ITALIAN LITERATURE PARKS

Day 1: Padua

Day 2: Arquà Petrarca

Day 3: Colli Euganei

Day 4: Recanati

Day 5: Recanati

Day 6: Sermoneta

Day 7: Sermoneta

Day 8: Cinque Terre

Day 9: Cinque Terre

Day 10: Departure

Day 1: PADUA

Arrival in Italy and transfer to Padova.
The many city squares, in particular Piazza delle Erbe, della Frutta and Piazza dei Signori, betray the pleasure of the Paduan for sociality; don’t forget Padua is the city of the Spritz, the contemporary emblem of this charming city.
You will never miss a visit to the Cappella degli Scrovegni; this "simple construction" as Giotto himself defined it, houses the most important cycle of frescoes in the world. Piazza delle Erbe, Piazza della frutta, the Cathedral dedicated to Saint Anthony, The Prato della Valle and the astonishing Palazzo della Ragione are waiting for you.
In the afternoon transfer to the Colli Euganei area; you will fall in love with this land of luxuriant vegetation that man has enriched through the centuries with his experience.
The typical volcanic hills that arose in the middle of the Venetian plain have been the setting for the vicissitudes of the peoples who inhabited these lands.
Their settlement allowed the construction of cities, villas and castles that can still be admired today in all their beauty. Accommodation in typical hotel.

Day 2: ARQUA' PETRARCA

You will dedicate the whole day to the exploration of Arquà Petrarca and surroundings starting from Villa Barbarigo and his amazing gardens.
The work conceived by the architect Luigi Bernini represents the most significant example of a symbolic garden of the seventeenth century, thanks to its monumental complex consisting of fountains, streams, waterfalls, water jokes and fish ponds.
The significance of the imposing structure symbolizes the spiritual path that man must take towards purification and salvation, also strengthened by the presence of a labyrinth that develops for about a kilometer and a half.
In 1369 Francesco Petrarca decided to move to Arquà, perhaps because the place reminded him of the Tuscan landscape so dear to him and here he spent his last years of life in total peace and tranquility.
Already in the late medieval period the house was a destination for pilgrimages of poets and admirers, motivated by the so-called Petrarchian fashion.
The phenomenon of Petrarchism spread at the beginning of the sixteenth century as the writer Pietro Bembo indicated Petrarch for poetry and Boccaccio for prose as models of perfection of Italian literature.
Nowadays the house is a museum and is core part of the literary park dedicated to Petrarca in Colli Euganei.
After you will enjoy a tour in the Literature Park to explore all sites dedicated to italian and international novelists and poets.
Your Itinerary will take you to discover Ugo Foscolo, Shelly, D’Annunzio, Byron, Bassani, Buzzati and many more.

Day 3: COLLI EUGANEI

Hike in Colli Euganei. It is possible to walk along one of our suggested trails to enjoy the landascape and the quiet atmosphere.
Visit to the Museum of the River Navigation (the Museum of Boatmen) that is one of a kind in Italy.
In the afternoon visit to a wine estate near Arquà for a nice wine tasting of local white and red wines.

Day 4: RECANATI

After Breakfast departure from Colli Euganei to Le Marche region where you will visit the beautiful and historical borgo of Recanati, where Giacomo Leopardi was born.
Here you will meet your guide for an interesting tour dedicated to explore the poet’s places dearest to him, to which he felt inextricably linked and which live forever in his most suggestive verses. After a stop in Piazza Sabato del Villaggio, to admire the imposing exteriors of Casa Leopardi, we will imagine Silvia looking out the window of her house, which is nearby.
We will enter the Parco del Colle dell'Infinito and then stop in front of Palazzo Antici and the Church of San Pietrino.
Along the way, Giacomo will declaim the famous compositions related to his hometown and, step by step, he will tell you about his childhood and childhood lived in his native wild village. Accommodation in local country hotel.

Day 5: RECANATI

After breakfast it is time to visit the House Museum of Leopardi and his incredible Library with more than 20.000 books.
These books were collected by Monaldo Leopardi, the poet's father, who together with his sons began the work of cataloging as the ancient records attest today.
In the afternoon time at leisure to explore the Conero Mountain over the sea including the tiny village of Portonovo.

Day 6: SERMONETA

Deaparture after breakfast to Lazio to explore the Park dedicated to Margherite Chapin and the Caetani family castles.
Margherite Chapin was an American-born publisher, journalist, art collector, and patron of the arts. She married an Italian aristocrat and became the founder and director of the literary journals Commerce (in France) and Botteghe Oscure (in Italy).
First stop will be the Gardens of Ninfa, known also as the “Pompei of the middle age”. Time has frozen this little town about six hundred years ago but today it lives again in the splendid garden full of essences from every place, in the ruins of churches, private buildings and the castle, in the river and in the romantic lake.
Ninfa today is the memory of a small but thriving medieval city, whose story took place over the course of about 600 years, between the end of the eighth and the end of the fourteenth century; and it is a phantasmagoria of greenery, flowers, trees, bushes, plants of all kinds, water, recreated by a genius loci in the early 1920s.
Gelasio Caetani began in 1921 the reclamation of the area and the restoration of the ruins starting the settlement of some botanical species, under the guidance of his mother Aba Wilbraham Caetani.
Gelasio's work was continued by his brother Roffredo, his wife, Merguerite Chapin Caetani and his daughter Leila Caetani Howard. Accommodation in local country hotel.

Day 7: SERMONETA

After breakfast visit to the Valvisciolo Abbey. The tradition says that this abbey was founded in the 12th century by Greek monks and later was occupied and restored by the Templars in the 13th century.
When this order was dissolved in the 14th century, the Cistercians took over. According to a medieval legend it is said that in 1314, when the last Templar Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, was burned at the stake, the architraves of the churches broke.
Even today, by carefully observing the architrave of the main portal of the abbey, it is possible to glimpse a crack. The presence of the Templars is certain and clues are the characteristic crosses and more. Arrival in Sermoneta.
The whole town si dominated by the impressive castle of the Caetani Family. It is possible to visit the castles to learn more about the Caetani Family and the Roffredo Caetani Foundation that is entrusted with its custody and conservation. It dates back to the 12th century.
The mighty wall protects the inner Cittadella built in the XVI century by the Borgia Family togehther with architect Antonio da Sangallo. A place rich in history and importance.

Day 8: CINQUE TERRE

Transfer to 5 Terre/ Golfo dei Poeti. For the numerous presence of poets, writers and artists who chose this strip of land to live and to find inspiration, even if only for short periods, the Golfo dei Poeti is a magical place just alongside to another Ligurian area with undoubted charm, the Cinque Terre.
A jagged stretch of coast in which there are five wonderful villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. A corner of Liguria that has bewitched anyone who has visited it, steeped in millenary tradition, colors and poetry.
In 1997 the Cinque Terre were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List and represent, together with the Gulf of Poets, one of the most fascinating areas of Italy.
At arrival visit to Shelley’s Grottos, that has been names this way after the English poet Lord Byron found his "creative refuge" here and became for him one of the places he became most fond of.
A legend is also linked to this place which, even if not confirmed, has increased the charm of this cave. It is said, in fact, that Lord Byron, already known at the time for his libertine character and with the nickname of cursed poet, arrived in this cave swimming for 8 kilometers with the intention of reaching the other poet Shelley.
Time for a nice walk along the trails on the coast. It is possible to walk and use the train as well. Accommodation in a local Hotel in the Cinque Terre.

Day 9: CINQUE TERRE

Day 10: CINQUE TERRE

Departure.

Price from € € 730,00 per person in double room

It is possible to extend the stay. Extention has to be requested at reservation.

Supplement for single room on request.

Supplement for private transfer throughout the tour on request

Accomodation: 9 overnights in typical rural Hotel and / or agriturismo.

Food: 9 breakfasts, 2 typical dinners without beverages, 1 wine tasting with delicacies.

Other Services Included: GPS tracks, information, assistance.

Price Does Not Include: meals when not mentioned, beverages, transfers, city tax, tips, entrance fees to museums and exhibitions.