1Milan - Ferrara
Meals included: dinner
The day begins with departure by coach from Milan and a morning arrival in Pesaro. Upon arrival, a guided tour of the historic city center will take place, exploring its Renaissance heritage. The visit will include the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, an impressive church that combines Romanesque and Gothic architectural elements, featuring beautiful artworks, intricate altars, and centuries of religious history. The tour will also include Palazzo Mosca, a seventeenth-century palace that houses the Civic Museums. The museum boasts a rich and varied collection, including paintings by renowned artists such as Giovanni Bellini and Guido Reni, as well as sculptures, ceramics, and historic furnishings that reflect the cultural and artistic heritage of Pesaro.
Lunch at leisure.
In the afternoon, the visit will continue at the birthplace of Gioachino Rossini, where visitors can admire original letters, scores, librettos, and Rossini memorabilia, offering a deeper insight into the life and work of the celebrated composer.
Dinner at the hotel and overnight stay.
2Ferrara - Milan
Meals included: breakfast and dinner
The day begins with departure by coach to Urbino, one of Italy’s most important cities for the development of the Renaissance. A center of artistic, architectural, and mathematical innovation during the rule of Federico da Montefeltro—patron of architects such as Luciano Laurana and Francesco di Giorgio Martini, painters like Piero della Francesca and Paolo Uccello, and the mathematician Luca Pacioli—Urbino was also the birthplace of Raphael.
The visit will immerse participants in the city’s glorious Renaissance period with a guided tour of the Ducal Palace, home to the prestigious National Gallery of the Marche. Here, visitors can admire masterpieces such as Piero della Francesca’s Flagellation, explore Federico da Montefeltro’s studiolo decorated with portraits of Illustrious Men by Giusto di Gand and Pietro Berruguete, and appreciate the exquisite wooden marquetry by the Da Maiano family.
Lunch at leisure.
The tour will continue with a visit to the birthplace of Raphael Sanzio, where the young artist spent his formative years studying under his father, Giovanni Santi, gaining the foundation that would make him one of the most celebrated painters of the Renaissance.
Urbino’s artistic treasures are not limited to the Renaissance: visitors will also admire the late Gothic frescoes by Lorenzo and Jacopo Salimbeni in the Oratory of San Giovanni Battista, and enter the Oratory of San Giuseppe, with its lavish Baroque interior housing the impressive and monumental nativity scene in tuff and pumice stone by Urbinate artist Federico Brandani, considered a pinnacle of Italian Mannerist sculpture.
Dinner at the hotel and overnight stay.
3
Meals included: breakfast and dinner
To complete our fascinating journey, the day begins with a morning visit to the evocative Rocca di Gradara, an imposing medieval fortress overlooking the hills of the Marche. The castle is famously linked to the tragic legend of Paolo and Francesca, the ill-fated lovers immortalized by Dante in Canto V of the Inferno.
Lunch at leisure.
In the afternoon, the journey continues to Cesena, where visitors will explore the Malatestiana Library, an extraordinary example of a fifteenth-century humanist library, unique in the world for having preserved its original building, furnishings, and manuscripts intact.
Return to Milan by coach and end of services.
RENAISSANCE & HERITAGE: PESARO, URBINO & CESENA
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3 days (2 nights)
Italy
quote on request
