While offering a whole menuof travel services and products, the best thing going for Select Italy is itsability to get you into where you want to be, whether it's a museum, the operaor on an excursion. Entrance is guaranteed, avoiding long lines and assuringadmission (I know of one travel writer who says he has visited Florence severaltimes, but could never get into the Uffizi Gallery due to the lines of people).The Uffizi, for instance, will cost you $19 for a preferred ticket with areserved time ($21 from January through early April; seeing the Last Supperin Milan is also $19, the Capitolini Museum in Rome $12.
Furthermore, Select Italycan arrange opera tickets for you in the awesome Arena of Verona, (price range$30-$300) or at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome where tickets start at$45. (The opera continues in Milan, though La Scala is being completelyrenovated, so presentations take place this year in a former factory called theTeatro degli Arcimboldi.) The company can also arrange papal audiences for you,which take place on Wednesday mornings when the Pope is in residence at theVatican. The cost is $50 (book at least 3 weeks in advance), and you will bepart of a huge throng in the audience hall, not up close in a small room.
Another Select Italy serviceI like is their list of excursions (currently there are six of them) lasting 10hours and including such day trips as "Tuscan Treasures: San Gimignano &Siena." With a maximum of six passengers in an air-conditioned van, you travelaround the area, dominated by the medieval fortified town of San Gimignano andits famed towers. Equally fascinating is Siena, which has preserved itsmedieval center and has incorporated many traditions of that time into currentevents. You will also visit Monteriggioni and have a wine tasting at FrattoriaCasale Falchini. You get lunch at a typical local restaurant, and anEnglish-speaking guide'll escort you. For a party of two persons in the van,the cost is $423 each, party of four in the van is $284 each, party of six inthe van $219 each. If you're the only person in the van, the cost will be $803,so definitely don't go alone!
Select Italy also sells theVenice Card, which provides you with transportation on lagoon boats and citybus lines for just 11€ (about $10) for one day (7€, about $6,for ages 28 and under). Better, though, is the Orange Card, which gets you thesame transportation plus entrance to 10 museums and attractions, including theDoge's Palace, Murano's Glass Museum and more. Cost is 26€ (about $23)for one day (16€ or roughly $14 for ages 28 and under). There are also3-day and 7-day passes. Again, no lines, no hassles, no separate admissiontickets.
This upscale firm alsoarranges complete itineraries, for a ground cost starting at about $150 per day(hotels, ground transport, guides and museum reservations), not includingtransatlantic airfare. For more information or to book tickets, draw up anitinerary and the like, contact Select Italy at its web site, www.selectitaly.com, or by phoning themat 847/853-1661, fax 847-853-1667