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ITALIAN SECRETS… and something more

DAY 1: arrival / MilanoAccording to your flight schedule arrival at Milan Malpensa or Linate airport and transfer by private coach to your hotel and free time for relax.

DAY 2: MilanoThis day is dedicate to a guided visit of Milan. The city is recognised as a world fashion and design capital, with a major global influence in commerce, industry, music, sport, literature, art and media. It is especially famous for its fashion houses and shops (such as along Via Monte Napoleone) and the Galleria Viattorio Emanuele in the Piazza Duomo (reputed to be the world's oldest shopping mall). The city has a rich cultural heritage, a vibrant nightlife and has a unique cuisine. Milan is also well-known for having several important museums, universities, academies, theatres (Teatroalla Scala),palaces, churches and libraries (such as theAcademy of Brera and the Castello Sforzesco). All this makes Milan one of Europe's most popular tourist destinations.

DAY 3: Lago di GardaDriving eastwards you reach the wonderful Garda Lake that is the largest Italan lake. It is divided between the provinces of Verona (to the southeast), Brescia (southwest), and Trento (north). At first you stop and have a guided walk in Salò. The city was famous for being the capital of Fascist Italy from 1943 to 1945, often being called the "Republic of Salò". You can admire the “Duomo”, rebuilt in late Gothic style in the 15th century with its noteworthy Renaissance portal and enjoy a walk the lake bank along... The second stop is Sirmione. The main historical landmark of Sirmione is

the so-called Grotto of Catullus (Grotte di Catullo), the most striking example of a Roman private edifice discovered in northern Italy. The edifice had a rectangular plan and measured 167 x 105 metres. The town is famous for its thermal springs and for the Scaliger Castle (13th century), including a rare example of medieval port fortification, which was used by the Scaliger fleet. The third stop is the pictoresque town of Peschiera sul Garda which was the northwest anchor of the four fortified towns constituting the so-called Quadrilatero. You can see the ancient Roman rest andthe castel and enjoy some free time facing the lake. (Full day guided excursion) At the end of the visit you reach Verona with a short transfer.

DAY 4: Verona You explore the city centre with a local guide. Verona has been awarded world heritage site status by UNESCO because of its urban structure and architecture. It is one of the main tourist destinations in northern Italy, thanks to its artistic heritage, several annual fairs, shows, and operas such as the lyrical season in the Arena, the ancient amphiteatre built by the Romans that nowadays is the symbol of the city. There are a lot of churches in the city such as the Basilica of

San Zeno Maggiore which is considered one of the great achivements of Romanesque architecture with a beautiful 72 meter tall bell tower.. The city is famous also for the story of Romeo and Juliet written by Shakesperare and you can visit Juliet's house during the tour... At the end transfer to Venice for the overnight.

DAY 5: VeneziaTransfer to Venice and private boat transfer to San Marco Square. With an unusual guided tour you can discover this unique and particular floating city with its narrow calli (streets) and pictoresque campielli (squares), infact the city stretches across 117 small islands linked with more than 400 bridges in the sallwater Ventian Lagoon. You can understand the importance of Venice throughout the centuries with its naval and commercial power on the Adriatic and Mediterranean sea, the beauty

of its churches and palaces that remind you to the splendour of the Serenissima Republic of Venice, when this small city was a flourishing trade center between Western Europe and the rest of the world. In Venice there is an undefined number of churches and bell towers that describes a part of the history of the city and keeps famous frescos, paintings and sculptures. In the afternoon you can enjoy a typical gondola ride to see Venice from a different point of view...

DAY 6: Riviera del Brenta / PadovaFull day guided excursion to Riviera del Brenta and Padova. You can't miss the Riviera del Brenta with its elegant villas built from Venetian noble families that were used to spend here their summer vacation. At first you visit Villa Foscari “la Malcontenta” , a nickname received when the spouse of one of the Foscaris' brothers was locked up in this villa as she allegedly didn't live up to her conjugal duty. The villa designed by Palladio for the brothers Nicolò and Alvise Foscari around the end of the 50's rises as an isolated block on the side of the river Brenta. Then you visit the most famous villa of the Riviera: the late baroque Villa Pisani, commissioned by Alvise Pisani, doge of Venice and his family. In its 114 rooms doges

kings and emperors were welcomed and nowadays it is a national museum which conserves eighteenth and nineteenth century works of art and forniture, as Gianbattista Tiepolo's masterpiece, The Glory of the Pisani family, a fresco on the ceiling of the ballroom. As in the past, the garden is enchanting with its flamboyant sights, original architecture, its famous maze, its valuable citrus fruit collection and its greenhouses with plants and flowers, "everything which gives pleasure to the sight and gratifies our taste", as boasted

Almorò Pisani. In the afternoon you discover the city of Padova with its university almost 800 years-old and famous for having had Galileo Galiei among its lecturers. One of the best known symbols of Padua is “Prato della Valle” a 90,000 m2 elliptical square, the biggest one in Europa. In the centre there is a wide garden surrounded by a ditch, which is lined by 78 statues portraying famous citizens. At the end of the tour you take a pause and taste an excellent coffee at “Pedrocchi Caffè”, one of the biggest cafés in the world,

included ina 19th century building in the city centre. The café is historically known for having been and for being still nowadays the meeting point of great artists such as the French novelistStendhal or the English poet Lord Byron...

DAY 7: RavennaTransfer southwards to reach Ravenna which was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 402 to 476. Thanks to a guided tour you can discover the mosaico city with the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia that is the eight structures in Ravenna that were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1996. As the UNESCO experts reasoned, "it is the earliest and best preserved of all mosaic monuments, and at the same time one of the most artistically perfect". The you visit the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe, a superbe example of Byzantine art. The UNESCO cited this basilica as "an outstanding example of the early Christian basilica in its purity and simplicity of its design and use of space and in the sumptuous nature of its decoration"...

DAY 8: Modena / Maranello

This day is dedicate to discover another important Italian city: Modena. With a guided tour you enjoy this ancient town now best known as "the capital of engines", since the factories of the famous Italian sports car makers Ferrari, De Tommaso, Lamborghini, Pagani and Maserati are located here. In this city you can also find some UNESCO World Heritage sites such as the Town Hall, the Cathedral and the Ghirlandina. The lunch today is served in a typical restaurant in a hilly area nearby Modena so you can taste the authentic rich

and diversified cuisine, often including meats, hams and salamis but above all the famous Parmiggiano Reggiano. In the afternoon you can visit the Museo Ferrari to discover these red cars famous all over the world...

DAY 9: Parma / FontanellatoFull day guided excursion for Parma and Fontanellato Castle. Parma is famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. Parma is also linked to music and in particular to lyrical music. Infact the Teatro Regio di Parma is a famous 19th century opera house and was originally known as the Teatro Ducale. The construction was begun in 1821 by Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma on the location of the former Monastery of St. Alexander and it was inaugurated in 1829 with Vicenzo Bellini's Zaira. The theatre is

closely associated with the composer Verdi (who lived in nearby Busseto) and conductor Arturo Toscanini, who was born in Parma. Time for an excellent Parmiggiano cheese taste. In the afternoon you visit the Rocca di Fontanellato, a castle that rises, enchanting and suggestive, at the centre of the village. Surrounded by a wide moat, it contains a precious treasure, one of the masterpieces of Italian Mannerism, the room painted by Parmigianino in 1524 depicting the myth of Diana and Actaeon. From the ‘Camera Ottica’ it is still possible to secretly observe the city life, as the fortress governors once did, thanks to an ingenious system of lenses and prisms.

DAY 10: Castell'Arquato / Pavia / Milano

In the morning you discover with a guided tour the centre of Castell'Arquato. A medieval town of traditional structure which has mantained its appearance as it was in the early 10th century. The old town of Castell'Arquato is a high rock which in other times was strategically important for dominating the valley, now surrounded by the village. Castell'Arquato is also in the area of the Colli Piacentini (Piacenza Hills), an important area for wine production. The most important wines produced in the Colli Piacentini are Gutturnio, Bonarda, Ortugo, Malvasia and Monterosso Val d'Arda.

In the afternoon you can discover another Italian treasure: the Certosa of Pavia. It is a monastery located 8 km far away from the city of Pavia and was built between 1396 and 1495 and at first was located on the border of a large hunting park belonging to the Visconti family of Milan. Certosa is the Italian name for a house of the cloistered monastic order of Carthusians. Gian Galeazzo Visconti, hereditary lord and first Duke of Milan, commissioned the building of the Certosa to the architect Marco Solari, inaugurating the works and laying the foundation stone on August 27, 1396, as recorded by a bas-relief on the facade. The location was strategically chosen midway between Milan and Pavia, the second city of the Duchy, where the Duke held his court. At the end of the visit you reach Milano for the overnight.

DAY 11: Milano / returnIt is unfortunately time to say goodbye to Italy and so according to your flight schedule transfer to Milan Linate or Malpensa airport.

In our tour are included:

private coach service for all the tour10 overnights in 4 stars hotel according to the itinerary

half board treatment at the hotels (English breakfast included)porterage in/out at the hotels

lunch in a typical restaurant on the hills nearby Modenaguided tours and excursions with local guides as descripted in the programm

Parmiggiano Reggiano cheese taste in Parma