Italy Highlights

Florence is the birthplace of the Renaissance and the world's greatest concentration of Renaissance art — a UNESCO World Heritage Site that contains more masterpieces per square kilometre than any other city on earth. The Uffizi Gallery has Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera, Leonardo da Vinci's Annunciation, and Raphael's Madonna of the Goldfinch. The Accademia Gallery has Michelangelo's David — the most famous sculpture in the world. The Duomo (Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore) has Brunelleschi's extraordinary dome — the largest masonry dome ever built. And the Ponte Vecchio — the medieval bridge lined with goldsmiths' shops — is one of the most romantic spots in Europe.

The Amalfi Coast is the most beautiful coastline in Europe — a UNESCO World Heritage Site stretching 50km along the southern edge of the Sorrentine Peninsula in Campania, with dramatic cliffs dropping into the turquoise Tyrrhenian Sea and a string of extraordinary clifftop villages: Positano, Amalfi, Ravello, and Praiano. The coast is famous for its extraordinary scenery, its lemon groves (producing the finest limoncello in Italy), its extraordinary seafood, and the extraordinary light that has attracted artists and writers for centuries. The drive along the SS163 coastal road — one of the most dramatic in the world — is an experience in itself.