On our Italy tours we exert our influence where it counts: to gain out-of-hours visits to the Sistine Chapel in Rome and to the Basilica di San Marco in Venice, for example. Led by lecturers pre-eminent in their field, our small-group tours of Italy do full justice to an incomparably rich cultural heritage.
As featured in:
Exploring Italy on a cultural tour
We offer fresh perspectives on old friends, using art historians, not musicologists, on our opera tours of Verona and bring you the mosaics of Ravenna and the frozen worlds of Pompeii and Herculaneum.
We dine finely in Piedmont, throw light on the Dark Ages in the northern Adriatic and stand at the crossroads of European civilisations in Sicily. We gaze up at Michelangelo’s David and down at Etruscan tombs. We give you Italy, packaged in a gilt-edged portfolio.
Cultural tours in Sicily
Whether it’s on a private tour of Palermo’s Palatine Chapel or a guided walk on Etna with an expert vulcanologist, you will be fully immersed in dazzling cultural inheritance.
With special, out-of-hours access to the Basilica di San Marco - as well as on-the-spot insights by our expert lecturers - we give you an unrivalled view of La Serenissima.
Special access is a feature of our Florence tours: visit the vast baroque Palazzo Corsini al Parione, dine at the Palazzo Corsini al Prato, and gaze across the city and Appenines beyond from Palazzo Gondi.
From the underground chambers of the Colosseum to Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel frescoes viewed in tranquil solitude, we uncover both Rome's cultural triumphs and lesser-known masterpieces.
Since 1988 we have been the most influential organisation in the field of cultural travel, offering an unequalled range of tours and events. Pioneering and innovative, we have led the way with ideas and itineraries and by setting the benchmarks for customer service and administration.
Privileged access
Special arrangements are a feature of our tours – for admission to places not generally open to travellers, for access outside public hours, for private concerts and extraordinary events. In innumerable ways, we lift our clients’ experience far above standards which are regarded as normal for tourists.
First-rate speakers
Expert speakers are a key ingredient in our tours. Academics, curators, writers, broadcasters and researchers, they are selected not only for their knowledge but also for their ability to communicate clearly and engagingly to a lay audience. Their brief is to enlighten and stimulate, not merely to inform.
Holiday protection
We provide full financial protection for our package holidays which include international flights, by way of our Air Travel Organiser’s Licence (ATOL); and for those that do not include a flight, by way of a bond held by ABTOT – The Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited.
Personal service
We aim for faultless administration from your first encounter with us to the end of the holiday, and beyond. We want you to come back again and again – as most of our clients do. We can provide options without international travel if you prefer to make your own arrangements.
Award-winning
Five consecutive years as Best Special Interest Holiday Company at the British Travel Awards (2015–19) reflects our commitment to excellence. With a remarkable 99% satisfaction rating from more than 1,100 independent reviews, our attention to detail and client care is unmatched.
Most of our tours run with between 10 and 20 participants. Our travellers are self-selected by common interests and an endorsement of our ethos. You are highly likely to find yourself among like-minded companions, whether travelling solo (as 50% of our clients do) or with a travel partner.
Value for money
The price includes nearly everything, not only the major ingredients such as hotel, transport and the costs of the lecturer and manager but also tips and drinks with meals. The price published is the price you pay. You can secure your booking today with a 15% deposit.
"Trecento Frescoes" is a fantastic study of the pioneering art of Giotto and his contemporaries, a must for anyone interested in pre-renaissance Itali...
An Italian art lover's dream
"Trecento Frescoes" is a fantastic study of the pioneering art of Giotto and his contemporaries, a must for anyone interested in pre-renaissance Italian art (even a non-academic like myself). Wonderful visits to key sites in Padua, Florence, and Assisi, with an excellent lecturer. As always with a Martin Randall tour, meticulously planned, and with the added pleasure of travelling with like-minded companions - a thoroughly convivial experience.
Mo
16/11/25
Mo
16/11/25
A delightful stay in Tuscany
This was a short holiday, packed with beautiful visits. We had two visits to Siena, one to San Gimignano and one to Volterra. In each of these we saw ...
A delightful stay in Tuscany
This was a short holiday, packed with beautiful visits. We had two visits to Siena, one to San Gimignano and one to Volterra. In each of these we saw wonderful frescoes, fine churches and the magnificent cathedral of Sienna, among other things. We ate at excellent restaurants and we stayed in a very good hotel. The sun shone every day. It was a lovely little holiday.
Granny Evi
13/11/25
Granny Evi
13/11/25
Uniformly excellent tours and adventures with Martin Randall in Italy, Norway and Turkey
I have had four trips over the past two years, and all were top-notch. All were well designed to see remote or inaccessible places and buildings, or e...
Uniformly excellent tours and adventures with Martin Randall in Italy, Norway and Turkey
I have had four trips over the past two years, and all were top-notch. All were well designed to see remote or inaccessible places and buildings, or enjoy first class musical concerts. The hotels, meals, transport and administration were all exactly what was needed, and most welcome.The tour specialists have all been the best you could have wanted; helpful, polite, accessible and most important of all, really properly expert. You learn so much from them ! No half measures or "winging it", and all were linguistically gifted. And they welcomed questions, and were most open and tolerant. I cannot imagine better ones for the tours/trips I took. I would do them all again!
Nostromo
13/11/2025
Nostromo
13/11/2025
Fascinating week in a less known part of Italy
Our week based in Trieste explored the region of Italy that prospered for centuries under the Hapsburg empire and included visits to neighbouring Croa...
Fascinating week in a less known part of Italy
Our week based in Trieste explored the region of Italy that prospered for centuries under the Hapsburg empire and included visits to neighbouring Croatia and Slovenia. As always with Martin Randall Travel our tour was curated by knowledgeable leaders well versed in the history of that region. We were based in an excellent hotel and all meals and wines were carefully chosen to reflect the culinary excellence of the region.
Woodrow
13/11/2025
Woodrow
13/11/2025
So Many Kinds of Pleasure
"The Imperial Riviera", based in Trieste but including visits to Croatia and Slovenia, Informed me about so many things I hadn't known before: the nat...
So Many Kinds of Pleasure
"The Imperial Riviera", based in Trieste but including visits to Croatia and Slovenia, Informed me about so many things I hadn't known before: the nature of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the importance of this coastline to the two world wars in the last century, and the range of architecture that survives. We also saw beautiful scenery and enjoyed some superb meals. Since returning I have been inspired to read two long novels that were listed in the course information, The Confessions of Zeno and The Man Without Qualities, and I've been telling everyone that they should visit Trieste.
Lecturer in medieval history at the University of East Anglia. He was taught at the Universities of London, Cambridge, and Oxford, and was a research fellow at Jesus College, Oxford. He specialises in the period, 700–1200, and publishes on western kings, secular élites and their records. He is a keen believer in the value of exploring and understanding the architectural fabric, material culture and landscapes of the past.
Art historian specialising in Renaissance and Baroque architecture in Rome and the Papal States, and Assistant Director of the British School at Rome from September 2015. He received his doctorate from Cambridge University, and also studied at the British School at Rome, where he was Rome Scholar (2009–10) and Giles Worsley Fellow (2013). He has lived in Le Marche region of Italy and is currently writing his first book on the Marchigian Cardinals of Pope Sixtus V.
Wine, food and travel writer. Born in Mexico, he was raised in the USA before studying English Literature at the University of Exeter. Together with his wife, he has pioneered a series of illustrated wine-food-travel books including The Wine and Food of Europe, The Wine Roads of France, The Wine Roads of Italy, The Food Lover’s Companion to France and The Food Lover’s Companion to Italy. He is also the author of The Taste of Britain and lives in Devon, where he is closely involved with the food scene of the West Country. Marc is a certified Vinitaly International Italian Wine Ambassador and has a weekly show “Wine, food and travel with Marc Millon” on Italian Wine Podcast. His latest book, Italy in a Wineglass - the Taste of History, was published in spring 2024.
Between 10–22 participants can usually join our small group tours, though the upper limit can be lower dependent on the tour.
Solo travellers are certainly welcome on all small group tours to Italy and often make up a majority of our participants. Our experienced tour managers will make sure everyone is properly introduced. There’s a lot to share, and conversation comes naturally as a result.
All of our Italy tours are led by experts in the field, including historians, archaologists and journalists. Among those leading opera tours in 2025/2026 include art historian Dr Thomas-Leo True and food critic Marc Millon.
In the traveller’s perfect world, everyone would be charged the same amount for their room, whether they were alone or sharing with a partner. In the hotelier’s perfect world, all rooms would cost the same, whether they had one, two, three or ten people sleeping there. The world we live in is closer to the hotelier’s vision, where rooms cost the same regardless of occupancy. Two people can split the cost of a £100 room, paying £50 each, or one person can pay the full £100. When expressed as a per person cost, this looks like a £50 supplement.
We negotiate hard with hotels, to keep single-occupancy prices as low as possible, but as long as hoteliers charge per room and not per person, this iniquitous situation will endure. The only obvious alternative – having couples subsidise solo travellers – strikes us as even more unfair.
Martin Randall Travel makes no profit from the single supplement.
A confirmation e-mail is sent as soon as possible (it will take longer if you book over the weekend and/or have selected to receive documentation by post).
Your final balance is due eight weeks before the tour departs. A reminder is sent a few weeks in advance of this, along with an itinerary for the first day of the tour.
Final Documents are sent two to three weeks before the tour departs – the full itinerary, a participant list and any background notes. These will be posted to you (unless you have informed us otherwise); if you live outside the UK, they will be given to you on the first day of the tour.
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