Some background - why Italy

I've waited  s o o o  many years, and it was well worth the wait. Florence and showed us the photos from her trip, I wanted to see it all for myself. I'm first-generation Italian -- my father was born in Bagheria, Sicily, but the family came to America when he was about 2 years old.

When my fifth grade teacher returned from her honeymoon in

I studied the language in high school, and I'm sorry I didn't retain more than I did. My father spoke a dialect, so there was little reinforcement of what I was learning in school. I took many art classes all throughout my high school and college years, which solidified my desire to go to Italy and see in person all that I was studying. (I realized that goal as I stood in the center of the Sistine Chapel, looking up. tears welling.) In college I also took an Italian Renaissance Architecture class, which so enriched my overall appreciation of so many of the things I finally got to see.

We chose to do a Perillo tour, and added three days at the end to tour Sicily on our own. A tour was the right way to go for us. It was very busy, early travels via bus and late dinners, but there is no way we would have seen all that we did had it not been for the tour itinerary. All details of each tour were taken care of ... tickets were purchased ahead for us, our guide, Antonella, knew exactly where to go for everything, of course ... and she provided a great deal of background/history all along the way. It was definitely the right choice for us.