Artists, Merchants, and Bandits: Genoa, Corsica & the Cote D'Azur
17 September - 5 October 2012
Tour Highlights
- This tour will be led by Christopher Wood. Highlights of the program include:
- • Explore the rich history and culture of the Republic of Genoa, the Cote d'Azur and the island of Corsica, from Prehistory to the 21st century
- • Enjoy a matchless variety of visual riches, of sumptuous palaces and villas, elegant cities and picturesque ports, sublime coasts and awesome mountains
- • Learn about the uniqueness of Mediterranean island and coastal culture – of shepherds, pirates, fishermen, and modern sophisticates
- • Master the rich maritime history of the Northern Mediterranean, from the ancient Greeks and Phoenicians to the medieval Pisans, Genoese and Catalans in old port cities like Genoa, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Bonifacio, Ajaccio and Bastia
- • Enjoy masterpieces by artists like Renoir, Picasso, Matisse, Jean Cocteau and Fernand Léger in fine museums like the Matisse Museum, Nice, and the Maeght Foundation, Saint-Paul de Vence
- • Visit artists' houses, such as Renoir's house in Cagnes-sur-Mer and the buildings they decorated, like Cocteau's Chapelle Saint-Pierre and Matisse's chapel in Vence
- • Deepen your understanding of how artists interact with the environment by comparing masterpieces to the landscapes they depict
- • Enjoy being scandalised by the luxury of the Rothschild's Villa Ephrussi, Cap-Ferrat and entranced by the finesse of Villa Grecque Kérylos
- • Marvel at the unique, pristine marine environment of Corsica's untouched coasts, on cruises at Bonifacio and to Scandola (marine) Nature Reserve
- • Be amazed by some of Europe's most interesting prehistoric sites on Corsica, such as Menhirs and Dolmen at Caura, and the vast citadel of Cucuruzzu
- • Drive across Corsica's awesome mountain passes such as the sublime Col de Bavella
- • Enjoy amazing contrasts between the stylishness of sophisticated, cosmopolitan resorts on the Côte d'Azur and the simplicity of isolated Corsican mountain villages
- • Savour the sophistication of French and Italian cuisine, and the fulsome flavours of Corsican local recipes
Overnight Genoa (3 nights) • Nice (5 nights) • Bonifacio (1 night) • Sartene (3 nights) • Piana (2 nights) • Bastia (3 nights) • Nice (1 night).
Visits include GENOA Galleria di Palazzo Bianco • Palazzo Rosso • the city's Romanesque churches • San Lorenzo Cathedral • Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Spinola CÔTE D'AZUR Chapelle Saint Pierre painted by Jean Cocteau • Villa Ephrussi & Villa Grecque Kérylos on the Cap Ferrat • St Tropez • Musée National Fernand Léger • Antibes • Cagnes-sur-Mer (Musée & Domain Renoir, Château-Musée Grimaldi & medieval village) • Matisse Chapel at Vence • the Maeght Foundation, Saint-Paul de Vence CORSICA Bonifacio • Col de Bavella • Olive Oil Mill at St Lucie de Tallano • prehistoric megaliths at Cauria, Cuccaruzu & Capula • Sartene & Levie Archaeological Museums • the Bonaparte House in Ajaccio, birthplace of Napoleon • Les Calanches, the magnificent rock formations along the coast near Piana • Boat excursion to Scandola Nature Reserve • Evisa • Bastia (Ste Marie Church, Ste Croix Brotherhood Oratory, donjon square with the Palace of the Governors, old port, Romieu Garden, St Jean Baptiste Church, St Nicholas Square & Market Square) • Cap Corse • Saint Florent • Murato
About the Tour
This tour explores the history of the Tyrrhenian Sea from Prehistory to the 20th century by visiting three very different environments. We begin in Genoa, the great maritime city and rival of Venice, which amassed vast wealth through Mediterranean trade and banking. We explore in particular some of Genoa's magnificent palaces and the superb collections of Renaissance and Baroque art that were made possible by this prosperity. From Renaissance and Baroque Genoa we travel the Cote d'Azur, which was a backwater until the late 19th and 20th centuries when it blossomed into one of the world's most famous coasts. We visit grand villas and gardens and fascinating art galleries that reflect the popularization of this coast by wealthy patrons and by artists like Renoir, Picasso, Matisse and Fernand Léger. Very different but of equal importance to Tyrrhenian history is Corsica, home to some of the most majestic coastal and mountain scenery in the Mediterranean. Corsica's ports echoed the cosmopolitanism of Genoa and the Cote d'Azur, but its mountainous inland was a sparsely populated realm of peasants, shepherds and bandits, who fled inland from invasion by Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Pisans, Genoese, Catalans and, finally, the French. We explore Corsica's beautiful coasts, its isolated inland villages, and its pretty harbours, as well as its rich prehistoric culture of dolmens and shrines.
