Italy
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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 walks the Via dei Fori Imperiali past the Arch of Constantine — the largest surviving Roman triumphal arch — and the Circus Maximus, which held up to 250,000 for the chariot races. The evening is yours: Trastevere, or a courtyard dinner somewhere quiet.

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 somewhere serious — a celebratory last Roman meal.

Transfer to Roma Termini and take the high-speed train to Florence — about ninety minutes through Lazio and into Tuscany. Your driver meets you at Santa Maria Novella and takes you to Hotel Savoy on the Piazza della Repubblica.

The afternoon starts at the Piazza del Duomo. Brunelleschi’s red-tiled dome is the engineering feat that arguably defined the Renaissance, and the Baptistery’s golden Gates of Paradise were called worthy of paradise by Michelangelo himself, which is a hard review to beat.

On to the Piazza della Signoria — an open-air sculpture gallery in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, which is still the city government — then across the Ponte Vecchio, lined with jewellers and the only Florentine bridge to survive the war. Dinner is Tuscan: bistecca alla fiorentina, or pappardelle with wild boar.

The Galleria dell’Accademia first, and Michelangelo’s David. It is considerably larger and more astonishing in person than photographs prepare anyone for.

Then the Uffizi, in Vasari’s 16th-century building: Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, Leonardo’s Annunciation, Raphael and Caravaggio. A guide earns their fee here more than anywhere — the context is what turns a famous picture into something you remember.

The afternoon takes in Santa Croce, where Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli are all buried within a few metres of one another, and the vast Palazzo Pitti. Then across the Arno into the Oltrarno, which is less visited, more lived-in, and full of artisan workshops still doing the work by hand. Dinner there, in a trattoria or a wine bar.

A private day out of the city. Siena first — one of the finest medieval cities in Italy and a UNESCO site, built around the shell-shaped Piazza del Campo, which is one of the great public spaces in Europe. The Duomo inside is extravagant: an inlaid marble floor, and work by Bernini, Donatello and Pinturicchio.

Midday goes to Chianti, and a traditional winery for a tasting of Chianti Classico and Super Tuscans alongside aged balsamic and truffled olive oil. Lunch is at a family-owned estate.

The afternoon stops at San Gimignano, the medieval Manhattan, where fourteen tower houses still stand above rolling hills, cypress and vineyard. Back to Florence in the evening.

High-speed rail again, about two hours through Emilia-Romagna into the Veneto. At Santa Lucia your private water taxi is waiting, and the transfer down the Grand Canal to the Riva degli Schiavoni is the best possible introduction to the city.

The afternoon begins in St Mark’s Square — Napoleon’s drawing room of Europe. St Mark’s Basilica is Byzantine and gold-mosaicked throughout; the Doge’s Palace next door holds Tintoretto and Veronese in rooms built to intimidate.

You cross the Bridge of Sighs, named for the prisoners who saw Venice for the last time through its windows. The evening is for getting lost on purpose, then dinner on a quiet canal.

A private gondola in the morning, under the Bridge of Sighs and then away into the smaller canals where the city is quiet and the palaces are close enough to touch. It is a cliché only until you have done it.

Mid-morning is the Rialto Bridge, spanning the Grand Canal since the 16th century, and the Rialto Market beside it — the working fish market where Venetians still shop, and the best twenty minutes of local life in the city.

The afternoon goes deliberately off the main routes: hidden streets, quiet courtyards, and a traditional Murano glass-making demonstration. Dinner overlooks the Grand Canal — sarde in saor, or risotto with Adriatic fish.

A private boat into the Venetian Lagoon. Murano first, the historic centre of glassmaking, where master artisans still work molten glass by techniques handed down through generations.

Then Burano — among the most photographed islands anywhere, with its brilliantly painted houses and its lace-making tradition. Lunch is seafood from the Adriatic at a local trattoria, looking out over the lagoon.

Back to Venice for a final Italian dinner, and the chance to look back over three cities and a country’s worth of history in nine days.

A final breakfast over the lagoon, then a private water taxi from the Danieli directly to Venice Marco Polo Airport for your flight home.