For most South Africans visiting Europe for the first time, Italy is the destination that delivers everything you imagined. The food is excellent in tiny family restaurants. The art is unavoidable. The cities are different enough from each other that you can do three of them in a week and feel like you've travelled, not blurred. And the language is just close enough to other European languages that you can almost understand the menus.
The standard Europamundo Italy circuit (Rome, Florence, Venice, in 8 to 10 days) is one of the most-booked tours we sell. Here's why it works and how to get the most from it.
The route
The classic itinerary opens in Rome (3 nights), drives north via Assisi or Siena to Florence (2 nights), continues to Venice (2 nights), and either returns to Rome or ends in Milan. Variations add Pisa, the Tuscan countryside, the Cinque Terre, or the Amalfi Coast at the southern end.
Eight nights is the minimum for the triangle. Ten is more comfortable. Twelve lets you add a region, usually the south (Amalfi, Capri, Pompeii) or the north lakes (Como, Maggiore).
Rome
Three nights here is the right amount. Day one is usually a coach orientation tour that takes you past the Colosseum, the Vittoriano, the Forum, and the river. Day two is the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, Saint Peter's Basilica, the museums (allow a full half-day). Day three is yours: wander Trastevere, eat carbonara in a back-street restaurant, throw a coin into the Trevi Fountain, climb the Spanish Steps in the evening when they're cooler.
Roman food tip: cacio e pepe, amatriciana, carbonara, and gricia are the four classic Roman pastas. Order them in that rough order across your dinners. None of them contain cream, despite what every chain restaurant in South Africa might suggest.
Florence
Smaller, more compact, and entirely walkable. The Uffizi Gallery (Botticelli, Da Vinci, Caravaggio) and the Accademia (Michelangelo's David) are the two must-see museums; both require advance booking, which the tour handles. The Duomo dome climb is for the fit (463 steps, no lift, narrow stair) but the view from the top is the city. The Ponte Vecchio at sunset is a Florence cliché for a reason.
Tuscan food in Florence is hearty and rustic: bistecca alla fiorentina (a thick T-bone steak), ribollita (bean and bread soup), Chianti from the surrounding hills. Two nights in Florence is enough to scratch the surface; many travellers come back to spend longer.
Venice
Either you love Venice immediately or you find it the strangest city you've ever set foot in. Most travellers fall into the first camp. The water-bus ride down the Grand Canal is the establishing shot. Saint Mark's Square in the morning before the cruise ships dock is dreamlike. The narrow back-canal walks east of the Rialto Bridge get you out of the main tourist drag and into the real city very quickly.
The included gondola ride is a touch corny but worth doing, share one with another couple on the tour to halve the cost. Murano (glass) and Burano (lace, brightly painted houses) are easy half-day excursions by vaporetto if your tour includes the option.
What's included in a typical tour
- All hotels in central locations (3 or 4 star)
- Daily breakfast
- Some included dinners (varies by itinerary, check the tour details)
- City tours with local guides in each major city
- All transfers between cities by coach or train
- Entry to Saint Peter's Basilica (free), and bookings made for the Vatican Museums and Uffizi
- English-speaking tour director throughout
Not included: lunches, most dinners, optional excursions, museum entry costs (these are usually quoted separately and bookable on the coach), drinks at included meals, gratuities for the tour director and driver at the end.
When to go
April to early June is the peak window, warm, not yet stiflingly hot, and the gardens are at their best. Mid-September to October is the second peak. Summer (July, August) is hot, crowded, and the locals leave the cities, go in shoulder season if you can. Winter (December to February) is mild, less crowded, and Christmas in Rome is its own kind of magic.
The Rand budget
Allow about R2,000 to R2,800 per day for meals not included, optional excursions, gondola rides, gelato, and the inevitable shopping. Italy is cheaper than France or Switzerland for daily eating; you can have a serious dinner with wine in Florence for €35 to €50 a head.
It's the tour we recommend most often for first-time European travellers, and the one that brings the most travellers back asking what they should do next. Start here.
