Milan and Cinque Terre Itineraries & Tours

When we started planning our trip to Italy, I knew I wanted to work with a travel agent—specifically, someone who specialized in Italy and was based there. After reaching out to several agencies and reviewing their responses, we chose Zicasso and, more specifically, our travel agent. She is based in Milan and from my very first interaction with her, I knew we had made the right choice.

Our trip could not have been more perfect. Our agent put a lot of thought into every location and planned activity. At the outset, we had a few discussions with her about what we wanted from the trip and, after that, we were happy to leave most of the details in her capable hands. Our goal was to explore mid-to-northern Italy and everything—from the hotels and tours to the free time and transportation—was beautifully organized.

Our 11-night trip started in Milan and ended in Florence, with overnight stays in Milan (one night), Lake Como (three nights), Venice (three nights), and Florence (four nights). Initially, I was hesitant about staying at Lake Como for three nights, but our agent encouraged me to do a little research. I’m so glad she did, as it turned out to be incredible. We had more self-guided time at Lake Como, which was perfect as we adjusted to the time change. In Venice, our itinerary became more structured, but we still had plenty of time for our own explorations. By the time we reached Florence, we had activities and tours planned for every day, which was just what we wanted.

A highlight for my family was a full-day trip into Tuscany, where we visited San Gimignano, an organic vineyard in Chianti, and finished with a tour of Siena. Our day trip to Rome allowed us to see the main attractions and we concluded the journey with a tour of Florence and the Accademia Gallery. Every tour our agent arranged was spot on.

Throughout our trip, she was wonderfully communicative—always available when we had questions, but never intrusive. She even helped us with a couple of last-minute requests: booking a hotel in Milan for one night and arranging train tickets to Verona for an impromptu visit to Juliet’s balcony. Whenever we needed something, she was there.

When we return to explore the mid-to-southern part of Italy, there’s no question that we’ll be asking her to plan our trip again. I highly recommend her to anyone looking for a seamless, thoughtfully curated Italian adventure.

Our trip was very well planned. All the guides we had were very good. Three of them were outstanding. Our guides in Ravenna and Bologna, Cinque Terre and Lake Como were outstanding. We had wonderful tours of a prosciutto factory and a Parmesan factory.

All of our hotels were great.

We had several drivers and they were all very good.

Our Zicasso travel agent made reservations for us at a couple of restaurants she recommended and they were both great choices. We can't say enough good things about the job she did for us.

We were so pleased with the travel company. The hotel they suggested was nicely located in Como, with our rooms having a view of the lake and a small balcony. We were also provided a lovely breakfast in the morning.

They suggested a nice, four-day itinerary: a food tour, with the extra bonus of an orientation to the city the evening of our arrival; a wonderful boat ride for four hours on the next day; a trip to Lugano, Switzerland; and then a private transfer, stopping in Bellagio and Varenna on our way back to Milan.

All of the drivers and guides were excellent, although the driver for Lugano thought he was taking us to Bellagio. This may have been due to a switch of drivers due to a schedule change, as the boat ride and Lugano days were switched to make sure we had a beautiful day on the water, as some rain was threatened on the original day.

The travel company also made a lunch reservation in Bellagio for us based on a recommendation we had gotten from our son. The driver for that long day was great about arranging the travel so we could be on time at the restaurant and was there promptly to pick us up when we were done.

We will definitely utilize Zicasso again and would reach out to the travel company if we travel again to Italy.

Overall, we had an incredible trip! Zicasso's travel planner made our travels smooth and easy to navigate. She responded to all of our questions in a timely manner. The itinerary was detailed and easy to read. It was so nice having our train tickets in advance. The sights were beautiful (Venice, Florence, Cortona, Cinque Terre) and we had fun on our tours. Our villa and hotel accommodations were lovely. Everyone was friendly. We highly recommend our travel planner and her company!