Italy

Article about Milan, one of the great cities of Northern Italy for mature and senior travellers to explore on a small group tour for couples and solo travellers. Learn about Renaissance Italy, Rome, the Romans as well as Florence and the Pilgrims walks offered by Odyssey.

The History and Attractions of Padua By Marco Stojanovik Padua city is an intellectual, artistic, and economic centre in northern Italy, situated on the River Bacchiglione, west of Venice. The city has a long history…

Caravaggio’s Paintings Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) was a leading 16th century Italian painter whose short but tempestuous life rivalled the controversy and drama he created through his highly influential art. Born in Lombardy, northern…

Explore the sights and wonders of Venice, 'La Serenissima'. A medieval powerhouse, with its stunning architecture, iconic canals, waterways and gondolas. Odyssey offers small group tours for mature and senior travellers couples and solo travelers to Venice and Italy.

Explore the sights and wonders of Rome, the eternal city. Heart of an ancient empire, and capital of the Italian Republic. Odyssey offers small group tours for mature and senior travellers couples and solo travelers to Rome and Italy.

Venture further from Milan and explore the beautiful Lake Como and Lake Maggiore or visit Parma and learn more about their famous Parma ham and Parmesan cheese. Take advantage of Italy's great rail network and get to know the local nearby towns and people.

La Spezia, Portovenere and the Cinque Terre The eastern Ligurian Riviera between Cinque Terre and Portovenere is a cultural site of outstanding value, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997 along with the…

Italy, a travelers favourite. Article about exploring Tuscany on a small group tour of mature and senior travellers, couples or solo travellers. Learning about the history of Tuscany, the role of the Romans, the families of power and the artists.

The Roman Villa of Desenzano del Garda is Northern Italy’s most important and best preserved great late antiquity villa extending over a hectare of prime lakeside land is explored on a small group tour.

Hugged by mountains and long sandy beaches, beautiful Lake Garda is a favoured holiday location. The stunning scenery, relaxed atmosphere, year-round mild temperature, and richly cultured historic towns and villages all make Lake Garda a popular place to visit.

Roman houses for wealthy people built in the times of the Republic and the Empire. Popular locations included on the lakes of Northern Italy, in the hills to the East of Rome, on the bay of Naples, and outside of Pompeii.

Su Nuraxi di Barumini located on the island of Sardinia, is one of the world's most fascinating archaeological sites, a window into an ancient and uniquely advanced Bronze Age civilisation.

Matera, Italy The ancient town of Matera, Basilicata. The ancient city of Matera, in southern Italy, is among the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, a place of primordial beauty, where cave houses are carved directly…

Bari, Italy Aerial view of Bari, Italy. While travel guides and blogs have begun to tout Apulia as Italy’s ‘newest hotspot’ (Vogue Australia), the province’s capital, Bari, has been unfairly neglected. But we think this…

Apulia, Italy The iconic trulli of Alberobello. The heel of Italy’s boot, the Apulia region (Italian: Puglia) is slowly taking its place among Italy’s major destinations. With a wealth of historic towns, beautiful scenery and…

Aeolian Islands, Italy Panarea Expansive blue seas, white sands, and volcanic mudbaths: the Aeolian Islands are among the best of Italy’s beach paradises. But unlike their busier rivals, the Aeolians are an ideal place to…

Messina, Italy Messina cityscape. Only a few kilometres from the Italian mainland, the city of Messina has long been the gateway to Sicily, a fascinating historical centre with a Belle Epoque twist. The city of…

Escorted small group tours for mature and senior travellers to Italy. Designed for couples and solo travellers who like to explore and enjoy learning as they travel to Rome, Florence, Genoa, Venice, Naples, Sicily or Lake Garda and beyond.

Palermo, Sicily Palermo Cathedral mixes Arab and Norman styles, a testament to Sicily’s multicultural history. The capital of Sicily and the island’s chaotic heart, Palermo is where civilisations – Arab, Norman, Italian – collide. Palermo…

Agrigento, Italy Temple of Castor and Pollux, Agrigento. The city of Agrigento (Greek: Akragas) has been a hub of people and trade for over 2, 500 years. As Akragas it was among the greatest cities of…

Noto, Italy Palazzo Ducezio and the Basilica Minore di San Nicolò, Noto. Long off the tourist trail, the city of Noto – capital of Sicilian baroque – is one of the most beautiful cities in…

The House of Medici was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that de facto ruled the city of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance.

Sicily, Italy An autonomous region of Italy, Sicily is a world apart: an ancient and rugged island shaped by successive waves of civilisation. Long the crossroads of the Mediterranean, Sicily is surprisingly untouched by modernity,…

Secret Venice: The Council of Ten and Medieval Espionage The city-state of Venice emerged on a lagoon from the ruins of the Roman and Byzantine empires in the 9th century and grew to become the greatest…

Southern Italy: from Magna Graecia to Italian Unification When you ask people about Italy, more often than not one of the first places they mention is the capital city, Rome, or the submerged streets of…

Florence or Firenze, article provides an overview of the history from inception from the Romans to Mussolini with plenty of the Renaissance covered. Includes a list of Museums and places to see in Tuscany. Background material for a small group package tour to Italy or long stay in Florence.

In this article, we will look at the history of Genoa, and its rivalry with Venice that led to several wars fought between the two city-states in the 12th to 14th centuries.

Venetian Maps and How they Ruled the World ‘Venice was always a frontier,’ Peter Ackroyd (2009) declares in Venice: Pure City. ‘When the empire was divided in the time of Charlemagne, the lagoons of Venice…

Searching for Caravaggio’s Nativity The hunt for Caravaggio’s stolen painting of the nativity scene may just be the most high-profile art crime of the 20th century. One stormy night in October 1969, an altarpiece painted…

The Sicilians and their Kings While popular images of Sicily might focus on the active volcano, Mount Etna, or the poverty that led to the mass migration of Sicilians to America, forming today’s communities of…

As a sea connecting continents and stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to Asia in the east, the Mediterranean has for centuries been a centre of trade and exploration.

Uncovering Caravaggio The following article picks up on, and extends, our general introduction to Caravaggio. Here, we we delve further into the details of Caravaggio’s early life and relationships and use available evidence to piece…

Secrets of Florence: Ten Hidden Gems to Visit Florence, the capital of the Italian region of Tuscany, is considered to be the birthplace of the Renaissance. Today the small city leaves behind a powerful legacy…

The Roman Empire The Roman Empire at its peak covered an area of five million square kilometres (1.9 million square miles) and included territories in Asia, Africa, and the Western European nations around the Mediterranean…

Who was Caravaggio? Caravaggio became the greatest painter of religious works of the early 17th century. His dramatic but naturalistic style of painting emphasised the common humanity of his subjects, the apostles and martyrs of…

Who led Rome? From the 8th century BC, Ancient Rome grew from a tiny town on the Tiber River in modern-day Italy to a sprawling empire, that spanned across most of continental Europe, Britain, a…

Five Incredible Women of the Renaissance | Small Group Tours The Renaissance is considered humanity’s greatest intellectual and artistic revolution and stories about the period is dominated by tales of famous men and their inventions,…

Five Key Figures of Renaissance Florence | Small Group Tours Regarded as the ‘birthplace of the Renaissance’, Florence from 1400 to 1600 was in a religious, cultural and political ferment that was crucial to shaping…

Malta, Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica: An Educational Journey through Western Mediterranean This article takes you on a journey through the beautiful islands of the western Mediterranean – Malta, Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica – by tracing…

Italian Renaissance Families: Mantua and the Gonzaga This blog is part of a series on five influential Italian Renaissance families that shaped Italy, especially during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It is based on both…

Italian Renaissance Families: Ferrara and the Este Italian Renaissance Families: Ferrara and the Este. This blog is part of a series on five influential Italian Renaissance families that shaped Italy, especially during the fifteenth and…

This article (blog)is part of a series on five influential Italian Renaissance families that shaped Italy, especially during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It is based on both our Italian Renaissance Summer School course, and…

This blog is part of a series on five influential Italian Renaissance families that shaped Italy, especially during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It is based on both our Italian Renaissance Summer School course, and…

Italy, a favourite destination for travellers of all ages. Consider a small group package tour for mature and senior travelers for couples and singles to Italy. Offer history, walking and general discovery tours and long stay programs in Florence.

Trip planning advice for Mature Travellers touring Italy Italy is one of the world’s great tourist destinations. This Trip planning advice for mature travellers going to Italy should assist you […]

Discovering European Masters: Small Group Tour of Dutch and Italian Art Europe is home to some of the world’s most spectacular art galleries. There are of course the titans such […]