ROME TO TURIN ITALY’S WESTERN SHORES OCTOBER 2-18, 2017 TOUR LEADER: DR KATHLEEN OLIVE

Overview On this 17-day journey, explore the stunning west coast of Italy. Study the history and admire the natural beauty of the Italian coastline from northern Lazio, along the Tyrrhenian coast, through to Turin. Detailed visits to leading archaeological sites, galleries and museums are combined with boat and land excursions. Food and wine play a central role in Italian culture, and we have included several memorable meals, accompanied by excellent regional wines.

Examine the fascinating civilisation of the ancient Etruscans, visiting well preserved sites in Tarquinia and Cerveteri. Spend time on the beautiful Island of Elba, famous as the short-lived kingdom of exiled emperor Napoléon. Travel to Pisa to study its powerful medieval maritime dominance. Explore the rocky and colourful stretch of fishing villages known as the Riviera di Levante (Rising Sun), that extends from the remote hamlets of the Cinque Terre, past the striking harbour of Portofino and on to Genoa, a port city undergoing a modern revival. Our journey ends in Turin, an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy.

The journey has all the characteristics of an Academy Travel tour – mostly three and four night stays in friendly hotels which have been personally inspected by our staff, background talks before site visits and a maximum group size of just 20.

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, the Vatican Museums in Rome, the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale in Florence (Italy’s Library of Congress) – and even at the Custodia della Terra Santa in Jerusalem!

“Kathleen was an outstanding tour leader. She was exceptionally knowledgeable and a gifted presenter. She went above and beyond, looking after group members’ individual needs and making sure everyone was happy. Her obvious passion for Italy was infectious. I would love to do a tour with her again.” Feedback from Academy Travel’s Grand Tour of Italy, April 2015

ROME TO TURIN ITALY’S WESTERN SHORES

Tour dates: October 2-18, 2017

Tour leader: Dr Kathleen Olive

Tour Price: $8,750 per person, twin share

Single Supplement: $1,950 for sole use of double room

Booking deposit: $500 per person

Recommended airline: Emirates

Maximum places: 20

Itinerary: Terme di Stigliano (3 nights), Porto Azzurro (2 nights), Pisa (3 nights), Camogli (4 nights), Turin (4 nights)

Date published: November 8, 2016

Enquiries and bookings

For further information and to secure a place on this tour please contact Erin Laffin at Academy Travel on 9235 0023 or 1800 639 699 (outside Sydney) or email erin@academytravel.com.au

Tour Highlights

CINQUE TERRE Experience the best of the Cinque Terre – by private boat along the dramatic coastline, on foot, and by lunching on the waterfront.

ISLAND OF ELBA Explore this fascinating island with its untamed beauty and varied landscape. As well as an important stopping-off point for Mediterranean traders, Elba has been known since Antiquity for its precious deposits of iron and the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans were all interested in exploiting its natural resources.

THE FIRST ITALIANS By the beginning of the 7th century BCE, the Etruscans occupied much of central Italy and their vibrant culture influenced Roman civilisation, particularly its art and architecture. We visit some of the most important and best-preserved Etruscan sites in Italy at Tarquinia and Cerveteri.

CARRARA MARBLE Only the purest limestone results in high-quality white marble, and Carrara has been famous since Antiquity for its abundant deposits. The stone for Trajan’s Column in Rome and Michelangelo’s David was quarried here. We travel into the mountains above Carrara to visit the famed ‘Marble Cathedral’ quarries.

PINACOTECA AGNELLI Visit the impressive Fiat complex revitalised by Renzo Piano, including the remarkable private art collection at the Pinacoteca Agnelli, where works range from Canaletto, Renoir and Manet to Picasso, Modigliani and Matisse. .

Detailed itinerary Included meals are shown with the letters B, L and D.

Monday October 2 Arrive Meet your tour leader, Dr Kathleen Olive, at Rome Fiumicino airport to commence the tour and travel by coach to the hotel in Terme di Stigliano. There are welcome drinks and dinner at the hotel. Overnight Grand Hotel Terme di Stigliano (D)

Tuesday October 3 Ostia ANTICA and Porto di Claudio Today we visit Ostia Antica, which was Rome’s port for several centuries, and one of Italy’s best-preserved archaeological sites. After our welcome lunch at a local restaurant, we continue exploring the Roman world at the archaeological park at Porto di Claudio. Overnight Terme di Stigliano (B, L)

Wednesday October 4 Cerverteri and Lake Bracciano Our first stop this morning is the 6th-century BCE Necropoli di Bandidaccia outside Cerverteri, home to one of Italy’s greatest Etruscan treasures. We continue on to Castel Giuliano to visit Palazzo Patrizi. The grounds here show Marchesa Patrizi’s passion for roses with hundreds of ancient species surrounding the Etruscan tombs. Our day ends in the town of Bracciano, perched above the volcanic lake, which has a well-preserved Renaissance castle built by the Orsini and the Borgia families. This evening we have dinner at a lakeside restaurant. Overnight Terme di Stigliano (B, D)

Thursday October 5 Tarquinia and the tarot garden Today we travel to the Island of Elba. One the way, we stop in Tarquinia to visit the remarkably well preserved 4th-century BCE tombs, and the National Etruscan Museum. We continue on to Capalbio to tour Giardino dei Tarocchi. This “Tarot Garden” was designed by French artist Niki de Saint Phalle with riotous colours and sculptures that echo the work of Gaudí in Barcelona. We arrive on to the Island of Elba in the early evening and have dinner in our hotel. Overnight Hotel Plaza, Porto Azzurro, Elba (B, D)

Friday October 6 Napoléon on Elba Elba is perhaps most famous for being Napoléon’s place of exile, although it was also a major trading post for Greek, Roman and Italian traders. This morning we visit Palazzina dei Mulini – a Napoleonic palace which contains original furniture and Napoléon’s impressive private library. Our walking tour also includes the Archaeological Museum. In the early afternoon we take a panoramic coach tour of the island. Overnight Porto Azzurro, Elba (B)

Saturday October 7 Villa di San Martino

Today before we depart for Pisa, we visit Villa di San Martino, Napoléon's summer residence. The villa has a collection of antiques and works of art that date back to his exile. We then take the ferry to the mainland, meeting our coach and travelling to San Piero a Grado, an 11th-century Romanesque basilica, before arriving in Pisa. We have dinner at a local restaurant. Overnight Hotel Bologna, Pisa (B, D)

Sunday October 8 Pisan Romanesque

This morning we explore the cosmopolitan style of medieval Pisa, influenced by its eastern trade. At San Paolo a Ripa we admire the distinctive Pisan Romanesque style, while at Santa Maria della Spina we admire the delicate Gothic architecture of its reliquary chapel. In the afternoon we take a guided tour of the spectacular Piazza dei Miracoli, from the magnificent cathedral to the careful restorations of war-damaged frescoes in the Camposanto. There is time to climb the Leaning Tower if you wish. Overnight Pisa (B)

Monday October 9 Lucca

Today we make the short trip to Lucca. On our walking tour of this beautiful, well-healed town, we explore its fascinating history, from its Roman origins, to its medieval streets and Renaissance walls. We also visit Palazzo Pfanner, whose rooms evoke life in an 18th-century palazzo, and gardens capture the luxuriousness of the baroque. Lucca has excellent shops and there is free time here before we return to Pisa. Overnight Pisa (B)

Tuesday October 10 Mountains of marble

This morning we travel to Carrara, where we explore the historic centre, including the Museo Civico del Marmo. In the early afternoon we appreciate the sheer labour of the industry in a guided tour of the Fantiscritti quarries, the so-called Marble Cathedral. Afterwards we continue on to Camogli, on the Italian Riviera. We have dinner in the hotel. Overnight Hotel Cenobio dei Dogi, Camogli (B, D)

Wednesday October 11 Monks and millionaires

San Fruttuoso di Capodimonte, on the Italian Riviera, enjoys splendid isolation, reached only by boat or by steep trek from Camogli. After our guided visit of the complex, we take a boat around the peninsula to Portofino. This small fishing village became popular with the rich and famous in the 1950s and is now an exclusive resort town. We stroll its immaculate streets, before returning to Camogli by coach. Overnight Camogli (B)

Images clockwise – from top left: on site at Ostia Antica; Piazza dei Miracoli, Pisa; the luxurious gardens at Palazzo Pfanner, Lucca; isolated San Fruttuoso di Capodimonte in the bay of Camogli; and the Giardino dei Tarocchi, a contemporary garden in Tuscany

Thursday October 12 Genoa

This morning we travel to Genoa, whose rise to power through medieval shipping we see at the Museo del Mare. We also tour a number of well-preserved Romanesque sites, including the small churches of Santa Maria di Castello and San Donato. Early afternoon we visit Palazzi dei Rolli, constructed by the city’s patricians to accommodate foreign dignitaries, including the sumptuous Doria Tursi and Balbi-Durazzo palaces. At the Palazzo Bianco gallery, we appreciate a wonderful collection of masterpieces before returning to Camogli. Overnight Camogli (B)

Friday October 13 The Cinque Terre

Today we explore the dramatic landscape of the Ligurian coast – the Cinque Terre. Starting in Riomaggiore, we stroll the town before taking a private boat cruise along the coastline to Vernazza, with its brightly coloured harbour. Here we have lunch at a waterfront restaurant. Afterwards we rejoin the boat and return to Camogli. Overnight Camogli (B, L)

Saturday October 14 To Turin

Today we depart for Turin, travelling through the Langhe hills. This region of northern Italy is renowned for its world-class gastronomy, with white truffles and DOC-certified wines, such as Barolo, Barbaresco and Nebbiolo, all produced here. We have a relaxed lunch in the countryside, appreciating the varied Langhe landscape. In the late afternoon, we continue on to Turin. Overnight Grand Hotel Sitea, Turin (B, L)

Sunday October 15 Savoy AND Royal collections

This morning we explore the historic centre of Turin, focusing on the late Baroque architecture of court favourites Guarino Guarini and Filippo Juvarra. In the Cathedral of John the Baptist, designed by the latter, is one of Turin’s most famous sights, the Holy Shroud. After stopping in at San Lorenzo, a small Baroque church that adjoins the royal palaces on Piazza Castello, we break for lunch. In the afternoon, we visit the excellent royal collection of the Galleria Sabauda, which includes works by Flemish painters Jan van Eyck, Hans Memling and van Dyck, alongside Renaissance masters Duccio, Botticelli, Lippi and Fra Angelico. Overnight Turin (B)

Monday October 16 Egyptian Museum

We spend the morning at the Egyptian Museum, which has an exhibition of artefacts second only to the collections in Cairo and London. Our coach then takes us to Superga, a hill where Juvarra designed a basilica to commemorate

Hotels These four-star hotels have been selected principally for their central location.

Terme di Stigliano, Grand Hotel (3 nights) Set in a large park with thermal springs and ancient ruins. Please note: The scent of sulphur from the nearby thermal springs may take time to get used to. www.termedistigliano.it/hotel

Porto Azzurro, Hotel Plaza (2 nights) Located on a cliff on the seafront of Porto Azzurro with panoramic views of the Mediterranean Sea. www.hotelplazaelba.com/en/

Pisa, Hotel Bologna (3 nights) An elegant hotel in the historic centre of Pisa, a short walk to the main sights in Campo dei Miracoli. www.hotelbologna.pisa.it/

Camogli, Hotel Cenobio dei Dogi (4 nights) Set in the pretty seaside town Camogli. www.cenobio.it/en/

Turin, Hotel Sitea (4 nights) Located in the centre of Turin, right behind Piazza San Carlo and a short walk to Piazza Castello. www.grandhotelsitea.it/en/

Victor Amadeus II of Savoy. Many royal tombs are located in this late Baroque structure, which enjoys spectacular panoramic views of Turin. Overnight Turin (B)

Tuesday October 17 Cars, Canaletto’s and cuisine

Our final day explores 20th-century Turin, when the city became a slick industrialised metropolis under manufacturing giants such as Fiat’s Gianni Agnelli. The entire district of Lingotto is dominated by the Fiat factory. Architect Renzo Piano revitalised the complex and also designed the Pinacoteca Agnelli, an art gallery perched on the building’s roof. The family’s personal art collection ranges from Canaletto, Renoir and Manet to Picasso, Modigliani and Matisse. After visiting the Pinacoteca, we enjoy a farewell lunch at an excellent local restaurant. Overnight Turin (B, L)

Wednesday October 18 Departure

This morning there is a group transfer to Milan airport for those meeting the Emirates flight. (B)

Images clockwise – from top left: inside Palazzi dei Rolli, Genoa; Renoir’s Blonde Bather, 1881, held at the Pinacoteca Agnelli museum; Turin city centre; Sphynx on display at the Egyptian Museum, Turin; and the colourful village of Riomaggiore on the Cinque Terre

PISA Beyond the Leaning Tower at the Museo di San Matteo

By Dr Kathleen Olive

It’s rare to find someone who’s spent more time in Pisa than an hour or so at the Field of Miracles, with its dramatic Leaning Tower – but visitors who’ve ventured beyond the tower will immediately tell you of the city’s other treasures. It’s really no surprise that Pisa has so much to offer: for centuries it was one of Italy’s pre-eminent “maritime republics”, self-governed city states who dominated the Mediterranean, north African, Black Sea and northern European trade routes. Before its harbours filled in, due to the silting of the Arno river, Pisa was a major political player (it led the capture of Jerusalem by the First Crusaders), traded lumber, wool and Carrara marble, and imported luxuries, artisans and ideas from Constantinople and the East. Pisa’s decline is linked as much to regional politics as to the course of its rivers: in 1406 it was captured by Florence and entered a long decline, yet a quick survey of its sites today testifies to great wealth and sophistication. Defensive tower houses, stark Romanesque architecture (later exported to Lucca and even Sardinia), classical sculpture imported from north Africa and medieval fresco cycles with a tragic modern history are only some of these. While the Leaning Tower is generally visitors’ focus, it is only one part of a huge cathedral complex – baptistery, cathedral, tower and cemetery – that engrossed Italy’s best artisans from 1064 and pre-dates similar piazze in Siena and Florence by hundreds of years.

The 11th and 12th centuries, of conquest and trade, represent the high point of Pisan art. Italy’s new interest in classical proportion, perspective and gravitas – what would later be called the Renaissance – is first found in the Pisano family pulpits for the baptistery and cathedral, and the Byzantine approach to icon painting was adopted and adapted in Pisa (with the crucial injection of real human feeling, in 13th-century images of the Man of Sorrows) in ways that would later be exported to the rest of Italy by Cimabue and Giotto, the better-known but Florentine painters. One of the best places to see the glory of Pisan art is the Museo di San Matteo, a national museum of sculpture and painting that is little visited by tourists but contains an astounding collection. Set in a reconstructed medieval monastery, its collection of sculpture by the Pisano’s and their workshop documents the transition from a formal Romanesque style to an increasingly elaborate Gothic tendency – also evident here in a precious courtly altarpiece painted by Simone Martini. A large room, complete with elevated viewing gallery and lined with illuminated manuscripts, hosts the best surviving collection of painted crosses (on fragile materials such as gilded leather) in the world. And there are colourful works by Renaissance favourites Fra Angelico, Donatello and Domenico Ghirlandaio, too, giving a sense of how Pisa’s greatest rival, Florence, would adopt so much of its so-called “innovation” from this other Arno city.

Santa Maria della Spina, Pisa Simone Martini’s Saint Catherine of Alexandria Polyptych dating to 1320

Tour Price The tour price is $8,750 per person, twin share (land content only). The supplement for a single room is $1,950 per person. A non-refundable deposit of $500 per person is required to secure a place on the tour.

Tour Inclusions Included in the tour price

All accommodation in carefully selected four-star hotels All breakfasts Selected lunches and dinners in hotels and local

restaurants as noted in the itinerary All ground transport via private air-conditioned coach All entrance fees to sites mentioned on the itinerary Porterage of one piece of luggage into and out of hotels

only Background talks on sites and extensive tour notes Services of tour leader throughout tour/ local guides at

some sites Tips for local guides and drivers

Not included

International air fares, taxes and surcharges (see below) Travel insurance Meals not mentioned in itinerary Expenses of a personal nature

Air travel OPTIONS The tour price quoted is for land content only. For this tour, we recommend Emirates which offers flights into Rome and out of Milan from most Australian cities. Please contact us for the best possible prices on economy, business or first class fares. Transfers between airport and hotel are included for all passengers booking their flights through Academy Travel. These may be group or individual transfers.

Enquiries & bookings For further information and to secure a place on this tour please contact Erin Laffin at Academy Travel on 9235 0023 or 1800 639 699 (outside Sydney) or email erin@academytravel.com.au

Weather on Tour October is a very pleasant time to travel in Italy. In the early part of the month it’s not unusual to still have quite warm days. Expect average maximum temperatures of 20º-23ºC during the day, and minimums of 12º-15ºC at night. It is reasonable to expect passing showers or rain on a few days, but it is usually a sunny time of year.

Fitness Requirements of THIS tour

Grade Two

It is important both for you and for your fellow travellers that you are fit enough to be able to enjoy all the activities on this tour. To give you an indication of the level of physical fitness required to participate on our tours, we have given them a star grading. Academy Travel’s tours tend to feature extended walking tours and site visits, which require greater fitness than coach touring. We ask you to carefully consider your ability to meet the physical demands of the tour.

Participation criteria for this tour

This Grade Two tour is designed for people who lead active lives and can comfortably participate in up to five hours of physical activity per day on most days, including longer walking tours, challenging archaeological sites, climbing stairs, embarking and disembarking trains and/or boats, and a more demanding tour schedule with one night stops or several internal flights. You should be able to: keep up with the group at all times walk for 4-5 kilometres at a moderate pace with only

short breaks stand for a reasonable length of time in galleries and

museums tolerate uncomfortable climatic conditions such as cold,

humidity and heat walk up and down slopes negotiate steps and slopes on archaeological sites,

which are often uneven and unstable get on and off a large coach with steep stairs, train or

boat unassisted, possibly with luggage move your luggage a short distance if required

A note for older travellers

If you are more than 80 years old, or have restricted mobility, it is highly likely that you will find this itinerary challenging. You will have to miss several activities and will not get the full value of the tour. Your booking will not be accepted until after you have contacted Academy Travel to discuss your situation and the exact physical requirements of this tour. While we will do our best to reasonably accommodate the physical needs of all group members, we reserve the right to refuse bookings if we feel that the requirements of the tour are too demanding for you and/or if local conditions mean we cannot reasonably accommodate your condition.