Carnival Capers at Half-Term

If you've ‘done' Venice and Rio and are looking for a colourful new   carnival experience, head for Acireale where Sicily's oldest and most spectacular carnival takes place on the island's east coast.

Dating back to the 16th century, the Acireale Carnival (19 February-8 March)  is best known for its spectacular floral displays and floats.  Today, celebrations include street parades and entertainers and fortunately, the former egg and orange-throwing has been replaced by marching bands, dancers and masked performers.

Acireale is a seaside city at the foot of Mount Etna, just a few miles from   Taormina and with some fantastic Baroque architecture.  Stay at one of our properties (http://www.solosicily.com/), either in the heart of Acireale at the Melaverde apartment or in an independent cottage at The Queen's Jewels, a farm estate in the stunning Taormina countryside.

Just you and Michelangelo

Being one of 17,000 visitors that trundle through the Vatican in the hope that by the time they reach the Sistine Chapel, the crowds would have thinned out, thus providing a much awaited spiritual moment, is a soul destroying process.

We have the answer.

It may be an expensive option but afterall, how often do you plan to visit Rome's magnificent centre piece?

Take an exclusive tour, one that is usually reserved for Royals and celebrities, now open for the public to book.  They take place before or after opening hours and yes, they are expensive costing around £230 pp (as opposed to £15 pp for standard admission) but if you don't invest in anything else in your life, this one is a no brainer.

Entering a mysteriously quiet Vatican City before all the crowds have assembled is already a privilege. To have your own private guide to navigate the 1,400 possible viewing rooms of the Vatican Museum is positively luxurious. The guides are of course extremely enthusiastic, knowledgeable Italians who illuminate all that you view.

And then when you truly believe it cant get much more exciting, you finally reach the piece de la resistance, the chapel itself. Michelangelo spent four and a half years painting the chapel by himself, and this is the closest one can get to being alone in it as he was. There are no guards loudly asking you to be quiet, no banging into thousands of other tourists who are also looking up, just pure magical silence to savour the experience and soak up the vivid blue restoration of the Last Judgment and the Separation of Light from Darkness.

Ask our ABTOI operators who can help you with your city break in Rome : http://www.loveitaly.co.uk/regions.php?id=8&r=Latium