The Top Rated Italy Tour Package

Italy tours are popular among destination travelers for fantastic reasons. Italy's rich history has made it a country full of the world's best art, lovely design, heavenly culinary practices, and fun folk all of which make it a destination that offers something appealing to everyone who goes on a tour of Italy.

Today Italy is divided into 20 regions each with a long and unique history that led to each region's development of local customs. When touring Italy the traveler will note these regional differences not just in the geography but in the food and the language also. It is for these plain differences that Italy is a country that affords the traveler unique experiences day by day in each area.

The most highly rated Italy Tour Package is the Venice, Florence, and Rome guided tour of Italy. Considered Italy's Big 3 visitor towns they're all wonderful destinations for their natural beauty as well as for their man made beauty which is the result of each town being the wealthiest and strongest city in the world at one time.

Venice Italy in the area of Veneto in Italy's northeast is a fascinating town since its main method of transport is over water via boat thru the canals and also as the successor of the Doge, the Prince, who took a little tax from the Venetian citizens who were noted as smart merchants who traded with the whole world. So rich was Venice its cash was gold for over 500 years. The traveler to Italy always is crazy about Venice's magical qualities.

Florence Italy in the area of Tuscany is located on the banks of the Arno river in the shadows of Tuscany's sweeping hills where some of the world's finest wine is grown. 500 years back Florence provided a home to the Medici family, the wealthiest family in the world at the time given their relationship with the Pope for whom they were the financiers. The family's funding of local workmen fueled what today is known as the Renaissance when humanity took a giant jump leap from the dark ages towards the age of enlightenment. This history is manifest in the design of the city and in the city's art museums where some of the world's best art lives. Florentine food mixed with Tuscan wine just adds to the glorious flavor of this town. There's so much in our lives today that started in Florence during the Renaissance the traveler always leaves with an enriched soul.

Rome Italy in the region of Lazio is the home of the Roman Empire the longest controlling empire in history maintaining its power for over 700 years from 300BC to 400AD. Besides walking the traditional cobblestones while marveling the architecture of the ancient Romans Rome is also a modern city full of fun caffes and trattorie to enjoy. Rome is also home of The Vatican, which art collection is among the largest in the world having been built up during the Papacy's long history. The Vatican is a city state inside Rome. Rome offers the traveler so much to do that many Italy tour packages will spend at least 3 days or more in Rome with 2 to 3 days in Florence and Venice.

For all of these reasons and a lot more the Venice, Florence, Rome tour is the most well-liked of all Italy tour packages.

Justin Del Sesto is a longtime Italy travel guide and the founder and the owner of ItalianTourism.us and ItalyCruise.us an Italy travel agency focused on Italy tours and cruises around Italy. On the websites you will find plenty of options for an Italy tour to Venice, Florence, and Rome. He is also the producer of WebVisionItaly.com the only Internet television network about Italy travel.

Lovely Beaches to Enjoy Ferragosto in Italy

With Italy's Ferragosto just a few days away it is time to take a look at Italy traveler favorite beaches in Italy.  Given Italy is a peninsula with almost every region touching the sea, be it the Mediterranean, Adriatic, or Tyrrhenian, Italy is full of beaches lapping along its lovely seas to visit and enjoy on your Italy tour.

Ferragosto, an Italian holiday celebrated on August 15, originated with Augustus when it may have related to a celebration of the middle of the summer and the end of the hard labour in the fields. Now almost the entire month of August is taken as a holiday and leisure time in Italy in honor of this feast day.  If you are heading to Rome, Florence, Milan, Naples, or Venice during the month of August you may wonder if anyone lives in these usually bustling cities because they are sure to be quiet in August when only a few cats remain to sweat it out in the heat of the city.  Ferragosto in Italy is when the entire population all vacation together crowding the beaches and filling the water with sun;oving Italians paying homage to the Sun.

Who better to refer to than TripAdvisor and its Italy vacation experts when ranking the top 10 beaches in Italy.


Top 10 Beaches in Italy

1. San Vito lo Capo

2. Villasimius

3. Lampedusa

4. Vieste

5. Alghero

6. Positano

7. Monterosso al Mare

8. Otranto

9. Santa Teresa di Gallura

10. San Teodoro

To visit our favorite beach on Capri check out our Amalfi Coast Holidays.

What's your favorite Italy beach? Let us know in the comments below.

Italy Vacation: Top 10 Italy Destinations For Your Italy Tour

Italy vacations are a very popular destination for all types of travelers, and it is no surprise given the depth of things to do on an Italy vacation.

Each region in Italy is unique, making Italy a vacation destination that may be visited over and over again while always offering unique travel experiences. And given that the Italian culture includes fresh local food each season in each region brings a new menu for Italy travelers to savor and dream about until the next Italy vacation. This opens endless opportunities for new experiences on an Italy vacation.

According to Trip Advisor, the following are the Top 9 Italy Destinations on an Italy Vacation:

1) St. Peter's Basilica, Rome
2) Duomo, Milan
3) Pantheon, Rome
4) Piazzale Michelangelo, Florence
5) Grand canal, Venice
6) Basilica of St Francis, Assisi
7) St. Mark's Square, Venice
8) Trulli, Alberobello
9) Piazza del Campo, Siena

10)?

What is your top sightseeing destination on an Italy vacation?

Italy Tours: Venice Packed for Carnival

Italy Tour to Venice for Carnival

Italy Tours from all over the world packed Venice this week for Carnival.  Italian Tourism officials report Venice hotels hung out their no vacancy signs as thousands of costumed celebrants gathered in Venice for the finale of Italy's most famous carnival celebration Tuesday night.

Masks have always been a central feature of the Venetian carnival, which attracts Italy tours from all over the world. Traditionally Venetians and Italian Tourists alike wore them between the festival of Santo Stefano (St. Stephen's Day, December 26) and the start of the carnival season and midnight of Shrove Tuesday. They have always been around Venice. As masks were also worn for the Ascension and from October 5 to Christmas, people Venetians and Italy travelers could spend a large proportion of the year in disguise

Venetian masks can be made in leather or with the original glass technique. The original masks were rather simple in design and decoration and often had a symbolic and practical function. Nowadays, most of them are made with the application of gesso and gold leaf and are all hand-painted using natural feathers and gems to decorate.

The mascherari, or mask-makers had their own statute dated 10 April 1436. They belonged to the fringe of painters and were helped in their task by sign-painters who drew faces onto plaster in a range of different shapes and paying extreme attention to detail.

Over 280,000 visitors arrived last weekend filling all available beds not only in Venice hotels but also on the Lido island facing it and the neighboring city of Mestre across the Venice Lagoon on the mainland.

"This is the highest occupancy we've ever seen in the three areas, a far cry from last year," said Vittorio Bonacini, head of the Venice Hoteliers Association.

Carnival traditionally concludes on Fat Tuesday at mid night, also known as Mardi Gras, with a procession of gondolas and other traditional boats along the Grand Canal, under the Rialto bridge to the dock at St Mark's Square, with all palaces and homes illuminated only by LED candles as thousands of balloons are released to usher in the beginning of Lent.

Because this year's Mardi Gras coincides with International Women's Day, the celebration has been dedicated to women.

Other famous Italian carnival celebrations in Italy include the one in Ivrea, near Turin, where the traditional 'battle of the oranges' left hundreds of 'victims' at the weekend, and one in the Tuscan seaside town of Viareggio where a traditional parade of allegorical floats takes center stage.

Italy tours to Venice, Florence and Rome are available with Italian Tourism, where you will find the best deals on Italy tours.

$899 Italy travel package: Tuscany: Luxury Vineyard Estate Vacation w/Car & Air

Italian Tourism Italy travel packages presents the ultimate in Italy travel with a Luxury Tuscany Italy travel package. This travel package includes roundtrip air to Italy, car rental and 6-nights is a Tuscany farmhouse. Enjoy Italy with this travel package by Italian Tourism. Don’t wait, this Italy travel deal will sell out early and there are limited spaces available.

Travel to Italy through March 31, 2011 to receive this Tuscany travel deal when you book by November 19 and while air seats and vineyard rooms last. Brag to friends about staying in Tuscany 5-star luxury for practically the price of airfare alone.


Live la dolce vita for six nights at the uber-luxurious Il Borro Estate for $899 per person including air and car.


Beautifully restored by the famous Ferragamo family of the Italian fashion world, this 1000-year-old authentic country estate typically commands rates of $400 per night for the room alone.

This Italy travel package, based on four travelers, consists of:


1) Roundtrip airfare to Pisa, Italy from New York City or Newark; +$30 Boston; +$150 Chicago 2) Six nights in a two-bedroom Tuscan farmhouse

3) Full-size weeklong car rental in Tuscany

4) Complimentary bottle of wine from the Il Borro Vineyard

This rate is available only while air seats and vineyard rooms last and with a departure Monday-Wednesday Nov. 1 - Feb. 20. Early spring departures are available for $50 more per person.

Il Borro's accommodations feature a mix of medieval and modern: antique furniture, marble bathrooms, flat-screen TVs, wireless Internet and original artwork. Wine tasting tours, cooking classes, fishing, archery and more are offered on-site.


Blackout dates: Dec. 18 - Jan. 2 Note: Pricing during Christmas Italy travel and New Years Italy travel holiday periods (i.e. Nov. 21- 28) is slightly higher.


Italy Travel Package Options:

Upgrade to Medieval Village for $50 per person:
Enhance your Il Borro experience by upgrading to the cozy Medieval Village located right in the heart of Il Borro offering easy access to the restaurants and Spa.

Wine Tour & Tasting for $20 per person:
Enjoy a guided tour of the cellar for an illustration of the wine-making process from harvest to bottling concluding with a tasting of Il Borro's wines.

Tuscan Cooking Class for $99 per person:
Learn the art of traditional Tuscan cooking at a cookery course. For approximately 2 hours you will experience cooking with local ingredients and enjoy your prepared meal in the restaurant.

Add a 7th night stay from $79 per person: Spend an additional night with car rental at 5-star Il Borro Estate! Spa Treatment for $139 per person (Save 40%)

About Tuscany:

Tuscany is known for its beautiful landscapes, its rich artistic legacy and vast influence on high culture. Tuscany is widely regarded as the true birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, and has been home to some of the most influential people in the history of arts and science, such as Petrarch, Dante, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo Galilei, Amerigo Vespucci and Puccini. Due to this, the region has several museums (such as the Uffizi, the Pitti Palace and the Chianciano Museum of Art). Tuscany has a unique culinary tradition, and is famous for its wines (most famous of which are Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Morellino di Scansano and Brunello di Montalcino).


Six Tuscan localities have been designated World Heritage Sites: the historic centre of Florence (1982), the historical centre of Siena (1995), the square of the Cathedral of Pisa (1987), the historical centre of San Gimignano (1990), the historical centre of Pienza (1996) and the Val d'Orcia (2004). Furthermore, Tuscany has over 120 protected nature reserves. This makes Tuscany and its capital city Florence very popular tourist destinations, attracting millions of tourists every year. Florence itself receives an average of 10 million tourists a year by placing the city as one of the most visited in the world.

Experience the ultimate Tuscany vacation at an unbeatable price with this Italy travel deal. If you were to put this package together you’d pay over $1799. Save over $1000 on this Tuscany holiday by traveling to Italy with Italian Tourism Italy travel packages.

Italian Tourism: Italy Cruise and Italy Tour Italy Art Guide

Italy cruise travelers and Italy travel package Italian tourists who will be on an Italy tour in December here is the following is a city-by-city guide to some of Italy's art exhibitions:

ALBA - Fondazione Ferrero: Giorgio Morandi, The Essence of Landscape; 70 works; until January 16.

BARLETTA - Palazza Marra: Giuseppe De Nittis, 43 engravings; until January 16.

FERRARA - Palazzo dei Diamanti: French 18th-century still-life master Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin; 50 loans from major international museums in first-ever Italian show; until January 13. Click for Emilia Romagna travel video.

FLORENCE ART - Palazzo Strozzi: 'Bronzino, Painter and Poet at the Medici Court'; 90 works in world's first monographic show; to January 23.- Palazzo Pitti: Vinum Nostrum. The Art, Science and Myths of Wine in Civilisation; from prehistoric winegrowing to Dionysus cult, Etruscan, Roman use; show features oldest surviving wine container, on loan from Georgia; until April 30.- Bargello: Giovanfrancesco Rustici and Leonardo, first show examining links of 15th-century sculptor with da Vinci, Verrocchio and others; until January 10. Click for Florence Italy cruise departures and Italy cruise itinerary through Florence Livorno cruise port and for a Italy tour by land click Florence vacation packages.

FORLI' - Musei Civici di San Domenico: 400 ancient Egyptian artefacts gound by great Egyptologist Ernesto Schiaparelli (1856-1928) including works from Queen Nefertari's tomb; until January 9.

MAMIANO DI TRAVERSETOLO (PARMA ART) - Fondazione Magnani Rocca: Renato Guttuso, Passion and Reality, 65 works until December 8. Click for Parma travel video. For a Parma vacation Call Italian Tourism 305.914.0220 who will plan a Italy tour that includes the beautiful city of Parma.

MILAN - Palazzo Reale: 'Salvador Dali', The Dream Draws Near'; 50 works, until January 30.

PADUA ARTS - Palazzo Zabarella: "From Canova to Modigliani, the Face of the 19th Century"; 100 portraits and sculptures; until February 27.

PASSARIANO (UDINE) - Villa Manin: 'Edvard Munch and the Spirit of the North'; 122 works; until March 6.

PERUGIA - Galleria Nazionale: 'Theatre of Dreams from Chagall to Fellini', 100 works; until January 9.

RIMINI - Castel Sismondo: The Marvelous Years: Impressionism; 100 works from international museums including Monet and Pissarro, Sisley and Degas, Bazille and Renoir, Cezanne and Guillaumin, Morisot and Fantin-Latour, Gauguin and Van Gogh; until March 27.- same venue: Caravaggio's first religious painting, The Ecstasy of St Francis, back in Italy for first time in 25 years from Wadsworh Museum, Hartford, as well as several contemporaries; until March 27.

ROME ARTS - Musei Capitolini: Michelangelo 'Two Wrestlers' loaned from Casa Buonarroti in Florence; until December 5.- Galleria Borghese: Lucas Cranach the Elder, The Other Renaissance; 45 works from major international museums; until February 13.- Chiostro del Bramante: Greats from the Veneto, 15th- 18th Century; Bellini, Lotto, Titian, Veronese, Tiepolo, Canaletto; 80 works from Accademia Carrara in Bergamo; until January 30.- Vittoriano: 'Vincent Van Gogh, Timeless Landscape, Modern City'; 110 masterpieces in first major Rome show in 22 years; until January 30.- Scuderie del Quirinale: '1861: The Painters of the Risorgimento', war scenes, Garibaldi's Red Shirts, leaders' portraits; to January 16.- Curia Iulia, Roman Forum: 'The Two Empires, The Eagle and the Dragon'; 450 works on Roman and Chinese empires; marks Year of Chinese Culture in Italy; until January 9.- Palazzo Barberini: permanent exhibition of ancient art back on show after long restoration; also at Galleria Corsini, Villa Farnesina Chigi and Orto Botanico.- Museo di Roma (Palazzo Braschi): The Risorgimento in Colour: Patriot Painters; to January 9. Click for Rome holiday travel packages and cruises from Rome.

SAN MARINO - Palazzo Sums: 25 Impressionist works including Monet, Cezanne and Renoir; until March 27, in tandem with Rimini show.

SAN SEVERINO MARCHE - Pinacoteca Civica, Palazzo Servanzi Confidati and Chiesa della Misericordia: 'Baroque Marvels', 90 works including Bernini, Guercino, Pomarancio, Orazio Gentileschi, Valentin de Boulogne, Baciccio: until December 12.

SIENA - Santa Maria della Scala: Life of Michelangelo; letters, poetry, working sketches; until November 14.

TRENTO - Buoncastiglio Castle; The Adventure of Glass: From the Renaissance to the 20th Century between Venice and Distant Worlds; brings together over 700 masterpieces celebrating glass production on the Venetian island of Murano; until November 7.

TURIN - Palazzo Reale, Palazzo Chiablese, Castello di Racconigi: "Vittorio Emanuele II: The Gentleman King"; new documents, pictures on life of Italy's first post-unification king; until March 13.

VENICE ARTS - Fondazione Cini: 'The Arts of Giambattista Piranesi - Architect, etcher, antiquarian, vedutista, designer'; 300 original prints plus 33 photos by Gabriele Basilico of Rome sites in 1960s; until November 21. Click for Venice tour packages and cruises from Venice.

Click Italy travel video for WebVisionItaly.com Italy arts video.

For a Italy art tour call Italian Tourism for Italy Art tours.

Italian Tourism also offers a variety of cruises around Italy with onboard workshops about the history of art in Italy. Call us 305.914.0220 or click Italy cruise 2011 for Rome cruise itinerary and Venice cruise itinerary.

Italy Cruise and Italy Tour Visitors to Florence Will See David Atop Il Duomo

On a Italy tour to Florence or a Italy cruise to Livorno next Friday? If so your Italy cruise and Italy tour will have unique opportunity to see Michelangelo's David standing atop Florence's Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral. Italy cruise and Italy tour travelers will see a fibreglass Michelangelo’s David copy erected on a pedestal high up by the Duomo's dome for one day as part of Florence 2010 culture week.

If your Italy cruise or Italy tour stops in Florence be sure to look up at the Duomo for a rare Italy tour and Italy cruise Italian tourism event.

Prior to Michelangelo's involvement, Overseers of the people of Office of Works of the Duomo (Operai), had plans to commission a series of twelve large Old Testament sculptures for the buttresses of the cathedral of Santa Maria Del Fiore. Two had been created independently by Donatello and his assistant, D'agostino di Duccio. Italy tour and Italy cruise travelers will find original works on the Duomo in the Operai Museum.

In 1464 Agostino was contracted to create a sculpture of Michelangelo’s David. A block of marble was provided from Carrara, close to the Italy cruise port Livorno, and popular Italy tour destination. Agostino began to shape the legs, feet and the figure. His association with the project ceased with the death of his master Donatello in 1466.

In 1500, an inventory of the cathedral workshops described the piece as "a certain figure of marble called Michelangelo’s David, badly blocked out and supine." Documents showed that the Operai were determined to find an artist who could take this large piece of marble and turn it into a finished work of art. They ordered the block of stone, which they called The Giant, "raised on its feet" so that a master experienced in this kind of work might examine it and express an opinion. Though Leonardo da Vinci and others were consulted, it was young Michelangelo, only twenty-six years old, who convinced the Operai that he deserved the commission.

When the sculpture was nearing completion, a committee of Florentine artists including Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli met to decide on an appropriate site for Michelangelo’s David. The majority, led by Giuliano da Sangallo and supported by Leonardo and Piero di Cosimo, believed that due to the imperfections in the marble the sculpture should be placed under the roof of the Loggia dei Lanzi on Piazza della Signoria, favorite Italy cruise day tour and Italy tour destination in Florence. A few, supported by Botticelli, believed Michelangelo's David should be situated on or near the cathedral.

Michelangelo’s David was placed in front of the entrance to Italy tour and Italy cruise passenger favorite site the Palazzo Vecchio, also on Piazza della Signoria, replacing Donatello's bronze sculpture of Judith and Holofernes.

Italy cruise travelers to Venice and Italy tours to Venice may take a trip to Padua to visit Donatello's famous bronze horse sculpture.

Michelangelo's interpretation of the biblical figure was unveiled in Piazza della Signoria in 1504, seat of Florence civic government where Italy tour and Italy cruise travelers go to enter the Uffizi Gallery. To conserve Michelangelo’s David for Italy tour and Italy cruise passengers forever David was moved to the famous museum Galleria dell'Accademia where it is a must-see for Italy cruise travelers who day trip to Florence and Italy tours stream by daily to see.

Michelangelo’s David came to be seen as an emblem of the city republic's pride, its ability, despite its small size, to defend itself against giants like Rome, other cities on the Italian peninsula, and the Medici family. The eyes of Michelangelo’s David, with a warning glare, were turned towards Rome. Michelangelo’s David also represents the Renaissance ideal of manhood.

Msgr Timothy Verdon, American director of Florence's Diocesan Office for Fine Art and Cultural Heritage, argues today that faith, not politics, was at the forefront of the young Michelangelo's mind while he was chiselling the marble for three years, thus giving Italy tour and Italy cruise passengers the chance to see Michelangelo’s David on top of il Duomo.

''The special political situation of Florence in 1504 led to Michelangelo’s David being valued in a civic sense, transforming the biblical figure into a symbol of the republican freedom that at the time was under threat on many sides,'' Verdon wrote in an article in the weekly Toscana Oggi, available for Italy tour and Italy cruise information. ''But for Michelangelo, David was a religious figure both in the conceptual stage and for almost all of its creation - the shepherd-king who wanted to build the temple in Jerusalem that was physically constructed by his son Solomon; Jesus's ancestor''.

In 1873, after 469 years, the David was taken out of the elements and put in the Galleria dell'Accademia. A copy was erected to replace it in Piazza della Signoria - where many italy cruise and Itay tour travelers take it for the real thing. The new fibreglass copy will tour several Florence sites after its stint at the Duomo.

Click Italy travel for Italy tour and Italy cruise video.

And when you are ready for an Italy tour visit Italian Tourism for Italy travel packages including air and hotel italy tours, or click to see Italy cruise, Rome cruise and Venice cruise Italy cruise listings.