B = Breakfast included L = Lunch included D = Dinner included
Overview
Itinerary
Purpose
Arrangements
Price
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Journey Overview
Join us in beautiful Italy for a fascinating purposeful journey in Italy that features art, history, and the gastronomic and cultural delights for which this European country has become known around the world.
A Taste of the Renaissance offers an encounter with Renaissance art and culture in a way that promises to be as fun as it will be fascinating. We will engage the rich history of cities with an ancient past. We will see some of the most famous and most beautiful art the world has to offer. We will also interact with a very popular sight, Juliet’s House, that may be pure fiction, but with at least some grounding in authentic history. Enhancing our delectable tastes of history, culture, and cuisine we will be wowed with beautiful scenery, wonderful experiences of Italian wine in spectacular settings, and unforgettable gastronomic experiences.
Your Host for the Journey
Your current host for A Taste of the Renaissance is Purposeful Journeys by MCE Founder and CEO, Mike Malone. While Mike would be very happy to host this journey, this and most other journeys are open to prospective, interested hosts.
There are many benefits to serving as a journey host for your cohort of fellow travelers. We will do everything we can to empower you to serve as host for your cohort of fellow travelers at a level you choose. You may want to engage the experience at a more social level while relying on the expertise of in country tour directors and guides. You may want to become more engaged intellectually or spiritually by teaching, leading devotions, or offering your expertise through one or more talks or conversation sessions. Whatever your interest in your level of engagement as a journey host, we will do all we can to support you so that yours becomes a journey of a lifetime.
Become a Host for this Journey
If you are interested in hosting this journey or would like to consider hosting a journey customized just for you and your group, click the button below to learn what it means to Become a Host. We also invite your inquiry. If you want to learn more about hosting this or another journey, please get in touch. We would love to share the benefits of what hosting a journey could mean for you and your cohort of fellow travelers.
Day 1 – Wheels up!
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
A Taste of Renaissance fellow travelers depart from Chicago (or other major airport) on an overnight flight to Florence, Italy.
Day 2 – Ciao! Welcome to Italy!
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
Following our arrival in Florence, Italy, we will meet our tour manager and transfer to our beautiful hotel. After some rest and time to settle in, we will gather for a spectacular welcome dinner. D
Day 3 – An Artful Experience
Thursday, October 10, 2024
Our knowledgeable guide will escort us through an awe-inspiring encounter with some of the most famous Renaissance sculptures in world. Our time at the world-famous Accademia Gallery Museum will be followed by time to explore, to shop, or to rest. B,D
Day 4 – Fascinating Florence
Friday, October 11, 2024
We will enjoy a guided tour of Florence, a fascinating city, with deep roots in the Italian Rennaissance. This excursion will conclude in time to allow time to shop on your own, explore or relax before dinner. B,D
Day 5 – A Taste of Renaissance Art
Saturday, October 12, 2024
Today, we visit the Uffizi Gallery which is the most important Italian museum and one of the most beautiful art collections in the world. It is home to masterpieces by some of the greatest artists of all time, including Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael, among others. This excursion will conclude in time to allow time to explore or relax before dinner. B,D
Day 6 - Drink in the Culture
Sunday, October 13, 2024
Rick Steve’s describes Verona as “a welcome sip of pure, easygoing Italy.” Situated at the base of the Lessini Mountains on the River Adige, Verona has a history that dates back 2,000 years. Once we arrive in Verona, we will receive an introductory sightseeing tour followed by leisure time until we gather for dinner. B,D
Day 7 Talk about Romance
Monday, October 14, 2024
Today will offer a special treat that will be a cross between fantasy and reality that is tenuously grounded in authentic history that influenced one of the most recognized works by Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet. We will join others who imbibe in romantic fantasy when we visit Juliet’s house. This experience may not project the gravitas of our earlier experiences of Renaissance, but a visit to the house of star-crossed lover, Juliet, promises to be as fun as it is fascinating. The rest of the day will be devoted to leisure. B,D
Day 8 – A Very Old Castle
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Our encounter with medieval history today will take the form of a visit to a castle built in the fourteenth century: Museo die Castelvecchio. The term “Castelvecchio” (means “old castle” in Italian). The rest of the day, until dinner, will be free for you to explore Verona on your own. B,D
Day 9 – Pisa and Pasta Discovery
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
After breakfast, we will travel to Pisa where we will tour this world famous city with a local guide. Our day will include an experience of a true Italian gem—the smallest pasta factory in Lari. B, D
Day 10 – Let’s Go Cruis’n
Thursday, October 17, 2024
After breakfast, we will travel to Lake Trasimeno where we will enjoy a boat tour from Passignano di Trasimeno to Isola Maggiore where we will delight in a three course lunch. We will enjoy dinner and a relaxing evening at our hotel in preparation for departure the next day. B, L, D
Day 11 – The Formal End to our Purposeful Journey
Friday, October 18, 2024
The memories will indeed last a lifetime. We hope your conversation, and therefore your journey, will continue with your new friends. Our journey concludes, formally, with the departure of our flight home.
Purpose
There are many ways in which encounters with the past can help us to better understand who we are in the present. The purpose of this fun, fascinating encounter with Renaissance history, art and culture is to stimulate thoughts about who we are today in light of this culture. Even the fun engagement with the fictional creation of Shakespeare’s imagination which has at least some roots in authentic history can be a fun way to stimulate thoughts of what is important in life. Join us in beautiful Italy for a fascinating purposeful journey that features art, history, and the gastronomic and cultural delights for which this European country has become known around the world.
A Taste of the Renaissance offers an encounter with Renaissance art and culture in a way that promises to be as fun as it will be fascinating. We will engage the rich history of cities with an ancient past. We will see some of the most famous and most beautiful art the world has to offer. We will also interact with a very popular sight, Juliet’s House, that may be pure fiction, but with at least some grounding in authentic history. Enhancing our delectable tastes of history, culture, and cuisine we will be wowed with beautiful scenery, wonderful experiences of Italian wine in spectacular settings, and unforgettable gastronomic experiences.
Our Philosophy
We hope you will measure the quality of your journey, not by the quantity of sights you see, but by the invaluable experiences you absorb.
Balance of stimulating experience, serious reflection… …and just plain fun.
One word describes our intention for your journey: balance. We believe each place we visit should relate to whole story, the arc of a narrative. We believe in creating journeys formed and shaped as narratives; journeys that are serious, purposeful, and fulfilling with time to reflect with fellow travelers or alone while providing opportunity for experiences that are just plain fun.
Expert interaction and rich personal encounters
Rather than a trip led by a tour guide trained to disseminate information from a script, we endeavor to seek experts to lead you on a journey who are available as a resource for as much depth as you desire or to leave you to your own reflection.
One beautiful base location
Too often, group travel can leave you feeling like you are part of a herd of a large group of strangers hustled from sight to sight, packing and unpacking everyday of your trip. With us you will stay in one beautiful base location that serves as a base for our excursions. Changing hotels as few times as possible during a journey allows greater opportunity to experience people and culture.
Meticulously planned; yet flexible journey
How does a trip become a journey? Carefully selected excursions that form a narrative, staying in one beautiful base location, with time and flexibility for reflection, and activities that are just plain fun.
Cuisine as a delectable complement to culture and conversation
Cuisine, and the wonderful dining experiences we share in an eclectic array of venues, provide a delectable complement to your rich encounters with the culture and the delightful conversation you enjoy with fellow travelers.
Arrangements
Arrangements for this journey will appear in this section as those arrangements are confirmed. The information provided here will tend to be of a more general nature. More detailed information, such as group flight times, will appear on the password protected Fellow Travelers page. Once you become part of this journey, you will be sent a password to access specific arrangements for this journey:
Flight Information
As a fellow traveler, you will have the flexibility to choose how you will join your cohort to formally begin your journey. Purposeful Journeys marks the formal beginning of your journey with the welcome reception and dinner at our destination hotel. On most journeys, you will have three options to join your cohort. Below are the options for joining your cohort with the primary advantage for each option:
- Join Your Cohort on Our Group Flight: On most journeys, Purposeful Journeys will arrange a group flight from a major airport in closest proximity and convenience for the majority of the cohort. The group flight will include a transfer from the destination airport to the hotel.
Advantage: This is often the most cost effective and certainly the most convenient option. - Meet Your Cohort at the Destination Airport: For a number of reasons, you may want to choose a flight other than the group flight and still meet your cohort in time to transfer from the destination airport to the hotel. Fellow travelers who choose this option will incur an additional cost for the transfer from the destination airport to the destination hotel.
Advantage: Fellow travelers may find a balance between the convenience of choosing their own flight from an origination airport other than the airport where the group flight will depart while still taking advantage of the group transfer to the destination hotel. - Meet Your Cohort at the Destination Hotel: As a fellow traveler, you may want to choose to meet your cohort at the destination hotel in time for the formal beginning of your journey with the welcome reception and dinner.
Advantage: This option offers fellow travelers the most flexibility. Fellow travelers will need to weigh the flexibility of this option with what will likely be additional costs.
Group flights will usually be announced between 90 and 180 days prior to departure of your purposeful journey. Fellow travelers will be kindly requested to choose the option for meeting their cohort to formally begin their journey soon after group flight arrangements are announced.
Hotel Accommodations
Arrangements have been made for fellow travelers at hotels rated four star and above.
Ground Transportation
Ground transportation by deluxe travel coach will be provided throughout the journey. Transfers to and from the arrival flight into and departing flight from Europe will be provided as specified in the final itinerary.
Meals
Most meals are included in this purposeful journey. Dining in Europe tends to be as much of a leisurely event as a means of taking sustenance. Meals provide time for us to relax, taken in the culture, and discuss all that we have seen and experienced as fellow travelers that day. See the current, tentative itinerary for details.
Sightseeing and Events
This purposeful journey includes entrance fees to attractions as specified in the final itinerary.
Land Only Cost—$4,150 (Please be sure to check for current discounts and incentives!)
Current Discounts and Incentives:
- Ask about the host discount of up to $300
- Settle your balance in full by the due date of your first payment and receive a discount of $150
- Make payments by check instead of credit card and receive a discount of $150.
- Deposits through December 31, 2023 are just $150. Your deposit will only become non-refundable with your first payment. Until then, you can cancel at any time.
- NO PAYMENTS UNTIL 2024: Your first payment will not be due until January 2024.
Your journey includes:
- Deluxe coach transportation throughout your itinerary
- Double occupancy hotel room ($xxx single supplement)
- Meals as specified in the final itinerary
- Admission fees as specified in the final itinerary
- Only goods, services, or activities as explicitly included in the General Terms and Conditions.
Your journey does not include:
- Gratuities for service staff, coach driver(s) and guides
- Alcoholic beverages, bottled water, after dinner drinks
- Travel insurance
- Any goods, services, or activities expressly excluded in the General Terms and Conditions.
Remittance Schedule:
- Deposit of $150 is due with your application.
- Payments due as specified in your remittance schedule.
- Final payment must be received no later than the date specified on your invoice and remittance schedule.
When approved as a fellow traveler…
…you will receive an invoice and a remittance schedule from Malone Clan Expeditions, LLC along with a link to a password protected page on our website that will offer details and updates about your journey.
General Terms and Conditions
Malone Clan Expeditions, LLC will administer your journey. You must accept the General Terms and Conditions at the time you submit your application. Please refer to the General Terms and Conditions for any applicable additional fees that may apply in certain situations and circumstances such as any deviation from the group flight itinerary or your requirement of a single room.
We cordially invite you to apply to join us as a fellow traveler
Please complete the application form. You will be prompted to submit a payment deposit of $150 (regularly $300) with your application once your form is complete with all required fields. We are delighted you are taking the step of submitting your application to become a member of a journey with us. We look forward to notifying you of your acceptance as a fellow traveler.
