Arrive in Bologna on suggested flights and make your way to the hotel. Renaissance Tours or your travel agent can assist you with flights and other travel arrangements, including travel insurance (a condition of travel), a private hotel transfer and accommodation before or after the tour.

At 18:00, join your tour leader Lorraine Kypiotis and fellow travellers for a welcome briefing and introductory talk, followed by dinner.

(D)

Depart Bologna and travel north to Mantua, former seat of the Gonzaga court and an important centre of Renaissance culture. Enjoy a private, guided visit of the Palazzo Ducale, where Andrea Mantegna’s Camera degli Sposi is one of the great achievements of Renaissance illusionistic painting.

Later, continue with a private, guided tour of Palazzo Te, Giulio Romano’s Mannerist pleasure villa for Federico II Gonzaga, dating from 1525. Its inventive design and richly decorated interiors include illusionistic frescoes and elaborate architectural details.

Continue to Verona and check in to the hotel, before dinner at a nearby restaurant.

(BD)

Begin exploring Verona with an exterior viewing of the Arena di Verona, one of the city’s great surviving monuments of antiquity. Continue to the Museo di Castelvecchio, housed in the medieval castle of the Della Scala family, for a private, guided tour. The museum is home to an important collection of northern Italian art, including works by Pisanello.

Then, enjoy a guided visit of the Romanesque Basilica di San Zeno Maggiore, renowned for Mantegna’s celebrated altarpiece, painted between 1457 and 1459.

Return to the hotel for the remainder of the afternoon at leisure before dinner at a local restaurant.

(BD)

Today, travel to Sirmione on Lake Garda and enjoy a private, guided visit to the Castello Scaligero. Built by the ruling Della Scala family of Verona in the 13th century, this well-preserved fortress marks the entrance to Sirmione’s historic centre and incorporates a rare medieval fortified harbour. Enjoy views across the town and lake before lunch at a local restaurant. Then, take a panoramic cruise around the peninsula, admiring Sirmione’s historic waterfront and the surrounding landscape from the water.

Return to Verona in the late afternoon.

(BL)

This morning, continue exploring Verona on a private, guided walking tour, beginning with a visit to the Duomo to admire its Romanesque architecture and Titian’s Assumption of the Virgin. Afterwards, visit the early Christian Chiesa di Santo Stefano, distinguished by its unusual two-storey apse and medieval frescoes, before seeing the Arche Scaligere, the elaborate Gothic tombs of the Della Scala. Marvel at the Basilica di Santa Anastasia, the city’s largest Gothic church, whose richly decorated interior includes Pisanello’s celebrated fresco of Saint George and the Princess.

After lunch, enjoy the remainder of the afternoon and evening at leisure.

(BL)

Depart Verona and travel to Vicenza, the city most closely associated with Andrea Palladio and his architectural legacy. Upon arrival, explore the Teatro Olimpico, Palladio’s final work and the oldest surviving enclosed theatre of the Renaissance, renowned for Vincenzo Scamozzi’s remarkable perspective stage scenery. Visit the Museo Civico di Palazzo Chiericati, housed in a Palladian palace and displaying works from Vicenza’s civic art collection, and the Palladio Museum in Palazzo Barbarano, the only urban palace Palladio saw completed, with original drawings and models. See the exterior of the Basilica Palladiana, whose distinctive loggias transformed Vicenza’s medieval civic centre.

In the afternoon, discover Villa Capra ‘La Rotonda’, begun by Palladio in 1566. Built around a central circular hall beneath a dome, the villa has a square plan with four identical façades, each with a classical portico and grand staircase.

Afterwards, check in to the hotel and enjoy some time at leisure before dinner.

(BD)

Following a talk by Lorraine, transfer to Villa Valmarana ai Nani. Explore the villa’s manicured gardens and enjoy a private, guided tour of the interiors, renowned for 18th-century frescoes by Giambattista Tiepolo and his son Giandomenico. After lunch, return to the hotel and enjoy the remainder of the afternoon at leisure.

Tonight, dinner is at the hotel’s restaurant.

(BLD)

This morning, check out of the hotel and travel to Thiene, where an exclusive, guided visit to Castello di Thiene reveals a unique 15th-century Venetian palazzo-castello. Its four corner towers, arcaded courtyard and distinctive pitched roofs make it a rare example of pre-Palladian villa architecture in the Veneto.

Continue to Bassano del Grappa, home of the Renaissance artist Jacopo Bassano, whose naturalistic and pastoral paintings made the town an important centre of 16th-century Venetian art. Enjoy some time at leisure before travelling onwards through the Veneto countryside to Treviso.

Arrive in Treviso in the late afternoon and enjoy some time at leisure before dinner.

(BD)

Begin the day with a talk by Lorraine, followed by a private, guided walking tour of Treviso. Explore the city’s elegant canals and historic centre, including the Duomo, home to important Renaissance works, including Titian’s Annunciation in the Malchiostro Chapel, the historic façades of Piazza dei Signori, and the picturesque Canale dei Buranelli and Isola della Pescheria.

After some time at leisure, visit the Museo Santa Caterina, where Tommaso da Modena’s fresco cycle of Saint Ursula, painted in the 1350s, is displayed alongside works by Cima da Conegliano, Giovanni Bellini and Titian.

The remainder of the afternoon and evening is free.

(B)

Today, travel to Possagno, birthplace of Antonio Canova, for a private, guided visit to the Museo Gypsotheca Antonio Canova, home to original plaster models for his marble masterpieces, including Cupid and Psyche Standing. Visit the nearby Tempio Canoviano, the artist’s neoclassical church inspired by the Pantheon and ancient Greek temples.

Then, continue to Villa Barbaro at Maser, designed by Andrea Palladio and renowned for Paolo Veronese’s frescoes, with illusionistic architectural details and mythological scenes.

Return to Treviso for an evening at leisure.

(B)

Depart Treviso for Castelfranco Veneto, birthplace of Giorgione, whose important Castelfranco Madonna altarpiece is housed in the Duomo. Continue to Padua. Upon arrival, visit the great Basilica di Sant’Antonio, with its richly decorated High Altar and Chapel of Saint Anthony, created by leading artists of the Renaissance, including Donatello. Proceed to the Scuola del Santo, the historic meeting house of the Confraternita di Sant’Antonio, where Titian’s three frescoes of 1511 depict miracles from the life of Saint Anthony, including The Miracle of the Newborn Child.

Check in to the hotel in the late afternoon and enjoy some free time before dinner at a nearby restaurant.

(BD)

Following a talk by Lorraine, visit the Cappella degli Scrovegni to see Giotto’s remarkably preserved early 14th-century fresco cycle, renowned for its vivid storytelling and expressive portrayal of human emotion.

Later, explore Padua on a guided walking tour, including visits to the Cathedral Baptistery, with Giusto de’ Menabuoi’s 14th-century frescoes, and Palazzo della Ragione, the city’s historic civic heart. Enjoy a private, guided tour of Palazzo Bo, seat of the University of Padua since 1539, and its Teatro Anatomico, built in 1594 as the world’s first permanent structure for teaching anatomy.

Return to the hotel for an evening at leisure.

(B)

This morning, enjoy a canal cruise along the Riviera del Brenta, the historic waterway linking Padua with Venice. Venetian families established country villas along the Brenta from the 16th century onwards, and the cruise sails past a succession of these architectural complexes, reaching Villa Pisani, an 18th-century villa of monumental proportions with extensive gardens. Disembark in Dolo and enjoy some time at leisure to explore the riverside town before returning to Padua.

Tonight, celebrate the conclusion of the tour with a special farewell dinner with Lorraine and fellow travellers.

(BD)

Tour arrangements conclude in the morning with an included group transfer from Padua to Venice Airport for suggested flights to Australia or New Zealand. Renaissance Tours or your travel agent can assist you with your flights and other travel arrangements, including additional nights’ accommodation either before or after the tour and travel insurance (a condition of travel).

(B)