Venice and Tuscany: Rome – Venice – Siena – Rome
Rome → Venice → Siena → Rome
The Venice and Tuscany itinerary aboard Orient Express La Dolce Vita is a 3-day, 2-night round trip from Rome that distils the very soul of Italian civilisation into a single, seamless journey. Departing Rome Ostiense Station in the early evening, the train glides northward through the darkening peninsula, arriving in Venice the following morning so that passengers can spend a full day on the lagoon before the locomotive turns south through the golden hills of Tuscany to pause at Siena — one of Italy's most perfectly preserved medieval cities — before sweeping back to Rome by nightfall.
From the moment you step aboard, every detail speaks of la dolce vita: Murano-glass accents, lacquered ceilings in deep Italian hues, and restaurant cars where three-Michelin-starred chef Heinz Beck orchestrates contemporary Italian menus. Live music — pianist, singer, and musician performing each evening — gives the journey the feeling of a private, rolling salon. Curated off-train excursions are available at each stop: a private boat through the Venetian lagoon to Murano, or a noble Sienese palazzo visit crowned by a toast above Piazza del Campo.
This is Italy at its most romantic and effortless — two legendary destinations woven together by night travel, fine wine, and the soft rhythm of train wheels on ancient rail. Whether you are celebrating a milestone or simply answering Italy's eternal call, the Venice and Tuscany itinerary is among the most atmospheric short journeys in luxury rail today.
- ✦Round-trip Rome–Venice–Siena–Rome in 3 days aboard Orient Express La Dolce Vita
- ✦Full day in Venice with optional private lagoon boat tour to Murano and Burano
- ✦Dinner nightly by three-Michelin-starred Chef Heinz Beck in the restaurant car
- ✦Guided visit to Siena's Gothic Duomo and private palazzo toast above Piazza del Campo
- ✦Live music — pianist, singer, and musician — in the Bar Car each evening
- ✦Private en-suite Deluxe Cabins and Suites with Italian design interiors
- ✦Traverse UNESCO-listed Tuscan countryside and the Venetian lagoon by rail
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Day 1 — Rome: Departure from Ostiense Station
The journey begins at Roma Ostiense Station, a handsome 1940s terminus on the southern edge of Rome. Staff greet passengers on the platform before you settle into your private cabin — either a Deluxe Cabin (7 m², with plush sofa, mirrored walls, carpeted floors, and en-suite bathroom) or a Suite (11 m², with separate sleeping area, twin-bed option, and richly atmospheric lacquered finishes). As the train clears the eternal city's suburbs, the Restaurant Car fills with the aromas of Chef Heinz Beck's seasonal Italian menu: antipasti, handmade pasta, and carefully sourced secondi paired with Italian wines. A pianist, singer, and musician perform in the Bar Car, where the aperitivo hour flows into digestivi and midnight conversation. By the time Rome has faded behind you, the train is running smoothly north through Lazio and into the Veneto.
Day 2 — Venice: Canals, Lagoon, and La Serenissima
Breakfast — artisanal breads, pastries, fruit, and freshly brewed coffee, served in the Restaurant Car or delivered to your cabin — is timed to coincide with the train's approach across the causeway into Venezia Santa Lucia Station. A private water taxi awaits on the Grand Canal to transfer guests directly into the heart of the city. The full day in Venice is yours to spend as you wish, with a menu of optional curated excursions available at additional cost.
Among the most prized options is the Venetian Lagoon Islands experience: a private boat glides across the shimmering lagoon to Murano, legendary for its master glassmakers, and to Burano, famous for its colourful painted houses and intricate lace workshops. Alternatively, the Orsoni Furnace visit grants exclusive after-hours access to Venice's last active mosaic-glass furnace, where artisans demonstrate ancient Venetian techniques. History enthusiasts may choose Casanova's Venice — a guided walk through hidden passages and secret rooms of the Doge's Palace — or an ascent of the Scala del Bovolo, a rare Renaissance spiral staircase with sweeping rooftop views. Independent guests can wander Piazza San Marco, visit the Basilica di San Marco and the Campanile, or lose themselves in the labyrinthine sestieri of Dorsoduro and Cannaregio. As evening falls, water taxis return passengers to the train. The Restaurant Car serves another Heinz Beck dinner — this night's menu inspired by Venetian flavours — while the Bar Car hums with live music and the glow of the lagoon receding through the windows.
Day 3 — Siena and Return to Rome
Awaking to the rolling Tuscan countryside — vine rows, cypress allées, and tawny hilltop villages — passengers enjoy a leisurely breakfast as the train curves south through the Val d'Orcia landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. By late morning the train arrives in Siena, the city that, more than any other in Tuscany, froze itself in the amber of the Middle Ages after the Black Death of 1348 halted its rival growth to Florence. Its brick-red towers, Gothic cathedral, and shell-shaped Piazza del Campo remain almost unchanged from the fourteenth century.
Curated excursions bring Siena's hidden world to life. The Noble Heart experience begins with a visit to the Duomo di Siena — a Gothic masterpiece whose striped marble nave, Pisano pulpit, and inlaid marble floor are among the greatest artistic achievements of medieval Italy — followed by a private tour of a Sienese palazzo whose aristocratic owner offers a personal toast over panoramic views. A traditional lunch at a historic Sienese restaurant, with local Chianti Classico or Brunello di Montalcino, provides the culinary counterpoint. Guests exploring independently can follow the contrade (neighbourhood banners) that animate the city's passionate Palio horse-race tradition, or browse the artisan workshops of Via di Città. In the late afternoon the train departs south through Lazio. An Italian aperitivo service begins in the Bar Car, the Tuscan hills give way to the volcanic lake districts of Bolsena and Bracciano, and by early evening the familiar outline of St. Peter's Dome appears on the horizon as the train glides back into Rome Ostiense — the perfect full stop to a journey that felt, in the best possible way, too short.
Destinations & Highlights
Rome — The Eternal Departure Point
Rome is the beginning and end of this circular journey, and its gravitational pull is fitting: the city that ruled the ancient world and gave birth to Western civilisation remains as overwhelming today as it was to every Grand Tourist before you. The departure station, Roma Ostiense, sits near the Pyramid of Cestius (12 BC) and the Protestant Cemetery where Keats and Shelley are buried — a quietly atmospheric send-off into the Italian night. Guests arriving in Rome before or after the train journey have the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps all within reach of the city centre.
Venice — City of Water and Light
Venice was, for five centuries, the greatest maritime empire in the Mediterranean — a commercial and artistic superpower that traded with Constantinople, Cairo, and the Silk Road terminus cities of Central Asia. Built on 118 islands threaded by 150 canals and connected by over 400 bridges, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 and is recognised as one of the most beautiful cities ever conceived. Piazza San Marco and the golden Basilica di San Marco — its facade a collage of Byzantine mosaics looted from Constantinople in 1204 — are the iconic heart of the city. The Doge's Palace (Palazzo Ducale), connected to the city's prison by the famous Bridge of Sighs, tells the story of Venetian power and justice across gilded halls and council chambers. Away from the tourist currents, the Dorsoduro district offers the Gallerie dell'Accademia (Bellini, Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto) and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection of twentieth-century modernism. The island of Murano, a fifteen-minute boat ride from the main island, has produced the world's finest decorative glass for over 700 years; today its furnaces continue a tradition that supplies chandeliers to palaces and cathedrals across Europe.
Siena — Medieval Tuscany Preserved in Amber
Siena is arguably the most complete medieval city in Italy. Unlike Florence, which reinvented itself during the Renaissance and again in the industrial era, Siena's trajectory was interrupted by the catastrophic Black Death of 1348 — a tragedy that paradoxically preserved its Gothic fabric intact. The city's UNESCO-listed historic centre is dominated by the shell-shaped Piazza del Campo, one of the greatest public spaces in Europe and the arena for the famous twice-yearly Palio horse race (July 2 and August 16), in which the city's seventeen contrade (neighbourhoods) compete in a tradition dating to the thirteenth century. The Duomo di Siena ranks among the supreme achievements of Italian Gothic architecture: its white, green, and red marble exterior conceals a nave whose floor is an extraordinary museum of inlaid marble panels (56 panels depicting biblical and allegorical scenes), along with Nicola Pisano's pulpit (1268), Donatello's bronze of St. John, and Michelangelo's early marble figures in the Piccolomini Altar. The Palazzo Pubblico on Piazza del Campo houses Ambrogio Lorenzetti's celebrated Allegory of Good and Bad Government (1338–39), a landmark in secular Western painting. Siena's cuisine — pici pasta, wild boar ragu, ricciarelli almond biscuits, and the wines of the surrounding Chianti Classico and Montalcino appellations — is among the richest in Tuscany.