ALONG THE APENNINES: ABRUZZO, UMBRIA, LAZIO

• Go beyond the tourist trail in Abruzzo, a region of spectacular mountains, medieval villages and proud traditions

• Understand Italy’s ancient past at a wide variety of archaeological sites, from Roman Carsulae to Chieti’s Capestrano Warrior

• Explore medieval art and architecture, with Cimabue and Giotto in Assisi and in Abruzzo’s remote mountain hermitages

• Admire Renaissance art far from the crowds: Filippo Lippi, Piero della Francesca, Signorelli and Perugino

• Encounter the Etruscans, with a full day in Tarquinia’s sites and outstanding museum

• Enjoy the best of Italian regional gastronomy, including handmade pasta, fine red wines and Abruzzo’s famous mare e monti

SATURDAY 17 APRIL – ARRIVAL (D)

Our tour commences at 2.00pm, at the meeting point in Terminal 3 of Rome Fiumicino airport. We travel up into the foothills of the Apennines to Sulmona, the birthplace of Roman poet Ovid. After a stroll around Sulmona, famous for Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and for confetti, coloured sugar almonds, we enjoy dinner in a restaurant near our hotel. Overnight Sulmona.

SUNDAY 18 APRIL – PESCOCOSTANZO & SAN MARTINO IN VALLE (B, L)

The mountains and valleys surrounding Sulmona, despite their remote appearance, have been well-connected for centuries thanks to the sheep industry and movement along the tratturo magno, or great transhumance path that led all the way from Tuscany to Puglia. Today, we explore one of Abruzzo’s pretty mountain villages at Pescocostanzo, one of Italy’s borghi più belli or most beautiful villages. After we enjoy a country lunch together, we continue our explorations by visiting one of the many small medieval abbeys that dot the Majella massif. Returning to Sulmona, the evening is at leisure. Overnight Sulmona. Please note: supportive shoes are essential today, as our walk into a ruined medieval abbey will take approximately 20 minutes. If you use hikers’ poles for bush walks, you might like to bring them with you today.

MONDAY 19 APRIL – THE MIDDLE AGES & THE MAJELLA (B, L)

We begin this morning with a visit to panoramic Pacentro, a small town with an excellent defensive position at the end of the valley in which Sulmona is also located. The local lords of the Caldora family built a fortress here to defend the nearby mountain pass. After visiting it together, we take the Passo di San Leonardo, a winding road, up into the region known as the Majella. Abruzzo’s “mother mountain”, it is a collection of peaks in a large national park, and its rugged nature is thought to express the essential Abruzzese character. With deep valleys, caves and gorges, it is a wild landscape, favoured in the past by shepherds and religious hermits, and still dotted with huts, small chapels and monasteries. We plan to visit the Hermitage of Santo Spirito di Majella, founded before the eleventh century and restored in the middle of the thirteenth century by Pope Celestine V, and will have time for a light picnic lunch. In case of inclement weather, we will visit one of the many other hermitages and abbeys in the Majella, many of which boast excellent and relatively undiscovered works of Romanesque architecture and sculpture. Returning to Sulmona, the evening is at leisure. Overnight Sulmona.

TUESDAY 20 APRIL 2027 – CHIETI & THE WARRIOR OF CAPESTRANO (B)

We begin the day with a morning at leisure, an opportunity to visit one of the small, local museums of Sulmona or enjoy a pleasant stroll in the medieval town centre. After lunch, we have an excursion by private coach to Chieti. Spilling down the side of a hill, this town hosts the National Archaeology Museum of Abruzzo, which we visit together with a local guide. Its collections showcase the fascinating prehistoric people of Abruzzo, who inhabited the region before the advent of Rome, as well as numerous important artefacts of the Roman period. The sculptural works include the magnificent Warrior of Capestrano, a more-than-life-size statue of a man that dates to the sixth century BCE. We return to Sulmona for an evening at leisure. Overnight Sulmona.

WEDNESDAY 21 APRIL 2027 – PILGRIMS & FRESCOES (B, L)

We check out this morning and continue our exploration of the remarkable legacy of art and architecture that the sheep industry and trade brought to Abruzzo in the Middle Ages. We begin with a visit to the Oratorio di San Pellegrino, a heritage-listed chapel in Bominaco that is entirely covered in thirteenth-century frescoes. Of an astounding quality, the stories draw on artistic influences from near and far, an indication of how connected such remote places could be. Our visit here is a highlight of our tour and there is time to discuss our impressions afterwards over lunch in the town’s restaurant. We continue to the Rocca di Calascio; badly damaged by a fifteenth-century earthquake, this prominent fortress boasts superlative views over the mountains of the Abruzzo. Please note: good fitness and sturdy shoes are needed for the 800m walk to this fortress, which is steep in parts. It will not be possible in case of inclement weather, when a substitute activity will be undertaken. Afterwards, we continue to nearby L’Aquila and check in to our hotel. Your tour leader is at hand to assist with recommendations for dinner tonight. Overnight L’Aquila.

THURSDAY 22 APRIL 2027 – GRAN SASSO (B)

Today we ascend Gran Sasso, the Apennines’ highest peak at over 2,900m. Embarking by cable car at Fonte Cerreto, we arrive at Campo Imperatore, an alpine meadow that is 27km in length and sits at an altitude of ca 1,700m. There is time to enjoy the panorama, featured in films such as Ladyhawke, before we take the scenic road back by coach to Fonte Cerreto, where there is time for lunch at leisure. Please note: today’s activities are weather dependent, as the summit of Gran Sasso and the cable car are closed in case of inclement weather. In that instance, we will visit the Grotte di Stiffe, a local cave system with a series of awe-inspiring underground waterfalls. Returning to L’Aquila, the evening is at leisure. Overnight L’Aquila.

FRIDAY 23 APRIL 2027 – L’AQUILA (B, D)

Today we check out and explore L’Aquila, the capital of the Abruzzo region. It came to prominence in the thirteenth century under Frederick II, who gave the city the name of his imperial ensign, the eagle. It was an increasingly important base for the kingdoms of southern Italy, and for shepherds, traders and armed forces moving back and forth across the Apennines. As we learn on our guided walking tour, L’Aquila is a symbol of fortitude, devastated by successive earthquakes but subsequently transformed by rebuilding, most recently after the 2009 earthquake. After surveying the Basilica of Collemaggio, the cathedral and basilica of San Bernardino, we continue to Umbria via the Cascata delle Marmore. At 165m, this is the highest man-made waterfall in the world, and is the result of generations of ancient Roman, and then papal, hydraulic engineering. Since 1896, it has also powered mills in nearby Terni to generate electricity. After admiring this awe-inspiring scene, we continue to the hill town of Spoleto. After checking into our hotel, we enjoy dinner together. Overnight Spoleto.

SATURDAY 24 APRIL 2027 – CARSULAE & SPOLETO (B, D)

Long neglected in favour of its better-known neighbour, Tuscany, the region of Umbria rewards visitors with a dense concentration of historic sites, artistic treasures, superlative gastronomy and great natural beauty. We begin our day with a visit to Carsulae, one of Italy’s less well-known Roman archaeological sites. Built on a branch of the Via Flaminia, it was enriched during the Augustan era with an amphitheatre, forum, Arch of Trajan and thermal baths. It was nevertheless abandoned in Late Antiquity, for reasons that remain unclear, and its ruins were pillaged until papal excavations commenced in the seventeenth century. Returning to Spoleto, we enjoy lunch together before commencing a walking tour with a local guide. Originally a Roman colony, Spoleto now preserves a spectacular thirteenth-century aqueduct, imposing sixteenth-century fortress, and outstanding late frescoes by Filippo Lippi – all in the picturesque surrounds of one of Umbria’s loveliest hill towns. The evening is at leisure. Overnight Spoleto.

SUNDAY 25 APRIL 2027 – IN PERUGIA (B) – LIBERATION DAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY

Perugia is the capital of Umbria and marks the borderlands of nearby Tuscany, Lazio and the mountainous Marche. A significant Etruscan town, it is now sustained by tourism as well as its university and manufacturing, such as Perugina chocolate. We spend the day in Perugia, beginning with a guided walking tour, admiring its imposing basilica of San Domenico and the Fontana Maggiore, which incorporates sculptures by the Pisano family. At the Collegio del Cambio, an administrative hall, we admire late fifteenth-century frescoes by local artist Perugino, together with Raphael. Edith Wharton was so struck by the works that she described them as one of “three perfect ceilings of the world.” In the Galleria Nazionale, there is the opportunity to enjoy fine works by Duccio, Fra Angelico and Perugino, as well as one of the best-preserved altarpieces of Piero della Francesca. We return to Spoleto for an evening at leisure. Overnight Spoleto.

MONDAY 26 APRIL 2027 – WITH ST FRANCIS IN ASSISI (B)

Umbria is enduringly associated with its most famous son, Francis of Assisi, the founder of one of the most important Christian brotherhoods and the patron saint of all Italy, together with his follower and friend, Clare of Assisi. We spend a full day today in Assisi, exploring the sites associated with Francis’s life and times, and his significant yet complex legacy, together with a local guide. At the basilica of St Francis, we admire masterpieces by Cimabue, Giotto, Simone Martini and other great medieval artists, called to decorate the saint’s final resting place. In the centre of town, we admire the façade of the so-called Temple of Minerva that attests to Assisi’s Roman roots, and at the basilica of Santa Chiara we appreciate how medieval female monasticism followed in Francis’s footsteps. Returning to Spoleto, the evening is at leisure. Overnight Spoleto.

TUESDAY 27 APRIL 2027 – ORVIETO (B, D)

We check out of our hotel today and travel to Orvieto, where there is time to freshen up before we meet a local guide to explore a selection of Orvieto’s many underground sites. These were carved out of the soft rock by Etruscan hands millennia ago. After lunch at leisure, we continue into the centre of town to survey the main sites of the historic centre, including the extraordinary cathedral. Construction commenced in 1290 to commemorate a eucharistic miracle in nearby Bolsena – and in an effort (successful!) to attract pilgrimage traffic from the Via Francigena. Its distinctive striped Gothic façade foreshadows the artistic treasure inside, including the San Brizio Chapel. Worked on by masters Fra Angelico and Signorelli, it includes the latter’s extraordinary scenes of the Last Judgement. After check-in, there is dinner near our hotel. Overnight Orvieto.

WEDNESDAY 28 APRIL 2027 – THE ETRUSCANS (B)

Today we travel by coach to Tarquinia, for a full day exploring the outstanding legacy of Etruscan art and architecture that can still be admired in this town of Lazio. Meeting our local guide, we commence with a visit of Tarquinia necropolis, descending a few steps underground to view the extraordinary range of painted tombs that have been uncovered over decades of archaeological work. From hunting and fishing scenes to bright geometric decorations, these tomb decorations shed an important light on the values of Etruscan life. Continuing with our guide to the centre of Tarquinia, which has an imposing Renaissance aspect, we enjoy lunch at leisure before visiting the superlative National Museum of Archaeology. The collections here are staggering, from scores of Etruscan tomb sculptures, showing reclining magistrates and married couples, to Giacometti-like sculptures, Grecian-style urns and an elegant pair of winged horses that once decorated the top of a temple. Returning to Orvieto, the evening is at leisure. Overnight Orvieto.

THURSDAY 29 APRIL 2027 – PAPAL GARDENS (B, L, D)

From the sixteenth century, popes, cardinals and other prelates of note fled from Rome’s heat and malarial ‘airs’ every summer, constructing a series of pleasure villas around the volcanic lakes to the north and south of the metropolis and today the region of Lazio preserves some of the most influential of all Italian villas and gardens. We begin our explorations, together with a local guide, at the Sacro Bosco of Bomarzo. This “sacred wood” is one of the most mystifying and evocative of the mid-sixteenth century constructions, with dramatic sculptures carved in situ from the soft tufa, revealing the strange and metaphorical life journey of their patron, Pier Francesco Orsini. After a simple country lunch, we continue to Villa Lante at Bagnaia. In the same symbolic Mannerist style as Bomarzo, but diametrically opposed in its geometric design, the terraced garden here presents a creation myth, its many rills, fountains and parterres becoming more ‘civilised’ as they step down a panoramic hillside. Returning to Orvieto, we enjoy a farewell dinner together in one of the city’s fine restaurants. Overnight Orvieto.

FRIDAY 30 APRIL 2027 – DEPARTURE (B)

After breakfast this morning, we check out and travel by coach to Rome Fiumicino airport, where we arrive in time for early afternoon flights. The tour concludes on arrival at Fiumicino airport.

All the hotels on this tour are family-run regional 4* establishments. Each room is different from the next, and bathrooms will be smaller than what you expect of hotels in large cities. All are run with warmth, hospitality and care.

Hotel Rojan 4* Sulmona, 4 nights

https://www.hotelrojan.it/ (website in Italian only and currently under maintenance)

Hotel Castello 4* L’Aquila, 2 nights

https://www.hotelcastelloaq.it/en

Hotel San Luca 4* Spoleto, 4 nights

https://www.hotelsanluca.com/en/index

Hotel Emme Place 4*, Orvieto, 3 nights

https://www.emmepalace.com/en/index

NB: hotels of a similar standard may be substituted.

• 13 nights’ accommodation at 4* hotels

• All breakfasts and 9 lunches or dinners, including drinks

• All ground transport, guided tours and entrance fees to sites as mentioned in the itinerary, and tipping

• Please note that no arrival or departure transfers are included in the cost of the tour, which begins and ends at Rome Fiumicino airport

• Commentary by and expertise of a tour leader throughout

A $1,500pp deposit is required at the time of booking to hold your place on tour.

A second deposit of $2,000pp is due on 18 December 2026.

We will invoice you for final payment for the tour, due on 01 February 2027.

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