A Taste
of Italy

Arrival in Taormina

Arrive in Sicily and transfer to a five-star hotel in Taormina, the loveliest of the island's resorts, perched on a terrace high above the Ionian Sea. There is time to explore its medieval streets and the beautifully preserved ancient Greek Theatre, with Mount Etna smoking gently on the horizon. This evening, gather for a welcome dinner with champagne and meet your Tour Manager and fellow travellers.

Taormina has been seducing travellers since antiquity. Founded by the Greeks as Tauromenium, it became a favourite of the Grand Tour and later of the writers and artists who followed, from Goethe to D H Lawrence, all drawn by its improbable perch between mountain and sea. Its great treasure is the ancient theatre, begun by the Greeks and enlarged by the Romans, from whose worn stone tiers the view sweeps across the whole coast to the ever-present silhouette of Etna, still gently breathing smoke.

Welcome dinner with champagne. One hotel night in Taormina.

Baroque Ragusa and a Sicilian Kitchen

After breakfast you board the Golden Eagle Danube Express and travel through the rolling Sicilian countryside to Ragusa, one of the late-baroque towns of the Val di Noto, rebuilt in golden stone after a great earthquake and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here you take part in a lively cooking demonstration, learning the techniques and secrets of authentic Sicilian cuisine, before settling in for your first night on board.

Ragusa is really two towns in one. After the catastrophic earthquake of 1693 levelled much of south-eastern Sicily, some survivors rebuilt on the ridge above while others returned to the old rock and raised Ragusa Ibla anew, a tumble of honey-coloured baroque crowned by the magnificent domed church of San Giorgio. The cooking here is Sicily at its most generous: sun-ripened tomatoes and aubergines, ricotta and almonds, the island's celebrated street food and pastries, and the deep, grainy chocolate of nearby Modica, still made to an ancient recipe the Spanish carried back from the Americas.

First night on board. Ragusa; Sicilian cooking demonstration.

Palermo and the Teatro Massimo

A gourmet breakfast on board accompanies the run west to Palermo, the vibrant capital of Sicily, where a walking tour takes in the markets, palaces and Arab-Norman architecture of the old town. The highlight is an aperitif and a private concert at the magnificent Teatro Massimo, the largest opera house in Italy.

In the afternoon there is a Freedom of Choice: visit the thought-provoking Anti-Mafia exhibition in the hill town of Corleone, or the extraordinary golden mosaics of Monreale Cathedral, one of the finest Norman churches in the world.

Few cities wear their history so vividly as Palermo. Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Normans and Spanish have all left their mark, and the result is a glorious, chaotic layering of cultures, nowhere better tasted than in the clamour of its ancient street markets, where the food carts and their sizzling specialities are a spectacle in themselves. The Teatro Massimo, completed in 1897, is the largest opera house in Italy and the third largest in Europe, and may be familiar from the closing scenes of The Godfather Part III, while the mosaics of Monreale sheathe the cathedral in acres of gold, telling the whole of scripture in glittering Byzantine detail.

Palermo old town; aperitif and private Teatro Massimo concert; choice of Corleone or Monreale Cathedral.

The Straits of Messina and Maratea

The day begins with one of the great moments of European rail travel: the crossing of the Straits of Messina, when the entire train is shunted aboard a ferry and carried across the water to the Italian mainland. It is a spectacle few travellers ever witness.

Ashore, the train continues to Maratea on the Tyrrhenian coast, where you ascend to the towering Christ the Redeemer statue for panoramic views over the sea. Then it is time to roll up your sleeves for a pizza-making class with expert chefs at the elegant Santavenere Hotel, followed by dining above the coast.

Maratea is the jewel of Basilicata's short and spectacular coastline, a town said to have almost as many churches as there are days in the year, its old centre a maze of lanes and little squares high above the Tyrrhenian. Presiding over it all from the summit of Monte San Biagio is the great marble statue of Christ the Redeemer, arms outstretched, second in size only to the more famous figure above Rio de Janeiro. And there is no better place to make a pizza than the country that gave it to the world, the light, blistered Neapolitan style having been born just along the coast in Naples.

Straits of Messina ferry crossing; Christ the Redeemer, Maratea; pizza-making class at the Santavenere Hotel.

Verona and on to Venice

Having travelled north through the night, the train reaches Verona, the romantic city of Romeo and Juliet and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A guided walking tour takes in the great Roman Arena on the Piazza Bra, still used for opera today, and the handsome medieval streets around it.

From Verona you continue to Venice, journey's end, for a one-night stay in a five-star hotel in the heart of the city. This evening, a farewell reception dinner brings the group together to toast the journey and the flavours of Italy.

Verona has drawn lovers and travellers for centuries, not least for its association with Shakespeare's star-crossed pair, and its rose-pink Roman arena, raised in the first century, still fills each summer for open-air opera beneath the stars. Venice needs little introduction: a city built impossibly upon the water, once the richest republic in Europe, where palaces rise straight from the canals and the light shifts endlessly across the lagoon. It is a fitting, dreamlike place to bring a journey through Italy to its close.

Verona walking tour and Roman Arena; farewell dinner. One hotel night in Venice.

Onward Journey

After breakfast, a private transfer takes you to the airport for your onward journey home. Should you wish to linger, an extended stay in Venice can be arranged, with time to explore St Mark's, the Doge's Palace and the quiet backwaters of the city at your own pace.

Breakfast and private airport transfer. Optional Venice extension.