A visit to St Mark's Square, a tour of the Doges’ Palace, a boat ride along the Grand Canal and a walk over the Rialto bridge. You can't really say you've been to Venice without having done all four. If there's time after ticking these items off our list, we'll also try to nab a free ticket to the T F Fondaco Terrace, which offers one of the city's best views. Besides that, our aim is just to wander, get lost and sample some ciccheti.

Trieste wasn't high on our list of places to visit in Italy. It's a port town in Italy's north east and the place where we'll be boarding our cruise. But, the more we read about this Old World city the more fascinated we're becoming. Historically, settlement can be traced back to the second century BC. Since then, it's has been part of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Habsburg Monarchy, and Italy. The city has a strong literary heritage too, and was once the home of author James Joyce. So, between the history, the architecture and the melting pot of people, food and culture, Trieste is somewhere we're now very excited to visit.

The historic resort town of Taormina occupies one of the most spectacular mountaintop perches in Sicily. While there's plenty to see and do, the number one excursion on our agenda is a visit to Mt Etna, the world's most active volcano. If we can squeeze in a visit to the 2nd-century Greek Theatre (Teatro Greco) we'll do that too, plus a local pasta meal, which is a given.

This is a port stop for us so we'll only have one day to explore. There's a list of things we'd like to but in a city as old and as rich as Naples, we certainly won't be able to do it all. In the end, it might come down to game of scissor, paper, rocks because how else do you decide between a visit to Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius? Or, a pizza making class versus sitting down for a slice at the home of pizza, L'antica Pizzeria Da Michele? You can't, puro e semplice. There's also the Catacombs to explore and a visit to the Museo Cappella Sansevero to see the extraordinary 1753 marble sculpture, The Veiled Christ. Mama mia, it's going to be an up at dawn day.

They call it the Holy Trinity; Rome, Florence and Venice, a triune gift of architecture, art and culture. Anyone who's been to all three will have a favourite, mine is Rome, a city I used to call home. There's so much to see and do, a year wouldn't be enough let alone a day so we'll limit to just a handful of sites including St Peter's Square and the Sistine Chapel. If time permits, we'll visit where I used to work and live plus some of my favourite food haunts too.

Nothing quite says tourist than a photo in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Other than this iconic site, there are others worth visiting. The architecture of this city alone is enough to draw tourists, including the magnificent Duomo and Knights' Square.

It's almost a crime to spend just one day in Florence but that's all we'll have on this whirlwind part of the tour. You can't visit Florence with seeing these three things and if we get through them all, it will have been a good day. The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, a walk over the Ponte Vecchio, and taking in the majestic wonder of two of art's most prized works; Botticelli's The Birth of Venus and Michelangelo's David.