Destination Insights
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The Venice Biennale in pictures (part 1)
Dr Nick Gordon introduces the 2024 Venice Biennale, from Australia’s Golden Lion-winning pavilion to this year’s highlights and overarching themes.
It’s Verdi, Jim, but not as we know it
It’s Verdi, Jim, but not as we know it. Gain a deeper appreciation of the master’s work, in its historical and biographical context, in this article by Clive Paget about four works at the 2024 Festival Verdi in Parma.
Encountering Matsue & Izumo: A photo-essay
Encounter Matsue and Izumo, the location of some of southern Japan’s most ancient religious traditions and archaeological sites, in this photo essay by Senior Product Manager Mark Lalor.
A Tuscan Christmas Feast
What will be on the table in Tuscany on Christmas day? In this article, longtime Florence resident and expert art and culture guide, Freya Middleton, explores the delights and delicacies of a Tuscan Christmas feast.
In Kyushu with the Hidden Christians
Learn more about Japan’s surprising “Hidden Christian” sites, recognised with World Heritage status by UNESCO in 2018, and offering a fascinating insight into the nation’s interactions with the wider world in the seventeenth century and beyond.
On Japan’s art islands: A stay on Naoshima
Japan’s celebrated ‘art islands’ of the Seto Inland Sea are routinely spoken about as one of the most exciting destinations for site-specific contemporary art and architecture in the world. In this Q&A, Dr Kathleen Olive explains what makes a visit so invigorating, and how you can immerse yourself in the experience by staying on the islands.
View from the lagoon, Part 2
In this second in a series of articles on the Venetian lagoon, Limelight Arts Travel director Robert Veel introduces us to this overlooked and fascinating dimension of La Serenissima’s great art, history and culture.
How the Mongols helped shape Japanese history
Archaeologist Ben Churcher explains how not one but two attempted Mongol invasions of Japan in the thirteenth century shaped much of what we now recognise in the nation's history and cultural identity, medieval to modern.
Seen from the sea: A voyage aboard Sea Cloud II
A voyage aboard Sea Cloud II affords you the opportunity to experience the Mediterranean the way that travellers of the past experienced it. Slow travel, from a time when it was the sea – rather than the land or the air – that connected peoples and cultures, as Robert Veel explains.
In Corsica: Musée Fesch, Ajaccio
In this article we investigate the history of the Musée Fesch’s art collection in Ajaccio, Corsica, an impressive repository of Italian art assembled by Napoleon’s uncle.
View from the lagoon, Part 1
In this first of a series of articles on the Venetian lagoon, Limelight Arts Travel director Robert Veel introduces us to this overlooked and fascinating dimension of La Serenissima’s great art, history and culture.
Turin: Capital of history, art, food and wine
How much do you know about Turin, tucked away in the north-westernmost corner of Italy? Probably not much, as it’s never received significant recognition from international visitors to Italy, despite its grand squares, colonnaded streets, superlative museums of art and antiquities, and reputation as the birthplace of Italy’s Slow Food gastronomy movement.
A hidden medieval masterpiece in Abruzzo
So many of Italy’s great medieval masterpieces require no introduction: Giotto’s frescoes for the Scrovegni Chapel, for example, or the Arab-Norman mosaics of Palermo, Monreale and Cefalù. And yet Italy is also full of unsung artworks of the highest quality – you just need to go a little bit off the well-trodden tourist track.
Sculpture parks
In this article, we take a look at some of our favourite sculpture parks, from Storm King in the USA, to the ‘Art Islands’ of Japan and Arte Sella in Italy.
Regions of Italy: Val d’Aosta
From Hannibal to JMW Turner, the Val d'Aosta has long been the first taste of Italy for people arriving from the north over the Great Saint Bernard Pass. In the first of our series of articles taking a look at Italy region by region, we introduce you to Val d'Aosta, whose capital boasts the highest concentration of Roman ruins in Italy after Rome itself, a unique Alpine culture and an exceptional medieval history tied to the Savoy, the dynasty that would give a unified Italy its first kings.
Archie Moore - Australia at the Venice Biennale 2024
The Australia Council for the Arts has recently announced that Archie Moore will represent Australia at the Venice Biennale in 2024. Here we take a brief look at Archie and his art.
Winter in Tuscany 2023 - in photos
Limelight Arts Travel’s recent Winter in Tuscany tour was an opportunity to survey the wonderful medieval and Renaissance art and architecture of this rewarding region - and a reminder of why we love off-season travel.
An Aix diary: A week at a celebrated opera festival
The Festival d’Aix-en-Provence is recognised as one of the world’s leading celebrations of opera and orchestral music. Limelight publisher Robert Veel has attended several Aix festivals and in 2022 he took a deep dive, researching venues, accommodation and excursions to create the program for Limelight Arts Travel’s Festival d’Aix-en-Provence tour. Here’s Robert’s Aix diary.
Shukubō: Experiencing traditional culture in a hypermodern society
Travelling in Japan still offers many opportunities to experience traditional culture in a hypermodern society. Dr Kathleen Olive explains, in this exploration of “shukubō”, or temple lodging, on Mount Kōya.
Summer Reading: Ferrara & Maggie O’Farrell’s Marriage Portrait
Discover Ferrara in Maggie O’Farrell’s novel The Marriage Portrait, and the titans of painting and literature it’s produced from the Renaissance to the modern day.