Verona, Italy

18 DAYS

Northern Italy Tour

Milan / Stresa / Turin / Genoa / Parma / Bologna / Verona / Padua

»Dolce far niente« - enjoy the art of doing nothing

One of the most beautiful landscapes on Earth, with lights that seem to be created especially to illuminate its palaces, squares, hills and rivers.

The northern of Italy is largely a fertile plain occupied by the Po basin and its tributaries, valleys and slopes. Culturally rich, with a light that seems especially created to illuminate its palaces, squares, hills and rivers, it is also the most developed and industrialized region in the country, where 60% of the population is concentrated. Large urban centers, small towns and charming villages are only a few kilometers away, separated by lakes of sublime beauty, green hills, fields and rivers.

The various Indo-European populations that inhabited the region ccomprisedCelts, Etruscans, and Gauls, but all of them inevitably fell under Roman power. Cities like Milan or Ravenna became capitals of the Empire after the division into western and eastern halves. Assets of power became very important religious and political centers. But the prosperity of the Italian north collapsed with the Germanic invasions and the settlement of various Goth or Lombard peoples. During the long period of the Middle Ages, Padua and Mantua were counted among the cities that could be organized as autonomous communes. The mercantile power conflicted with the Holy Roman Emperor to maintain its rights and privileges. This is the case with the mighty Republic of Genoa. Bologna, meanwhile, was under the pontifical domain. In all these cities, commercial and cultural activities flourished thanks to the ambitious politics of the local dynasties, the role of the religious and the active influence of thinkers and artists. Architects and urban planners accompanied the growth of the cities, which as they prospered and grew, they were transformed into seats of opulent Renaissance courts, as is the case of Parma. After Florence, the northern region of Italy was the first important center of Italian art during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. With the beginning of the Modern Age, all these city-states lost their independence and fell under Spanish or French domination. It was not until the second half of the 19th century that nationalists and monarchists allied under the House of Savoy promoted the unification of the Kingdom of Italy. Turin, the political enclave of Piedmont, naturally became the new country’s capital.

Highlights

  • MILAN
    Economic and industrial capital of Italy; world fashion center; city-symbol of the post-war “miracle”- Milan is also an unavoidable destination for urban poets, architecture lovers, popular neighbourhoods, and those interested in the art, design and the avant-garde.
  • TURIN
    Due to its importance as a political center, in the 19th century, Turin naturally became the first capital of the unified Kingdom of Italy. A rich, elegant and baroque city, the city of Pavese, Levi, Einaudi, Calvino and Natalia Guinzburg is today the third city in the country, with a full cultural life and a purchasing power sustained by the Italian automobile industry.
  • PARMA
    Those who like Stendhal and gastronomy (the prosciutto, parmigiano and salami from this region are considered the kings of Italy) have good reasons to visit Parma. The Farnese made this city their capital and summoned many artists to fill it with splendid monuments. The religious, military and civil architecture is remarkable, including one of the most beautiful theaters on the continent.
  • BOLOGNA
    In the shadow of the first university in the western world, the learned city of Boccaccio, Petrarca and Umberto Eco has Spanish aromas. A hundred stone towers and endless porticoes, lattices of churches and narrow streets give it a unique atmosphere.
  • VERONA
    is one of the most beautiful, elegant and scenic Italian cities. It has been a key communications hub since Roman times. But the lordship’s political peak was in the late Middle Ages, at the time of the Scala family’s glory when its castles, bridges and towers gave it that aspect of a Ghibelline fortress that it still retains. Consecrated to the impulse of art, it ended up mythologized by Shakespeare, who set the most famous love story of all time in its streets and balconies.

Included

  • 18 nights accommodation in 4* hotels with breakfast
  • Transportation, tour leader and local guides services throughout the tour according to the itinerary
  • 3 nights in Milan with a panoramic tour, entrance to Duomo, welcome dinner
  • 2 nights in Stresa with a panoramic tour, Villa Carlotta at Lago di Como, boat trip to the Borromean Islands, 1 dinner
  • 3 nights in Turin with a panoramic tour, 1 dinner
  • 2 nights in Genova with a panoramic tour, visit of Staglieno Cemetery, 1 dinner
  • 2 nights in Parma with a panoramic tour, full day in Cinque Terre, visit Farnese Theater, 1 dinner
  • 2 nights in Bologna with a panoramic tour, excursion to Ravenna and Mantua, 1 dinner
  • 2 nights in Verona with a panoramic tour, 1 dinner
  • 2 nights in Padua with a panoramic tour, visit the Scrovegni Chapel, farewell dinner

The best is the first step

Northern Italy Tour

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