MARTIN RANDALL TRAVEL

ART • ARCHITECTURE • GASTRONOMY • ARCHAEOLOGY • HISTORY • MUSIC • LITERATURE

Civilisations of Mediterranean crossroads: three thousand years of creativity

13–25 September 2021 (mh 889) 13 days • £4,960 Lecturer: Dr Luca Leoncini 11–23 October 2021 (mh 988) 13 days • £4,960 Lecturer: Dr Philippa Joseph 18–30 October 2021 (mh 998) 13 days • £4,960 Lecturer: John McNeill

Covers all the island, showcasing the main sights and many lesser-known ones. The whole gamut – Greek, Roman, Norman, Renaissance, Baroque and 19th century. A full tour but carefully paced and with only three hotels. Cross the Straits of to Reggio di to see the Riace Bronzes. Several special arrangements to visit places not normally open to the public.

Option to combine the September departure Segesta, watercolour by Alberto Pisa, publ. 1911 with World Heritage , 27 September–3 October 2021. ornamented with wrought-iron balconies. In glittering greens of intensely farmed valleys. every town there are buildings of unexpected The smoking bulk of Mount Etna, Europe’s Sicily is the pre-eminent island in the magnificence and a plenitude of modest largest active volcano, is visible from much of Mediterranean – the largest as well as the structures of ineffable charm. Some are well the eastern part of the island. most eventful historically. It is also more or preserved, some are crumbling – witness to a less in the middle, a stepping stone between deeper malaise. Itinerary Europe and Africa and a refuge between the For much of its history, Sicily was regularly Levant and the Atlantic. Throughout history one of the most prosperous of European Day 1: . Fly at c. 3.00pm from London Sicily was viewed as a fortuitous landfall by territories, but political mismanagement and Gatwick to Catania, and drive across the island migrating peoples and a prized possession social dislocation led to a long, deep slump. to Palermo (British Airways). The largest and by ambitious adventurers and expansionist Into the space vacated by absentee landlords by far the most interesting city on the island, princes. And as the Mediterranean has been the and self-serving authorities, the ‘Honoured Palermo has been capital of Sicily since the catalyst and disseminator of a greater variety of Society’ inserted itself as protector – though period of Saracenic occupation in the ninth civilisations than any other of the world’s seas, it has been even more exploitative and malign century. It reached a peak under the Normans the island has accumulated an exceptionally than the worst of earlier tyrants. And the and again during the Age of Baroque. First of rich and incomparably varied inventory of art, region remains low in the tables of prosperity. six nights in Palermo. architecture and archaeological remains. Matters are improving, however. Day 2: Palermo. A morning walk through the Here are to be found some of the finest Conservation and curatorship have made great old centre includes visits to several oratories surviving ancient Greek temples and theatres; strides in recent years, the Mafia has lost its and outstanding Norman buildings including Roman floor mosaics which have no peer dominance, poverty has lessened, and other La Martorana with fine mosaics. Lunch is at a in Europe; and wall and vault mosaics by indicators of wellbeing – the high quality of private palace, by special arrangement. In the Byzantine craftsmen which are unequalled cuisine among them – are more evident as each afternoon see the collection of pictures in the anywhere. Medieval churches and Baroque year goes by. Sicily has been a part of a unified 15th-century Palazzo Abatellis. In the evening palaces abound, and there are many memorable since 1861 a