Planned Trip to Italy

[bonita babe]

If you are a retired travel agent or someone who is very familiar with Italy, living in The Villages, we need your help. We are a group of five couples planning a trip to Italy in 2013. If you're interested in helping us put together a customized trip, please respond.

[PennBF]

Some considerations for the trip may be:
1. Not all 10 persons will want to go to the same place on some days and
therefore you may want to consider how to handle this situation? I would
suggest renting a couple of cars as opposed to some 10 passenger van?
2. You may want to go to Barnes and Noble's and buy a road map of Italy.
There are some good maps.
3. Regarding where to stay. We have been to Italy a number of times and the best was Tuscany (had a Villa for a week or so). A small town south
of Florence is a good area. You can use that area as a base to go to a number of places in Italy. Note: Driving in Italy is not difficult. The cars are smaller and actually fun to drive on the roads/highways.
4. Maybe a couple of Villa's that can accomondate 4 in one and six in the other so you can eat breakfast and dinner in the Villa. That is a more economical way of eating since dining out each day can be costly?
5. You want to circle on the map all of the sites you want to be sure to
visit. Since you will be in central Italy it would be rather easy to get to each
as a day drive.
6. Italy was the only country we have been in that required an "International
Drivers Licence" They are VERY EASY TO GET. You can go to AAA in the Villages and they can give you one. At least 3 or 4 in the group should have
that licence.
7. I can't stress enough how easy driving is in Italy. The roads are well marked.
If you have some idea of what you want to do please let us know and we may be able to give you some help?:thumbup:

[shcisamax]

The roads are well marked but some places - like Rome - are not places you want to drive.
If it is your first time to Italy, you might want to stick to some of the more historic cities e.g. Rome, Florence, Venice and work from there. Each of those can keep you busy forever. And from each of those, you can do day trips.
There is so much information online now you really don't need a travel agent.
The earlier poster has raised a very good point. Not everyone is going to want to do the same thing all the time. Might make sense to pick the few cities and let people discuss what they would want to do in those cities. Then make plans from there.

[bonita babe]

Thank you for your input.

[bonita babe]

PennBF

Thank you for the information--especially about the Internation licenses. None of use knew that.

Bonita Babe

[villager]

You can't go to Italy and not see the Amalfi coast. It is beautiful! Positano, Italy is my most favorite place (so far). Tuscany and Cinque Terre area is nice, too. The big cities, Florence, Venice, Rome, etc. are great, but they are big cities. Personally, I have always enjoyed areas that are more quaint where you can interact with the locals more. You can definitely rent villas in one of the 5 Cinque Terre towns. Also, the train is a great way to get around, not expensive and much more interesting.

[Ebsmom]

We just got our passports to make a return trip to Italy! We met in Italy while my family was stationed in N. Italy and my husband was in the AF. That was 46 yrs ago! It's on my Bucket list to revisit. I hope your group has a fantastic journey in 2013!
Ebsmom