kind man! He could tell that Jacob seemed tired/bored at the beginning so we started with gelato, which did the trick! He had us sample the most amazing food and he was really great to talk to. Also so knowledgeable about Naples. The drink that Mikayla and Tobias tried was a “gaso,” a lemony drink that’s supposed to aid with digestion. That was very funny and a great stop on the tour! Andrea suggested trying the fried pizza as well, so after he left us we got some to bring back to our room – it was soo yummy!
I will be sure to leave a Google review once we get home – it will be difficult to summarize everything! Thank you again for planning such a wonderful trip!!
Marla
