The Rabbinical Trail: A Jewish-Centric Exploration Tour of the Veneto Region

We had an absolute dream trip to Italy with the help of Zicasso's travel specialist! Traveling as a family of five, we visited Rome, Florence, San Gimignano, Greve, Siena, Cinque Terre, and Venice, along with many beautiful towns and smaller areas throughout the country.

The wonderful vacation rental accommodations were thoughtfully chosen and every detail of our trip was carefully planned. The local tour guides were incredibly knowledgeable and gave us a truly authentic experience. Our private transfers, train transfer, and private tours were efficient, informative, and made traveling from place to place seamless and stress-free.

The communication between all tour guides and transportation providers was great, as was that of each vacation rental host, who contacted us in advance to prepare us for our arrival.

One of our favorite parts of the trip was discovering the smaller, less-touristy areas within the larger cities, places we likely never would have found on our own. We enjoyed exploring Tridente for shopping and Trastevere in Rome for a private pizza-making class (highly recommended), artisan shops, excellent restaurants, and a vibrant nightlife.

Florence was wonderful, but we had the opportunity to travel to a few other areas, such as Siena, Greve, and San Gimignano. We even had a private vineyard tour and chef's meal while in Chianti. A must-see is the walk to the Boboli Gardens across Ponte Vecchio and, on the way back to our apartment, a stop at Piazzale Michelangelo.

While staying in Cinque Terre (Monterosso al Mare), be sure to take a private boat to visit all of the other villages and maybe even snorkel. The water is so clear!

Venice had great history, but we also enjoyed our boat tour to Murano to watch the glassmaking process and Burano, filled with gorgeous multicolored homes and artisan shops.

Every experience felt personal, meaningful, and special.

This trip was truly an absolute dream and we are so grateful to him for helping make our family vacation to Italy unforgettable. We highly recommend him to anyone looking to plan an incredible, seamless, and memorable trip!

On the whole, we enjoyed our trip. However, we want to make note of a few things that could have been done better. When we landed in Naples, our driver was waiting for us. But instead of bringing the car to where we were, the 4 senior adults had to walk with luggage in the heat to get to his car. On our first full day in Naples, we were picked up for our cooking class. The driver did not speak any English, and when we arrived at the address, he expected us to get out of the car. We did not know where to go, and he was not able to assist us. Lucky for us, we met a nice lady who spoke English and was able to help us. The cooking class was wonderful. One of the highlights of the trip. The Capri boat tour was enjoyable. The tour of Pompeii was fascinating. The day we were taken to the Amalfi Coast was a holiday, and we mostly sat in traffic. Not anyone's fault but not very pleasant. On June 3 we were picked up very early to go to the port for the Hydrofoil to Ischia. At the port, we had to wait around for almost 2 hours. We were not sure why we were picked up so early. On June 6 we checked into our hotel in Naples, looking forward to our Jewish Heritage tour the following day. Our tour guide was lovely - 4 stars for her - but we learned there is no Jewish heritage in Naples, so that was quite disappointing. It would have been nice to establish realistic expectations.

I am writing this review with fond memories of my trip with Zicasso's travel company. From my first contact with Eva, I was impressed with her responsiveness and follow-up. This was not an easy trip to plan, as I traveled to many different cities and had unique requests. There was not one time when Eva did not respond promptly through email or WhatsApp.

When on the trip, I was provided with names and contact information of drivers and/or guides. There were instances that come to mind where the travel company and Eva really stepped up:

1) In Sarajevo, I wasn't able to see the famed Haggadah, but the guide was great with explanations and I did see a replica and met with her parents.

2) Prior to my drive to Mostar, I was to see the Tunnel of Hope close to the Sarajevo airport. There was an issue in that the local tour company cancelled the reservation and forgot to rebook it. After nearly an hour with back-and-forth phone calls and texts, I finally was able to enter with my driver. That being said, we were late to arrive for the tour of Tito's Bunker as they have only three tours a day and I was unable to enter the bunker. My driver was on the phone with Eva, who was on the phone with her contact at the tour company and, ultimately, it was determined we would drive to Mostar. Because of traffic and border control, I would arrive later than anticipated. Additionally, my travel specialist was informed that my scheduled trip to Blagaj the next day would not be possible as there was an annual spiritual festival I would not be able to attend. My travel specialist was able to work with the local company to switch around the itinerary so I was able to go to Blagaj, and I was fortunate to have been able to see this town, which was so interesting. Because of the inconvenience, it was arranged that my guide in Mostar would, of course, provide the tour of Blagaj and Mostar, but also take me to a very nice restaurant for dinner. It was very nice to experience how the locals eat.

*I do want to add that the destination company for Bosnia and Herzegovina has a very good reputation, but this was an isolated incident. And my point is... Eva took complete control of the situation and, truth be told, was very upset about this turn of events as she is indeed a perfectionist. All worked out as best it could.

3) Leaving Dubrovnik to go to Split required a ferry ride. Because of rain, the 8:00 a.m. ferry was cancelled. My travel specialist received notification at 8:41 a.m. and I had been at the dock since 7:40 a.m. My travel specialist was very disappointed that my driver just left me there. There was no place to shelter and it was pouring rain. Additionally, there was no guarantee that the 3:00 p.m. ferry would go. So I would be at the dock with my baggage and no place to go. I sent a text to my specialist via WhatsApp and was ready to walk across the street for shelter. However, within 10 minutes a driver was dispatched to pick me up. As luck would have it, this was the same driver I had for a couple of side trips in Dubrovnik. The good news was that I got to Split about three hours before I would have with the ferry, was able to check into the hotel, and binged on Netflix until the rain ended and I went to dinner. Again, thank you to my travel specialist for her quick response and follow-up.

My travel specialist was very attentive to my unique requests. Jewish heritage is important to me and she arranged visits to the different museums and synagogues. I appreciated the special arrangements made to personally meet with members of the community. I had a traditional Bosnian meal in Sarajevo with two very interesting people from the community.

In Trieste, Italy, my guide and I made a traditional Sephardic dinner and spent a pleasant few hours speaking to this wonderful husband and wife. Overall, I think I developed a strong connection with my guides and, through social media, I now have new friends, and someday, I will return, or if anyone comes to Chicago, I will be the tour guide.

The accommodations were very good as well. A couple of months before departure I needed to switch my hotel selection in Dubrovnik because of stairs. My travel specialist found me a very nice hotel in a good location that was not too crowded or noisy, just steps away from the Jesuit Stair ("Game of Thrones" site). The irony of this was that the steps in the hotel would have been the least of my challenges as I climbed many steps in these cities and up to castles. The staff at these hotels were so helpful and nice. The restaurant recommendations and them personally contacting the restaurants for me was much appreciated. As a solo traveler, I really appreciated this special attention, both from hotel staff as well as the restaurants.

The drivers and guides were courteous, friendly, informative, and on time. They really know the area. We were fortunate to not have long waits at border control between the countries. I do intend to write individual reviews for my guides and the transportation companies. A benefit of private tours is flexibility and getting to know the drivers and guides. I was able to enjoy Bosnian coffee and double espressos. I was able to go to restaurants that real people go to and not just the tourists.

When in Zagreb, I was finally able to meet my travel specialist. After almost a year of emails, texts, and conversations, it was nice to see the face behind the screen. We had lunch after my tour and it was a perfect way to end my visit in Zagreb.

This trip was not inexpensive and overall more expensive because of the value of the U.S. dollar to the euro. However, knowing that this was pretty much a trip of a lifetime (almost a month), I would expect the cost to be what it was, as it was not the height of the tourist season.

I would definitely arrange travel with this company again and recommend them highly.

Thank you for a wonderful trip.

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.

Zicasso's travel company planned the most amazing trip to Venice, Verona, Florence, Tuscany, Siena, and Rome for our family of five. It was the best trip I've ever taken, and having all the details covered by them and plans and tickets sent to us via WhatsApp allowed us to really live in the moment and not have to think about what was next. I loved every second. I cannot wait to plan another trip to Italy to experience the southern half of the country.

The trip was very nice. Some details of timing and drive times for events could have been communicated better. We had a tour canceled at the very last minute for no reason. Another tour was a walk through a village, but didn’t include entrance to the three main sites in the town, which was strange.