Italy is indisputably one of Europe’s most popular travel destinations. The action-packed Italy tour packages on offer reflect the impressive number of historic sites, the lively cities and towns well worth a detour, and the impossible beauty of landscapes such as Tuscany and the Amalfi Coast.
World-famous history, art and stunning coastlines in tour comparison Italy
Italy tour packages begin and end in Rome, Venice, Florence and Milan, with options for regional Italy tours, family itineraries, and combinations with other highlights of Europe. Travellers benefit from knowledgeable local guides for city tours of Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, Pompeii and Assisi, provided maps and orientation of the intricate alleyways in Venice, and priority access and skip-the-line tickets at the Vatican Museums and Colosseum.
Everything is included when you tour Italy, such as reserved gondola rides and musicians in Venice, private water taxis through Venice’s Grand Canal, pre-booked reservations to see Uffizi Gallery and Michelangelo’s David at Galleria dell’Accademia, reserved tickets for The Last Supper entrance in Milan, and private cruise launches to the historic islands of Venice. Logistics are also taken care of for you, including scheduled transport to the island of Capri and Positano, train day passes for Cinque Terre, exclusive access to Bramonte’s staircase in the Vatican Museums, and lake cruises on Garda and Maggiore.
Along with these inclusions there are still plenty of places to visit in Italy on your itinerary, with Murano glass-making demonstrations, local family homestays and dinner experiences, Gladiator classes in Rome, Italian cooking classes, wine tasting in Chianti, shopping discounts of Florentine leather and gold, sightseeing en-route to Verona, Orvieto, Pisa, Sirmione and Siena, local gelato treats, and authentic food and wine Tuscan feasts.
Tour comparison Italy itineraries also offer optional excursions such as mozzarella farm visits in Sorrento, visits to Burano in the Venetian lagoon, Roman dinners, guided tours of the Vatican Museums and Colosseum, Tuscan dinners and Venetian gondola rides.
Ready to plan your trip? Visit our tour comparison Italy to find the right tour for you.
Want a taste of that insider Italy tourism knowledge we mentioned before? We have collected the best facts from real life tour guides. Impress them on tour with how much you already know.
- Italy occupies a sunny region of southern Europe between the Tyrrhenian and Mediterranean seas, and is easily recognisable on the world map thanks to its shape that resembles a boot.
- Italy’s capital of Rome is home to spectacular architecture and ruins reflecting its history as an ancient empire, along with the Pope’s residence in Vatican City, which is its own state.
- Some of Italy’s most visited cities include Florence, with its famed Renaissance art; the city on water, Venice; Pisa, home to the iconic leaning tower; the port city of Genoa; Bologna, known known worldwide for its sauce; medieval Orvieto; Siena, where one of Italy’s most famous horse races is held; pizza heaven in gritty Naples; the fashion capital of Milan; and romantic Verona, where Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was set.
- Vatican City is not the only independent state within Italy, as the microstate of San Marino also finds its home in the country’s north-east.
- Italy’s coastline is spectacular, with the likes of Sorrento, the jet-set isle of Capri, the Amalfi Coast – particularly Positano, charming Cinque Terre, Portofino on the Riviera, and even the ports of Bari and Brindisi very popular with visitors.
- Other extraordinarily beautiful natural landscapes in Italy include the rolling hills of Tuscany, and the lakes of Garda, Maggiore and Como.
- Some of Italy’s smaller villages worth your time include hilltop Ravello and Assisi, the latter of which is known for being the birthplace of one of Italy’s patron saints, St Francis.
- Italy is home to some well-known volcanoes, including Mt Etna and Mt Vesuvius, which famously buried the Roman settlements of Pompeii and Herculaneum in the first century AD.
- Italy boasts some great skiing and hiking in the Alps and Dolomites, with Baroque Turin a popular base for snow bunnies.
- Sicily and Sardinia are two of Italy’s most popular island destinations, and Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.
- Navigator Amerigo Vespucci, who discovered the Americas, astronomer Galileo Galilei, St. Peter, architect Andrea Palladio, trader Marco Polo, explorer Christopher Colombus, poet Dante Aligheri, who authored the Divine Comedy, and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli were all Italian.
- Italy boasts some of the world’s most celebrated artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Sandro Botticelli, Giotto, Caravaggio and Tintoretto.
- Italy is a large producer of automobiles and motorbikes, with the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Alfa Romeo, FIAT, Vespa and Ducati all from here.
- Prada, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Ray Baan, Armani, Ciro Citterio, Ermenegildo Zegna, Bottega Veneta, Roberto Cavalli, Fendi, Max Mara, La Perla, Salvatore Ferragamo, Bulgari, Valentino, and Grazia Magazine are all Italian brands that have made a serious name for themselves in the world of fashion.
- Opera singers Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli, the Three Tenors, and composers Giuseppe Verdi and Vivaldi were all Italian.
- The film La Dolce Vita and the video game characters Mario Bros are also Italian.
- Notable political leaders include Benito Mussolini, Silvio Berlusconi, Matteo Renzi, the Roman Emperors Julius Caesar and Augustus, revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi, the first king of Italy Vittorio Emmanuele, and the de Medici family of Florence.
- Children’s story Pinocchio, businessman Gilberto Benneton and celebrity chef Martino da Como are all Italian.
- Murano glass, Burano lace and the violins of Antonio Stradivari are some of Italy’s most celebrated products.
- Italian inventions include the thermometer, barometer, telephone, piano, batteries, mp3 and the helicopter.
- Tarantella is one of Italy’s most recognisable musical forms, heralding from the country’s south.
Courtney Gahan is a serial expat, traveller and freelance writer who has bartered with Moroccan marketeers, seen the sun rise at Angkor Wat and elbowed her way through crowds on NYE in NYC
