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Bologna to Milan Art Cities of Northern Italy

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Bologna to Milan Art Cities of Northern Italy BOLOGNA TO MILAN ART CITIES OF NORTHERN ITALY APRIL 26 – MAY 12, 2017 TOUR LEADER: DR KATHLEEN OLIVE Bologna to Milan Overview Art cities of Northern Italy is home to some of Europe’s most extraordinary art, Northern Italy including the luminous World Heritage-listed mosaics in Ravenna and Leonardo’s most celebrated work, The Last Supper. Many of these Tour dates: April 26 – May 12, 2017 masterpieces are also in beautiful locations offering panoramic views over the Italian countryside, such as Urbino and the foothills of Parma, a little Tour leader: Dr Kathleen Olive off the regular routes taken by most travellers. This new 17-day tour takes you through the art and history of this Tour Price: $8,750 per person, twin share delightful region, which is also home to some of Italy’s finest cuisine. On this tour we admire art and architecture, from Byzantine Ravenna to Single Supplement: $1,950 for sole use of medieval Bologna and elegant Milan. Discover the Renaissance courts of double room northern Italy in Urbino, Mantua and Parma. Explore Italian genius and design, from Piero della Francesca and Leonardo, to Lamborghini and the Booking deposit: $500 per person makers of modern Italy. Learn about Modernism: from the colourful dynamism of the Futurists to the meditative beauty of Giorgio Morandi. Recommended airline: Emirates And we travel through glorious countryside, enjoying the culinary delights of Italy’s leading gastronomic region. Maximum places: 20 The tour has all the characteristics of an Academy Travel tour – stays in Itinerary: Bologna (4 nights), Urbino (3 nights), carefully selected hotels, background talks before site visits and a Parma (4 nights), Milan (5 nights) maximum group size of just 20. Date published: June 2, 2016 Your tour leader Dr Kathleen Olive has more than 15 years’ experience leading tours to Italy. She has a PhD in Italian literature, regularly presents popular courses at Sydney University’s Centre for Continuing Education and at the WEA, Sydney, and speaks fluent Italian. Kathleen has a specific interest in Italian culture of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, from the connections between the literature of Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio and the painting of Giotto, through to the control of cultural life under Florence’s Medici family. Renaissance culture has also been the focus of Kathleen’s academic research, and in 2015 her critical edition of a key Italian text – the Codex Rustici, a commonplace book compiled and illustrated by a 15th-century Florentine goldsmith – was published by Olschki. Together with co-author Nerida Newbigin, Kathleen was in Florence when this publication was presented to Pope Francis I as an official gift on his first trip to the city, and it has subsequently been launched at the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, Enquiries and the Vatican Museums in Rome, the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Florence (Italy’s Library of Congress) – and even at the Custodia della bookings Terra Santa in Jerusalem! For further information and to “Kathleen was an outstanding tour leader. She was exceptionally secure a place on this tour knowledgeable and a gifted presenter. She went above and beyond, please contact Frederick looking after group members’ individual needs and making sure everyone Steyn at Academy Travel on was happy. Her obvious passion for Italy was infectious. I would love to do 9235 0023 or 1800 639 699 a tour with her again.” Feedback from Academy Travel’s Grand Tour of (outside Sydney) or email Italy, April 2015 [email protected] .au Inside the mind of A Renaissance man, In Urbino Urbino, remote Renaissance jewel and a fairytale come to life, is almost entirely the product of one man’s determined vision. Federico da Montefeltro – best known, with his wife, from Piero della Francesca’s double portrait now in the Uffizi – was the illegitimate son of the papal defender of Urbino and Gubbio. It was in fact through Pope Martin V’s good offices that Federico was strategically legitimated, with permission sought from and granted by his father’s legal wife, who happened to be the pope’s niece. The young Federico spent part of his youth as a political hostage in northern Italy and thus received an excellent education from the court tutor of Mantua, Vittorino da Feltre. But as he was not direct heir to his father’s territories, Federico had to make his own way and fortune as a professional military strategist or condottiero. Some of his fiercest battles were against his family’s local rival, Sigismondo Malatesta, lord of Rimini and patron of Leon Battista Alberti’s remarkable Tempio Malatestiano. Yet Federico would fight – even once titled and wealthy – for those who paid his fee, from popes to the Sforza dukes of Milan and even Lorenzo the Magnificent in Florence. The Sack of Volterra under Federico’s command is still a notorious Renaissance military disaster. This situation changed in 1444, when Federico’s half-brother Oddantonio, recently made Duke of Urbino by Pope Eugene IV, was assassinated. Naturally Federico stood to gain the most from this, but his involvement has never been proved and there are even hints in Piero della Francesca’s Flagellation – painted in Urbino in the 1450s and still in the Palazzo Ducale there – that Federico considered his brother a martyr. Once duke, Federico continued to work as a condottiero but also concentrated on making Urbino an ideal city, still evident in Laurana’s rational architecture for his ducal palace, in official court portraits painted by Piero della Francesca, and in the tax-free status Federico’s well-paid battles allowed his subjects! Intellectual life was important to Federico: he chose for his second wife a woman who gave a public Latin oration at four. Battista Sforza bore Federico six daughters and, finally, a male heir (Guidobaldo – Raphael painted his portrait), but before her death at only 25, she also ruled in her husband’s absence. Another of the indications of Federico’s drive to unite the active, civic life with his contemplative, intellectual life – an existential obsession for Renaissance humanists – can still be found in Urbino. This is the studiolo, a small, marquetry-lined study where the duke kept his treasured manuscripts and objets. It was crowned with paintings of great thinkers, executed by the best Hispano-Flemish painters of the time, and a quiet and unhurried visit of it offers a compelling portrait of this complex and refined warrior prince. Tour Highlights Private visit of Leonardo’s Last Supper Milan’s hidden gems, including Bramante’s San Satiro, the Villa Necchi Campiglio and the Casa Boschi di Stefano Bologna, a delightful medieval city little touched by mass tourism The World Heritage-listed mosaics of Ravenna Renaissance masterpieces in out-of-the-way places: Piero della Francesca in Urbino and Parmigianino in Fontanellato Parma: private collections in modern villas and medieval hamlets in the Apennine foothills Above: one of the many beautiful arcades that characterises Bologna Above: mosaics in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna Above: medieval fortress in Fontanellato Above: Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper at the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan Detailed itinerary Included meals are shown with the letters B, L and D. Wednesday April 26 Arrival Your tour leader, Dr Kathleen Olive, will meet the group at the hotel, and there will be a light dinner in a restaurant near our hotel this evening. Overnight Bologna (D) Thursday April 27 Giorgio morandi This morning we explore the heritage of the great Italian artist Giorgio Morandi. We take a guided tour of the recently restored Morandi's house - the space where Morandi lived and worked almost all his life. Afterwards we continue our guided tour at the Morandi Museum inside the MAMbo to see a collection of the artist’s paintings, engravings and print heritage. We have our welcome lunch at a local restaurant, and the afternoon is at leisure. Overnight Bologna (B, L) Friday April 28 Brilliant Ravenna Today we travel to Ravenna, capital of the Byzantine Empire in Italy from the 5th to the 8th century AD. The churches and baptisteries of this town are decorated with the very finest late Roman mosaics, gorgeous compositions reflecting a variety of religious and imperial themes. We return to Bologna in the late afternoon and the evening is at leisure. Overnight Bologna (B) Saturday April 29 Towers and terracotta Today we explore the medieval and Renaissance heritage of Bologna, strolling the centro storico, admiring the red- arcaded passageways, towers and portici (porticoes). We visit the splendid Basilica di Santo Stefano and the oldest existing building, Santi Vitale e Agricola, parts of which date from the 5th century. Bologna is renowned for its outstanding cuisine which we enjoy today with lunch at a local restaurant. The afternoon and evening are at leisure. Overnight Bologna (B, L) Sunday April 30 THE CONTEMPORARY ART OF FRESCO We depart Bologna today for Urbino, stopping along the way to visit the small town of Dozza, famous for its unique contemporary fresco art. We arrive in Urbino in the late afternoon and take an orientation stroll before dinner at a local restaurant. Overnight Albergo Italia, Urbino (B, D) Monday May 1 (public holiday) The Ideal Renaissance city This morning after a talk in the hotel, we tour the principal sites of Urbino, a small hill-town which was transformed by the benevolent rule of Federico da Montefeltro. We visit the Palazzo Ducale and its celebrated intarsia-work studiolo, and the Galleria Nazionale, with Piero della Francesca’s tiny Flagellation. In the afternoon we take a walk to the Parco della Resistenza for panoramic views over the town.
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