2025 Chandler Children's Choir Italy Tour
Itinerary and Registration Form
Please complete one registration per traveler. If you are registering more than one traveler, you may return to this page.
Current Itinerary (subject to change)
Wednesday, June 4, 2025
Depart Phoenix-Sky Harbor on overnight flight(s) to Venice, Italy
Thursday, June 5, 2025
Arrive at Venice’s Marco Polo Airport and meet your tour manager and coach driver for the tour. The day’s activities will depend on the flight arrival time. Check into the hotel in Mestre and have dinner together as a group.
Friday, June 6, 2025
Breakfast is included each day.
This morning, board the bus for the short ride to Tronchetto, where a waiting boat will take the group to Piazza San Marco. There, take a guided tour of Venice, including its winding streets, innumerable bridges – including the famous Rialto Bridge – and entrance to the Byzantine St. Mark’s Basilica. After lunch on own, visit Venice’s opera house, La Fenice, for a docent-led tour of this beautiful theater that has twice burned down and twice been rebuilt from its ashes, just like its name: The Phoenix. Sing as part of the late-afternoon Mass at St. Mark’s Basilica, then have dinner on the island before returning by private boat to Tronchetto and onward to the hotel in Mestre.
Saturday, June 7, 2025
Check out of the hotel and load the motorcoach for the transfer to Perugia with a stop in Florence. Take in a panoramic view of the heart of Tuscany and the birthplace of the Renaissance from the hilltop Piazza Michelangelo, then descend into the city center for lunch on own. This afternoon will feature a guided tour of Florence – itself an outdoor art museum with treasures around every corner – and a detailed lesson about Michelangelo’s masterpiece, David, in the Piazza della Signoria, where it stood for nearly 400 years. Continue to Perugia for hotel check-in, dinner, and overnight.
Sunday, June 8, 2025
Take an excursion to Siena for a guided tour of this medieval Tuscan town. One of the world’s oldest banking centers, the town is comprised of 17 contrade, or wards, each with its own mascot and distinct identity. Contrade pride is fierce, and competition between them is intense, especially with regards to the annual Palio, a bareback horserace run on the main square of Siena for the honor of winning a painted banner (“palio”) of the Virgin Mary. A guided tour of Siena will explore the medieval architecture of the city, visit the Piazza del Campo, and enter the Siena Duomo, which competed for centuries with the Duomo in Florence to be the largest and most-beautiful cathedral in Italy. Return to Perugia for dinner and a concert in Perugia as part of the Musica dal Mondo Festival.
Monday, June 9, 2025
Where Florence is the cradle of the Renaissance, and Rome the seat of a vast Empire, Perugia is the best-preserved Etruscan city, giving a glimpse into life and architecture in Italy prior to Rome’s rapid rise. On a guided tour of Perugia, see the Etruscan Arch, Etruscan Walls, and Etruscan Well, and visit Rocco Paolina, a fortress built by Pope Paul III in the 16th century. The real treat of the day will be a visit to the Casa di Cioccolato (House of Chocolate), at the Perugina Factory. See – and taste – the iconic Baci found in sweet shops across the country. Later, have dinner together and drive to the concert venue. Concert in Todi (or similar nearby town) as part of the Musica dal Mondo Festival. Return to the hotel for overnight.
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Check out of the hotel and load the coach for the transfer to Rome, with a stop en route in Orvieto. From a distance, Orvieto may seem like another hilltop, Etruscan town in the Umbria province, but it boasts one of the most beautiful Duomos in what is considered today to be a “minor” town. The façade itself is as beautiful as many cathedrals’ interior alterpieces, while the interior lives up to the standard set by its entrance. Sing an impromptu recital in the Orvieto Duomo. After lunch on own, continue to Rome and take a panoramic city tour on arrival. Walk through the ancient streets to see Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and more. In Rome, around every corner lies yet another piece of stunning history dating back millennia. Finally, check into the hotel and enjoy a group dinner together.
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Embark on a morning guided tour of Ancient Rome, walking through the grounds of the Roman Forum, which was the heart of the Empire’s capital city. Here is where the Senate met, where gladiators marched, and where the public carried on the duties of daily life. Continue to the Colosseum, to see the largest standing Roman amphitheatre in the entire world. Lunch on own, followed by free time to explore Rome in small groups. Assemble for a group dinner followed by a concert in one of Rome’s many magnificent churches.
Thursday, June 12, 2025
Today is spent primarily in the Vatican City, during the very special time of a Jubilee Year, a celebration held every 25 or 50 years since the year 1300. A third door in the portico of St. Peter’s Basilica is open for pilgrims to walk through before it is sealed up and bricked over until the next Jubilee Year. Start the day with a visit to the Vatican Museums, one of the world’s greatest and most-visited art museums, highlighted by a stop in the Sistine Chapel to marvel at Michelangelo’s The Last Judgement and gallery of stories from Genesis he painted on the ceiling. Continue to St. Peter’s Basilica, whose artistic treasures are too numerous to count, but may be capped by Michelangelo’s early masterpiece, Madonna della Pietà. Some free time for lunch on own follows before gathering to perform a special prelude of Palestrina motets prior to participating in the afternoon Mass at the Chair Alter of St. Peter’s Basilica. Fête the end of the tour with a farewell dinner in Rome, then return to the hotel to pack for the journey home.
Friday, June 13, 2025
Transfer to the airport and say arrivederci Roma, goodbye to your tour manager and coach driver, and take the return flights back to the USA.
Tour Price
- $3,950 per person in double occupancy
- Single supplement is $910 per person ($4,860 per person)
- Land only price is $2,525; CCC approval required to travel land only
- Pricing is based on a minimum of 45 paying passengers
- Price is based on ACH/check/online bill pay payment
- Credit card payments will be assessed a 3% surcharge
- The initial deposit is accepted by credit card with no surcharge, then the traveler will need to choose the desired method for the installment payments.
Payment Schedule
- $275 non-refundable deposit due with registration
- $525 due October 15, 2024
- $525 due November 15, 2024
- $525 due December 15, 2024
- $525 due January 15, 2025
- $525 due February 15, 2025
- $525 due March 15, 2025
- $525 (or final balance, if different) due April 15, 2025
Cancellation Schedule
(penalties are not cumulative)
- $ 100 non-refundable through October 15, 2024
- $ 200 non-refundable from October 16 through November 15, 2024
- $ 400 non-refundable from November 16 through December 15, 2024
- $ 800 non-refundable from December 16 through January 15, 2025
- $1,200 non-refundable from January 16 through February 15, 2025
- $1,600 non-refundable from February 16 through March 15, 2025
- $2,000 non-refundable from March 16 through April 15, 2025
- From April 16, 2025 all payments are non-refundable
All cancellations must be made in writing
Tour Inclusions
- Roundtrip airfare from Phoenix to Venice and Rome to Phoenix
- Full-time tour manager while in Italy
- Chartered luxury motorcoach for the duration of the tour
- Private boat transfers in Venice
- 8 nights in 4* hotels, including daily breakfast and current tourist taxes
- Participation in Musica dal Mondo Festival as part of 3 concerts, 2 Mass participations, 1 special prelude to Mass at St. Peter’s, and informal recitals where permitted (e.g. Orvieto Duomo)
- Guided tours in Venice, Florence, Siena, Perugia, Rome, and the Vatican City
- Entrance to St. Mark’s Basilica, La Fenice, Siena Duomo, Casa del Cioccolato, Orvieto Duomo, Roman Forum and Colosseum, Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel
- 8 dinners
- Chandler Children’s Choir tour t-shirt
- All gratuities to tour managers, guides, drivers and service staff
- Coverage under a $2M liability policy (certificate available on request)
Tour Exclusions
- Meals indicated “on own” or not otherwise specified
- Snacks, souvenirs, and items of a personal nature
- Passport acquisition (passports must be valid for six months after the trip)
- Visa acquisition (U.S. citizens are not required to obtain a visa)
- Trip cancellation or interruption insurance
- Any other items not specifically mentioned