Venezia, Firenze, Roma!

Three of Italy's most storied cities in eight days — Venice, Florence, and Rome — each distinct enough that students often say they felt like they were visiting three different countries in a single trip. The tour opens on Venice Lido, the barrier island just across the lagoon from the famous canals, giving your group a quieter base from which to take in the city before the crowds arrive. From there, the itinerary moves south through Renaissance Florence and on into ancient Rome, where the week closes with a dinner at Le Terme del Colosseo — a restaurant sitting in the shadow of the Colosseum itself — a fitting send-off for a tour that has spent the better part of a week walking through two thousand years of Western history.