Padova, Palladian Villas & Venice for the Cognoscenti

Padua, one of the richest cities of the Roman Empire and seat of one of the world's most ancient universities (founded in 1222) enjoyed a period of artistic excellence, led by Giotto, Donatello and Mantegna, in the 14C and 15C. The result is a city endowed with an immense heritage of art and architecture which we spend two days exploring before embarking on a day’s journey by boat along the Brenta Canal. We alight to visit three of the splendid 16C Palladian villas built in the countryside by the wealthy Venetian nobility and eventually sail into the lagoon of Venice to disembark by the Piazza San Marco.

Assuming a previous acquaintance with Venice, the next five days focus on bringing fresh insights into this most famous of cities, transformed each day by tides and wind as well as constantly changing light. On foot, we seek out unusual churches in the quieter parishes and access some exceptional private collections through special appointments. We travel by boat to several less visited islands, attend a chamber music concert in an historic venue and, as a particular highlight, see a performance of Purcell’s opera ‘Dido and Aeneas’ in La Fenice, Venice’s celebrated opera house, now restored to its 18C splendour.

TRIP ITINERARY

DAY 1

D included

After meeting by midday at Marco Polo airport, we have a short road transfer to Padua. An introductory walk takes us through the lovely oval piazza of Prato della Valle, with its statues and pools, laid out in 1775, and into the Oratory of St. George to admire the beautifully preserved 14C frescoes of the lives of St. George, St. Catherine and St. Lucy. We visit the venerated pilgrimage site of the Basilica of St Anthony, before settling into our very comfortable and welcoming 4-star historic hotel in the heart of mediaeval Padua. Before dinner, we enjoy an aperitivo in the neo-classical Caffè Pedrocchi (1831), haunt of intellectuals and politicians and a symbol of Padua, once famous because its doors never closed.

DAY 2

B, L, D included

Today is devoted to exploring Padua, beginning with an appointment to visit Giotto’s frescoes in the Cappella degli Scrovegni - commissioned in 1303, they represent a high point in the development of European art. We next visit the great frescoed hall of Palazzo della Ragione, built in 1218, and the fruit and vegetable markets on either side of it which have been held daily for the last 8 centuries, prior to a tour of Palazzo del Bò, the oldest part of Padua university. We see the wooden cattedra where Galileo Galilei once taught and the extraordinary anatomy theatre (1594), the first of its kind, before lunch in a jolly osteria serving authentic Padova cuisine. Following a visit to the 12C Baptistery of the Duomo, the walls of which were entirely frescoed by Giusto De Menabuoi in 1374-76, the remainder of the afternoon is spent seeing the Musei Civici degli Eremitani complex (including the magnificent Pinacoteca and a fine archaeological collection) at an individual pace. Dinner this evening is in an elegant enoteca in a cobbled lane beside our hotel.

DAY 3

B, L, D included

We have an early start to board the Burchiello, a comfortable modern boat with full facilities, and spend most of the day on board, enjoying the peaceful country scenery and views of the 70 or so Palladian-inspired villas on either side of the canal. Our first visit is to the magnificent Villa Pisani, built for the family of Doge Alvise Pisani in 1720, once visited by Napoleon and the setting of the historic meeting between Hitler and Mussolini in 1934, seeing its frescoes (those in the ballroom are by G.B. Tiepolo), and the park, with its pools, orangeries, stables and ice-house. After passing through a series of locks and swing-bridges we visit the delightfully decorated Villa Widmann, commissioned in the early 18th century by the Serimann family, Venetian nobles of Persian origin, then pause for a fish lunch in a restaurant overlooking the water. We continue our cruise to the splendid Villa Foscari, also known as La Malcontenta, designed by Andrea Palladio and now restored and still partly occupied by members of the Foscari family. Finally, we enter the lagoon and can soon discern the spires and domes of Venice, where we disembark by Piazza San Marco and cross the Grand Canal to our very comfortable historic hotel (a converted palazzo furnished with antiques). At dinner we sample such local winter dishes as grilled radicchio di Treviso and pheasant with polenta.

DAY 4

B, L, D included

We explore the Dorsoduro area, beginning with a private visit to the art collection of the Patriarch’s Seminary, which contains artworks retrieved from the churches and religious institutions suppressed - or destroyed - by Napoleon. From here, we meander along the Zattere making for the tiny, remote church of San Nicolò dei Mendicoli, founded in the 7C and tucked away behind the port of Venice. Backtracking, we visit Sant’Angelo Raffaele, where the theme of Tobias and the Angel is depicted above the main door and on the organ doors, and nearby San Sebastiano, decorated by the Venetian master Paolo Veronese, and where he is buried. After lunch in a bustling osteria, we stroll back to San Pantalon to admire one of the world’s largest paintings - on the ceiling - by Fumiani, past the university and through Campo Santa Margherita, one of Venice’s prettiest squares. A vaporetto delivers us to the seaward end of the Salute where the New Contemporary Art Centre, housing Francois Pinault’s collection, has recently opened in the imaginatively restored Customs House. Tonight we attend a performance of Purcell’s opera ‘Dido and Aeneas’ in the jewel-box like Teatro La Fenice, now completely restored to its former splendour.

DAY 5

B, L, D included

A vaporetto takes us down the busy Grand Canal, past palazzi once occupied by Venetian noblemen and writers, composers and diplomats of many different nationalities, to the Rialto, Venice’s traditional centre of commerce. Our first port of call is the animated and colourful fish, fruit and vegetable markets, where the cries of traders and gulls fill the air. We cross the canal by ferry gondola and head towards the quiet calli and canals of Cannaregio, where we pause to visit Tintoretto’s grave in the Gothic church of Madonna dell’Orto. After lunch by the Canale di Cannaregio, we visit the delightful Renaissance church of San Giobbe. An exploration of the Ghetto follows (from the Venetian dialect geto, meaning a 16C iron-foundry), including a tour of three of the historic synagogues. At dinner we again have the opportunity to appreciate the uncomplicated yet distinctive Venetian cuisine, based largely on fish - a chance, perhaps, to sample local ways of preparing baccalà, accompanied by fine D.O.C. wines of the Veneto.

DAY 6

B, L, D included

We cross the Canale della Giudecca to walk the entire length of the island of the Giudecca (just under a mile), enjoying magnificent views across to Venice. Tiny Sant’Eufemia is one of Venice’s oldest churches, founded in 865, open by arrangement. We then visit two of the most celebrated churches designed by Andrea Palladio: the great domed Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore, commissioned by the Senate of Venice in thanksgiving for deliverance from the plague which devastated the city in 1575 and, on its own island, San Giorgio Maggiore. Here, we have a special tour of the adjoining Benedictine monastery, with its cloisters and library by Longhena and a splendid 16C refectory designed by Palladio, plus see the applied arts collections of the 16C Palazzo Cini. After a light lunch in a small local trattoria we catch a small boat to the Armenian monastery on the island of San Lazzaro, a beautifully green and tranquil oasis in the lagoon where Lord Byron studied the Armenian language.

DAY 7

B, L, D included

We devote a day to exploring some of the most interesting islands of the lagoon, first taking a boat to the island of Torcello, purported to be the original site of the founding of the city of Venice in 452 AD, where the 7C cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta contains an extraordinary Veneto-Byzantine mosaic of the Last Judgement. After a lunch of risotto di pesce on the nearby colourful island of Burano, renowned for its lace-making and gaily painted houses, we continue by boat to the atmospheric cemetery island of San Michele. We see Codussi's San Michele in Isola, the first Renaissance church in Venice, and walk among cypress trees to find the gravestones of Igor Stravinsky, Serghej Dhiagilev and Ezra Pound, then return by boat in time to take the opportunity for some specialist shopping - Venetian handmade paper products, glass, Carnival masks and boat pennants. After dinner, we attend a concert in one of Venice’s delightful historic venues.

DAY 8

B included

There is time to pursue individual interests today - perhaps seeing the collections of the Accademia or the Guggenheim just round the corner from our hotel, or revisiting the Basilica of San Marco- before we depart for a final boat ride across the lagoon to the airport.

Price includes:

All accommodation for Days 1 through 8 on a double shared basis

All meals with wine at lunches and dinners, other than those excepted in the daily notation

All land and water transportation as described except during free periods

All entrance and sightseeing fees except during free periods

One ticket for a performance in La Fenice and one concert ticket as described in the itinerary

Gratuities for hotel and restaurant staff

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