Buon giorno and happy Friday!

Here’s a new trip we’ve designed for you for 2027 that combines two of the best destinations in Italy!

Florence and Venice: Where Beauty Has Been the Point for 500 Years

Few journeys pack as much beauty, history, and sensory wonder into a single trip as a masterfully curated tour of Italy—and nowhere is that more true than Florence and Venice. But you know us by now: we're not just taking you to see the famous sites. We're taking you inside the art, the craft, and the living traditions that made these cities unlike any others.

We're thrilled to offer you an exclusive first look at a new take on Italy—instead of two separate trips (one to Venice and one to Florence), we’ve combined them for maximum impact.

Leading this journey is Shannon Faseler—a practicing artist, Italian art historian, and someone with deep personal ties to both cities. She moves through Florence and Venice the way a local does: through back streets and artisans' ateliers, past bookbinders and goldsmiths still working their craft, and into corners that don't appear in any guidebook.

We've set this 9-day journey in March deliberately—when the crowds thin, the light softens, and both cities exhale. And there is so much to exhale over...

5 Reasons We Love This Trip

1. An artist who actually knows these cities.

Shannon in front of the Doge Palace in Venice.

Shannon is a practicing artist, an Italian art historian, and someone with deep personal ties to both Florence and Venice. Her knowledge goes well beyond the plaques, and her warmth makes every day feel like traveling with a brilliant friend (who is also a great shopper).

2. Scenery that stops you cold.

The cypress-lined hills of Tuscany rolling beyond the Piazzale Michelangelo at sunset. The view from the Doge's Palace loggia across the shimmering Bacino di San Marco, gondolas rocking at their moorings. These are scenes that have moved poets and painters for centuries—and they work on you, too.

3. You'll make things with your hands.

The gold-leaf gilding workshop.

Not as a novelty, but as a genuine way into these cultures. Fresco-painting in a Florentine studio. Gold-leaf gilding in the tradition of the Renaissance workshops. Making masks in the spirit of the Venice Carnivale. And on Burano, watching lace-makers whose needle-work has been compared to spider silk.

4. The art and the food are equally extraordinary.

Pasta-making in a farmhouse in the Tuscan countryside.

The Uffizi's Botticellis and Leonardos. Pasta made by hand in a Tuscan farmhouse. Cicchetti and spritz along a quiet calle in Venice. A bowl of ribollita so thick and earthy it makes you want to stay forever.

5. The women you meet…

Friendships form fast in exotic locations.

Fellow travelers and animated locals who provide humor, friendship, and a reminder of what connects us all across the globe.

What Travelers Are Saying

On the Arno River in Florence.

“This trip brought Florence to life in ways I never expected. Art, culture, food, architecture, and history, all woven into days that felt genuinely magical. No stress, no logistics, just beautiful experiences and great company. It set a new standard for what travel should feel like.”

—Colleen M., Campbell, CA

“A newbie to traveling with NextTribe with no idea of what to expect. Any concerns I had dissipated the moment the tour started. Venice was spent in engaging conversations, fantastic food & wine, sight seeing, exploring, classes, and shopping.I now understand why so many people are frequent travelers with NextTribe.”

—A.R.D., Pflugerville, TX