Your private driver meets you at the airport or station and brings you to your hotel in the historic center. Once you've settled in, the afternoon unfolds at your pace — perhaps a stroll through the cobblestoned streets near your hotel, stopping for your first real Italian espresso at a neighborhood bar. As evening approaches, your culinary journey begins: a guided food walk through the streets of the historic center, stopping at carefully chosen trattorias, delis, and wine bars that Romans have frequented for generations. You'll taste supplì (Rome's answer to arancini), sample aged pecorino paired with local honey, sip wines from the Castelli Romani hills, and finish with artisanal gelato from a master gelatiere. Each stop comes with stories — about the recipes, the families behind them, and why Roman food is so fiercely, beautifully simple.

A full day that captures Rome's dual identity. Morning starts with skip-the-line access to the Colosseum and Roman Forum, where your licensed guide reconstructs the ancient world around you — the roar of 50,000 spectators, the engineering genius of the hypogeum beneath the arena floor, the political theater of the Forum where Caesar was assassinated. After a break for lunch (your guide will point you to the right place — not the tourist traps), the afternoon belongs to the Vatican. Priority entry to the Vatican Museums takes you through the Gallery of Maps and Raphael Rooms to the Sistine Chapel, followed by St. Peter's Basilica and its overwhelming Bernini canopy. In the evening, the kitchen awaits: a private pizza-making experience led by a Neapolitan master chef. You'll learn to work the dough, choose toppings from fresh seasonal ingredients, fire your creation in a wood-burning oven, and sit down to eat what you've made — paired with Italian wines. It's the kind of evening you'll talk about long after you've left Rome.

Your final morning takes you across the Tiber to Trastevere, Rome's most characterful neighborhood and the heart of its food culture. This isn't a quick walk-through — it's a deep dive. Your food guide leads you to a family-run bakery pulling fresh bread from century-old ovens, a salumeria where prosciutto is sliced to order, a tiny enoteca pouring natural wines from small Italian producers, and a trattoria where the carbonara is made the way it was meant to be — with guanciale, pecorino, egg yolks, and absolutely nothing else. Between bites, you'll discover Trastevere's medieval churches, hidden courtyards, and the stories of the artisans and cooks who give this neighborhood its soul. After the tour, your private driver handles the transfer to the airport or train station. You leave Rome with a full heart, a refined palate, and recipes you'll want to recreate at home.