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I guess my advice depends on if you have kids, and how well you recover from jet lag. Regardless, I would not try to do too much that first day. The days in Rome are filled with walking, and if you are going in the summer, it will be hot and crowded. It is amazing how much energy it takes to...

We went July 2007. First we saw David and a bit of the other art at the Academy-took about an hour. Then we had a one hour walking tour of Florence with the local guide. After that, we had about 3.5 hours on our own, and this included lunch. Several folks skipped the walking tour to visit a...

For 'getting in the mood' I recommend A Thousand Days in Tuscany by Marlena de Blasi. It is fiction, but she brings the people and the land and the food to life. I laughed out loud and couldn't wait to see Tuscany for myself. She also wrote A Thousand Days in Venice.

Beth, Your Cinzia is the same as ours. If I remember correctly, this year was her second with ABD. Before that she lived in California, just one town over from us. Amazingly small world.

Marco and Cinzia were our guides for Viva Italia in July 2007. He was a big hit with the teenage girls in our group. I agree, he was very nice and did an excellent job carrying that sign everywhere. He and Cinzia seemed to have a good rapport despite not working together before. She was on...

Our family of 5 did the Viva Italia last July. We had adjacent but not connecting rooms in Rome and Venice. In Tuscany we were in a Villa with our own 2 bedroom suite, with 2 baths and a kitchen/eating/livingroom. It was very comfortable. We chose to split the parents in Rome and in...

Mamadis- if you haven't already, go through my trip reviews from our tour this past July. I wore a pedometer, so you will see the distances we covered on the walking tours. The weather will play a big role in how everyone feels. We had 100+ degree days and no one felt much like walking. We...

Regarding wine tasting and children in Tuscany: ABD considers those 15 and up to be "adults". As long as it was okay with the parents, the teens were served wine, and this included our other dinners in Tuscany also. For the 15 and 16 year olds on our trip this summer, it was fun for them to...

Hi, We did Viva Italia last year. I'm thinking this question should best be answered by the ABD folks, but if I was to guess, I would say this is not possible due to the fact that the adventure guides that would meet you at the airport are ending the previous tour (in Venice) or in transit...

Global Mom, As a family of 5 that just did the Viva Italia, I can totally understand the heartburn over the price. My fantasy was to do a Knights and Lights Tour back to back with the Viva Italia. That fantasy lasted as long as it took me to do the math and gasp. So, we did a week on our...

I think everyone kept to the one bag rule, though I am not positive. Of course we accumulated things during, so when we switched locations, the guides always asked if anyone needed another luggage tag. If you can stick to the one bag, that would be ideal. The villa does not have elevators...

mwebsite: My 14 year old went with the junior adventurers. Of the three, she had the hardest time fitting in: too mature for the young ones, not ready for wine tasting with the 15-16 year olds. She is also slow to warm up to others. But by Venice, she was socializing with a couple of 13...

Isyt- Unfortunately, the five of us had to have two rooms in each location. We were given adjacent hotel rooms in Rome and Venice. Traveling with 3 children is very expensive. They will not allow more than 4 to a room no matter how young or small the kids are. On the plus side, you then have...

Newb- you could very well enjoy it, it depends on what you want out of the tour. In order to meet the needs of families with grandparents and children, the walking tours and museum visits are shorter than you will find with other tour companies. I liken the ABD tour to a "highlight" tour. For...

This was our trip of a life time. I have no complaints at all, and only praise for the itinerary, activities, adventure guides, transportation, and accomodations. I would go on another ABD in a heartbeat. When I first made the reservations I felt "Buyer's Remorse" thinking it was way too...

Venice: Theme for the Day:Venetian Fantasy Luggage outside door of villa at 7:15, breakfast at villa and back on the bus. Reno took us to Florence to catch the Eurostar to Venice. Didn't see our bags again until our hotel in Venice. It was so nice not to have to wrestle with luggage in...

Ronny-half our paperwork said the Borgo, the other half Villa Belvedere. It was confusing, but I figured Disney knew what it was doing. I'm sure either place will be lovely. I had absolutely no complaints about the villa. I have hundreds of photos, but no posting skills. Maybe my teenager...

Tuscany-Today's Theme: Etruscan Roots Luggage was to be outside hotel room by 7:15. Next time we saw it, it was in our villa. I love that we don't have to hassle with bags during our moves. We boarded our bus, with Reno as our driver again. We stopped in Orvieto, a medieval town at the...

Hi Hack2112, Our guides were Marco and Cinzia, and they were both fantastic. Cinzia left with us for the Venice airport. She was on her way south to do an Amalfi coast tour, then she was off to Spain. I so envy people who can speak multiple languages with ease.

I just found this forum, quite by accident. We did the Viva Italia tour in July and thought I'd share our experience. I'll break it down by 'phase" (Rome, Tuscany, Venice), then give some overall impressions. Phase One: Rome- Arrived at airport and was greeted by Adventure Guide. He...