Guindani Viaggi

5 day tour
Venice, Mantua and Cremona

Individual participation fee: €1.300,00 pp.
Our main purpose is to retrace the same itinerary that Monteverdi used to do to reach his beloved cities. Each city claims its paternity, because all of them marked an important milestone in his artistic and personal life. This is the starting point of the new edition of “Monteverdi Festival 2023”. This edition wants to undertake a counter-current route starting from Venice, visit Mantua and get to Cremona in the opening day of the Monteverdi Festival. A long weekend full of events! This particular excursion will take you to admire the beautiful Venetian Lagoon with the panoramic St. Mark’s Basin and the navigation on the ancient canals connecting the Serenissima Republic of Venice and some important cultural and commercial cities such as Chioggia. We are going to enter the uncontaminated territories of the Po Delta Natural Park, where history and nature dominate the amazing Landscape.

For information and reservations:
GUINDANI VIAGGI • Ph. +39 0372 462030 • Mob.+ 39 335 7242531 • Email: Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.

TRAVEL PROGRAM

Wednesday 14th June – VENICE

Reaching Venice by train, the meeting point with our Tour Leader is scheduled at the Venezia Santa Lucia Railway Station at noon (12 pm). Our guide will take you to the hotel, near SanMarco Square. Those arriving at different times can go individually to the booked hotel.

At 3 pm enjoy a guided walking tour through the most important and characteristic streets and squares of Venice. A skilled guide will lead you through the ancient Serenissima Republic, talking about the past rich of charm of this wonderful city. Saint Mark’s Square: the guide will describe the origins and the history of the principal monuments (only exterior): the Saint Mark’s Basilica, the Doge Palace, the Bell Tower, the Clock Tower, and the Procuratie. Campo SS. Giovanni e Paolo: here you will find the Great School of Charity, the “Pantheon of Venice” and the Captains of Fortune. Campo SS. Giovanni e Paolo: here you will find the Great School of Charity, the “Pantheon of Venice” and the Captains of Fortune. Malibran Theatre and Marco Polo’s House: the guide will tell you about the history behind this corner of Venice. You will go back to Saint Mark through the Mercerie, the connection between the Saint Marks and Rialto and the most important streets for the shopping. Overnight.

 

Thursday 15th June – VENICE/MANTUA

8:00 am Meeting with our tour leader at the Naval Museum close to the Arsenal of Venice and boarding on the motorboat. Welcome breakfast on board! Sailing and panoramic view of St Mark’s basin.

11:00 am Landing in CHIOGGIA: we will have a pleasant stroll ( 1 hour ) in the typical narrow streets called "calli", going into the fishermen’s life with their nets, the boats and the unforgettable fish smell.

01:00 pm: Our board restaurant will serve you a Bellini Aperitiv accompanied by light snacks. A seafood lunch will follow. Wine, water and coffee included.

Navigation from the Venetian Lagoon to the Po Delta Natural Park, passing through the following locks: Brondolo, Cavanella d’Adige Sinistra and Destra and Volta Grimana, which is the longest one in Italy. These locks are like a water-lift built following some technical designs by Leonardo da Vinci and enable the navigation from Venice to Cremona.

04:00 pm: Arrival at TAGLIO DI PO disembarking and proceed by bus to MANTUA: you will reach the city center in about 1h30. Our local guide will show the beauty of the city with a visit of the most squares and churches such as: Sordello Square and Palazzo Ducale (inside visit), Monteverdi place par excellence.The beauty and opulence of Palazzo Ducale, the reigning Gonzaga family with its immense spaces, the magnificent frescoed rooms, the galleries of paintings, is hard to describe. This is probably the grandest and most architecturally dense palazzo of its period. Along with works by the likes of Pisanello and Rubens, the most famous work on display is Andrea Mantegna’s frescoes in the Camera degli Sposi (Bridal Chamber). Painted between 1465 and 1474, the Camera degli Sposi fresco is notable for its use of trompe l’oeil and ‘di sotto in su’ painting techniques.

Dinner at a restaurant. Overnight stay at Grand Hotel San Lorenzo.

Friday 16th June – MANTUA/CREMONA
Breakfast and check out. Morning dedicated to the guided tour of Palazzo Te that represents one of the most appreciated architectonic testimonies of the Gonzaga's noble house. Palazzo Te was the palace intended for entertainment and holiday of the lords of Mantova. The Duke Federico II Gonzaga in 1525 commissioned the project and the realization to Giulio Romano, painter and architect of the late Renaissance and student of Raffaello. 
 Built over a decade, the building complex is built around a square court, the Cortile d'Onore, from which through the Loggia di Davide you pass in the rear garden.The main attraction is however the frescoed rooms, which in pictorial representations give us back the habits of the people who used to live in the palace. Among the various rooms worthy of note, there are the Camera of Amore and Psiche and the Sala dei Giganti. 
At the end of the visit, transfer to Cremona by bus. Stop in the surroundings (9 km) for Lunch in a typical ‘Trattoria’ . We will then move to Cremona aboard the Mattei motorboat, docked nearby. One hour cruise discovering the River Po ecosystem: full of charme , which allows to know an unusual landscape.
At the arrival of the cruise in Cremona, on the banks of the Po river, passengers will be greeted by the Baroque Brass Ensemble (ensemble of baroque trumpets and trombones) of the Monteverdi Orchestra Festival - Cremona Antiqua; in addition there will be a moment with the staff of the Ponchielli theater.

Accommodation at the Hotel Impero.

 07:30 pm meeting at the Theatre Ponchielli for the opening night of the Monteverdi Festival.

The Opera “L’Incoronazione di Poppea”, with the musical direction of Maestro Antonio Greco, accompanied by his Orchestra Monteverdi Festival-Cremona Antiqua.
At the end, return to the Hotel.

Overnight

Saturday 17th June – CREMONA

Buffet breakfast.

Guided visit of the historical city centre. Piazza del Comune is closed on three sides by the harmonious architectural masses of the main historical monuments of the city;

The Torrazzo, bell tower symbol par excellence of the city that dominates Cremona from the top of its 111 meters; The Duomo, one of the most famous religious buildings of northern Italy. It is a composite structure because, to the original Romanesque construction, have been added gradually over the centuries reworking of Gothic, Renaissance, mannerist and Baroque style, which have been well harmonized with the existing structures. Significant are the sculptural works that adorn the facade. The inside has a monumental aspect, both for its size and for the sumptuous decorative scheme. Valuable are the frescoes, works of Cremona's painters. Battistero, Loggia dei Militi and Palazzo Comunale complete the square Piazza del Comune.

The tour continues with the Museo del Violino, unique in the world, which is situated in Piazza Marconi in the historical Palazzo dell'Arte. The Stradivarius Museum's collections are merged into the museum (in which are retained Antonio Stradivari's work instruments) to get to the “treasure chest” where the most important instruments of the great classical masters of Cremona, belonging to the collection of the municipality of Cremona, are exhibited. Not less important is the Permanent Collection of Contemporary Lutherie. At the end of the tour the participants will attend the Audition of an Instrument of the Collection.

Lunch at Hosteria 700.

Afternoon free at leisure with the possibility of further sightseeing. There will be concerts in all the places of high historical importance in the city; there will also be the #monteverdisottrraneo (underground Monteverdi) and the new format #monteverdiclandestino (clandestine Monteverdi) with the contamination of the music and character of the Divine Claudio.

At 8:30 pm Concert at the Auditorium Arvedi, Museo del Violino:

Roma Travestita – Bruno de Sa, sopranist

Il Pomo d’Oro: Francesco Corti Harpsichord and direction Musich by Monteverdi, Corelli, Scarlatti, Porpora, Cocchi, Galuppi, Handel

Sunday 18th June – CREMONA

Breakfast and check out ( the hotel can store your luggage).

9:30 am visit to the Civic Museum located at Palazzo Affaitati, built in the '500 in the city center. The Museum reserves sculptures and parts of frescoes from the 15th century. In the local painting gallery of the 16th century you can admire works that testify to the transit to the new Renaissance form. The 'San Domenico' room houses the works of the '600. In the other rooms you can also admire collections of elements belonging to the application arts. In the second floor, there are works from the second half of the 19th century until the 20th century. Here you can discover the famous painting St.Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy by Caravaggio and l’Ortolano by Arcimboldo.

End of our services.

 

For informations and reservations:
GUINDANI VIAGGI
Ph. +39 0372 462030 – Mob.+ 39 335 7242531
Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo. – Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.

PRICE PER PERSON   …………………. ………………..€ 1.300,00=

INCLUDED: 
• Private Boat Cruise Venice/Taglio di Po , lunch onboard ( 40 persons - delightful food)
• All transfers and tours as per program, by Ac motor coach
• Accommodation in 4* hotels ( Venice, Mantua and Cremona) located at downtown areas– sharing double room, full breakfast; City taxes
• Lunch everyday and one dinner in Mantua - ending with breakfast last day – Mineral water and forfait wine with meals
• Tours as per itinerary, with english / french speaking guide
• One hour cruise on the Po River aboard the Mattei Motorboat;
• Entrance fees , including audition in the Giovanni Arvedi Auditorium and tickets for both Monteverdi Festival performances
• Taxes.
• Daily Assistance.

Non included: Personal expenses, tips ( optional ) and everything not indicated in the ”included” field.

SUPPLEMENT:
• double room single use: € 250,00= 
• cancellation insurance: €  90,00=

BOOKING: They are received by email at Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo. or via the appropriate form on our website, until all available places are filled, with personal data and telephone number. Our reconfirmation will follow. The customer must therefore send a deposit of € 300.00= by bank transfer to the current account held in the name of Guindani Viaggi Sas – IBAN: IT 93 W 05034 11401 000000158943. Balance due 30 days before the trip.