Etruscan and Roman Italy

May 14-28, 2007

Depart Washington Dulles International Airport via Lufthansa Airlines on an overnight flight to Frankfurt and then on to Rome.

Day 2 - May 15                                                                            Rome (D)

Upon arrival at Rome Airport, you will be met by our travel guide and will be transferred to our hotel by private motor coach where you will be for the next 4 days.  The hotel is located in the heart of Rome, with easy access to almost everything you will want to visit in the old and central City.  There will be a group welcome dinner this evening.

Day 3 - May 16                                                                            Rome (B,L)

Following breakfast, you begin a half day group tour of ancient Rome, beginning with an examination of the temples located in the Forum Boarium and then to the Circus Maximus from which you can also view the ruins of the Palace of the Emperors atop the Palatine Hill.  Your next stop under the shade of the famous pines of Rome will be the Arch of Constantine and the nearby signature monument of the ancient city, the Roman Coliseum.  After your visit to the Coliseum, you will enter the Roman Forum via the Via Sacra (Sacred Way).  The Forum was the heart of Republican and, later, Imperial Rome.  Here you will view the well-preserved Arch of Titus, the Basilica of Constantine or Maxentius, the House of the Vestal Virgins, the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, the Roman Senate house, and the temples and basilicas that surrounded the central area in front of the Rostrum, ending with the grand Arch of Septimius Severus. 

Your lunch will be at the Restaurant Ulpius Trianus. The balance of the afternoon will be on your own.  Dinner this evening is also on your own.

Day 4 - May 17                                                                            Rome (B)          

Following breakfast, you will be on your own for the balance of the day.  You may wish to return to the heart of ancient Rome with visits to Trajan’s Grand Market, Hadrian’s Mausoleum, the massive Baths of Caracalla, or to the grandeur of the Pantheon.  Or you may choose to visit the numerous and elegant basilicas and churches that are found throughout the neighborhoods of Rome. Undoubtedly the most famous and grandest of these, of course, is the Basilica of St. Peter’s at the center of Vatican City, the smallest independent state in the world.  While you will visit the Vatican Museum and grounds tomorrow, St. Peter’s itself is worth a definite visit. There are many modern monuments and sites to visit in Rome.  One of these is the Piazza dei Campidoglio, designed during the Renaissance by Michelangelo.  The top of the steps offers grand views from the Capitoline Hill. Two outstanding museums, containing classical sculptures and the works of Veronese, Tintoretto, Caravaggio, Van Dyck and Titian, are also located here. The Piazza di Spagna with the famous Spanish Steps and the beautiful and huge Villa Borghese park above, overlooking the Piazza del Popolo is another favorite.  Rome’s Baroque Piazza Navona is still another place lined with palaces and sidewalk cafes that should not be missed.  Just a tour of the fountains of Rome would fill much of your day. The fountains in the Fontana di Trevi, close to our hotel; Fontana del Tritone in the Piazza Barberini; or the Fontana dei Fiumi in the Piazza Navona.  These are just but some of the many places of Rome that should not be missed.

Lunch and dinner today are also on your own.

Day 5 - May 18                                                                               Rome (B,D)

 This morning, you wil have your own private guided tour of the fabulous Vatican Museum. The Museum probably has the most outstanding Greek and Roman antiquities in the world, together with magnificent Egyptian and Etruscan artifacts as well. Some of Italy’s greatest artists such as Raphael, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci are represented in its various galleries. Following your Museum tour, you will tour the elegant Vatican gardens as well, a welcome and peaceful respite from the ever busy world outside.

Lunch will be on your own.  The balance of our last afternoon in Rome is yours to enjoy.  A gentle stroll along the Tiber River is a possibility.  Or, perhaps you may want to visit one of the many sites still remaining on your list of things to do in Rome.  This evening you will enjoy a farewell dinner and share your experiences of the last three days.

Day 6 - May 19                                                                       Umbria (B,D)

Today you leave Rome for Umbria.  Your first stop (actually in Latium) is at Cerveteri, ancient Etruscan Caere, where you will visit the necropolis of Banditacchia.  Here the Etruscans established one of their cities of the dead.  The variety of the tombs in the area dates from as early as the 6^th Century BC.  The tombs, often used by family members over time, were built along narrow streets and faithfully reflected the houses of the Etruscans, which have long since disappeared.  Your next stop is at Tarquinia where you will visit the Museo Nazionale located in the beautiful Renaissance Palazzo Vitelleschi.  Here you will see some of the finest surviving artifacts from the Etruscan world, including the memorable Cavalli Alati (winged horses), part of a pediment from an Etruscan temple.  Lunch is on your own in Orvieto, which is an exceptionally sited hilltop town of Etruscan origin. The Duomo in Orvieto is among the greatest of all of Italy’s Romanesque-Gothic cathedrals with a breathtaking façade. You will stay overnight at the Hotel La Badia, a converted 12-th century abbey with a marvelous view over the town. This evening you will enjoy dinner at La Badia.

Day 7 - May 20                                                                    Tuscany (B,D)

After breakfast, you will leave for Tuscany.  The beautiful drive takes us through endless vineyards and the rolling Tuscan hillside. Our first stop today will be in Siena, once a capital to rival Florence.  Siena is still unspoiled and endowed with the grandeur of the age when it was at its peak (1260-1348). Our focus will be the historic Piazza del Campo with its surrounding maze of medieval streets. The Piazza occupies the site of the old Roman forum and for much of its early history was the city’s principal marketplace.  It began to assume its present shape in 1293 when Siena’s ruling body began to acquire land with the view to creating a grand civic plaza.  The Piazza has been the focus of city life ever since, a setting for executions, bullfights, and the twice-yearly drama, the Palio, a festival centered on a bareback horse race.

Lunch is on your own at one of the many cafes and restaurants that line the Campo’s fringes. After lunch, you will drive just a few miles to your villa in the Tuscan countryside, called the Relais Della Rovere. This will be your base for exploring Tuscany for the next four evenings. Della Rovere is an old abbey of the 11^th century and the later home of Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere. Your welcome dinner this evening will be at the restaurant in the hotel.

Day 8 - May 21                                                                   Tuscany (B,L)

Today you will explore the wine country of Tuscany.  The plan is to drive to south of Siena to Montalcino, where the famous Castello Banfi is located. Especially known for its red wines, Brunello di Montalcino in particular is a world class, regal and elegant wine that goes especially well with game, red meats, roasts, hearty stews and rich cheeses.  Of course, Castello Banfi offers a wide variety of other wines for different pallets.  Crowning the summit of the foothills that rise from the Tuscan plain, its domain comprises 7,100 acres - in reality a constellation of single vineyards ideally suited to the soils and micro-climates of the region.  In addition to a tour of the winery, you will have lunch in La Taverna, a casual setting in the vaulted cellars of Banfi with tables placed under the brick arches where oversized casks of the area’s traditional wine once rested.

Lunch for the group will consist of a 3-course Tuscan menu. Dinner this evening is on your own.

Day 9 - May 22                                                                    Tuscany (B)

Today you will enjoy a full-day tour of Florence.  Florence is a vast and beautiful monument to the Renaissance, the artistic and cultural awakening of the 15^th century.  Writers such as Dante, Petrarch, and Machiavelli contributed to its proud literary heritage. But it was the paintings and sculptures of artists such as Botticelli, Michelangelo, and Donatello that turned the city into one of the world’s greatest artistic capitals.  In the 13^th Century, a burgeoning trade in wool and textiles, backed by a powerful banking sector, turned the city into one of Italy’s leading powers. Among the many sites, you will visit are the Duomo and its Campanile and the nearby Baptistry with its fabulous doors in the heart of the city.  To the south is Piazza della Signoria, the city’s political center, flanked by the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence’s town hall and the Uffizi, one of Italy’s leading art galleries.  Across the famous Ponte Vecchio and the Arno River is the vast Pitti Palace, containing galleries with the works of great Renaissance artists, including Raphael and Titian.  And, for those who are interested, there is the Museo Archeologico which exhibits an outstanding collection of Etruscan and Roman artifacts, including the famous Chimera and the Arringatore or Aulus Metellus.

Lunch and dinner today are on your own.

Day 10 - May 23                                                                  Tuscany (B,D)

Today is totally free for you to do whatever you wish.  The setting of the hotel is well situated so that you may wish to do nothing—perhaps read or maybe swim in the pool.  You can rent a mountain bike or arrange for a local tour on your own.  Facilities nearby the estate include golf, a tennis court and horse back riding.  You could also visit the nearest town, Colle Val d’Este.  Your final dinner in Tuscany will be taken with the group at a restaurant in nearby San Gimignano, the town of the thirteen medieval towers.

Day 11 - May 24                                                                   Ravenna (B,D)  

This morning you will depart for Emilia-Romagna, a checkerboard of fields and plains between the Po River to the north and the forest-covered Apennine mountain slopes.  The destination is Ravenna near the Adriatic coast.

After lunch on your own, you will have a half day tour of Ravenna.  Ravenna rose to power in the 1^st century BC under the Emperor Augustus, who built a port and naval base at nearby Classis.  As Rome’s power declined, Ravenna was made the capital of the Western Empire in the 5^th century AD. Ravenna is known for its early Christian mosaics.  The mosaics span the years of Roman and Byzantine rule and offer comparisons between classical designs and later Byzantine motifs.  Your tour will include San Vitale, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, and the glorious 6^th century church named after Ravenna’s first bishop, Sant’Apollinare Nuovo.  Following your tour, you will check into the Santa Maria in Foris Hotel in Ravenna.  There will a group dinner this evening.

Day 12 - May 25                                                                           Venice (B)

Following breakfast this morning, you depart for Venice.  Venice is one of the few cities in the world that can be truly described as unique.  It survives against all the odds, built on a series of mud banks amid the tidal waters of the Adriatic and regularly subject to floods.  During the Middle Ages, under the leadership of successive doges, Venice expanded its power and influence throughout the Mediterranean to Constantinople. The riches of St. Mark's alone bear witness to Venice’s position as a world power from the 12^th to 14^th centuries.

After lunch on your own, you will check into your hotel, the Duodo Palace. The balance of the day is on your own.  Dinner this evening, too, is in on your own.

Day 13 - May 26                                                                           Venice (B)

Today there will be a half-day tour of the major sites in Venice, meeting with the group in the Piazza San Marco.  This tour will focus on the Basilica di San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale, or Doges Palace.  The Basilica di San Marco blends the architectural and decorative styles of East and West to create one of the greatest buildings in Europe.  Built on a Greek cross plan and crowned with five huge domes, this is the third church to stand on the site.  The mosaics inside are mostly 12-13^th century and cover 4,240 square meters (45,638 square feet).  Some were later replaced by such artists as Titian and Tintoretto.  Until 1807, St. Mark’s was the doge’s private chapel and was used for ceremonies of state.  The Palazzo Ducale was the official residence of each Venetian ruler in the 9^th century.  The present palace owes its external appearance to the building work of the 14^th and early 15^th centuries.  To create their Gothic masterpiece, the Venetians broke with tradition by perching the bulk of the palace on top of an apparent framework of loggias and arcades.

Lunch and dinner will be on your own.

Day 14 - May 27                                                                  Venice (B,D)

Your last day in Italy will be free in Venice.  Perhaps you would like to visit the Accademia with its remarkable collections of paintings that span the 14^th to the 18^th centuries. Or your plans may include tours or visits to one or more of the nearby islands: Murano, Burano and or Torcello, or a tour of all three. Murano is the island for glass blowers - from fantastic Victorian chandeliers to ornamental glasses so ruby-red or so indigo-blue - the shops are well worth a visit.  Burano is a charming little fishing village and a center of lace making far removed from the grandeur of Venice.  Torcello was settled between the 9^th and 17^th centuries.  Today it boasts the oldest building in the lagoon - the Cathedral of Santa Maria dell’ Assunta founded in 639 AD. The cathedral features some splendid ancient mosaics.

Lunch is on your own.  The group will have a farewell dinner in the evening.

Transfer to the airport for your return flights to the US.

The price of €3,880* includes:

*  Price is per person double occupancy and is given in Euros.  The conversation to Dollars will be made in March '07.

  The single person supplement price will be provided upon request.

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