Nothern and Southern Itlay
I would like to see all of Italy - both northern (lakes, Milan) and southern Italy (Rome, etc) in one trip. It does not appear to be one tour that accomplishes both. Does Tauck have an easy way of combining two trips and assisting getting from ending and starting places for the two tours?
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What you want to do is akin to what people applying for a US Visa would tell my daughter at the Embassy- "We need Visa to see USA. We go to USA for week to see New York, Washington, Mickey Mouse, Grand Canyon, and Hollywood." Are you flying? "No, we rent car."
I don't think Tauck has an easy way to do this. They will likely help you as much as possible, but you have asked a difficult question for which you need to provide a lot of info.
Before you talk to Tauck, you need to set some criteria- do you want all land travel or a mix of small ship cruising? Are you more interested in Art and Culture, History, or Scenery, etc. Do you want to see everything in as much detail as possible or are you just making a scouting tour that you will use to decide where to spend more time on a future, focused (Culturious) trip, or find a nice area to rent a house for a week, month, etc. someday? Are there any places you have no interest is seeing? Do you have any "must see" places? Is there a limit on the amount of time you can dedicate to this adventure? If they are not consecutive/contiguous, how much time are you willing to fend for yourselves between tours? I expect you will relish a few down days to rest and recharge. Are you willing to cut a tour short or start one late if the tours overlap? Will it bother you if you visit the same location twice?
Once you decide those things and more, here is what I would do- slightly OCD, but it could be a fun exercise!
First, print out all the Tauck Italy Tour map routes to use as a quick reference (might need a screen capture utility). Take those, 2015/2016 wall or big desk calendars, and your laptop/tablet to a room with a large work surface, e.g. kitchen table. Get a nice, large wall map of Italy, too.
First, using your criteria, maps, and tour descriptions, narrow down the number of tours (there are 22 Italy tours) by eliminating those that don't provide what you want. You'll find, there are Tauck tours covering Sicily and Puglia (the heel), but not the instep part of the boot. Many tours start in Sorrento/Amalfi coast area. A number of tours start, end, or pass through Rome.
Once you have narrowed down the number of tours you might like, get felt tipped highlighters and assign a color to each of the remaining tours. Highlight the routes on the wall map. Don't forget to indicate start and end points. Then, using the same colors draw lines through all tour dates on the calendars for each (April - September) tour. Circle small gaps and overlaps to see if you can do this with minimal amounts of either. You will need to do this quickly when tour dates are released, because some fill up quickly.
To do all of Italy with Tauck, it might require up to two months and four or more tours- start with "Sicily: Culture through the Ages", followed by "A week in Puglia," followed by "Classic Italy", followed by "Bellissima Northern Italy." It won't be cheap and will be extremely tiring- Tauck provides fantastic, active tours, NOT restful vacations!
Another option- give a travel agent some marching orders (see paragraph 4) and see what he comes up with.
AlanS' ideas are good, and can definitely help you narrow down what exactly you're interested in. Once you've got a few ideas down, I definitely recommend calling us, as the folks in our Reservations team are better equipped to help with this than anyone else at Tauck is.
Good luck, and I hope you find the travel experience you're looking for!
-Tim