Italy Experience

An Italian marketplace for tours and day trips

Italy Experience, which brands itself ItalyXP, sells tours, day trips and activities across Italy that are run by local partners. The about page describes it as "a marketplace of tourism experiences" built "to gather in a single platform a wide range of activities, tours and experiences provided by local operators throughout Italy," and says it has "a network of more than 150 tour operators and small local agencies all over Italy." The footer adds that the company is itself a licensed tour operator (license n. 4120/2013, Province of Rome) with an insurance policy from Nobis Compagnia di Assicurazioni, and names the company as TOIT GROUP SPA.

The destination menu covers Rome, Florence, Tuscany, Venice, Milan, Naples & Amalfi Coast, Sardinia, Sicily, Apulia, Bologna & Emilia, Verona & Lake Garda, Turin & Piedmont, Genoa & Liguria and Umbria. The homepage shows where the catalog is largest: 354 activities in Rome, 290 in Tuscany, 154 in Florence, 139 for Naples & Amalfi Coast, 106 in Venice and 97 in Milan. Prices are in euros. Its "More Destinations" panel also counts activities by site, such as 51 for the Vatican, 49 each for the Colosseum and Pompeii, 44 for Sorrento and 34 for Amalfi, and the homepage sums up its pitch as "We are locals!" and "We try and handpick our activities."

The about page says the business began in 2013 with Saverio Castilletti's idea, grew from Rome to Florence, Venice, Naples and Milan, and has welcomed travelers "from more than 120 countries." Since 2022 it has been part of To Italy Group, which the page describes as combining ItalyXP's digital marketing with Florencetown, a producer of high-end experiences, and Arno, a travel and event design company.

What it sells

The experience menu is split into Italy Vacation Packages, Shore Excursions, Walking Tours, Tours on wheels, Luxury & Shopping, Sport & Wellness, Food, Wine & nightlife, Something different, Eco & Outdoor Activities, Day Trips & Excursions, and Transfers. Each listing carries a label: Privato, Semi Privato or Gruppo.

Walking tours include a private guided tour of Pisa with Leaning Tower tickets (2h, € 84,69 per person), an early-access tour of the Duomo of Florence (2h 30, € 149,00), which promises visitors will "Be the first to access the Duomo," a VIP small-group tour of the Uffizi Gallery (3h, € 65,00, shown at 4.9 from 10 reviews), a 2-hour Pompeii tour with an archaeologist (€ 52,00, Gruppo) or a private version (€ 66,00), a Vatican group tour with skip-the-line tickets (3h, € 75,00), a Colosseum highlights tour (3h, € 89,00), an Accademia and Uffizi combination (5h, € 119,00) and a walking tour of Cagliari and the Giants of Mont'e Prama in Sardinia (3h 30, € 55,00).

The tours-on-wheels page covers Fiat 500, Vespa, Segway and bike tours. In Florence there are a VIP small-group eBike tour in Chianti with wine and olive oil tasting (6h, € 109,00), a panoramic e-bike tour (2h 30, € 69,00), a bike tour with a visit to the Galleria dell'Accademia (4h 30, € 89,00) and a group e-bike tour of the center (3h, € 90,00, 4.9 from 7 reviews). Rome has a small-group bike tour (3h, € 39,00) and Segway tours by day and night (€ 69,00), and Milan has a night Segway tour. The page also mentions a Chianti tour in a Fiat 500 from Florence and vintage Fiat 500 tours of Rome. Customer reviews on that page describe a sunset tour of Rome in a convoy of vintage Fiats that took in the orange garden and panoramic hillside stops, and a Segway tour of Baroque Rome.

The homepage's customer favorites are day trips: a small-group day to Sorrento, Amalfi and Positano from Naples with pick-up and lunch (9h, from € 85,00, 4.9 from 26 reviews), a VIP small-group day in Siena, San Gimignano and Chianti with dinner (8h, from € 159,00), and a private tour of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica (3h, from € 147,50, 4.9 from 29 reviews). Shore excursions run from the main ports, and the reviews mention an excursion from Civitavecchia to panoramic Rome. Beyond single activities, the homepage offers Italy Vacation Packages, described as "Tour packages with accomodation," and a blog of "Travel tips from locals" with pieces such as the top museums to visit in Naples and Easter celebrations around Italy. The Uffizi listing, for its part, says the small-group visit takes in "the secrets of the Vasari Corridor" of the Medici as well as the gallery.

Booking and planning help

Listings show a per-person price, the duration and the label, and many carry "Skip the Line!" or "Immediate confirmation"; the homepage says immediate confirmation is "Available on most of our activities." Support is by phone (+390656567418) and email (customers@italyxp.com), the site runs in English, Italian and Spanish, and the homepage promises "Top class customer-care."

For whole trips, the about page says the company has moved from selling single experiences to "assisting our clients in the intelligent planning and creation of their entire travel itinerary, becoming Travel Consultants 2.0." The custom-tours form asks who is traveling, how many adults and children, dates, trip length, favorite regions, interests, preferred pace, whether to travel by high-speed train, rental car or private driver, and hotel category, and lets travelers choose among luxury, personalized or escorted itineraries. It also asks which language the experiences should be in, offering Chinese, French, Japanese, English, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and German.

What it leaves open, and who it suits

The listings and the homepage do not state cancellation windows, refund rules or when payment is taken, so the Terms & Conditions linked in the footer and each tour's own page need reading before booking. The Semi Privato label appears on tours called small group, but no listing gives a maximum group size. The operator behind each tour is not named on the listing pages, and accessibility and minimum ages are not stated.

Italy Experience suits travelers who want to book a guided day trip, a bike or Segway ride, or a skip-the-line museum visit in Italy from one Italian company, with a wide choice in Rome, Tuscany and Florence and a smaller one in regions such as Apulia, Umbria and Liguria. Those planning a longer trip can hand the whole itinerary to its planners. Anyone who needs to know exactly who runs the tour, or how many people will be in the group, should check the detail page before booking.