VENICE AND THE VENETO
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25 March – 1 April 2010
with Anthony Earl
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COST: £995 including flights to Venice; 3 nights accommodation at the Hotel Metropole, Venice, and 4 nights at the Hotel Miramonte, Bassano; five evening meals, main entrances to museums and properties, vaporetto tickets in Venice, transfers by launch, coach, train (Venice to Bassano) & taxi,
EXTRAS: Travel insurance; 2 dinners in Venice, drinks at meals; lunches. single room supplement £295
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Venice, the Serenissima, is an enthralling city. Its riches in art, history, buildings and sheer gracious urbanity are such that wise travellers make a choice, and concentrate on some features, with the promise to return. Despite the huge numbers of tourists, it is a city, not only for viewing, but for living, and we shall in a short stay try to make ourselves at home. Our theme of the High Renaissance, taken broadly, will guide us through the art of Bellini, Bassano, Giorgione, Titian and Tintoretto and show us, among others, the buildings of Palladio and Longhena. That will give us the chance to wander through outlying districts, enjoy lesser known squares and views, and discover one or two quieter restaurants.
The wealth of Venice and what became her Empire was accumulated by trade and commerce in the Middle Ages and this wealth was lavished on beautifying the city into the 16th & 17th centuries. The palaces, churches & public buildings make it a wonder of the world. At the same time the great city merchants and nobles also acquired landed estates in the hinterland of city of Venice, and this mainland region – the Veneto – provided not only the food supply to the city, but a rural retreat from the crowded island city for its wealthy citizens. A country seat became the aspiration of many prosperous Venetian families and the fashion for building splendid villas – many designed on classical models by the master, Palladio – spread far beyond Italy.
The second half of our stay will reveal more of our chosen artists, and lead us to some of the villas whose architecture became a template for the rest of Europe. (We shall aim to visit those villas which are not easily accessible by public transport). The nearest town to our country hotel, Bassano del Grappa, is backed by the pre-Dolomites, and traversed by the river Brenta running in a picturesque chasm, crossed by a bridge designed by Palladio himself. It is an archetypal Italian country town, the original home of that fiery hooch, Grappa , and also from the mid-sixteenth century, the site of one of the peninsula’s major printing presses. Musical events are available at this time of year in Venice, and when announced, the concert & opera programme will be communicated to clients, and bookings (at own cost) can be facilitated.
Provisional programme (note, at time of going to print, opening times of villas, and other booked events are not always available; these proposals will be followed as closely as possible.)
For lunches members will be guided to suitable cafes and light meal purveyors.
| Date |
Itinerary |
| Thu 25th March |
We shall arrive by air, and transfer by launch to the Hotel Metropole ( five star). Dinner in a local restaurant will be included. |
| 26 |
A walking and vaporetto tour of major sites: the Doge‘s Palace; the Frari Church,Titian’s Assumption, and, near the hotel, the Bellini in San Zaccaria. Dinner will be at your own choice. |
| 27 |
By vaporetto or slow stroll to the Accademia delle Belle Arti, where we shall concentrate on our major artists -but admiration of others cannot be excluded! After lunch, Santa Maria della Salute is our first example of High Renaissance architecture, and we shall visit a palace on the Grand Canal: Ca’Rezzonico, known to the English literary set and connected to Bassano del Grappa. Dinner will be at your own choice. |
| 28 |
(the music in St Mark’s is not to be missed)
We shall head by vaporetto to San Giorgio on its island and then stroll to the other Venetian church by Palladio, the Redentore on the Guidecca. After lunch, we shall make a late afternoon departure by launch and thence train to Bassano del Grappa, (taxis for the last stage) to our country hotel, the Miramonti ( three star) just outside Bassano. Dinner is included. |
| 29 |
We shall travel by coach, which will take us first to a church in Castelfranco for a famous newly restored Giorgione and thence to Asolo, the hill top village which was home to Freya Stark and Eleonora Duse, returning by a slow country drive to Bassano and our hotel. Dinner is included. |
| 30 |
After an early morning visit to the Museo Civico, with its famous collection of Paintings by da Ponte ( Bassano) and its traces of Canova, another son of the town, we shall take a short coach tour of Palladian villas , and surrounding countryside, first to Villa Rezzonico outside Bassano, and thence for lunch time to Marostica, scene of a medieval-style chess match , and on to the Villa Barbaro at Maser ,still inhabited, frescoed by Veronese. We shall see the Villa Emo if time permits. Dinner at the hotel is included. |
| 31 |
A coach will take us to Vicenza, the Palladian town par excellence ( a sixteenth century theatre, an art gallery in a palace, a civic hall transformed by the architect), before we head for the Villa Valmarana, ( private but open to the public), then the iconic Villa Rotonda,and the private Villa da Schio, where our visit concludes with a wine tasting. Dinner at the hotel is included. |
| 1st April |
Coach transfer back to the airport. |
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