Tuscany & the Italian Riviera

Tour director was fabulous

A wonderful trip! I loved northern Italy, it was beautiful, charming, great food and wine. Our guide was amazing and made our trip!

Stuffed mussels on sea. Had a tour manager who know inexpensive great local places.

It was an enjoyable tour of many remarkable parts of Italy. We also had the opportunity to meet many interesting people along the way.

Tour was well planned. Excellent local guides throughout and varied experiences. Visiting the Cinque Terre was the highlight of the tour.

Thursday -10/17-Day 6 BEST DAY EVER!!!! Remember my story about the wine and food pairing for Chefs class that Stu bought me for my 50th birthday in Napa Valley? Well, this day trumped that experience! Today’s Private cooking class from Casa Grande’s Chef Guila was life-changing! I learned so much straight from the expert, hands on, in a real Italian kitchen dating back to the early 1300s, oh my God, the pictures and videos that Stu captured are amazing and will be cherished for the rest of my life. I am ready to bring this new knowledge and skills back, and teach it to others because the quality of ingredients, the freshness, textures, and flavor profiles, are indescribable and so much fun to learn. It was exactly what I needed to regenerate my passion for cooking and teaching. So grateful to Stu for making this possible and encouraging me to do it, even though I really was not feeling it last night. He knows me better than I know myself. And in only two hours, we made four types of focaccia bread, personal pizzas, calzone, white table bread and potato gnocchi with pesto! I even got a proper pronunciation lesson to boot. I had to promise her I would pass that lesson along to anyone I taught these dishes to. When everything was cooked and ready, we got to sit down in a very intimate dining setting in the family dining room just off the kitchen and enjoy all that we had made. Stu had plans to go to the gym and for a swim while I was taking the class, but it was so interesting for him that he stayed and took pictures and videos and even joined in and made his own pizza, it was such a good time. One of those things that just happen that you can’t really plan but he just knew that if I showed up, it would be an experience of a lifetime and he was right! Guila opened a 2019 bottle of Sangiovese Rosso for our meal and we dined like the King and Queen of the casa. After the Rosso we had more of the dessert wine with biscotti, said our goodbyes with much appreciation to Julia and stumbled back to our room through many hallways and staircases, trying not to get lost, again. About to take a big fat nap so much for the rest of the day! We are done! Buona notte!!

Awsome, lots to see and do, nice accommodations, great tour bus and driver. Excellent tour manager. He keeps things lively and fun. Great guy! My experience included service from the front door and back home to the front door. Who could ask for more.

We experienced Italia at is best. Great cities like Torino a jewel! La Spezia, Pisa, and Figline near Florence. The daily tours were well balanced and we were spoiled with a very knowledgeable and very nice Tour Director. The Hotels were very well chosen with all amenities and very bountiful breakfasts.

Greve in Chianti was beautiful and so relaxing. Loved just wondering the streets. I would have loved La Morra too had the weather been better to allow us to see the views and wonder the streets. Also enjoyed Figline’s quaintness and being able to easily walk from the hotel.

the olive oil tasting and the cooking "lessons" were the high points for me. Also, the city walking tour guides were very entertaining and informative.

Walking around Torino & hearing all about the history & it's importance in Italian history. Also learning about the pride & joy each place has with it's food & culture.

Loved the Cinque Terre scenic boat ride. Enjoyed visiting the two villages. Awesome tour guide. Also, had a great time cooking with Giada at the Tuscan villa. Learned the history of Lucas city. The tour guide was superb. He was very knowledgeable and made the history fun. Overall, I enjoyed the trip very much. Didn't like the dinners that were served at the hotels. Foods were bland, burnt, dried and low quality. Breakfast at the hotels were great. There were many great selection for everyone to choose from.

I enjoyed the Italian Villa and the cooking class that we had thee and I liked walking around the second town we stopped in in Cinque Terra. Even though you didn't ask, I will mention that more should have been mentioned about the bathroom facilities in one town that turned out to be a sink in the ground. Since there were some elderly with canes, it might have been nice to be forewarned. The accommodations could use some grab bars in the shower areas, especially those with marble floors which become slipperty.

Tour guide, Alessandro, was fantastic! Winery, olive oil farm, cooking at Tuscan villa were wonderful also. Would request change of boating in in rainy weather. A great trip! Thank you!

It was a great tour! The tour director was absolutely the best! (Alessandro)

The hotel in La Spezia had small rooms compared to all the others but location was great. The area is so beautiful and the accommodations are awesome.

Very well organized... Valery was excellent- knowledgeable, personable, fun...my favorite part was LeSpezia and Cinque Terre... if I were to go again, would not go in August ..... 90 degrees plus... abit warm for me.... All in all, a great experience.

Antonio was a wonderful tour manager. He is very knowledgeable and fun. He gave great suggestions for free time and meals. The overall amount of free time and tour time was good. Loved the villa and Anna. All of our tour guides were great. Loved the one we had in Luca and the other one in Monterosa.

Mt favorite experience was making dinner with our group at Villa Lecchi in Tuscany. The panoramic view of the town was breathtaking , and the hosts of the villa were very welcoming!

I didn't like the last villa we stayed in. It was pretty shabby. The only redeeming quality is the food was very good. I think the cooking demo could have been improved or replaced. There were too many people for that kind of demo.

The stay at the villa

Everything especially Laura and Michel and Danielle did a great job. I loved hotel Vecchi the most with the beautiful serene views ,wine country and along the coast. Just breath taking. I will have that memory forever.

Laura was a wonderful tour manager!! She made everything fun and easy!! The cooking class and stay at the Villa near Florence was outstanding, a highlight. Also the wine tasting and lunch at the Vineyard was amazing too. We also enjoyed the olive oil tasting. Florence was the only disappointment, guide was difficult to understand and that made the tour seem long and meaningless. Laura and the bus driver were terrific!!!!

In the past Collette tours, interesting places were included. In this tour for an AAPR tour, it was all walking by interesting places. In Florence, we only spent the afternoon and our hotel was 30 miles away! I was very disappointed in this tour. The layover between flights was too short, everyone needed to run to the next plane(AARP trip!)

only complaint is 42 people are too many

Saw and experienced so much in 10 days that with this tours would of been impossible

My rating had nothing to do with Collette. As a tour leader of my group I experienced, lost boarding passes (causing me and the traveler to miss our connection to Milan), a lost passport ( for which I had to spend hours in the American Consulate in Florence) and a stolen passport (causing the traveler to have to remain in Italy with the group that was extending the tour in Rome. Our tour manager, Luigi, was exceptional in helping with all of that.

What is essentially an outdoor tour was run during the rain season and there were no provisions for indoor activities if weather was too severe to be outside, which happened in this case. One day in particular we were stuck in the hotel with no entertainment facilities and no Wi-Fi, torrential downpours almost all day; it was a completely wasted day.

Our trip to Tuscany with Collette was incredible. We felt cared for the entire time and had so much fun. We can't wait to go back and miss our tour manager Jo already!

Enjoyed every thing about this trip. Well planned and executed

Weather stunk. Missed 2 excursions because of it.

The trip was well planned and everything went smoothly. The sites were beautiful with a good mix of city and country side

Loved the entire experience our guide Ivan was awesome

Just a little bit boring.

Tour guide, Allesandro was great. Very helpful with all details.

Happy with the locations we travelled. Tour Manaager and driver helpd to make sure our trip was enjoyable and momorable.

Some stops were too long, had to upgrade 3 rooms at my cost, loved the small group.

There was a little problem with the air conditioning on the bus. We went on a wine tasting class in Piedmont and it was excellent. I think you should look into adding to your list of events. Wines of Piedmont.

The itinerary was terrific. The Tour Manager did a fabulous job! I had dietary restrictions. It was handled effectively and discreetly. The accommodations were superb and expectations were managed well.

Great activities, well planned and your guides were great! My favorite experience was wine tasting

Critique: There were no suggestions for things to do on the days we were on our own - only a lunch or a dinner at a restaurant or just walk the streets (which actually wasn't a bad thing to do). We were on our own to research alternatives. Also, if we wanted to visit a museum (Florence), the only option was individual purchases of tickets. Why did we not have the option to go as a group that would have given us a preferential group visit? Cinque Terre - why wasn't it suggested to us that instead of following the guide up the steep hill, we could take a ferry and see all 5 towns from the Mediterranean. All in all, the visit to Italy was a memorable experience.

they handled everything right to the last detail

The tour and guide were exceptional. Customer service and air dept were horrible

This trip exceeded my expectations.

Felt it was a larger group than I would have preferred, the 1st day on bus was rather long. There were people on bus sick. When we returned we tested positive for COVID

It wasn’t non stop. Collette didn’t inform me I needed my boarding pass to get my VAT form stamped.? Not enough tome to dhop.

Tour very organized and professional. Good locations , meals well done overall very happy with tour. Alessandro our tour guide was great so was our driver Roberto

Thiis was overall the best trip I have ever been on. Loved our tour manager!

The only downside of the trip was not having enough time to spend in certain areas, It would have been nice to have a down day in the Tuscan region to enjoy the pool etc. at our last hotel. With that being said the trip was great and I'm sure planned to see as much as possible. We would definitely travel with Collette again.

Very well planned trip with amazing tour guides

Everything was so well organized. The tours and guides we very informative. The tour manager was fabulous. And so was the bus driver

Seeing all the history of the region and the guides were very informative

We were actually IN Tuscany, tasted & food paired wine in Tuscany, then visited the Italian Riviera. Sergio took great care of us!

Enjoyed the sites and food and other travelers

Italian Riviera, Portofino was amazing. Farewell dinner was unbelieveable. Loved every minute I was there.

Our tour guide, Sergio, is the best!

Leaning tower of Pisa and the statute david

My favorite day was when I took the day "off", and sat under an olive tree at the Villa all by myself. All day. Second favorite part was exploring Cinque Terre.

We especially enjoyed our trip to Cinque Terre and the Grand Albergo Hotel in Sestri Levante (with the balcony overlooking the Mediterranean). We also loved the medieval city of Lucca....loved the shops and our lunch at an outdoor café.

The wine tasting and visiting the coast

Comfortable transportation. Tuscany and riviera

It was a good tour showing the country of Italy around Florence and Cinque Terre. One thing that could be improved was more free time in Florence.

The trip along the Italian Rivera was exceptional and the weather was fantastic !

I had always dreamed of going to Italy and this tour did not disappoint. I also enjoyed the fact that our 20 people +/- from the Zimmer Radio Group connected with another 20 or so people from different areas and we all got along so well.

For a short tour, we visited many great sites without feeling rushed.

Cinque Terre and the Italian Riviera was the best..

FABOULIS,just a wonderful experience.Love the guides.❤

Our Tour Manager, Savio Ucello was EXCELLENT!! Personable, problem solving, great fun. He hired excellent local guides.

already did onb previous page

Savio our tour guide was the best, he always had our itinerary reviewed and updated, explained the details and was so knowledgeable of all our locations, he made the trip fun.

Departure dinner on last night.

I thought we would taste more local food and wines. Everything was tailored to American tourists. Best part was breaking away to explore with another adventurous traveller.

It was a great time and will go back !

Too fast of a pace and not enough shopping or free time

My favorite part of the tour was the Cinque Terre area. I loved that area.

All of the tour was Fantastic. Loved the Italian Riveria and cinque terra villages. Portofina was my favorite. Linda Cantrell

The entire experience of the Italian Rivera was great.

I had a Wonderful experience.

Ivan was a great tour guide!

There were times that a member of our group monopolized the tour guides.

Very relaxing because getting around was made simple.

Great time wonderful accomadations

We were able to experience a great deal of Italy in a limited amount of time. Although we have discussed many times the trip and all of the scenic and historical highlights, we are unable to say definitively which part was our favorite. We loved the tour and looked forward to each day's new adventure.

We had good hotels and saw a lot. The guide was knowledgeable.

Great value for all you get. Visited many sites and experienced things that I did not know was available. I can't wait to go again.

I loved the small towns. The only problem was when we finished the guided tours, the shops were closed and we left the areas before they opened again.

Favourite memorable experience was the winery and tasting in Tuscany. The wine and the owner were great, but it was the typical Tuscan view from the winery that made it all worthwhile!

This whole tour was amazing but our favorite experience was the winery tour and tasting and Cinque Terre for it’s beauty

Everything was so well done!!!! Wow!!!

Travel to the coast visit to small villages

My favorite part of the trip was going to the winery in Tuscany and learning and sampling different organic wines, olive oils, cheeses, bread. I also enjoyed Cinque Terre especially Vernazza, Manarola.

Worth every penny of what I paid for the experience I had.

The outstanding weather had a lot to do with this. As I said above, each day was a new adventure and we spent a lot of time outside.

Mattia De Carlo the tour manager is very professional, entertaining & knowledgeable! Enzo Della Corte, our bus driver deserves a medal for navigating on the narrow and crazy Italian roads and highways. Hotel staff very attentive and friendly.

Outstanding tour director and driver! They were extremely knowledgeable and personable

Visiting Cinque Terra and experiencing 3 towns, each with their unique beauty

Excellent and every second of my tour was a wonderful experience.

Favourite place was Lucca.

I loved the location of the hotel in Tuscany. It was so peaceful. One thing I disliked but not something that Collette can control were the aggressive panhandlers trying to sell you scarves and purses in Florence and Pisa. Some would even follow even though I said I wasn't interested.

All we had to do was enjoy the trip. Our tour manager coordinated everything and was always there to help.

Some cities were repeats for us, but never mind seeing them again, especially with the local guides that were very informative. Not enough time in Siena. cinque terre was a highlight for me. Always wanted to go there and was not disappointed

The Tour Director was excellent. he was clear, concise and very informative. He went out of his way to assist everyone for whatever needs that they had. The tour itself was excellent. It was high paced with a great deal of walking. Plenty to see. All of the meals that Collette arranged were very good to outstanding and the restaurants were all "Top Shelf" with wine Included.

I enjoyed the winery tour, very impressive plus great wine.....and Lucca. There was just something about the city (town) that made it truly what you thought an Italian town would be like. And the scenery was everything I thought it would be.

Overall the tour was amazing, the sites were incredible. The various personalities of the people on the tour provided, additional flavor, fun and excitement to the experience. The pacing of the tour could have been better. For example, after a red-eye flight, we only had a half hour before the welcome dinner. (and our flight was on time) This trend continued throughout the week where there was not enough time to change cloths and freshen up before dinner.

Too much walking, guide seemed not to give us a lot of information regarding what we were seeing, bus driver was veru fliracious with other guests. Highlight? Seeing Siena, Lucca, Portofino

Absolutely beautiful and the accommodations were perfect!

Walking the streets of Vernazza, browsing its shops, and having lunch on the water was magnificent!

Tour guide was terrific Cinque Terre. Was beautiful.

Would have liked a bit more free time at the first hotel, so that we could have used the pool.

Should have included Tickets for the David inside museum

The tour guide had a rotation system that was not fair for the size of the group and length of the trip. I complained to him because on this rotation we would be in the back of the bus for the whole tour.He agreed with me then had us sit in the front 1/2 of the bus for one 20 minute trip then he went back to his rotation system that put us in the back. I complained again and he moved us up front for another trip about 45 minutes but never for the day. He was nice and had a lot of knowledge but this is not fair.