Destination: Roma

Sitting in the shadow of Mt. Vesuvius, the ancient town of Herculaneum was destroyed when the deadly volcano erupted in 79 AD. Hidden under an airtight crust for over 1,700 years, buildings and skeletons were kept intact and have now been discovered and excavated. Explore the ruins and learn about that dreadful day in 79 AD when the fates of the town and its people were sealed.

Cross the Bay of Naples to the island of Capri, summer home of the Roman Emperor Tiberius.

Weather permitting, you will take a boat to the Blue Grotto, where sunlight reflected from beneath the water bathes the cave in a silver-blue light.

Visit the Castel St. Angelo, originally built as Hadrian's mausoleum. It served as a fortress, prison, and a burial place for emperors before becoming a museum in 1925. It contains a historical military museum, paintings, rich ceramics, sculptures, and tapestries.

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 that required the flooding of the amphitheater 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 on to the relative calm of the Forum. 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?

Tour the ruins and excavations of the Roman Forum, which features the remains of magnificent temples, basilicas, and triumphal arches that once formed the heart of the Empire.

Tour St. Peter’s Basilica with a licensed local guide. 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.

Visit this impressive art gallery in Rome that was first opened back in the 1600’s by Pope Paul V’s nephew. Full of priceless works of art, some dating back to the 1st century AD, and housed in a former mansion, this museum is definitely worth a visit.

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.

View the Trevi Fountain, where it is traditional to toss a coin into the fountain to ensure a safe return to the Eternal City.

Visit the Pantheon, Rome's best-preserved monument. The Pantheon is a masterpiece of architecture with its huge hemispherical dome. It also contains the tombs of the kings of Italy and that of the artist, Raphael

Visit the enormous church of St. Paul Outside the Walls, built over the original tomb of the saint, and then descend into the early Christian catacombs, dating from the first to fourth centuries. Thousands of Christians, including Saints Peter and Paul and several popes, were entombed here at one time. There are still signs of early Christianity, including frescoes of fish and doves and inscriptions on the tombs themselves. Overhead runs the Appian Way, the world’s first real highway, which stretched southeast over 350 miles from Rome.

One of the world’s greatest collections of painting, the Uffizi started out as Florence’s administrative offices -- uffizi literally means “offices,” testifying to a supremely uncreative naming effort on the part of Florentine city officials. The artwork itself, however, is stupendous, from Gothic altarpieces encrusted in gold leaf to the brooding Baroque masterpieces of Caravaggio. The highlight may be the room devoted to Botticelli, which The Birth of Venus and Primavera dominate, but da Vinci’s sketches and Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo (or Holy Family) run a close second.

Founded in 1563, the Accademia was the first school in Europe established to teach drawing, painting, and sculpting. Michelangelo's David (the biblical hero who slayed Goliath) is the most famous work on display.

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.