11-Day Italian Campaign Tour

Itinerary

• Day 1

  Passengers are greeted at Catania Airport in Sicily and transferred to our hotel. Free time is available to settle in, spend time in the hotel or enjoy a walk around town. The tour’s events begin in the evening with a welcome drink and a presentation of the tour program.

• Day 2

  We tour the landing sites of Operation Husky from Gela to Licata, followed by a visit to the memorial dedicated to the 82nd Airborne close to the Ponte Dirillo Bridge. In the afternoon we explore the Valley of Temples in Agrigento, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

• Day 3

  In the morning we visit the Historical Museum of the Landings in Catania, one of the best WWII museums in the world. Afterwards we take a walking tour in the Baroque city center. In the afternoon we visit the Commonwealth War Cemetery located in a grove just outside of Catania with a view of Mount Etna, the highest active volcano in Europe. From here we go to the valley of Motta St. Anastasia to visit the German War Mausoleum.

• Day 4

  We travel to Paestum with frequent stops on the way. The journey includes a ferry crossing through the Strait of Messina to mainland Italy, the scene of the daring German evacuation to the Italian mainland at the end of the battle for Sicily. We tour the beaches of Operation Avalanche in the Paestum area related to the Salerno landings.

• Day 5

  In the morning we drive to Pompeii and explore the famously preserved ancient site. We then travel on to Cassino.

• Day 6

  We head to the reconstructed Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino, where we learn about the offensive against the Gustav Line and tour numerous sites of this bitter battle. We then drive to San Pietro Infine, a village frozen in time as it was abandoned during heavy shelling. It now serves as a monument to the suffering and devastation caused by war.

• Day 7

  We start the day near Anzio at the Piana delle Orme Museum whose WWII weapons, vehicles and movie star tanks collection has no match in the world. In the afternoon, we tour Anzio and Nettuno, the site of the amphibious landing of Operation Shingle in January 1944. We then head to Rome for the night.

• Day 8

  We tour Rome in the footsteps of Mussolini. We visit the former Gestapo Headquarters, Mussolini’s office buildings, bunkers, villa and balcony, where he delivered rousing speeches to his followers, and other World War II related sites in the Eternal City.

• Day 9

  We spend the morning paying our respects at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial, where 7,862 American soldiers are intered. In the afternoon we visit the Vatican and St Peter’s Basilica.

• Day 10

  Since no visit to Rome can be complete without seeing the Coliseum, we discover the most important ancient remains of the Italian capital on a guided tour. In the afternoon we offer free time and a chance to other famous sites like the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and the Spanish Steps.

• Day 11

  Passengers are transfered to Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci International Airport for their return flights home.