Sample Itinerary · Italy

Best of Italy

Venice · Florence · Tuscany · Rome · Amalfi Coast

Duration
13 Days · 12 Nights
Accommodations
4-Star or Higher
Transport
Private Transfers + High-Speed Rail
Best For
First-timers · Couples · Families

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This is a sample itinerary — for inspiration only. Every Juniper trip is designed from scratch around you. Many clients travel a very similar route — if this resonates, book a free consultation and an Italy specialist will build something just like it (or better) specifically for your travel style, dates, and group.

1
Day One

Arrive in Venice

Venice, Italy

Your Italian adventure begins the moment you touch down at Venice’s Marco Polo Airport. A private water taxi carries you across the lagoon — the first glimpse of Venice rising from the Adriatic is one of those arrivals you never forget. Check into your 4-star property in the heart of the historic center, perhaps near the Rialto or tucked along a quiet canal. The rest of the day is yours to settle in, wander the narrow calli without a plan, and discover a neighborhood osteria for your first Italian meal. Venice has a way of announcing itself before you’ve even unpacked.

Private water taxi transfer
Arrive Venice
Orientation evening

Overnight: Venice

2
Day Two

Canals & Renaissance Treasures

Venice

Begin with a private gondola ride through Venice’s most intimate waterways — your gondolier pointing out hidden palaces and centuries-old gardens that most visitors never see. Visit the Basilica di San Marco at a reserved time, avoiding the queues, to witness the golden mosaics and Byzantine treasures up close.

A pre-arranged skip-the-line experience at the Doge’s Palace reveals the political heart of Venice’s thousand-year republic. Lunch at a local favorite — fresh scallops, squid ink risotto, Venetian cicchetti — before an afternoon exploring the Accademia’s masterpieces. This evening, Venetian wine and small bites at a palazzo overlooking the Grand Canal.

Private gondola ride
Basilica San Marco
Doge’s Palace

Overnight: Venice

3
Day Three

Islands & Lagoon Magic

Murano & Burano

Journey across the lagoon to the island of Murano, where you’ll visit a glassblowing workshop and watch artisans create delicate pieces using techniques unchanged for centuries. The molten colors — deep blues, rich reds, luminous golds — are hypnotic.

Continue to Burano, a riot of colored houses reflected in still canals. Lunch on the waterfront: fresh spider crab pasta, local white wine. Wander the peaceful streets, perhaps pick up handmade lace. Return to Venice as the light turns golden, the basilica catching fire at sunset.

Murano glass workshop
Burano island
Lagoon boat tour

Overnight: Venice

4
Day Four

Venice to Florence

High-Speed Rail & Arrival

This morning, board the high-speed Freccia Italia train to Florence. The route sweeps through the Po Valley and into Tuscany’s rolling green landscape — first-class seating, the anticipation of arriving in the birthplace of the Renaissance building with every kilometre.

Your private transfer meets you at Florence’s Santa Maria Novella station and delivers you to your hotel in the Oltrarno district — just across the Arno from the Uffizi, near artisan workshops and authentic local restaurants. Check in, rest, and explore the neighborhood at dusk. Florence rewards evening wandering.

High-speed rail
Private station transfer
Arrive Florence

Overnight: Florence

5
Day Five

Florence’s Artistic Masterpieces

Florence

Skip the queues and enter the Uffizi Gallery through a reserved side entrance. Your private guide unveils the world’s greatest concentration of Renaissance paintings — Botticelli’s Primavera and Birth of Venus, Leonardo’s Adoration, the incomparable Duccio altarpiece. Every canvas is a window into Florence’s greatest century.

Climb the Duomo’s dome — 463 steps, but Brunelleschi’s engineering makes the sky feel close. Late afternoon, join a hands-on cooking class in a centuries-old kitchen, preparing fresh pasta and a three-course Tuscan meal with local wine. Dinner is what you’ve created with your own hands.

Uffizi Gallery (skip-the-line)
Duomo climb
Cooking class

Overnight: Florence

6
Day Six

Florence to Tuscan Countryside

Chianti Region

Leave Florence’s crowds behind as your private driver takes you south into Tuscany proper. Roll through endless vineyards and cypress-lined roads toward a private estate in the Chianti Classico region. Your accommodation sits on hillsides first planted in the 14th century — olive groves, rolling vineyards, distant hilltop villages.

Afternoon at leisure — swim in the property’s pool, walk the estate, or simply sit with a glass of wine on the terrace watching the light change. This evening, a chef-prepared dinner featuring local ingredients, paired with wines from the property’s own cellar.

Private transfer to Tuscany
Estate accommodation
Wine country arrival

Overnight: Tuscany

7
Day Seven

Tuscan Villages & Wine Cellars

Siena, San Gimignano & Chianti

Your guide drives you to Siena’s medieval heart, where you climb the Torre del Mangia for sweeping views of the Val d’Orcia. Walk the sloping Piazza del Campo where the Palio horse race thunders each summer. Lunch in a 16th-century palazzo’s courtyard — fresh pici tossed with truffle.

Continue to San Gimignano, the “Manhattan of Tuscany,” where 14 stone towers pierce the sky. Sample award-winning gelato, visit a saffron farm. Late afternoon, a private wine tasting at a small Chianti producer — three generations of family winemaking, explained by the owner over cheese and cured meats.

Siena guided tour
San Gimignano
Private wine tasting

Overnight: Tuscany

8
Day Eight

Truffle Hunt & Tuscan Feast

Val d’Orcia

Rise early for a truffle hunt in the Val d’Orcia with a local forager and his trained dog. Walk through oak forests, learning to read the subtle signs of buried treasure. When the dog stops, you dig — sometimes finding nothing, sometimes uncovering black gold worth more than its weight.

Return to your estate where a chef transforms your truffles into a multi-course feast. The afternoon is free for rest, photography, or drives through landscape so perfect it seems painted — solitary hills, cypress sentinels, the scent of wild herbs on the wind.

Truffle hunting experience
Chef-prepared truffle lunch
Val d’Orcia drive

Overnight: Tuscany

9
Day Nine

Tuscany to Eternal Rome

Travel Day & Arrival in Rome

After breakfast, transfer to Florence’s station for the high-speed train to Rome — the railway following ancient Roman routes south through the heart of Italy. As you approach Rome, the landscape transitions and you’re pulled into history itself.

Arrive at Roma Termini and transfer to your centrally located hotel — perhaps steps from the Trevi Fountain or overlooking the Colosseum. This evening, a leisurely walk through Rome’s Renaissance streets as the city’s golden light transforms every monument. Dinner on a quiet piazza, surrounded by 2,000 years of stories.

High-speed rail to Rome
Private station transfer
Arrive Rome

Overnight: Rome

10
Day Ten

Ancient Rome Revealed

The Colosseum & Roman Forum

Stand inside the Colosseum as your private guide describes gladiatorial combat, wild beast hunts, and the engineering genius that built an arena for 50,000 spectators nearly 2,000 years ago. Walk through the Roman Forum, where senators debated the fate of empires.

Visit the Pantheon, the best-preserved Roman building, its oculus opening to the sky as it has for 1,900 years. Late afternoon, the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel — Michelangelo’s ceiling, Adam reaching toward God. Sixteen million visitors have gasped at this ceiling, and so will you.

Colosseum (skip-the-line)
Roman Forum
Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel

Overnight: Rome

11
Day Eleven

Vatican, Trastevere & Hidden Rome

Vatican City & Trastevere

This morning, visit St. Peter’s Basilica — skip the lines with your reserved entry and climb to the cupola for a perspective of Rome that few tourists achieve. The city spreads beneath you, the Tiber winding through it like a silver thread.

Cross to Trastevere, Rome’s most authentic neighborhood. A gourmet food tour reveals the secret spots: a hole-in-the-wall supplì vendor, the creamiest burrata, wines poured by the glass from unmarked bottles. Afternoon free for personal wandering or Villa Borghese’s art collection. This evening, aperitivo overlooking the Tiber, then dinner at a restaurant known to locals but not to guidebooks.

St. Peter’s Basilica
Trastevere food tour
Local dining experience

Overnight: Rome

12
Day Twelve

Rome to the Amalfi Coast

Naples & Positano

Your driver takes you south through the Campania region. Stop in Naples for a quick orientation and lunch — perhaps at a traditional pizzeria for pizza as it was invented, wood-fired and simple. The city pulses with chaotic energy, street life spilling across every piazza.

Continue to Sorrento, perched on cliffs above the sea, then wind down the famous Amalfi Coast road — switchbacks carved into cliff faces, the Mediterranean appearing and disappearing below. Arrive in Positano, a vertical village of pastel houses stacked on a cliff. Check into your waterfront property — many rooms have balconies overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Private transfer south
Naples pizza stop
Amalfi Coast drive

Overnight: Amalfi Coast

13
Day Thirteen

Amalfi Coast & Departure

Amalfi, Ravello & Naples Airport

Spend your final morning exploring the coast. Visit the cathedral in Amalfi with its stunning Arab-Norman facade. Walk through Ravello’s hilltop gardens — Villa Rufolo and Villa Cimbrone offering panoramic terraces that seem to edge the sky itself. Lunch on fresh pasta and Fiano, the region’s white wine with hints of orchard and almonds.

Late afternoon, your transfer drives you to Naples for your departure flight. You leave carrying the rhythms of Italy: the bells of Venice’s basilicas still ringing, Tuscan sunsets still warm on your skin, Rome’s eternal stones still humming beneath your feet. Italy will call you back — the Best of Italy is just the beginning.

Ravello gardens
Amalfi cathedral
Private airport transfer

Overnight: Depart from Naples

Love this itinerary? Make it yours.

This is a sample luxury custom route — a starting point, not a fixed package. Many clients travel something very close to this, customized for their travel style, group, and dates. Book a free consultation and a specialist will build from here.

Accommodations
Boutique hotels, Tuscan estates, or luxury villas — chosen based on your preferences and travel style.
Transportation
Private transfers, high-speed rail, self-drive, or a mix — all confirmed before you travel.
Experiences
Pre-arranged tours and activities built around your interests — entrance tickets sorted, no queuing.

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Activities on this itinerary

Your specialist pre-arranges the right luxury experiences based on your interests and travel style. These are the custom experience types available on this route — specific choices are made with you, not for you.

Private Gondola RideVenice

Basilica San MarcoVenice

Uffizi GalleryFlorence

Cooking ClassFlorence

Truffle HuntTuscany

Wine TastingChianti

Colosseum TourRome

Vatican MuseumsRome

Roman Food TourRome & Trastevere

Boat DayAmalfi Coast

Ravello GardensAmalfi Coast

Positano Coastal WalkAmalfi Coast

Activities are selected and pre-booked with your specialist based on your interests — not all activities are included in every trip version. Availability varies by season.

The people who will design your Italy trip

You work directly with a specialist who knows Italy deeply — not a call center or booking agent. Every consultation is with someone who has been there, stayed in those hotels, and knows the country inside out.

Italy · Switzerland · Portugal · Spain

Lexi Blade

Florence and Austria-based, Lexi brings on-the-ground expertise across Southern Europe’s most sought-after destinations. Every recommendation comes from personal experience.

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Ireland · Scotland · UK · Iceland

Taryn Harrison

25 years designing European trips, with a deep network across Italy’s regions. CMSC certified and former Peace Corps. Ideal for multi-country trips combining Italy with Ireland, Scotland, or beyond.

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About this itinerary

Is this a good first Italy trip?


Yes — the Best of Italy is specifically designed as a comprehensive introduction to the country. The route covers Italy’s most iconic regions in a logical sequence: Venice’s canals, Florence’s Renaissance art, Tuscany’s rolling countryside, Rome’s ancient monuments, and the Amalfi Coast’s dramatic cliffs. It’s Juniper’s most popular Italy itinerary precisely because it works well for first-time visitors without feeling rushed.

Can I customise this itinerary?


Yes — this is a sample for inspiration. Every Juniper trip is designed from scratch. You can add regions (Sicily, the Cinque Terre, the Italian Lakes), swap cities, extend stays, change the transport, and adjust the pace entirely. Your specialist builds the actual itinerary around your preferences during the free consultation.

Is 13 days enough for this Italy itinerary?


13 days is the right length for this route — it covers five distinct regions without feeling rushed. Clients who want more time often add Sicily or the Italian Lakes. Those with less time typically shorten to 10 days by focusing on fewer regions. Your specialist builds the timing around you.

Is this itinerary good for a honeymoon?


This route works well as a honeymoon base — the intimate canals of Venice, Tuscan estate stays, and the romantic Amalfi Coast are all genuinely well-suited to couples. That said, our dedicated Amalfi Coast with Capri itinerary (7 days) is specifically designed for honeymoons and couples and covers the most romantic coastal regions and properties in more detail.

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“Juniper Tours did an amazing job booking our vacation to Italy. Lexi Blade helped us schedule our dream vacation from Venice all the way to Sorrento on the Amalfi coast, with stops in Florence and Rome. Lexi was phenomenal and made changes for us many times to assure we got the most out of our trip.”

Nikki Walls  ·  Verified Google Review

Build your luxury custom Italy trip with one of our top travel specialists.

30 minutes, completely free. Walk away with a clear picture of what your luxury custom Italy trip could look like — dates, route, 4 and 5-star accommodations, and all.

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