Experience Italy in a way you never dreamed possible!
Outside Umbria
Following the Piero della Francesca
trail
Cortona
- A Taste of Tuscany
Walking Umbria and Tuscany in
May
Shylock's Venice
Northern Italy Culinary Tour:
Balsamics and Parmesan
Ravenna:
Mosaics and More
Heart
of Rome
Forza, Napoli!
Neapolitan Crêche: Story, Masterpieces
and Artisans
Comments
Following the Piero della
Francesca trail
Top guide Gianna (from Arezzo) leads
this tour we created together. With Gianna you will visit less-discovered southern Tuscan gems - Arezzo, Sansepolcro, Monterchi - not yet inundated by "Under the Tuscan Sun"
seekers! Here, Piero della Francesca, the most important Italian
painter of the 15th century, lived and left us his most important
masterpieces. (See comments below.)
A morning visit to Arezzo will include the recently-restored
splendid Piero fresco cycle, "The Legend of the True Cross",
as well as his Mary Magdalene fresco - and with Gianna, you will
discover why Arezzo is not just Piero!
Afterwards, on to Sansepolcro, "la città della
Resurrezione" to see the Piero "Resurrection" fresco
which Aldous Huxley called " the most beautiful painting in
the world". Lunch will be in a characteristic "enoteca"
where you can taste not only fine Tuscan wines, but also cheeses,
patès, and other typical delicacies of the area.
This tour will conclude with a visit to Monterchi to see
"Madonna del Parto", Piero's masterpiece - so full of
symbolism - which perhaps evokes more than any other, the fragility
of mankind.
(NB - This tour can
be an IN-COMPAGNIA tour ie, for groups
of 6 - 12 persons, at shared tour rates - or the Piero tour can
be booked simply as a private tour, ie, for any number of persons,
with modifications, if desired)
This tour is self-drive though we are happy to organize rental van
at additional nominal fee, if interested. As for all IN-COMPAGNIA
tours, if tour size reaches the minimum of 10 persons, transportation
is provided (from and back to Arezzo) at no extra cost. Meeting
point will be in Arezzo at 9:00 a.m.
*Lodgings: Gianna's family has an apartment which they rent
in the center of Arezzo at most reasonable rates. Why not spend
a night or two there, exploring the Casentino valley area of southern
Tuscany? Gianna offers various tours of the area, including Cortona.
Cortona - A Taste of Tuscany
In Tuscany, just about 9 miles from the Umbrian
border, Cortona's small centro storico seems to be an open-air
parlor, where locals gather to converse in the narrow streets that
all converge in the main piazza. We will see some fine Renaissance
masterpieces in the local museum and a surprising hidden street
of medieval houses braced by original old oak beams. After a lunch
of hearty Tuscan specialties, we'll stop at the Franciscan monastery,
clinging to the hillside, founded by a follower of St. Francis of
Assisi.
Walking Umbria and Tuscany in May
Walk through the green hills of Tuscany and Umbria
with a "simpaticissimo", knowledgeable guide: my
friend Alessandro. Enjoy regional wine and cuisine in country inns
and wine cellars owned by Ale's friends. Visit the most charming
of the medieval hilltowns of Umbria and southern Tuscany - such
as Pienza, Montepulciano, Assisi, Gubbio.
Requirements? Alessandro: "All you need is to be able to walk
at a moderate pace for 3-4 hours a day and the willingness to have
great fun!" Trip limited to 12 participants.
Shylock's Venice
My colleague (we both lecture for the Elderhostel Italy programs) and
superb art historian, Lisa Rubenstein Calevi, lives in Verona and offers
unique tours in all of northern Italy. Here is one of her special Venice
tours (and feel free to ask for details on her other extraordinary tours,
as well as on the various "experiential" activities Lisa can
arrange for you).
A Jewish history walk through Venice evokes a city that most visitors
never see - one refracted through its many Jewish facets, where the people,
places, and stories of an ancient and still thriving Jewish-Venetian culture
are revealed in magnificent and surprising ways. Your three-hour tour,
led by Lisa Rubenstein Calevi, will be spent absorbing the atmosphere
of Jewish Venice, the city of Shylock.
Your walk begins with a brief visit, by reservation, to St. Mark's Basilica.
Though rarely mentioned, this remarkable church was actually built in
part with tombstones from the historic Jewish cemetary, an example of
which you will see inside. Directly across the lagoon from St. Mark's
square, in fact, lies this very cemetery, a mystical place that inspired
the poetry of Keats and Shelley. Individuals like Sara Coppio Sullam,
a 17th century Venetian poet and great beauty who fought off numerous
attempts by Christian suitors to convert and marry her, and Leone da Modena,
a beloved Venetian rabbi from the Renaissance, popular for granting Jews
permission to travel by gondola on the sabbath, are both buried here.
To learn more about the Jews of Renaissance Venice, you will be taken
to a once-secret meeting house, richly frescoed by Carpaccio, where the
depiction of a Jewish lending bank figures prominently in the decorative
scheme. You will also see the humiliation Jews were subjected to during
Venice's annual carnival, and learn about the Jewish holiday Venetians
refer to as the "Carnival of the Jews".
Following a short boat ride, you will step into the world's first ghetto,
founded in Venice in 1516. Its quiet fascination entrances all. After
a brief tour of the Museum of Jewish Art, you will enjoy a special, private
visit to three ancient synagogues still located in the historic quarter.
The walk draws to a close with a viewing of two moving memorials to Italian
Jews lost in World Wars I and II. Finally, on your last stop, you will
be introduced to the owners of the local kosher bakery, and enjoy a taste
of a beautiful, lace-like flatbread known as pane azzime, or Venetian
matzoh.
Northern
Italy Culinary Tour: Balsamics and Parmesan
Please ask for details.
Ravenna:
Mosaics and More
Please ask for details.
Heart of Rome
One-day walking tour of Il Cuore di Roma
(Heart of Rome): Piazza Navona; S. Luigi dei Francesi and S. Agostino
churches (to see Caravaggio paintings), Pantheon, S. Maria Sopra
Minerva, Palazzo Farnese and the Jewish ghetto (lunch at a typical
tiny trattoria in the Ghetto - of Jewish/Roman specialties - if
desired).
Forza, Napoli!
The Italians have an apt expresssion, "Vedi Napoli e poi
mori" = "See Naples and then die". True. Life
cannot end until you have experienced at least some of the countless
wonders of Naples. To name just a few: numerous underground sites
unveiling this "layered city" of Greek, Roman, medieval
structures; an exquisite cloister of exotic maiolica tiles; 18th
century sculptures whose beauties are guaranteed to make you gasp
in wonder (for me, this group is the Eighth Wonder of the World
hands down); the porcelain room (ceiling, walls of exquisitely-detailed
porcelain) in a gem of a museum and the archaeological museum housing
the treasures of Pompeii (not possible to visit Pompeii without
including a visit here!)...
And hours are needed to simply explore the teeming narrow streets,
including the area full of all the book vendors' stalls, the food
markets and the street of the presepari (creche-makers).
Dedicate time, too, to tasting Naples: the pizzas, potato croquettes,
ricotta-filled pastries (sfogliatelle - and try both varieties,
ie, the riccia or "curly" and the frolla
- or simpler variety), the gelato, the varieties of bread. In spring,
summer, early fall: the varieties of granita (ices): coffee,
mint, lemon (of freshly-squeezed Sorrento lemons - a must). The
street foods of Naples are gourmet.
My Naples Force includes:
*my American friend, Barbara (who has lived in Naples for
over 35 years) and her delightful son, Enrico (both lecture
for Elderhostel here in Italy) who have created some very "INSIDE"
Naples (and area) experiences for my tour clients, including a special
Christmas program (See tour below).
*Aldo - delightful guide for Naples, Pompeii, Capri and all
the Bay of Naples area. Aldo, too, has put together some special
tours/experiences at my request eg, pizza-making on the island of
Procida at the restaurant of his friends.
*Antontella - opened my eyes to the wonders of the Palazzo
Reale during this visit. She, too, has created some special
events for my clients, including a lunch of Neapolitan specialties
in a private home during her wonderful Naples tour. For garden-lovers,
Antonella's tour of the royal palace of Caserta is a must.
*Mimma - bubbles with characteristic Neapolitan enthusiasm
as she shares the wonders of her area.
*Adriano - not easy to find a driver with Adriano's command
of English, charm, professionalism. He will delight you as he takes
you on his driving tour of the Amalfi coast: Positano, Sorrento,
Amalfi and other gems. Adriano offers driving services throughout
the Bay of Naples area and elsewhere, eg, Rome airport pick-up,
etc.
Neapolitan Crêche: Story, Masterpieces
and Artisans
This tour offered by my Nucci friends is perfect for the Christmas season
but is available all year round. You will walk the narrow streets of Naples'
historic center to follow the story of the renowned Neapolitan crib (presepe or presepio in Italian) - the tale of Christ's birth told in figurines
or pastori whose setting is 18th century Naples! In fact, it was
King Charles III of Bourbon who started a trend by personally setting
up his own crib as an act of devotion. The custom is still followed today
in Neapolitan homes in Italy and abroad. In fact, from December 8th, Feast
of the Immacolata, to January 6th, Epiphany, crib scenes are set up in
churches and private homes alike, each year bringing a different arrangement
as new pieces are added.
We'll start out at the splendid 14th c. Gothic Church of Santa Chiara
where we'll see our first impressively large presepe and make note
of the themes and figures characteristic of the Neapolitan nativity. Then
we'll walk along Spaccanapoli ("Split-Naples" Street),
one of three decumani or avenues of the Greco-Roman city, to shop-lined
Via San Gregorio where the figurines and all the accessories (finimenti)
for the crêche are made and sold by craftsmen working year round.
We'll visit the studio of presepe artists Giuseppe and Marco
Ferrigno to see examples of high-quality pastori and watch the
artisans at work. You'll have some free time to browse these intriguing
shops and to make some purchases, if you like.
After lunch (authentic Neapolitan sfizzi and pizza Margherita)
in a lively pizzeria, we'll go by either Metro or Funicolare to the top
of the Vomero hill where the view of Naples is incomparable. Here we'll
visit the most important presepe museum in the world, the Museum
of San Martino. The collection includes hundreds of terracotta pieces,
some created by the best sculptors of 18th and 19th century Naples.
Piero della Francesca IC Tour
"Seeing the frescoes and other Renaissance
art in Perugia set the stage for our next day which Annie had arranged.
A Pierro della Francesco trail tour! A fun driver, Mauro, took us
and another couple to Arezzo to meet our guide, Gianna (so knowledgeable!).
There, we saw Piero's frescoes of the “Story of the True Cross”;
then, we went to a tiny hamlet to see his pregnant “Madonna”;
and finished the day seeing the “Resurrection” in Sansepulcro.
The art was inspiring; not to mention the landscapes of driving
through Umbria into Tuscany following Francesco’s trail!"
Kathy Berry, Milton, MA