Discover Your Italy, which offers travelers personalized handcrafted itineraries to off-the-beaten path locales throughout the country, will begin offering an exciting new line of small group tours in 2021 named Our Italy.
The inaugural set of tours will begin embarking next Spring and enable guests to experience Discover Your Italy’s tours.
With an intimate size of no more than 20 guests, the seven new Our Italy tours offer all of the same insider access and uniquely handcrafted experiences that their guests have come to expect from the company’s private tours. A new collaboration with Autentico Hotels, a collection of 16 luxury family-owned and operated boutique hotels scattered across the country, adds another layer of immersion into the Italian culture.
“With the advent of COVID-19, we understand that anyone traveling abroad in the next few years will require new levels of health and safety reassurances. Now more than ever, we want our guests to feel the same level of comfort they always have when they are ready to travel with us again,” said Matteo Della Grazia, co-owner, Discover Your Italy in a press statement. “Therefore, we have deliberately kept the new group tour sizes small, which enables us to book intimate boutique hotels thereby limiting guest exposure and focused each itinerary on off-the-beaten path locations and experiences. We feel this helps to minimize fears and concerns, while differentiating our journeys within the competitive group market. Our small group tour product will be the perfect solution for our guests when they are ready to come back to Italy.”
After over a year of intense market research and feedback from Discover Your Italy’s dedicated client base, the following destinations—some with two different sets of departure dates—were carefully selected and include:
Northeastern Italy: Adriatic Sea, Culture & Food
April 19-28, 2021 (10 Days/9 Nights) $4,854 pp; September 6-15, 2021 (10 Days/9 Nights) $5,080 pp
Discover the hidden gems and robust history of northeastern Italy from world-famous Venice to Trieste and the many off-the-beaten path experiences in-between, including one of the region’s finest prosecco producers. While 100 miles separates these two cities, it is a story of two rivals. Two strategic naval ports, which long battled to become the Mediterranean’s most significant harbor. Trieste showcases the history of the mighty Habsburg Empire, its power and cursed loves. Moving insights about WWII are revealed during the exploration of the region’s hilltop wineries, traditional crafts, remarkable heritage, nature trails, and a visit to friendly neighboring Slovenia.
Italy’s Best Kept Secrets: Marche & Abruzzo
May 3-13, 2021 (11 days, 10 nights) $5,070 pp; September 30 – October 10, 2021 (11 days, 10 nights) $5,070 pp
Tucked away in the grand Apennine Mountains, just east of Rome, is central Italy’s stunning unsung countryside. Unscathed by urban architecture, the secluded Marche and Abruzzo regions are dotted with vineyards woven into rolling hills, castles fused onto rocky spurs and trabucchi (traditional fishing huts) intertwining wood and water. The regions’ cuisine is untouched by foodie fads and fine dining demands; here, locally grown ingredients and word-of-mouth family recipes take the spotlight. During these 11 days, guests will marvel at centuries-old Renaissance architecture, stroll through ancient piazzas, learn traditional cooking techniques in medieval mountain towns and tour the pristine wilderness hidden within the spectacular Apennine Mountains.
The Highlights of Italy’s Lake District
May 15-26, 2021 (12 days/11 nights) $6,661 pp; August 21 – September 1, 2021 (12 days/11 nights) $7,000 pp
Explore the beauty and romance of northern Italy’s Lake District, dotted with dramatic lakes set against the majestic foothills of the Alps. During this 12-day tour, guests will get an insider’s look at the storybook lakeside towns, palatial villas, and stately gardens and experience the chic ambience that draws celebrities from across the globe. They will tour the splendor of Lake Garda, marvel at dazzling Lake Como, explore the region’s hidden gem, Lake Orta, and sail the stunning Borromean islands of Lake Maggiore all while enjoying wine tastings and fine restaurants.
Other tours included in the new program include: Sardinia Off the Beaten Path with departures in June and September 2021; Northwestern Italy & The Passion Play departing June 21-30; The Gems of Northern Italy with Autentico Hotels departing Sept. 7-16; and Quintessential Tour of Italy with Autentico Hotels taking place Oct. 9-21, 2021.
All of Discover Your Italy’s Our Italy tours are priced per person, based on double occupancy and feature luxury accommodations in 4- and 5-star hotels that are either historic mansions, elegant villas or trendy resorts. They also include full breakfasts, private transfers by deluxe fully-sanitized vans with an English-speaking driver, private English-speaking guides, entrance fees to attractions, professional assistance for the duration of the tour and welcome packs that include a prepaid local SIM card.
“Much of our business is from clients who have traveled with us in the past but were interested in spending less time researching the perfect itinerary, and more time enjoying Italy. Now with Covid-19, we recognize how a smaller group of guests will be more appealing than ever,” said Daniela Mencarelli, co-owner, Discover Your Italy in a press statement. “Over the years our guests have requested group tours, while still wanting to dive deeper into different regions. Most are very conscious of the impact overtourism has had on some of the most important areas of our country.”
To provide guests with even further assurances for their health and safety, Discover Your Italy will implement the newly designed TourCare Guidelines as jointly established by USTOA (United States Tour Operators Association), ETOA (European Tourism Operators Association) and CATO (Canadian Association of Tour Operators) during both their private and group tours.
Discover Your Italy’s tours are now divided into two types and are showcased on the company’s new website: Your Italy and Our Italy. Whether clients want to choose the freedom and independence of a private Your Italy tour or pick a set departure date with one of Our Italy small-group tours, they can count on the same unique handcrafted itineraries. The new website also features an online “Travel Magazine” filled with insider information, local knowledge and suggests on where to eat, drink, and shop, as well as must see landmarks and sights.
For more information, visit discoveryouritaly.com. For more updates on new protocols, visit Recommend’s Safe Travels page. Stories about future travel can be accessed at #AmazingDaysAhead.