Bel Paesaggio: The Italian Lakes, The Veneto, Tuscany & the Cinque Terre

16 September - 8 October 2012

Tour Highlights

Join David Henderson, and celebrate the beautiful landscapes of Northern Italy, from Lake Como and Lake Maggiore, the Veneto and Tuscany, to the Cinque Terre - the Ligurian coastal region of deep coves, steep, terraced hills, tiny villages and intimate shrines. Highlights of the tour include:

• • Lectures and site visits by David Henderson, a visual artist, who has led over 30 tours to Italy and France, including this tour from 2004-2008.
• • Visiting some of the most beautiful villas and gardens of Northern Italy, especially in the lake district around Como and Maggiore
• • Enjoying the genius of Andrea Palladio's palaces and villas in the Veneto
• • Attending an evening drinks reception and private concert at the home of Rosemary Forbes-Butler in Venice
• • Exploring the fine artistic traditions of Florence, Siena and Venice
• • Visits to two beautiful Tuscan villas and tasting of Tuscan specialities accompanied by Chianti Classico
• • Studying the terraced coastal landscapes and small fishing villages of the Cinque Terre guided by experts from the Cinque Terre National Park
• • A visit to the Abbey of San Gerolamo della Cervara, overlooking the Tigullio Gulf, and containing the only surviving monumental Italian garden in Liguria

Visits include Isola Bella & Isola Madre (Stresa) • Orta San Giulio • Villa Porta il Bozzolo (Casalzuingo) • Villa Cicogna (Bisuschio) • Villa Carlotta (Cadenabbia) • Villa Balbianello (Bellagio) • Verona • Villa Allegri Arvedi (Cuzzano) • Vicenza • Villa Barbaro (Maser) • Villa Malcontenta (Mira) • Venice • Ravenna • Villa Gamberaia (Settignano) • Villa di Geggiano (Pianella) • San Gimignano • Volterra • Pisa • Carrara Marble Quarries • the Cinque Terre villages • Portofino • the Abbey of San Gerolamo della Cervara • Santa Margherita

About the Tour

This tour celebrates some of the most beautiful landscapes of northern Italy, from Lake Como and Lake Maggiore, through the broad expanse of Veneto and the hills of Tuscany, to the spectacular rocky coastline of the Cinque Terre. We shall explore the fascinating ways Italians have moulded their countryside through the landscape arts of agriculture and gardening, the particular genius expressed in the design of Italian cities, palaces and villas which are perfectly adapted to their environment, and how the diverse ecologies of these regions of Italy have nurtured human innovation, which has in turn shaped and enriched the Italian landscape.

We begin in the region of Lake Maggiore and Lake Como, where we visit a number of magnificent 17th and 18th century gardens. These represent the apogee of a process begun during the Renaissance when elites revived the antique ideal of the country estate under the inspiration of classical authors such as Virgil and Vitruvius. Next, we visit Verona and Mantua where we investigate the cultural riches of Renaissance ducal families like the Gonzaga, especially regarding palace design, painting and gardening.

In the Veneto we explore the Palladian villas of the Venetian aristocracy. You will witness an inimitable harmony of architecture and nature in the fine villas of the great architect Andrea Palladio at Villa Capra (Vicenza) and Villa Barbaro (Maser). We also visit the Mantuan palace of the Gonzaga, who commissioned great works of art and developed courtly modes of behaviour and images which formed the foundation for ritual and etiquette of the Ancien Regime. In Venice we visit majestic palaces and encounter, in paintings by Titian and Giorgione, the 'invention' of the pastoral ideal which accompanied the development of villas in the Veneto. Bucolic landscapes peopled by nymphs, satyrs, shepherds and shepherdesses were depicted in art and poetry, establishing a tradition which was crucial to the evolution of European country houses. The glowing light in Venetian paintings was inspired by two sources; Venice's unique atmosphere and the Byzantine tradition of decorating walls with lustrous mosaics. We visit Ravenna's lovely churches with their scintillating mosaics.

After Ravenna the tour explores the shape and culture of three great medieval and Renaissance cities, Florence, Siena and Lucca. Each city has its peculiar attributes: Florence is stately and intellectual, Siena is smaller, its art more intricate and precious, reflecting links to the medieval French court; Lucca is intimate, separated from the modern world by its fine 16th century walls. In and around Florence we trace the evolution of Renaissance art and visit two beautiful Tuscan villas. In Siena we explore the organic growth of medieval cities which exploit the steep topography of their hill-top locations. At Carrara, near Lucca, we visit the vast quarries which supplied masters like Michelangelo with the best milky-white marble in Europe.

The tour concludes in the region of the Cinque Terre and at the lovely Abbey of San Gerolamo della Cervara. In the Cinque Terre you will have the opportunity to explore a unique environment by leisurely and/or more extensive and strenuous walks. This fascinating region consists of five miles of rocky coast in eastern Liguria between two promontories, 'Punta Cavo of Montenero' and 'Punta Mesco'. Here, five villages are perched on rocky spurs or wedged in tiny inlets: Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore collectively give their name to the Cinque Terre. Dramatic folding in the Tertiary Period, subsequent erosion, and eons of human activity, have shaped this fascinating 'cultural landscape'. Thousands of kilometres of dry walling, constructed and constantly repaired by the inhabitants for millennia, have created terraces for vineyards growing the distinctive fragrant after-dinner wine, Sciacchetrà, in this UNESCO protected territory. This zone of precipitous slopes and sheer cliffs alternating with bays and enchanting small beaches is famous for its fishing grounds and for its wonderful walking paths along the coast and inland to small ancient shrines. We shall use coastal ferries and the train line which stops in all the villages, and walk sections of the coast track linking the villages, or trek inland through beautiful countryside to the small medieval sanctuaries which dot the region.