Travelers arrive at our hotel in Verona for the first four nights of our tour. In the evening, we gather for a welcome reception and orientation before dining together.
We will spend two days visiting the principal sites of Verona: the Arena, the Roman amphitheater (accommodating an audience of 25,000), the Castelvecchio and the Museo d’Arte within it with the work of Mantegna, Pisanello, the Bellini, and Stefano da Verona; Chiesa di Sant’ Anastasia with its impressive frescoes and unique terracotta figures in the Cappella Pellegrini. Our two day visit will allow plenty of free time to relax and stroll the bridges and the piazzas and visit the cafes that give this city its unique, vibrant character.
From Verona we travel for the day to Vicenza, city of Andrea Palladio, the most influential and imitated architect in the world. Vicenza, a UNESCO world heritage Site since 1994 is home to Palladio’s best works, including the famous Teatro Olimpico This sparkling Renaissance city with its elegant Palladian palaces, beautiful piazzas, continues to thrive as the cosmopolitan capital of the Veneto and one of the wealthiest cities in Italy. Our visit here will be especially memorable as we are guided by a renowned Palladio scholar.
Today we travel a short distance to bella Mantova (Mantua).. Birthplace of Virgil (70 BC) and home of the Gonzaga family, Mantua became another great intellectual and artistic center of Renaissance. We will visit the splendid, imposing Palazzo Ducale of the Gonzaga including the very famous Camera degli Sposi with its celebrated frescoes by Andrea Mantegna. Later, we will visit Palazzo Te built and decorated in the Mannerist style We end the day in Bologna, the “Cultural Capital of Europe” and equally famous as the gastronomic capital of Italy.
We visit Bologna’s beautiful city center including the Palazzo Comunale. Another destination is the Basilica di San Petronio, dedicated to the city’s partron saint, St Pertronius, where we will see the work of Jacopo della Quericia and the expressive frescoes by Giovanni da Modena. For the brave, there will be the opportunity to climb the medieval Torre degli Asinelli, built in 1109 and still affording a breathtaking view of the city.
Other sights include the Basilica di Santo Stefano and the Chiesa di San Domenico which houses the beautiful tomb with the sarcophagus by Nicola Pisano (1267). Work of the tomb was complete by Michelangelo in 1494. Also in Bologna, Museo Morandi, the largest collection of the 20th C painter and engraver as well as a reconstruction of the artist’s studio.
Today we visit the charming city of Ferrara, home to the illustrious d’Este family. The d’Este, great patrons of art, literature, and architecture, made Ferrara a cultural center of the Renaissance. We will visit the Castello Estense, home of the d’Este family as well as the Duomo, and the Pinateca Nazionale, which houses masterpieces of the Ferrarese, Emilian and Venetian Schools of painting.
Once the capital of the Roman Empire and Exarchate of Byzantium, Ravenna is home to the famous elaborate mosaics from the 5th and 6th centuries. Together we will visit the mid-5th C Mausoleo di Galla Palacidia, Basilica di San Vitale, Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo and make a short journey to the Basilica di Sant’Apollinare in Classe
.
Padua is our focus for the day, site of the Scrovegni Chapel with the superlative fresco cycle painted in 1305-10 by Giotto. The 39 frescoes, the only fresco cycle of Giotto wholly intact, illustrate the lives of Mary and Jesus and include Giotto’s Last Judgment. Recently restored, the brilliance and sophistication of Giotto’s masterpiece is breathtaking. After, we will have an extended visit to one of the most important pilgrimage churches, the Basilica of San Antonio. Inside Il Santo with its magnificent nave, is the Capella dell’ Arco del Santo,the chapel of the tomb of St Anthony by Tiziano Aspetti. On the high altar, the dramatic bronze statues and reliefs by Donatello. Outside the church is the famous equestrian statue of the Venetian leader Gattamelata, a masterpiece by Donatello (1453) and the first Renaissance bronze equestrian monument.
We end the day in that most romantic of cities, Venice, “a fairy city at heart.” (Byron)
Over the course of the next three days, we will visit the Basilica of Mark and the Piazza San Marco, the sacred and secular heart of the city, the Palazzo Ducale, which served as the residence of doges and the seat of government from the 12-17C, and the Academia, housing the most important Venetian art from 14-18C including the works of Bellini, Titian, Giorgione, Mantegna, and Carpaccio. There will be plenty of time to enjoy the legendary city, La Serenissima, (“the most serene”) on your own, as you wander over its many bridges and canals, experience its changing light and mood. Mysterious, regal, exotic, a labyrinth of streets and canals, for centuries the city has exuded its power to transfix its visitors with its elusive, magical character.
Finally, on Friday evening we will gather to have our Cena Adio, our farewell dinner and conclude our time together in bell’Italia.
**N.B.: Although the tour officially concludes with dinner on Friday evening June 22, the price of the hotel stay that night and breakfast the following morning are included in the price of the program.