Lucca, Portofino & the Cinque Terre

After breakfast we take a tour with a local guide who will bring the story of Lucca to life. The city was founded by the Etruscans, and its well-preserved walls date from the Renaissance. As we explore the centre, you’ll notice the rectangular grid pattern which originated with the street plan of Roman times, while the oval Roman amphitheatre is another evocative reminder of millennia past.

This afternoon you can experience more of Lucca’s wonders, exploring its cobbled streets, strolling along its shady promenades and relaxing in its elegant piazzas. As the birthplace of Puccini, Lucca hosts numerous concerts celebrating his work. You can often hear talented vocalists during rehearsals, which adds a wonderful acoustic dimension to your enjoyment of this beautiful city.

After breakfast, it’s just a short drive to Pisa for a guided tour that takes you to the heart of this historic city.

You’ll marvel at how such a relatively small space can accommodate such magnificence. The Leaning Tower – one of the world’s most instantly recognisable silhouettes – is your iconic introduction to the rest of the piazza.

We conclude our visit with the Camposanto, a huge cemetery reputed to contain soil from Golgotha – the site of Jesus’s crucifixion. The great and good of Pisan society wanted to be laid to rest in holy ground and the arched Gothic cloister is lined by sarcophagi and huge frescoes, some in the process of being restored to their former glory.

In the afternoon we return to Lucca for you to relax or explore at your leisure.

This evening, for a real taste of Italy we dine at a local restaurant in Lucca serving traditional Tuscan cuisine. Taste some of the delights of the local region and enjoy the experience with new friends.

Our morning drive north takes us past Carrara’s enormous gleaming quarries, source of the finest marble, which has been used in masterpieces by sculptors from Michelangelo to Henry Moore and fashioned since Roman times into the great monuments now dotted across Italy’s landscapes and beyond. Our exploration of the extraordinarily arresting coast of Liguria brings us to the Gulf of the Poets, an evocative name for an inspiring area.

One of its highlights is the picturesque village of Porto Venere, its fortress high on the hillside overlooking an array of colourful multi-storeyed houses lining the harbour. A stroll along the promenade reveals a network of narrow medieval lanes leading to the church and castle. We will enjoy lunch in a local restaurant before continuing to Genoa, where we stay for the rest of the tour.

This morning we enjoy a guided tour of Genoa, followed by free time in the afternoon. Known as 'La Superba' at the height of its maritime power, Genoa was one of Italy's four major maritime republics and it is still home to Italy's largest Port.

We start exploring the heart of Medieval Genoa, famous for its narrow lanes called 'caruggi', interspersed with imposing late-Renaissance palaces built by Genoa's wealthiest families in the 16th and 17th century. Today, it is a vibrant and eclectic city with so much to offer, from the regenerated port area or ornate palazzi and museums.

We spend the next two days exploring the splendours of the surrounding coastline in the manner to which local people have been accustomed for millennia – by boat. Our private charter takes us to the extraordinary Cinque Terre, which translates as ‘Five Lands’. We visit a selection of these five villages – Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore – cut off from the landward side by rugged terrain and steep coastline, making them almost unreachable by car. The dramatic locations, the vivid colours and the way the villages seem to fuse organically with the rugged topography make this one of Europe’s principal scenic highlights. Seafood dominates menus here, anchovies being a local speciality, while steeply terraced hillsides produce fine olives and the ingredients for pesto. Immerse yourself in your surroundings and a lifestyle that has changed very little over time

You can watch fine watercraft quietly going about their business on the shimmering waters as we sail the short distance to Portofino. Arriving here by boat gives you a real sense of the way in which this historic fishing village established itself and thrived around its own superb natural harbour, with a setting of cypress trees and olive groves. A walk to the headland offers a life-affirming view and the scents of thyme, pine and wildflowers hanging heavy in the air.

We return to Genoa in the afternoon, where you will have a bit more free time to enjoy this intriguing coastal city, or simply relax and seek out a local restaurant for dinner.