THE TOUR INCLUDES: Top Category seats for 4 operas (as listed) and a possible performance in Mantua 9 nights deluxe accommodations (Venice: Ruzzini Palace; Mantua: Hotel Casa Poli; Parma: Hotel Stendhal; Bologna: Hotel Cappello Rosso) Full breakfast daily, 4 lunches and 3 dinners Private guided tours in each city, plus touring in Padua (Scrovegni Chapel) and Busseto (Verdi sights) Airport-hotel transfers On site Tour Direction Comprehensive Tour Guidebook/tinerary Cost: $6995 US Single Supplement: $1350 US Deposit: $2500 US Balance due: July 3, 2010 Optional Milan L’Elisir d’Amore at La Scala, Last Supper, Grand Hotel, meals. Cost: $1675 US Single Supplement: $300 US

OPTIONS FLIGHTS We will be happy to make any flight arrangements, including reward travel with your preferred carrier, for $75 per person. For those partaking in the full tour, outbound flights should be booked to Venice Marco Polo Airport for arrival on October 4, with inbound flights from Bologna departing on the morning of October 13. For those attending the post-tour Milan option, return flight should be booked from Linate or Malpensa on October 15. AIRPORT-HOTEL TRANSFERS We include airport-hotel transfers (group) on the published tour dates. Transfers are not included for early arrivals or extended stays, although we can easily make these arrangements for you. TOUR ADDITIONS The itinerary can be customized to meet your needs and desires. Please call us to discuss any changes or amendments you wish to make. INSURANCE We strongly recommend that all tour members purchase cancellation insurance upon registration. We can assist you with this, though you are welcome to purchase a policy at your own discretion. If you would like information on the policies offered by our supplier, please contact us for details, or click HERE for an insurance brochure and application.

Milan and Florence have their undeniable attractions, but they are both well-trodden, and many travellers to this part of Italy miss the charms and abundant riches of the more “provincial” towns we will visit on this trip. True, we include Venice, but we will take you where you may never have been, and in a wonderful (quieter) season.

In addition to a performance at Teatro La Fenice (in its reconstructed glory, one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world), we will focus on three not-to-be-missed sights in Venice: the Rialto market, where each vendor’s stand of fresh seafood is worthy of a photograph, Burano, with its colourful homes and perhaps the finest restaurant in the city, and the Scuola di San Rocco, where the Tintorettos will leave you speechless.

Mantua is rarely found on tour itineraries, and one has to wonder why. It is an endlessly charming and manageable town, with the oldest church in all of Italy (the Rotonda di San Lorenzo), breathtaking frescoes by Mantegna in the Palazzo Ducale, the magnificent mannerist Palazzo Te, and an old town that absolutely thrives at night (unlike many other cities, including Milan and Venice). We will sample some of the incredible Mantovan cuisine and also possibly attend a chamber performance. Parma is one of our favourite destinations in Italy. Perhaps more than any other city in the north, it feels authentically Italian, not overrun with tourists like some of the larger cities we have all visited.

Parma is what you imagined Italy would be like before ever having gone. We will surprise you with superb and important architecture, predictably perfect cuisine and performance experiences that, for the beauty of Teatro Regio and the sheer electricity in the audience, are quite possibly the most fulfilling to be had in the country. As well, we see sights associated with the patron saint of Italian opera, Maestro Verdi himself.

Yes, in Bologna we will sample some of the finest food and wine in Emilia-Romagna and Italy, to be sure. But there is plenty more here that many pass over: thousand-year-old churches, a university that dates to 1088, gorgeous piazzas, stunning architecture (including not just one but two leaning towers), and have we mentioned the food? But of course, we would not bring you here without attending the opera, and we will attend a première of La traviata at Teatro Comunale, a venue perhaps underrated and thus undiscovered by those who travel to Italy for opera. There is a reason that many of the finest international stars of opera appear in Bologna, even before Venice and Torino, and we will find out why.

THE ITINERARY

Sunday, October 3
Departure flights (own arrangements) from North America to Venice. We can assist with flights ($75 fee).

Monday, October 4
Upon arrival in Venice, you are met and transferred by private water taxi along the Grand Canal directly to the refined Ruzzini Palace, well-situated in the heart of the city, within walking distance of all major attractions. Gather early evening to enjoy a Welcome Dinner in one of our favourite restaurants in the area (and one of the best in the city).

Tuesday, October 5
We avoid the typical tourist sites today in favour of an informative walk in our favourite sestiere, San Polo. We visit the Scuola di San Rocco, with one of the most important collections of masterpieces in Venice, with an entire room full of works by Tintoretto. We will also trace the footsteps of Wagner and Vivaldi during our tour. The afternoon is at leisure. This evening, we transfer by water taxi to La Fenice for Verdi’s Rigoletto. Daniele Abbado conducts a cast that includes Roberto Frontali and Désirée Rancatore.

Wednesday, October 6
Today we embark on an excursion to the island of Burano, where the colourful homes once reminded the fisherman where they lived, and the women were expert lacemakers. We will enjoy a guided tour, but the main focus is lunch (risotto?!) at Trattoria Da Romano, another of the city’s best restaurants.

Thursday, October 7
After breakfast, check out and depart by water taxis to our private coach. Our first stop is in nearby Padua, an important medieval city, to see the Scrovegni Chapel and its famous Giotto frescoes. After an excellent lunch at our favourite restaurant in Padua (and maybe all of Northern Italy), we cross from the Veneto to Lombardia and arrive in Mantua, wonderfully set on a tiny peninsula surrounded by a 12th century man-made lake. We check in to our suites at the Hotel Casa Poli and enjoy the evening at leisure (possible performance TBA).

Friday, October 8
Late morning we meet in the hotel lobby for a guided tour of Mantua, tracing its history under the control of the Etruscans, Romans, Byzantines, Longobards, Franks, Guelphs and Habsburgs. We see the magnificent Rotonda di San Lorenzo—the oldest church in Italy (1098), the many lovely and bustling piazzas in the Old Town, and of course, the jaw-dropping Mantegna frescoes in the Camera degli Sposi (bridal chamber) of the Palazzo Ducale. This evening we dine at the finest trattoria in Mantua.

Saturday, October 9
After breakfast and check out, we transfer by private coach to Parma, stopping in Cremona for a brief tour of the Old Town centre, where we view the priceless collection of instruments (Stradivari, Guarneri, etc.) in the City Hall. After a quick coffee break, we continue to Busseto and the homeland of Giuseppe Verdi. We will see Verdi’s home in Sant’Agata, the charming 400-seat theatre that shares his name, and have lunch at one of our favourite restaurants in the country. Afterward it is on to Parma, where we check in at the Hotel Stendhal, adjacent to the Palazzo della Pilotta in the heart of the city. This evening we gather and make the short walk to Teatro Regio for a performance of Verdi's Il trovatore at the annual Verdi Festival (Marcelo Alvarez; Yuri Temirkanov of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic conducts).

Sunday, October 10
Late morning we meet for a guided tour of Parma, including the wonderful Romanesque Cathedral, Benedetto Antelami's Baptistry (one of the greatest Romanesque buildings in all of Italy), Toscanini's birthplace and the spectacular Teatro Farnese. Lunch is included. Mid-afternoon we enjoy a matinee performance of I Vespri Siciliani (Leo Nucci, Daniella Dessi, Fabio Armiliato) at Teatro Regio.

Monday, October 11
After checking out, we depart by private coach for Bologna. Upon arrival, we check in at the charming Hotel Cappello Rosso, in the heart of the historic centre. Once settled, lunch is at leisure before meeting for a guided orientation tour. We will see the 1000-year-old church complex of Santo Stefano, the many sights on Piazza Maggiore and Piazza Galvani, the wonderful Municipal Library and the anatomical theatre of the University of Bologna, founded in 1088. Following our tour, the evening is at leisure.

Tuesday, October 12
Enjoy the final day at leisure before a late lunch at one of the finest restaurants in Italy. After recovering from our meal, we meet and depart for a première performance of Verdi’s La traviata at the spectacular Teatro Comunale, with Mariella Devia as Violetta.

Wednesday, October 13
Transfers to the airport in Bologna included.

MILAN OPTION

Wednesday, October 13
After checking out of the hotel, you will be transferred to the central station for the highspeed train to Milan. Upon arrival, you will be met and transferred to the Grand Hotel et de Milan, Verdi's city home until his death in 1901. The elegant, intimate hotel is in the heart of the historic old town and fashion district, a short walk to the Galleria and La Scala. Once settled in your room, you will meet your guide for a tour of the magnificent Duomo, the Casa di Riposo (the lovely home endowed by Verdi to house "retired" musicians), and the Church of Santa Maria della Grazie to view da Vinci's The Last Supper. The tour ends with a memorable dinner at a charming family-run restaurant near the church.

Thursday, October 14
Enjoy the full day at leisure in Milan. This evening, make the short pilgrimage to La Scala for a performance of L’Elisir d’Amore (Villazon).

Friday, October 15
Transfers to the airport included.