A Winter Taste of Italy

Explore the magnificent art and architecture of Italy. Your winter vacation visits the highlight cities of Italy, covering all the notable features: St. Peter's Square and Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum and the Forum in Rome, Michelangelo's David in Florence, and St. Mark's Basilica and Doges' Palace in Venice. Local Guides in these cities will answer all your questions. Also included is a special welcome dinner in a typical Roman restaurant, and an entire free day in Venice offers an optional excursion to the charming island of Burano. Scenic rides will show you the lush plains of the Po area, the wooded Apennine mountain range, and Tuscany's Chianti wine country. In Venice, a private boat ride is included.

So want more reasons to take a vacation package to Italy? How about the wine? "Italy is not only the largest producer of wines, but above all a producer of great wines.”

Its climate, soil and very old traditions of viticulture make Italy a natural wine growing nation. The wines are as personal as a name, as different as the colors of the rainbow and as much a part of Italian life as almost 3,000 years of tradition can make them. The Etruscans of North-Central Italy, who created one of the peninsula's earliest civilizations, left evidence of how to make wine. The Greeks who soon after established themselves in the South gave Italy the name Enotria (the land of wine).For centuries wine growing has been the cultivation which used most of the labor of the Italian farmers; this is still true today; a large part of the population is engaged in the vine and wine industry.

Other Italian drinks include aperitifs, blended principally over a base of the world-famous Piedmont Vermouth; dessert wines, such as Moscato, Marsala and Malvasia from Sicily and sparkling wines from Piedmont, Veneto, Tuscany and the Islands. Italy also has excellent beers and a great variety of effervescent mineral waters.