Amber Road Tours

Tuscany-Lazio

11 days/10 nights

• Day 1

  Arrival Rome Fiumicino airport, where you will be met by your tour escort. Your first stop is the intriguing medieval town of Tuscania where you’ll have time to wander on your own before our lunch together at a typical trattoria. Then we are off to Bolsena, Hotel Royal (3 nights), located on the shores of beautiful Lake Bolsena (see map). Late afternoon free to walk the paths along the lake or to explore the medieval borgo and fortress/museum. At 7pm welcome meeting & aperitifs, followed by dinner at a lakeside restaurant.

• Day 2

  Spectacular Orvieto sits on an outcrop of volcanic tufa rock, with thousands of caves underneath the city, dug out during Etruscan, Medieval and Renaissance times. We’ll explore a fascinating subterranean tour of Orvieto Underground. After lunch our local guide will take us on a tour that includes the unique Gothic cathedral and the frescoes of Signorelli in the San Brizio chapel. Evening on your own in Bolsena.

• Day 3

  Early morning walk across the 300 meter bridge connecting Bagnoregio to Civita, the “dying town” that was isolated by earthquakes and erosion and is now an inland island of thirty inhabitants.  Then a guided tour of the historic district of Viterbo, including a study of Etruscan daily life at the
  National Archaeological Museum.

• Day 4

  Morning cappuccino stop in the medieval spa town of San Casciano dei Bagni, where you’ll find the most lovely panorama on tour. Next, free time and lunch in nearby Montepulciano, home to grand piazzas, noble palazzos
  and ancient alleys.  After a city tour with local guide we’ll complete our visit at the Cantina Redi, an old winery carved out of tufa stone, for a taste of the famous Vino Nobile. Afternoon transfer to the Renaissance town of Pienza, the “ideal city” constructed by Pius II, the “humanist pope”.  Val d’Orcia.  We’ll be staying at the Relais Il Chiostro (3 nights), a former 15th century convent, located in the historic center overlooking the stunning Val d’Orcia. 

• Day 5

  Morning city walking tour of Pienza with local guide. Late afternoon we’ll depart for one of the tour highlights – the medieval festival at Abbadia San Salvatore, where the whole town turns out in medieval costume for open air markets, archery contests, crafts exhibitions, swordfights and to watch falconers and jugglers. We’ll dine medieval style as they did 700 years ago at one of the many outdoor taverns.

• Day 6

  A very entertaining morning cooking lesson at a farmhouse in Seggiano.  You’ll learn to make the local hand-made pasta as well as “acqua cotta”, the famous Tuscan soup, and then taste the results over a long lunch on the patio in an area that many call “piccolo paradiso”.

• Day 7

  Morning in the strange and extraordinary medieval tufa-top town of Sorano. Afternoon at the Archaeological Park at Sovana where we’ll have a guided visit to the 2,700 year old Etruscan necropolis and walk along the ancient Etruscan roads. Transfer to Orbetello, on a narrow strip of land leading to the peninsula of Monte Argentario on the Tyrrhenian sea in southern Tuscany. Our hotel is the 16th century San Biagio Relais (4 nights), once a Spanish courthouse. Orbetello has long, wide, pedestrian only streets lined by elegant shops and bars – a perfect place to experience the Italian passeggiata.

• Day 8

  We’ll begin today with a visit to two Etruscan tombs near the remains of the ancient city of Vulci, an important manufacturing and trading center. Then a visit to the National Archaeological Museum located in the magnificent medieval castle of Abbadia. Your guide will first walk us onto the Badia bridge, of Etruscan origin, overlooking the Fiora River. Then, an explanation of the structure of the castle and, as we move through the rooms viewing vases, jewelry and objects in bronze, the different stages of the Etruscan reign at Vulci, Evening visit, including dinner at a trattoria, to one of the most beautiful medieval villages in Tuscany, Capalbio.

• Day 9

  One hour trip by ferry to Giglio Island. An ancient Etruscan and Roman settlement, famous for its white granite, Giglio is today a nature refuge, surrounded by a clear, transparent sea. After exploring the small Giglio Porto we will take a short bus ride to the mountaintop village of Giglio Castello - surrounded by imposing fortified walls, it has maintained its medieval appearance intact, with narrow alleys and external staircases that lead to the houses. Lunch stop at one of the many trattorias of the village before returning by bus, then boat. Late afternoon and evening on your own in Orbetello.

• Day 10

  Tarquinia was the most populous and important of the Etruscan cities - a place of riches and high culture 3,000 years ago, long before the rise of the Romans,. Its historical legacy has been passed on to us via their more than 200 painted tombs and numerous artifacts. After a visit to the necropolis we’ll have a guided tour of the Etruscan National Museum of Tarquinia, one of Italy’s best. Evening farewell dinner in Orbetello.

• Day 11

  End of tour - transfer to Rome.