ITALY’S RENAISSANCE COURTS

• Enjoy fairytale Urbino, the perfectly-formed and remote Renaissance eyrie of Federico da Montefeltro

• Meet the Gonzaga, in Mantua’s celebrated Camera degli Sposi and playful Palazzo Te, and in Sabbioneta’s small-scale palaces, synagogue and theatre

• Admire the trend-setting art and architecture of Ferrara, one of the Renaissance’s most influential cultural capitals

• Understand the medieval transformations in Italian art and architecture, with a comprehensive tour of Giotto’s outstanding frescoes in Padua’s Scrovegni Chapel

• Discover some of Italy’s less visited but delightful provincial centres, such as Pesaro and Rimini

• Enhance your understanding through the expertise of your tour leader, art historian Dr Louise Marshall

THURSDAY 01 OCTOBER 2026 – MEET IN BOLOGNA, ARRIVE PESARO (D)

The tour commences with two possible meeting points: firstly, meet your tour leader and tour manager at Bologna Centrale railway station (meeting point TBC) at 2.30pm, to continue by private coach to Bologna Guglielmo Marconi airport. Alternatively, meet the group and coach directly at the airport, at 3.00pm (meeting point TBC).

After the entire group is assembled at Bologna’s Guglielmo Marconi airport, we travel by private coach to Pesaro. After checking in to our hotel and settling into our rooms, we meet for a welcome dinner. Overnight Pesaro.

FRIDAY 02 OCTOBER – IN PESARO (B)

Pesaro, a pleasant provincial centre, was the birthplace of Gioachino Rossini and became known to Italians as a centre for Stile Liberty (or Art Nouveau) architecture, thanks to a series of grand fin-de-siècle bathing establishments. In the Renaissance, however, it was eyed off by both the papacy and the powerful Montefeltro family, as we discover this morning after a talk in the hotel. First, we make a visit of the Museo Civico Palazzo Mosca, an art collection housed in a sixteenth-century palace. Its highlights include the so-called Pesaro Altarpiece, a beautiful work by Giovanni Bellini, as well as paintings by artists from the region, including Vitale da Bologna and Elisabetta Sirani. After time for lunch at leisure, we take a walking tour of central Pesaro together with a local guide, including its impressive Renaissance fortifications and the church of Sant’Agostino, with its outstanding intarsia-work choir stalls. The evening is at leisure. Overnight Pesaro.

SATURDAY 03 OCTOBER – FAIRYTALE URBINO (B)

In the fifteenth century, the tiny walled town of Urbino – perched among green hills in today’s Le Marche region – became one of Italy’s most important cultural centres. This was thanks to both the fortunes of Duke Federico da Montefeltro, earned by his prowess in military strategy, and his educated interest in classical urban design, manuscript production, painting and the decorative arts. Today we travel by private coach to Urbino, spending the morning in the duke’s world, from Urbino’s pretty streets to the magnificent Palazzo Ducale. This perfectly-designed Renaissance palace also hosts the collection of the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, including Piero della Francesca’s Flagellation, the duke’s extraordinary inlaid wood studiolo and a beautiful portrait by Raphael, who was born in Urbino. After lunch at leisure, we meet to visit Raphael’s birth house and to discover the less-known but fascinating frescoes of the Oratory of St John the Baptist, in the lavish style of the International Gothic. Returning to Pesaro, the evening is at leisure.

SUNDAY 04 OCTOBER – SIGISMONDO MALATESTA’S RIMINI (B, D)

We check out of our hotel this morning and travel first to Rimini. Founded by Rome in the third century BCE, it marked the end of the Via Flaminia, and its Arch of Augustus and Bridge of Tiberius bear witness to this ancient heritage. In the Renaissance, it was the fief of Sigismondo Malatesta, a military commander and so-called ‘Wolf of Rimini’ who was excommunicated by Pope Pius II in 1460 for unspeakable (and perhaps invented) offences. Sigismondo was likewise a sophisticated patron of the arts, and his Tempio Malatestiano is a pantheon designed by architect Leon Battista Alberti to echo Rimini’s Roman roots and enshrine the Malatesta legacy. The church, decorated with marbles stripped from Ravenna’s Sant’Apollinare in Classe, also preserves important works by Piero della Francesca and Agostino di Duccio. After lunch at leisure, we continue to Mantua. There is dinner near our hotel this evening. Overnight Mantua.

MONDAY 05 OCTOBER – A MINIATURE COURT IN SABBIONETA (B, L)

Like their sometime allies and sometime rivals in Urbino, Ferrara and Milan, the Gonzaga family of Mantua developed its fortunes through a canny combination of military strength and mercantile activity, including a robust trade in horses. In the sixteenth century, a fascinating figure from a cadet branch of the family, Vespasiano Gonzaga Colonna, was inspired by the principles of Renaissance humanism to develop a new courtly centre at World Heritage-listed Sabbioneta. Today, travelling by private coach from nearby Mantua, we visit the monuments of his fancy, perfectly proportioned but small-scale palaces, a synagogue, one of the Renaissance’s earliest theatres, and a fascinating sixteenth-century art gallery for the display of his antiquities collection. After lunch together, we return to Mantua for a talk. Evening at leisure. Overnight Mantua.

TUESDAY 06 OCTOBER – THE GONZAGA & MANTUA (B)

Mantua’s Gonzaga dynasty was known in fifteenth and sixteenth century Europe for its military prowess, excellent horse breeding and careful marriage matches. Successive generations, including the redoubtable bride Isabella d’Este, sponsored the careers of artists Andrea Mantegna, Leonardo da Vinci and Giulio Romano. By the seventeenth century, however, the family’s inability to secure a dynastic line, together with European geopolitics, saw the War of the Mantuan Succession and super-powers Spain and France turning the elegant city into a battleground. Despite some notable artistic casualties, the Palazzo Ducale in central Mantua still preserves some of the Gonzaga’s most outstanding commissions. Together with our local guide, we discover Mantegna’s celebrated portraits in fresco in the Camera degli Sposi and continue to the basilica of Sant’Andrea, rebuilt to a design by Leon Battista Alberti. After lunch at leisure, the afternoon is free to rest or to explore the shops and boutiques of Mantua’s attractive historic centre. Evening at leisure. Overnight Mantua.

WEDNESDAY 07 OCTOBER – MANTEGNA TO MANNERISM (B)

Today we set out with Louise to trace a later trajectory in Mantua’s history and in Italian art. The early Rococo style of the Teatro Bibiena is a hint of what is to come, a playful approach to art and architecture that was already evident in the work of Giulio Romano, Raphael’s greatest pupil. Giulio spent time as a court artist in Mantua, and we admire the façade of the house he designed for himself when living here. We also stop at Mantegna’s House, similarly designed by the artist for himself and his substantial family. In many ways, Mantegna is the early Renaissance court artist par excellence, although he sometimes complained about the gap between his output and his salary! After time for a simple lunch at leisure, we visit the Palazzo Te. It is one of Giulio Romano’s most emblematic works, a meeting of art and architecture in a suburban villa built for Isabella d’Este’s son (and his lovers). The Chamber of Cupid and Psyche and the Giants’ Chamber are two of Italy’s most striking and significant Mannerist monuments. We return to the hotel for an evening at leisure. Overnight Mantua.

THURSDAY 08 OCTOBER – ELEGANT FERRARA (B)

We check out this morning and make the short journey to Ferrara. An elegant provincial town, it has a long history of influencing Italian culture: in the twentieth century, it fostered the careers of the artists Giorgio De Chirico and Filippo De Pisis, for example, and novelist Giorgio Bassani (The Garden of the Finzi-Continis). In the early fifteenth century, Ferrara was by far the most innovative of the Italian Renaissance courts, encouraging Flemish artists to work in Italy and investing in a distinctive local style that is exemplified by the work of Cosmé Tura, Francesco del Cossa and Ercole de’ Roberti. After we leave our bags at our hotel enjoy a light lunch at leisure in Ferrara’s beautiful central square, we meet our local guide to survey the moated Castello Estense, extraordinary Romanesque cathedral and cobbled streets that lie at the heart of Ferrara’s historic ghetto. After an evening talk, dinner is at leisure. Your tour manager is at hand to assist with arrangements. Overnight Ferrara.

FRIDAY 09 OCTOBER – ESTE MEN & WOMEN (B)

We commence this morning with a visit of the Museo della Cattedrale, where we admire key works of Romanesque sculpture from the cathedral’s magnificent collection, including a charming cycle of the Labours of the Months. Afterwards there is time at leisure, with a number of central sites you might like to visit. One is the Museo Nazionale dell’Ebraismo Italiano e della Shoah, which tracks the history and involvement of Jewish people in Italian cultural life – including the erosion of their rights under Mussolini’s government and the Holocaust, or Shoah, as it unfolded in Italy. After lunch at leisure, we meet to travel the short distance to the Palazzo Schifanoia. Located on the edge of town, it was a pleasure palace for the Este family, and the frescoes of its Salone dei Mesi or Room of the Months offer a calendrical portrait of fifteenth-century life at court. Afterwards, we visit a nearby church and convent which contain artworks and tomb monuments commissioned by members of the Este family. The evening is at leisure. Overnight Ferrara.

SATURDAY 10 OCTOBER – GIOTTO IN PADUA (B)

Today we take a step back to understand how medieval developments in art in northern Italy led to the magnificent works of the Renaissance that we have admired thus far. Travelling by private coach to Padua, we spend a day surveying its World Heritage-listed frescoes. We commence with a double length visit to the Scrovegni Chapel, the best preserved and most complete cycle of work by the great Giotto. Continuing to the nearby Eremitani Church, we see how Giotto’s achievements in Padua inspired later local artists, such as Mantegna, to new approaches in technique, perspective and narrative action. After time for lunch at leisure in the pleasant Piazza delle Erbe, a lively outdoor and covered market, we continue to the baptistery to see how prominent women of medieval and Renaissance Italy could also make their mark as patrons of innovative artworks. There are more courtly works for us to admire in and around the basilica of St Anthony, still a focus of fervent pilgrimage. These include Donatello’s equestrian monument to Gattamelata, a celebrated fifteenth-century military captain shown according to a newly revived ancient model of authority and leadership, as well as groundbreaking frescoes by both Altichiero, a fourteenth-century artist, and the young Titian, in the Oratory of St George and Scuola del Santo, respectively. Returning to Ferrara, the evening is at leisure.

SUNDAY 11 OCTOBER - THE HERCULEAN ADDITION & THE FINZI-CONTINI (B, L)

For many of us, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis – whether Giorgio Bassani’s elegant novel or the iconic film adaptation by Vittorio De Sica – is our lasting impression of Ferrara. We begin the day with an optional walk with Louise through the so-called “Herculean Addition”, a Renaissance urban planning project that is most famous for the fifteenth-century architecture of the Palazzo dei Diamanti. Arriving at the Jewish Cemetery, only open in the morning, we see the grave of Giorgio Bassani and other powerful reminders of the difficult history experienced by Ferrara’s twentieth-century Jewish people. There is the opportunity to survey a final monument with Louise, before we enjoy an excellent Sunday lunch together – just as the local Ferrarese do! Afterwards, there is time to pack or do some last-minute shopping, before a farewell drink in the town square. Overnight Ferrara.

MONDAY 12 OCTOBER – DEPARTURE (B)

We check out and depart Ferrara at 09.00am to travel to Bologna. The tour concludes on arrival at Bologna Centrale railway station at ca 10.30am. For those with onward departures by train from Bologna Centrale, we advise booking a service that leaves no earlier than 11.15am. For those departing from Bologna Guglielmo Marconi airport, it is a simple journey from the railway station to the airport by tram (allow ca 30 mins) or by taxi.

Hotel Excelsior 5* Pesaro, 3 nights

https://www.lindberghhotels.com/en/excelsior-pesaro/index

A grand nineteenth-century hotel that has been recently renovated. We have booked Sea View rooms for our tour, which range from 22-27sqm. It is a ten-minute flat walk into the town centre.

Grand Hotel San Lorenzo 4* Mantua, 4 nights

https://www.schiavonhotels.it/it-it/grand-hotel-san-lorenzo.aspx (in Italian only)

This hotel boasts a perfect central location, the rooms are decorated in a bright, modern style, and the breakfast is excellent. For our group we have chosen well-sized King Deluxe rooms (28sqm), but we note some superficial maintenance issues in the décor.

Hotel Ferrara (Casa d’Este) 4* Ferrara, 4 nights

https://www.casadeste.it/en-GB

This hotel has an excellent location: “due passi” (two steps, as the Italians would say) from Ferrara’s Castello Estense, but tucked away in a quiet square. It was until recently owned by Mercure but is now part of the Begin Collection, so you may find it listed online under both names above. The style is modern and attractive, but the historic location of the hotel as always means that the rooms are not large: we are in the Standard category (21sqm).

NB: hotels of a similar standard may be substituted.

• 11 nights’ accommodation at 4* and 5* hotels

• All breakfasts and 4 lunches or dinners

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

• Talks by and expertise of an Australian tour leader throughout

• Assistance by an Italian-speaking local tour manager 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 03 June 2026.

We will invoice you for final payment for the tour, due on 17 July 2026.

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