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Shadow Tour (public)
Please note that this itinerary is subject to change and subject to availability. (Accommodation availability, seasonal opening times of attractions and events, legal driving limits, driving distances etc.)
BB = Bed & Breakfast LBB = Lunch, B & B DBB = Dinner, B & B FB = Full Board = B&B, Lunch, Dinner
📍 Day 1
Date: Monday, 11/03/2025
Arrival in Florence (flights not included in tour package) – flight and time TBC.
Transfer to your hotel and remainder of the day free to explore the wonderful Renaissance city of Florence.
Overnight: Florence – (BB)
📍 Day 2
Date: Tuesday, 11/04/2025
The Tuscan countryside awaits today. Heading south from Florence, our first stop is Siena. This beautiful city is most famous for the Palio, a twice-a-year horse race contested on the shell-shaped Piazza del Campo. The rivalries between the neighbourhoods is fierce!
Surrounded by the vineyards of the Chianti, enjoy a tour of a winery followed by lunch. Our last stop is the hilltop town of San Gimignano, often referred to as the Manhattan of medieval Tuscany due to the number of towers.
Overnight: Florence – (BB, L)
📍 Day 3
Date: Wednesday, 11/05/2025
We head for Lucca, Puccini’s hometown surrounded by the best preserved medieval city walls in Europe. Enjoy the historic city centre during your guided walk and hear how it fared during the war. The Gothic Line was a formidable defensive system, stretching from coast to coast through the Apennine Mountains. In Borgo a Mozzano the combination of bunkers, anti-tank walls and mine fields show just how complex the set-up was.
Overnight: Florence – (BB)
📍 Day 4
Date: Thursday, 11/06/2025
We enjoy the morning in Pisa, world famous for its Leaning Tower. The 2nd and 3rd Bns ended up in the fields outside the city walls, while the 100th Bn had made a “left turn” into Livorno after the capture of Hill 140 and the successive liberations of the towns behind this formidable stronghold. After lunch, we head for the Ligurian coast, where La Spezia will be our base for the next 4 nights. Check in to the hotel and remainder of the day free.
Overnight: La Spezia – (BB)
📍 Day 5
Date: Friday, 11/07/2025
Today, we concentrate on the towns from where the 100th/442nd started their advance on the Gothic Line. In Pietrasanta we find the statue to Sadao Munemori, the Florida and Georgia hill mass, at the foot of Monte Folgorito and the road into the valley. Making our way to Azzano will offer excellent views of the ridge followed by the 100th Bn in their frontal assault on Monte Folgorito. In the village, the Nisei from 3rd and 2nd Bns recovered from the march up from Pietrasanta, before setting off on the brutal climb to Monte Folgorito. We will enjoy a delicious meal before returning to the hotel.
Overnight: La Spezia – (BB,D)
📍 Day 6
Date: Saturday, 11/08/2025
Over the next two days, we continue to explore the area where the Nisei played a vital role in the breaking of the Gothic Line. Initially intended as a diversionary action to draw German troops away from the main attack around Bologna, it soon became an offensive of great importance. The slopes leading up to the Monte Folgorito-Monte Carchio Ridge were the challenging terrain facing the Nisei. We can take an easier route to explore the Gothic Line from the perspective of the German troops stationed along this formidable defensive line, as the Nisei scaled the heights on the 5th of April 1945.
Overnight: La Spezia – (BB, L)
📍 Day 7
Date: Sunday, 11/09/2025
Today we visit the “tail end” of the Gothic Line. Towards the end of April, the Nisei’s action is concentrated on the area beyond Fosdinovo. In Tendola you will see the commanding position of Monte Nebbione and the German strongholds across the valley that hampered the advance towards Colle Musatello where 2nd Lt. Daniel Inouye was wounded. In San Terenzo Monti we join the ceremony to rename the town square in his honour and the exchange of Official Proclamations between the neighbouring towns and the city of Honolulu.
Overnight: La Spezia – (BB, L)
📍 Day 8
Date: Monday, 11/10/2025
Check out from the hotel and transfer back to Pisa Airport for flights home or independent onward
travel.
End of tour services