10-Nights Italy's Treasures - Explorations – Small Group

Italian Riviera

The Italian Riviera is famous for its particularly mild climate which, together with the charm of its old fishing ports and the beauty of its landscape, has made it a popular destination for travellers and tourists since the time of Byron and Shelley.

Venice

With a great historic past and incomparable art treasures, Venice is renowned as one of the world’s great cities. Its 118 islands are separated by more than 150 canals and spanned by 400 bridges. During Venice's artistic golden age many magnificent structures were erected to create world-famous masterpieces. One of the best sightseeing routes is along Grand Canal, with many palaces lining the famous waterway. St. Mark’s Square offers access to some of Venice’s most famed attractions - St. Mark’s Basilica and Doge’s Palace. From Piazza San Marco, a maze of narrow streets are lined with shops, cafés and restaurants. A popular pastime is sitting at an outdoor café facing the square while people-watching and letting the whole marvelous scenario unfold. Venice’s Murano, Burano and Torcello Islands comprise an area famous as home of Venice’s glass-blowing industry and known for their charm, skilled lace-making and medieval monuments. Relax on a gondola ride, see art treasures in museums, churches and palaces, and have a sumptuous meal - all in this incomparable city.

Tuscany

Tuscany is a charmed land, equally blessed by the genius of man and nature, and often by the combined efforts of both. Think of the vineyards: rows of baby green vines that manage somehow to march in arrow-straight formation up the gently rolling hillsides, bounded by single files of darker green cypress trees, snaking sandy roads leading to rust-colored farmhouses and moss-coated castles, symmetrically rounded hilltops surmounted by towns so homogeneous as to seem one single building. Every inch of land has been sculpted, first by the elements and then by generations of inhabitants whose goals were always twofold: make the land produce as much as possible, make the land as beautiful as possible. Tuscany enchants us today because it holds together as a region, from the tiniest hamlet to Florence the Magnificent. For the living proof, take a short walk one day along the sides of the Belvedere in Florence: you will leave behind the traffic and suddenly find yourself strolling down quiet lanes bounded by tall stone walls, cypress trees and creamy-colored villas.

Stresa

This summer and winter holiday resort in the province of Novara is situated on the west side of Lake Maggiore on the slopes of Mount Mottarone, looking out over the Borromeo islands. The lakeside is very attractive, with a wide avenue of trees and flowerbeds, lined with hotels and villas set amongst trees. From here you have a panoramic view of the Borromeo islands. The avenue opens out on to Piazza Marconi, overlooked by the neoclassical church of Sant’Ambrogio, designed by Zanoia and built in 1790. It has a single nave and contains seventeenth century paintings by local artists and nineteenth century sculptures by Somaini. Beyond the piazza lies the Villa Ducale which was built within a beautiful park in 1770 and at one time belonged to the philosopher Antonio Rosmini who died there in 1855. It is now a study centre dedicated to Rosmini and contains mementoes and rare editions. Rosmini College, founded in 1852, is in Viale Marconi. The church has Rosmini’s tomb and a monument to him by Vela. Stresa also hosts national and international conferences and congresses which are held in the modern Palazzo dei Congressi.