Travel Tips

30 Jul The living gem that is Bergamo

Posted at 02:52h in Travel Tips by Italian Tours

Bergamo is one of our all-time favourite small Italian towns — a medieval hilltop borough bristling with towers and atmospheric buildings that are carefully protected and maintained, so that the visitor feels completely immersed in history.

The town is built on three ascending levels. The modern part of the town sits at the base of the hill, and is a thriving commercial centre with pleasant tree-lined streets, parks and gardens. The upper town, or città alta, is reached via a funicular that carries visitors to the medieval centre, the citadel at the top of the hill. Another funicular takes visitors to the third and highest level of the town, San Vigilio, so-called because of the castle that sits at its summit.

Before heading for the città alta, those interested in art galleries might want to spend time in the Museo Accademico di Carrara which is located just outside the Venetian walls that surround the mediaeval centre. It has an excellent collection of Renaissance and medieval paintings and fine art, and is an important regional museum.

The città alta is a wonderful area for walking, with narrow stone streets that lead through various piazze to offer delightful surprises for the casual wanderer.

The walls, originally built by the Venetians, have never been breached and are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Visitors can walk around, along and even within the walls.

However the undoubted highlight is the Palazzo della Ragione, a twelfth century building that was revamped in the 1500s to meet Venetian aesthetic standards — one of those standards being to make the civic building more important than the church! The Venetians created a new piazza, Piazza Vecchia, by demolishing a building, and then rebuilding the town hall so that it faced onto the new piazza and would be the first thing a visitor would see. They completed the new work with the installation of a charming fountain boasting a series of lovely lions.

The town contains a beautiful and intact religious precinct, with two magnificent churches sitting side by side. One is the duomo and one the basilica. The duomo of Bergamo, San Alessandro, is the principal Catholic Church of the city, built in the mid 1400s, while the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore was funded by local people in a show of wealth and importance in the 1100s. The Bergamaschi traditionally viewed the basilica as the more important church, so when one of the autocratic and powerful local lords had a section of that church demolished in the middle of the night to erect a mausoleum for himself, people were understandably outraged. However, the mausoleum remains and is considered one of the prettiest Renaissance structures in the city to this day.

We’ll be visiting Bergamo – and staying in a medieval tower hotel in the città alta – as part of our Milan and the Italian Lakes tour in May-June 2020.

09 Apr THE UNEXPECTED RICHES OF RAVENNA

Posted at 00:44h in Travel Tips by Italian Tours

Tucked away on the Adriatic coast, not really on the way to any of the major tourist destinations, is a small city that contains some of the most astonishing and beautiful Roman mosaics anywhere in Italy.

After the Roman Empire was divided into two, Constantine established his eastern capital in Constantinople and Ravenna became the capital of the Western Roman Empire from 402AD until its collapse in 496AD. Ravenna then became the capital of the Christian Ostragoth kingdom until 540, when it was taken over by the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) empire as part of a move to reconquer parts of their original homeland on the Italian peninsula. They held the sliver of land along the coastline from Puglia to Venice. Throughout this period of change, however, Ravenna remained a rich and thriving port city with a constant population that maintained its established Roman culture, trade and crafts.

Ravenna’s famous mosaics were completed over a roughly hundred year period from the mid 400s to mid 500s. This artistic tradition of Roman origins, was maintained and influenced by the latter civilisations that inherited the city and in particular by the Byzantines. UNESCO has listed eight buildings as World Heritage Sites, which for what seems like a small town today, demonstrates the enormous wealth and prestige it had at the time.

The mosaics are unusual in that they are so prolific, largely intact and utterly dazzling with huge amounts of gold and brilliant lapis lazuli blue. Before Christianity, Romans used mosaics as decoration for their houses and villas but the Ravenna mosaics represent a shift to religious imagery, and in the style of public art. Significantly, because of the time it takes to create mosaics of this scale and detail, they must have been completed during a period of peace and stability.

The most famous of the churches is the Basilica of San Vitale, which inspired Charlemagne who visited Ravenna three times and used the basilica as his model when he built the Palatine chapel in Aachen in Germany. The central apse towers over the rest of the church so that the visitor gazes upwards to see the intricate golden mosaics that line the cupola.

However, the oldest and possibly the most beautiful of the buildings is the mausoleum of Galla Placidia, the tomb of the daughter of the Roman Emperor Theodosius I. This small rounded building is set in the grounds of San Vitale and the entire barrel vaulted ceiling is decorated with gorgeous brilliantly coloured mosaics. Looking up the visitor sees hundreds of dazzling golden stars in a midnight blue sky. At the end of the vault the lunette features an image of a beardless Christ, very different from the normal iconography which portrays Christ with a beard.

All of the buildings containing these unique mosaics are collected around the centre of Ravenna and it’s easy to visit the sites in a day or two.

We stay in Ravenna and visit the mosaics as part of our new Unexpected Riches – Discovering Emilia Romagna tour, which runs from the 16 – 27 September 2019 and there are still a couple of places available!

09 Jan MATERA – A CITY FROM ANOTHER TIME

Posted at 05:14h in Travel Tips by Italian Tours

As you look out over the sassi districts in the city of Matera, you could be forgiven for thinking you had been transported back in time to a city out of the bible. The view of stone dwellings, reaching far back into ancient caves, with narrow donkey paths winding in between them, is quite unforgettable. Indeed film director Mel Gibson used this city as the setting for his movie The Passion of the Christ.

Matera, in Basilicata just to the west of Puglia, is probably the oldest continuously inhabited city in the whole of Europe. Matera is built on top of a cliff on the edge of a gorge, about 250 metres deep, with a river running through it. There is a stratum of stone that is soft and white, like a cross between sandstone and limestone, and since prehistoric times people have burrowed out shelters into the sides of the gorge. Over time they became more sophisticated than simple holes in the rock, though some of those still remain and were used as animal shelters by shepherds or as wine cellars. People began building small structures at the front incorporating the door, the window and the kitchen with its chimney and would then excavate the other rooms into the rock behind. Others would build into the rock above them, so the whole place became like an anthill, with people living one on top of another in chambers carved out of the rock with little frontages to allow for kitchens and chimneys, a bit of light. There might only be a metre and a half of rock between the ceiling of one dwelling and the floor of the one above it.

Later Matera became the capital of Basilicata and work began to gentrify the city on the top of the ravine. There was no burrowing there, as the rock was too hard, but the erection of high quality standard buildings instead. An upper class moved in to administer the area and provide services, so the two sassi areas became places where the poor lived. It became a shameful thing to live in the sassi, and the upper city was built to deliberately hide any view of these poor areas from the centre of town. Later however, Matera lost its position as regional capital and the wealthier people moved on. Without the investment of the elite, living conditions in the sassi became appalling with no running water, no sewerage and no roads. The area became a hotbed of disease – malaria, cholera, typhoid, tuberculosis. It wasn’t until a novelist wrote a book about the area that the Italian government sat up and took notice. In the 1950s they began a slum clearance program to move the 17,000 residents out of the area and it was abandoned.

In the late 1980s the area began to be revalued and became a World Heritage site. People started restoring dwellings and moving back in while today the government will lease dwellings to those who are prepared to pay for restoration. There are lots of hotels and B&Bs springing up and tourism is beginning to really bite. In 2019 Matera is the European Cultural Capital which will also have a huge effect on visitor numbers.

Matera is definitely a place to see right now, before the rest of the world arrives. Our Puglia, the Road Less Travelled tour for May 2019 is already sold out but we do have places available on the September 2019 tour which includes a wonderful day exploring the town of Matera.

27 Feb A POSTCARD FROM LAGO D’ORTA

Posted at 04:58h in Travel Tips by Italian Tours

The Lago d’Orta or Lake Orta is one of the relatively undiscovered gems of the Italian Lakes district, a smaller lake, not too distant from Lake Maggiore. It is quaint and extremely picturesque especially on its southern side.

The small town of Orta San Giulio is undoubtedly the pearl of the lake. The town spills down the hillside to the lake shore, overlooking the water and the romantic island of San Guilio below. Visitors can while away lazy afternoons exploring the narrow streets with their quaint houses and baroque palaces, sipping coffee in the piazza on the water’s edge in front of the Island of San Giulio or wandering along the lakeshore.

The island of San Giulio reputedly has mystical properties. It is no wonder therefore that it was the site of an early Christian community fighting against paganism in the area. The first known structure dates to the end of the 300s. Legend has it that the proselytising Saint Giulio defeated a dragon on the Island and then built the first basilica with the help of wolves. On that site today stands the 11th century Basilica of Saint Giulio, one of the most significant examples of Romanesque architecture in Piedmont, and seminary, now a Benedictine monastery, which towers over the rest of the island. The Basilica is an impressive, solid structure. It has some interesting frescoes, some from the 1350s, others from the early 1500s. Its most impressive possession, though, is the 12th century pulpit in black marble. The Romanesque bas-reliefs are exquisite, one portraying either William of Volpiano or Saint Giulio. William of Volpiano was a Benedictine reformer, born on the island and renowned for being the architect of the Abbeys of Mont Saint-Michel, of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris and of Fécamp in Normandy.

A ferry service takes visitors out to the island where they can explore the churches and enjoy the peace and atmosphere of this enchanting place.

If you’re feeling energetic, take a walk up the hill behind Orta San Giulio to the Sacro Monte di Orta, a devotional complex of 20 chapels built between the 16th and 18th Centuries. The chapels are interesting, but the views out over the Lago d’Orta and the Isola San Giulio are breathtaking.

SOME PRACTICALITIES

Visit Lago d’Orta with Italian Tours:
Lago d’Orta is featured in two of our itineraries in 2018:
Milan and the Lakes tour (31 May -13 June 2018)
Tastes of Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta tour (3 – 16 October 2018)

Or you can visit Lago d’Orta on your own with these tips:
How to get there:
It’s not easy to get to Lago d’Orta with public transport, so your best option is to travel with your own car. The town of Orta San Giulio is about an hour and half from Milan or 30 minutes from Stresa on Lake Maggiore.

Where to stay:
The Hotel San Rocco is our pick of the hotels located on Orta San Giulio. Set on the lakeshore, all the superior rooms have wonderful lake views and the hotel terrace is a wonderful spot to enjoy an aperitivo or light dinner.

Where to eat:
Located in the centre of Orta San Giulio, Ristorante Venus has a wonderful terrace overlooking the lake.

06 Jan FIVE REASONS TO VISIT PUGLIA

Posted at 01:10h in Destinations, Travel Tips by Italian Tours

Avoid the crowds and enjoy the slow life

Although Puglia is starting to attract crowds, particularly to big name destinations like Lecce and Alberobello, it’s still relatively easy to avoid the type of crowds that plague cities like Rome and Florence. Locals still live the traditional slow life: shops close at lunchtime, people go home for lunch, there’s time for a siesta – all a fabulous excuse for you to relax and absorb the slower-paced atmosphere.

The history

Puglia’s position in the heel of the Italian boot, close to modern-day Albania and Greece, has contributed to a rich cultural legacy. Over hundreds of years diverse groups of people settled on land traditionally inhabited by the local Messapian tribes: Spartans, Greeks and Romans in ancient times, followed during the middle ages by a series of Bourbons, Angevins, Normans and Saracens. Their influence is evident in the unique culture of the Puglian people today and in the artifacts on show in the museums of Lecce and the MARTA in Taranto.

Delicious food and wine

Pugliese gastronomy – some of the best food you’ll find anywhere in Italy! The region is traditionally agricultural and the land continues to provide outstanding fresh, high quality produce. Puglia is particularly famous for olives and olive oil, cherries, eggless pasta, burrata and other cheeses, almonds, tomatoes, lemons, wheat bread and of course the fresh seafood. The local cuisine reflects this bounty. Until about ten years ago Puglia exported the bulk of its grapes and wine; however these days Puglia is focusing on boutique wines and producing exceptional varieties like Primitivo, Negroamaro, Bombino Bianco and Susumaniello.

Towns like nowhere else

Apart from the big name towns that have plenty of publicity, Puglia has a host of small lesser known towns that can absorb the interested traveler for hours on end. We can recommend charming small towns like Martina Franca and Locorotondo in the Valle d’Itria or Vieste and Trani along the coast. The Pugliese are extremely proud of their towns and maintain their flower boxes and streetscapes in picture perfect condition.

Blue waters of the Gargano Peninsula in Puglia

A stunning blue coastline

Puglia is surrounded on three sides by the Ionian, the Taranto and the Adriatic Seas. The coastal landscapes differ but are invariably stunning: limestone cliffs and stacks and pebble beaches along the Gargano Peninsula, white sandy beaches on the western coast, the spectacular rocky coastline in the east and everywhere a startling blue sea.

Maybe 2018 is the year you should get to know this wonderful corner of southern Italy!

We run regular tours to Puglia each year.
Contact us today to book your place!

15 Dec AN ITALIAN CHRISTMAS

Posted at 03:22h in Travel Tips by Italian Tours

Sick of the commercialisation of Christmas? Well, perhaps think about heading to Italy, where although the trappings of commercialisation are creeping in, many Italian families still celebrate Christmas in traditional ways.

Christmas traditionally begins on 8 December, when the Christmas lights that festoon the streets of almost every Italian city are turned on. This date marks the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which celebrates the conception of Mary, mother of Jesus.

Presepi, or nativity scenes, are installed in churches and homes throughout the country, with an empty manger awaiting the arrival of the baby Jesus. Christmas markets begin in the piazze of major towns.

On Christmas Eve churches celebrate midnight mass, with the service beginning about an hour before midnight; as the clock strikes twelve, the Christ child is carried into the church by a procession of priests who bless the figure and then place it in the manger. The lights are turned on and the congregation celebrates.

Christmas Verona — Image: Gianni Crestani

Italian families celebrate Christmas Day with a family lunch. You won’t see turkey and the trimmings though! What families eat depends very much on where they live. Luca’s Friulian family would typically enjoy soup or risotto with porcini or radicchio and speck, Montasio cheese, boiled meats with horseradish or roasted stuffed guinea fowl, followed by a pinza, a cake made from polenta, with apples, fennel and dried fruit and nuts.

Our friend Anna in Arezzo sits down to tortellini in brodo, followed by pasta and then roasted meats and perhaps a panettone stuffed with custard.

Traditionally, gifts were not exchanged on Christmas Day but on 6 January, the Feast of the Epiphany, which is when the Magi visited the baby Jesus. On this day in some areas of Italy, a witch called La Befana visits the children and hands out sweets and gifts, or pieces of coal to the naughty ones. Luca tells us that some Italian confectionary entrepreneurs have developed a line of sweets shaped and coloured exactly like coal – a rather mixed message we think!

We’d like to wish all of our friends and clients a very happy holiday season for this year, a wonderful 2018 and we hope to see some of you next year on tour!

24 Nov AN INSIDER’S GUIDE TO MILAN

Posted at 04:35h in Destinations, Travel Tips by Italian Tours

What’s not to love about Milan? Milan’s Expo in 2015 really put the city on the tourist map, not only as a convenient transport hub but as a destination in its own right, offering culture, food and fashion.

We’re lucky enough to visit Milan fairly regularly as it’s the first base on our Milan and the Italian Lakes tour (31 May – 13 June 2018 – read the itinerary here) and we’ve got to know the city fairly well over the years.

So where do you start in Milan? Most visitors head straight for the Duomo and the Galleria in the centre of Milan, a great place to start your tour of the city and undeniably the area with the biggest wow factor.

You need to buy tickets for the Duomo. Smart travellers will pre-book tickets that allow them to skip the queue and get through security that much faster. You can buy a combined ticket for the Duomo, the roof walk (which we think is an unmissable experience) and the Museo del Duomo, which provides an excellent history of the building. Visit the official website for ticket sales here.

From the Duomo, wander through the Galleria by all means, but look upwards and avoid the expensive tourist shops that proliferate here. If you are keen to shop in Milan, Philippa recommends the Brera area for boutique shopping; for big brand names and high-street chains explore the Corso that extends behind the Duomo; for more budget shopping, try the Corso Buenos Aires area.

You may want to see Da Vinci’s masterpiece, the Last Supper, which has been beautifully restored. Tickets sell out fast and there is very little chance of simply turning up on the day and gaining admission. Make sure you book well in advance. The official site publishes the date when tickets will go on sale for a specific month so it’s worth keeping an eye on the site to ensure you don’t miss the booking window.

While you’re in the area don’t miss Santa Maria delle Grazie, the church that is attached to the refectory where the Last Supper is housed. Luca is a particular fan of the Bramante designed cupola sitting atop this gothic church. To get there take the number 16 tram from Piazza Cordusio or take a cab.

But Milan offers much, much more than the big three attractions. Here is a list of some of our favourites:

For art lovers visit the Pinacoteca di Brera, a treasure house of Italian art and more. Don’t miss Mantegna’s Dead Christ and the Three Mourners, as well as works by Bellini, Piero della Francesca, Tintoretto and Caravaggio.

Less than a kilometre from the Brera, is the smaller and charmingly eclectic Museo Poldi Pezzoli. This was once a private family house and collection and contains a fascinating assortment of artworks including a beautiful Botticelli, exquisite porcelain and a stunning display of armour.

Classical music buffs should jump at the chance to attend a performance at the Teatro alla Scala. There are performances of ballet, opera and classical music almost all year round, except for August. You need to buy tickets well in advance and be sure to book on the official La Scala website to avoid the ticket scalpers.

Want some more wonderful churches? Our favourites are Sant Eustorgio to see the Cappella Portinari, the most exquisite Renaissance chapel remaining in Milan; Sant’Ambrogio, which is one of the oldest churches in the city and an excellent example of medieval architecture; San Maurizio which has a complete and spectacular Renaissance fresco cycle that covers every surface in the church.

Sore feet? After all this activity, wind down with an aperitivo in the Navigli area, where a collection of great bars and restaurants line one of the old canals that were once used as transport arteries in Milan. It’s picturesque, trendy and lively – a wonderful way to finish the day.

Where to stay:

We love the Hotel Gran Duca di York, a lovely 3 star hotel tucked away on a quiet street just a three-minute walk from the Piazza del Duomo.

Where to eat:

For food lovers, a visit to Peck is a must. Part upmarket grocer, part cafe and restaurant, it’s worth a visit simply to take in the sumptuous displays of fruit and vegetables, meats, cheeses, pastries, chocolates and more.

For an authentic meal in the centre of town, try Trattoria Milanese (Via Santa Marta, 11), where you can try local specialities like Risotto alla Milanese (flavoured with saffron) and the Cotolleta alla Milanese, essentially a giant veal schnitzel.

You can visit Milan with Italian Tours as part of our delightful Milan and the Italian Lakes tour from the 31 May – 13 June 2018! You’ll also stay in the wonderful medieval town of Bergamo and visit Lakes Como, Maggiore and Orta on this 14-day tour.

07 Jan SPRING IS THE TIME TO VISIT ITALY

Posted at 04:23h in Travel Tips by Italian Tours

Springtime is a great time to visit la bella Italia – and here are five good reasons why.

Fewer tourists and temperate weather
With around 46 million people visiting Italy each year (it’s the fifth most visited country in the world), the timing of your visit can be vitally important. The vast majority of visitors to Italy come from other European countries and the peak season for their travel is July and August. You’ll find an April/May/June visit quieter, with smaller crowds and shorter queues. And the weather is warmer but without those searing summer extremes.

Good deals on airfares
Take advantage of the great value airfares that major airlines are releasing right now. For instance, Emirates is offering a spring sale this week that finishes 23 January, and other airlines including Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Etihad and Qatar all have great offers for European fares.

La bella vita!
After the short days and cold weather of winter, Italians respond to the arrival of spring with what can only be described as euphoria! Almost overnight the piazze come alive as Italians emerge from their winter hibernation. It’s time for the passegiata in gorgeous new clothes, for aperitivi, for gelato and for mingling and laughter and gossip on the streets.

Fabulous festivals
All over Italy, spring is the time for a range of fascinating festivals and celebrations. If you’re joining our Milan and the Lakes tour this year for instance, why not add in some time in Milan to experience the Sagra di San Cristofero, the feast of the patron saint of travelers, that take place on the third Sunday in June? Or bookend your tour with a performance of Don Giovanni or La Boheme at La Scala?

Gorgeous spring gardens
Italy comes alive in a blaze of spring flowers – gorgeous clematis, stunning irises, luscious peony roses and vibrant azaleas, just to name a few. And you’ll see them not only in the gardens but also in planters lining the streets, tumbling out of window boxes and cascading out of the flower stalls and markets as you wander through the city streets. Just breathe in that perfume!

We have three fantastic tours that take advantage of the joys of an Italian spring, so why don’t you think about booking with us now?

The Great Gardens of Italy – 29 April – 13 May 2017
The Road Less Travelled – Puglia – 16 – 30 May 2017
Milan and the Italian Lakes – 2-16 June 2017

01 Oct TRAVEL TIPS – PACKING FOR YOUR NEXT ITALIAN ADVENTURE

Posted at 12:35h in Travel Tips by Italian Tours

There’s an old piece of advice about packing for travel – pack your bag, open it up again and take half of it out. The less you have to carry around with you, the easier your travel will be. And the more room you’ll have for shopping, particularly if you’re addicted to Italian shoes!

We’re often asked by clients what clothing they should pack and what else they might need in their suitcase, so we’ve put together a short list of some things we recommend you bring on your next trip to Italy.

CLOTHING

We suggest packing layers. In spring and autumn, when we take most of our tours to Italy, this means including short and longer sleeved shirts, a cardigan or sweater and a light jacket in case it gets cool. In the north, you may even need some warmer layers and a lightweight down jacket.

Italian streets are often paved with cobblestones so don’t plan to walk around in flimsy shoes.

And don’t forget your swimmers and a pair of soft slippers for around the hotel room after a day on your feet!

Most people like to hand wash some of their clothes during the trip and a travelling clothes line and a couple of inflatable coat hangers make drying your clothes much easier.

DOCUMENTS

Make two copies of your documents, one to carry with you and one to leave at home in case you need to ‘phone a friend’. And don’t forget your Medicare card; if you do need to see a doctor in Italy, it’s useful to have this with you.

OTHER BITS AND PIECES

You will need to bring your own European two pin adaptors so you can use your Australian electrical devices. Universal plugs can be useful, particularly if you are stopping over somewhere on the way to Europe.

Bring your own prescription medications with you; your local prescriptions are not valid in Italy. It may be useful to get a doctor’s letter listing the medications you are using and any allergies you have. Over the counter medicines are readily available throughout Italy and Italian pharmacies are excellent. although you might need to take Luca with you to help translate!

We also recommend that you bring spare glasses, sunglasses, and don’t forget the appropriate chargers for your technology.

There are many small items that may come in useful: ziplock plastic bags, spare luggage locks, a small pair of scissors (not in your carry-on bag!), earplugs, a notebook and pen, headache tablets, safety pins, antiseptic hand gel and band aids to name a few.

Finally, don’t fret about packing something for every contingency. You can pick up anything you’re short of, like an umbrella if it rains or replacement toiletries, anywhere in Italy.