Central Holidays is adding a series of new experiences to its classic tours of Italy. It’s updating its long-running tours with a series of new, immersive activities designed to take its clients beyond the feeling of being a tourist and give them a deeper connection with the local culture and way of life.
Central Holidays has been in business since 1972, offering independent packages and escorted tours to a wide range of destinations in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa. But it all started in Italy. The founders, Fred and Joe Berardo, were born in Italy and migrated to America.
And Italy is still the heart of the company. Even though the founders sold the company to Sakkara Group International in 2012, after 40 years, the core of the company remains intact . The institutional experience from its long history of selling travel to Italy still counts in the quality of experience it’s able to provide. Central Holidays knows Italy.
An example of that constancy is Roberta Micarelli, the product development manager who has been with the company since 1994. That’s 30 years of working the destination, sifting through all the possible experiences with the aim of creating the best possible combinations for a well-rounded experience of Italy.
I spoke to Roberta and she explained the rationale behind the new additions to the tours. The new versions of the tours are built on the same basic principles the company has followed from the beginning: first class, centrally located hotels, the assistance of expert tour escorts as well as local guides in the individual cities and destinations. The programs include all entrance fees and present a carefully curated menu of sightseeing and discovery. The new additions are the next step in the evolution of the product.
“The concept behind these new experiences was that we want the clients on the escorted tours not to feel like tourists, but to feel like locals,” she told me. “What we are trying to do is to include unique and tailor-made experiences.”
The company has a long-running series of escorted tours that are more or less definitive itineraries for exploring Italy. Beyond those tours, the company constructs independent packages to order based on a wide range of components gathered and developed over the decades. Matching the packages to client preferences, the possibilities are endless.
For 2025 it is making additions to some of its classic tours to provide more immersion and more hands-on experience. The company has listened to feedback from clients and responded with the new, more immersive activities. They have been incorporated into its escorted tours in four cities: Venice, Florence, Rome and Sorrento.
The company’s master tour of Italy, called “Magnificent Italy and the Amalfi Coast,” includes all four of the cities named above. The company also offers shorter versions of the master tour that each include some of the four destinations.
Venice: In Venice the company is offering a new bacaro experience, in which clients will visit local Venetian bars, known as “bacari” (plural of bacaro). There they will enjoy some Prosecco, bubbly wine from the region, and a selection of finger foods called cicheti, which are similar to the Spanish tapas, but unique to Venice.
This gives travelers a chance to immerse themselves in local customs and savor authentic Venetian flavors. After a guided tour, guests will visit some local bacari to see and taste what the locals enjoy, offering a departure from standard tourist activities.
Florence: As part of the visit to Florence, Central Holidays is adding a visit to the Ferrari Museum near Modena, Italy. The museum displays a wide range of Ferrari models from classic to the latest. It provides a fascinating glimpse into automotive history and design, including an up-close look at the process of creating the pleated leather seats. Central Holidays has offered the visit to the museum as a component for independent packages and it has proved to be very popular. So now it’s been included in escorted tours of Florence.
The Florence visit will also include a gelato tasting experience. Gelato has become a symbol of Italian culinary artistry. Guests will be able to combine a tasting experience with a tutorial in how gelato is created and how it originated and evolved.
According to legend, gelato was first made by a Florentine chef who worked for one of the wealthiest families in the city. He was asked to prepare something very special to impress guests at a certain event. He rose to the challenge to mix together milk, honey, egg yolk, and a touch of wine. That was the beginning. Now gelato comes in a variety of flavors, from traditional fruit-based to innovative combinations like tiramisu and pistachio.
Rome: In Rome, the operator is offering cooking classes and demonstrations. Following the direction of the chef, after observing demonstrations, participants will join together to prepare their own meal. After immersing themselves in Italian cooking culture they will be able to savor the results themselves, dining on what they have made, along with some fine wine.
Sorrento: In Sorrento on the Amalfi Coast, the company has added a limoncello-tasting experience. The lemons in the region are unlike lemons anywhere else, and they are the basis of unique limoncello liqueur. On this segment of the tour, participants will get an up-close view of the creation of limoncello, as well as a tasting experience.
Italy is one of the world’s perennially most popular tourist destinations, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s inexhaustibly rich in every way that a tourist destination can be. It’s the home of Italian culture, food, architecture, painting, sculpture, the Renaissance, Western Civilization, etc. If you can only visit one place in the world, Italy would be a good candidate.
These programs are available for booking now for travel in 2025. To learn more about Central Holidays, try this link: https://centralholidays.com/.
David Cogswell is a freelance writer working remotely, from wherever he is at the moment. Born at the dead center of the United States during the last century, he has been incessantly moving and exploring for decades. His articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Fox News, Luxury Travel Magazine, Travel Weekly, Travel Market Report, Travel Agent Magazine, TravelPulse.com, Quirkycruise.com, and other publications. He is the author of four books and a contributor to several others. He was last seen somewhere in the Northeast US.
