The Italian Basketball Experience: Milan to Rome

Meet your Tour Director and check into hotel

Welcome meeting and orientation

Participate in a training session at a local court in the area.

Dinner

Play an international exhibition game against a local club or university team in the Milan area. Your team will meet and compete against athletes of similar ages and skill levels.

Get a fascinating introduction into Italy’s second largest city and one of the fashion capitals of the world. Start with the gorgeous 18th-century opera house La Scala before continuing to the Milan Cathedral, a Gothic masterpiece that took nearly 600 years to build. We will stroll around the four-story covered double arcade of shops in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, originally designed in 1861 and built by Giuseppe Mengoni between 1865 and 1877. The imposing street is covered over by an arching glass and cast-iron roof, and the central octagonal space is topped with a glass dome. The Galleria connects two of Milan's most famous landmarks, the Duomo and the Teatro Alla Scala.

Dinner

Travel to Florence

Stop in Pisa to see the famous leaning bell tower. It was already partly finished when builders realized that—surprise!—the ground beneath was too soft to support it. They tried to correct the tilt by putting a slight bend in the structure, but the extra weight just made it tilt more. Famous as it is, the leaning tower is just one component of Pisa’s Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles). Rising from an immaculate green lawn, the baptistery, duomo, and tower are fine examples of Pisan Romanesque architecture. All three are clad in intricately carved black and white marble, and on bright summer days their brilliance can be blinding.

Dinner

Immerse yourself in the charms of old-world Firenze. The birthplace and focal point of the Italian Renaissance, Florence still has the masterpieces to prove it. Brunelleschi’s monumental cupola (dome) atop the city's renowned Duomo dominates the skyline. Your local licensed guide will take you to Giotto's Bell Tower and the aptly named Gates of Paradise, the bronze east doors of the Baptistery that spurred the burgeoning Renaissance. Don’t overlook the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli at the Chiesa di Santa Croce, or Florence’s amazing leather goods. You can check them out when you visit one of the area’s famed workshops!

Play an international exhibition game against a local club or university team in the Florence area. Your team will meet and compete against athletes of similar ages and skill levels.

Cooking class with dinner

Participate in a training session at a local court in the area.

Travel to Rome via Siena

Take a walk past Rome's most beautiful and unusual Baroque fountains. At the foot of the Spanish Steps, elegant cafes surround the central fountain. The water pressure here was so low that the artist had to sink the fountain into the ground to get any water going through it, so he went ahead and designed the fountain to look like a sinking ship. There's no shortage of water pressure at the nearby Trevi Fountain, a Baroque extravagance designed by master sculptor Bernini. We will also spend some time in the Piazza Navona area. Built on the foundations of Domitian's Circus, this magnificent square was designed by Borromini in 17th century. It is full of life and is highlighted by one of Rome's most spectacular fountains, the Four Rivers, designed by Bernini. The square is often filled with local artists. The surrounding neighborhood is also one of the best places in Rome to get a tasty tartufo or gelato ice cream.

Dinner

The ultimate symbol of Ancient Rome, the Colosseum still dominates the modern city. Tour the amphitheater with your local licensed guide. Built by the emperor Vespasian in A.D. 72, the structure held almost 50,000 spectators but was so well organized that the entire place could be emptied within 15 minutes. Inside, the spectacles varied from gladiator battles to immense naval contests to wild beast shows, in which thousands of exotic animals like giraffes and ostriches were popped into the stadium through trap doors and left to fight Roman hunters. See the system beneath the floor that operated the trap doors and housed the animals, then continue to the relative calm of the Forum. Ancient Rome’s commercial, religious, and political center, the Forum held markets, temples, and the Senate House. Near the Rostra, or speaker’s platform, you can still see game boards scratched into the marble by bored politicians--anyone up for a game of tic tac toe?

Play an international exhibition game against a local club or university team in the Rome area. Your team will meet and compete against athletes of similar ages and skill levels.

Dinner

Tour St. Peter’s Basilica with a licensed local guide and Whisper headset so you don't miss a word. Outside the church, four rows of columns radiate out like welcoming arms; inside, the church seems enormous enough to embrace the entire world. The dome, partially designed by Michelangelo, rises 452 feet above the ground. Michelangelo’s mark is everywhere here, from the costumes worn by the Swiss Guards to his exquisite “Pietà” sculpture (the only sculpture he ever signed) to the amazing frescoes of the Sistine Chapel. Because he considered himself a sculptor and not a painter, Michelangelo hated working on these paintings, now considered masterpieces.

Dinner