Italy &
Malta

Land at Rome Fiumicino and meet your private chauffeur for the transfer to Hotel de la Ville, an 18th-century palazzo perched directly above the Spanish Steps. Check in, and let the Eternal City introduce itself gently.

A late-afternoon walk takes in Piazza Navona, built over the Stadium of Domitian and centred on Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers, then the Pantheon — still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world, with its oculus open to the sky nineteen centuries on.

At dusk, the Trevi Fountain is lit. Throw a coin over your left shoulder with your right hand, which is the only way it counts. Welcome dinner follows at a Roman trattoria: cacio e pepe, or carbonara, done properly.

A full private morning inside the Roman Empire. The Colosseum first — the largest amphitheatre ever built, and your guide will explain the pulley systems and underground tunnels that lifted animals and gladiators onto the sand in front of fifty thousand people.

Then the Roman Forum: the Temple of Saturn, the House of the Vestals, the Arch of Titus, and the ground where emperors, senators and citizens actually stood. Palatine Hill follows, the legendary birthplace of Romulus and Remus and the address every emperor eventually wanted, looking down over the Circus Maximus.

The afternoon adds Capitoline Hill, the most important of Rome’s seven and crowned by Michelangelo’s piazza, then the Piazza Venezia and the vast white marble monument to Victor Emmanuel II that dominates the city centre. The evening is free.

Vatican City in the morning — the smallest sovereign state in the world and one of the greatest art collections in it. Your guide leads you through the Gallery of Maps, the Gallery of Tapestries and the Raphael Rooms before the Sistine Chapel, where Michelangelo’s ceiling and The Last Judgement need no introduction and repay a long look.

St Peter’s Basilica follows, built over the tomb of the first pope: the Pietà, Bernini’s Baldacchino, and the dome that fixes Rome’s skyline. You finish in St Peter’s Square, inside Bernini’s colonnade.

The afternoon crosses the Tiber to Castel Sant’Angelo, Hadrian’s mausoleum turned fortress, and the covered passage popes used to escape along. Then the Spanish Steps and Via Condotti. Shoulders and knees must be covered for the Vatican — bring a light layer even in August.

Dinner is an authentic Roman evening — the city’s own dishes, done in the places that have been doing them longest.

High-speed rail to Florence, ninety minutes through Lazio and Tuscany, and a private transfer to Hotel Savoy on the Piazza della Repubblica.

A walking afternoon through the historic centre: the Piazza del Duomo, Brunelleschi’s dome, the Gates of Paradise, and Giotto’s bell tower beside the cathedral.

Then the Piazza della Signoria, the Palazzo Vecchio and the Ponte Vecchio. Dinner in the historic centre.

The morning is Florence’s greatest treasures: the Uffizi, with Botticelli, Leonardo and Raphael, and the second-floor terrace that gives the best photograph of the Palazzo Vecchio tower. Then the Accademia on the 8:15 slot, so that David comes before the crowds. Santa Croce follows, where Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli are buried.

The afternoon leaves for the countryside: Siena and the Piazza del Campo, where the Palio runs twice each summer; then Chianti, and a winery tasting of Chianti Classico and Super Tuscans with balsamic and olive oil.

San Gimignano last, with its fourteen surviving towers over the vineyards, and a traditional Tuscan lunch at a family estate. Back to Florence in the evening.

Transfer to Florence Airport and fly to Malta — about one hour forty-five. Your driver meets you for the short transfer to The Phoenicia Malta in Floriana, just outside the walls of Valletta.

The afternoon is a guided walk through Valletta, one of the most concentrated historic areas anywhere: 320 monuments inside 55 hectares. The city’s story runs through Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs and finally the Knights of St John, whose stamp is everywhere.

You take in the City Gate, Republic Street, St George’s Square, the Upper Barrakka Gardens above the Grand Harbour, and St John’s Co-Cathedral — whose baroque interior is startling, and which holds Caravaggio’s Beheading of Saint John the Baptist. Dinner overlooks the harbour.

Inland to Mdina, the walled former capital whose origins go back more than four thousand years. Cars are not permitted inside the walls, and the effect is total: narrow honey-coloured lanes, no traffic, and a quiet that earned it the name the Silent City.

You enter through the baroque Mdina Gate, visit St Paul’s Cathedral — built where the Roman governor Publius is said to have met St Paul after his shipwreck — and Palazzo Falson, a 13th-century noble house turned museum. The bastion viewpoints look out across most of the island. Then Rabat, and St Paul’s Catacombs, a significant early Christian burial site.

The afternoon visits the &Hcaron;a&gcaron;ar Qim temples, a UNESCO site more than five thousand years old and among the oldest free-standing structures in the world, then the Dingli Cliffs for sunset over the western coast.

Across to Gozo — twenty minutes by the Gozo Channel ferry, or by private boat. Gozo has all of Malta’s charm with more space and less intensity: rolling garrigue-covered hills, big skies and a rougher coast.

Victoria and the Citadel dominate the centre of the island, built as a refuge during foreign invasions; from the parapet the views run to every coast. The Cathedral of the Assumption hides an opulent interior behind a modest facade, and five small museums sit within the walls on a single ticket.

Then Xlendi Bay, a picturesque fishing village with very clear water; Dwejra, where the collapsed Azure Window once stood and the Inland Sea still does; and the Ta’ Pinu Basilica, an important pilgrimage site. Lunch is Gozitan — local fish, or the hearty fish soup the island’s fishermen are known for.

A private boat to Comino, the small island between Malta and Gozo. Its entire surface is four square kilometres, which makes it close to a perfect day of sun, sea and doing very little.

The Blue Lagoon is the reason people come — water so clear it reads as a sapphire pool — and the seabed around it is well known among snorkellers, with reef only metres from the lagoon. The day also takes in coastal caves and hidden bays reachable only by boat, with lunch served on board.

The afternoon returns to Malta for free time in Valletta. A farewell dinner over the Mediterranean closes the journey.

Breakfast at the hotel and, depending on your flight, a final morning in Valletta — Maltese ceramics, glassware or lace are the things worth carrying home. Private transfer to Malta International Airport.