Went on the "Best Of Italy " tour with my wife in June of 2005 and had the most magnificant time of my life. Our tour was wonderfully organized by our Trafalgar tour director (Franco Falagna, best director I've been around) and the sites and views of Italy were spectacular. Our group, of about 40 guests, really got to know one another and we all had a great time. The hotels were good to very nice based on the town you were in. The older the town, the less modern the rooms. However, we did not go to Italy for the hotels. Trafalgar Tours does an excellent job in setting everything up for you and there was not a bad moment on the whole trip. I highly recommend while you are in Italy that you take some free time out and eat a local cafe. It was for us the best way to get a true "taste" of Italy. And let me tell you the food was excellent and the atmosphere was fun. You will have no trouble communicating with the locals, most people there understand more english then we did Italian. My wife and I spoke very, very little Italian and we had NO problem getting along. The trip, as I mentioned earlier, is well planned out by Trafalgar and I found that there is also plenty of free time to get "lost" in Italy on your own. As a lover of photography I found getting "lost" on my own to be an excellent way to capture the inner beauty of Italy. But I also must say that Trafalgar (with the works of our Director) does set up all the historic visits and entertainment in an excellent fashion. Kudos goes out to our great bus driver too. All in all I found this trip to be one of the best vacations I have ever taken. I highly recommend Trafalgar and would not think twice of using them again. John Johnson, New Jersey, USA . . You can see all my pictures of Italy at . .. .. . webshots.com under username . .. .. .. . homerunking. All the pictures are titled and named. Enjoy, JJ.

I leave on Sept 23 for the same trip. Can you give me some insight on the optional excursions? Do you do most of them? Thanks