Baroque-en hearted? Revive your spirits with a walk past Rome's most beautiful and unusual Baroque fountains. At the foot of the Spanish Steps, elegant cafes once favored by visiting Brits and Americans 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. At the Pantheon you'll see the largest concrete dome ever constructed. An oculus, or hole, in the dome lets sunlight into the beautiful temple, dedicated to all the gods.

Hit the books. Italian classes start Monday morning. You'll study grammar and conversational skills in the morning, then attend English-language cultural classes in Rome during the afternoons to immerse yourself in the culture and practice your new skills as you navigate the city.

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?

The world’s smallest country lies just across the Tiber River from Rome’s historic center. The home of the Pope has its own army, radio station, and postal system and is a repository for some of the world’s greatest works of art and architecture. Your local licensed guide will take you on a tour of the astoundingly complete collection of art at the Vatican Museum (which houses the Sistine Chapel). Wander through grand St. Peter’s Basilica. Gaze at Michelangelo’s Pieta. Make time to send home some letters with papal postmarks. (Please note that the Vatican Museums are closed on most Sundays and religious holidays.)

Stop to see the city where time stood still, literally. Once an important Roman city with 20,000 residents, Pompeii was frozen in time nearly 2000 years ago, when Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the city under 30 feet of mud and volcanic ash. Forgotten for centuries after the eruption, Pompeii was discovered in the 1600s and is now completely excavated. On your tour you will learn how Romans of all classes lived their lives--not only from large public structures, but from details like political graffiti, bars, and street signs.

Out of the hubbub of the city and into the peaceful splashing of water. You may think Rome has a lot of fountains, but you really haven’t seen anything until you’ve been to Tivoli. See the Villa d’Este, the 16th-century home of Emperor Alexander IV’s nephew, the Cardinal Ippolito d’Este. In the magnificent gardens, five hundred fountains gurgle, burble, and cascade over statues, canals, grottoes, staircases, and reflecting pools.

A small town of narrow streets and medieval walls, Assisi might never have been famous had it not been the birthplace of St. Francis, the founder of the Franciscan order. Today it is a major destination for religious pilgrims and art lovers alike. You’ll explore the Basilica of St. Francis, built in the 13th century to hold the saint’s body. Ironically, the body was hidden so well in the basilica that it took 600 years of digging to find it.

Immerse yourself in the charms of old-world Firenze, a red-brick splendor set in the rolling green hills of Tuscany. The birthplace and focal point of the Italian Renaissance, Florence still has the masterpieces to prove it. Brunelleschi’s elegant Duomo (dome) dominates the skyline, and around every corner is an architectural triumph filled with wall after wall of incomparable art. Your local licensed guide will take you to Giotto's Bell Tower and the aptly named Gates of Paradise, the bronze east doors of the Baptistery that spurred the burgeoning Renaissance. The boy guarding the Palazzo Vecchio with his slingshot is just a copy of Michelangelo’s David; the real statue is over at the Accademia. Don’t overlook the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli at the Chiesa di Santa Croce, and definitely don’t overlook Florence’s amazing leather goods. Check them out when you visit one of the area’s famed workshops.

Visit 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). Resting gently on a sea of immaculate green lawn, the baptistry, duomo, and tower are the finest examples of Pisan Romanesque architecture. All three are clad in intricately carved black and white marble. On bright summer days, their brilliance can be blinding.

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.

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.

Bubbling up on more than 100 islands in a lagoon off the Adriatic, Venice is an absolutely unique and unquestionably beautiful city. The weight of its opulent architecture – bulbous domes, gothic spires, and lacy marble – may be sinking the city by 10 inches a century, but your local guide will make sure you don’t sink out of sight as you tour the intricate labyrinth of streets and bridges. Step into Piazza San Marco, an airy expanse of arches, sunlight, and pigeons. The multi-domed Basilica on one end, completed in 1094 but decorated for centuries afterward, is the final resting place of the apostle St. Mark, Venice’s patron saint. The mosaics beneath the basilica’s outside arches depict the arrival of St. Mark’s body, stolen from Egypt in 828 by Venetian traders. The frothy Venetian Gothic Doge’s Palace stands next door. Continue on to a glass-blowing demonstration. Venetian glass has long been considered the best in the world, and its production was such a state secret that during the Middle Ages, any Venetian glassblower who attempted to ply his trade outside the city was immediately arrested.

Stop in Verona to see the Romeo and Juliet Balcony. Verona is known primarily for its role as the setting for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The Montagues and Capulets were based on real feuding families, but were Romeo and Juliet real? A 14th-century house claims to be Juliet's--you can decide for yourself while gazing down at a statue of her from the balcony said to have inspired Shakespeare's famous balcony scene.

A local guide will lead your adventure in Milan, Italy's capital of fashion and finance. See the renowned La Scala opera house, with Europe's largest stage. The city's marble Duomo took almost 450 years to complete, and is the world's largest Gothic cathedral. On clear days, its 135 spires can be seen from the Alps. You will also visit Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper in Santa Maria delle Grazie. This masterpiece, which depicts the tense moment when Christ reveals that one of his disciples will betray him, survived target practice by Napoleon's soldiers and a 1943 bomb that destroyed the rest of the building. But ever since it was painted, it has been in danger of disappearing; da Vinci was experimenting with egg tempera paints, which reacted badly with the wall on which he was painting, and the fragile mural began to deteriorate soon after its completion in 1498.