TOUR SUMMARY

 SPLENDORS OF EUROPE offers this one week luxury escorted tour to Italy featuring romantic Venice and Lake Como.  This is a small group tour of Italy that includes walking tours and excursions which highlight Italy’s wonderful architecture, art, history, churches, palaces, villas, and museums, and its scenic lakes and mountains.   This tour has a regional focus in northern Italy and provides wonderful in-depth cultural and grand gourmet culinary experiences.  Two professional escorts ensure that everyone in our small group of 12 or less has a personally rewarding experience.  Travel in Italy is by first class train.  This tour includes visits to the best sights in Venice, Bellagio and along Lake Como.  The tour also includes Milan.   Travel to Venice and Lake Como with SPLENDORS OF EUROPE and you’ll enjoy elegant and romantic experiences daily on this tour.  You'll have the best vacation trip ever.  Visit the hotel, restaurant, and tour photo galleries at the end of this page.

Why not take a romantic stroll through the narrow streets near our hotel before retiring for the evening. L+D

This morning we take a guided tour of Venice and see many of the famous sites. We start at the Piazza San Marco the heart of Venice and enjoy the rich architecture that surrounds it.  We visit the Doges Palace, an extravagant Gothic Renaissance palace that symbolizes the glory days of Venice.  Inside we enjoy the ornately decorated walls and ceilings covered by works of great artists including the world’s largest oil painting, the 23x75 foot Paradise by Jacopo Tintoretto.

Next we visit the Basilica di San Marco, an opulent church of Byzantine and Romanesque styles.

The church contains some of the best mosaics in the world and a wide collection of treasures that were purchased and looted from other eastern cities during the middle ages.

We take pleasure in a wonderful lunch overlooking the Grand Canal.

This afternoon we continue our exploration. We take the vaporetto down the length of the Grand Canal enjoying perhaps the best view in town. We stop at Ca d’Oro, a lovely Gothic palace adorned with marble and ornaments once covered in gold.  We visit the unique collection of paintings, tapestries and sculptures.

Next we visit one of the most beautiful palaces in Venice, the Palazzo Corner della Regina.  Built in 1724 this palace is now a library.

We stop at the Rialto Bridge, a picturesque land mark in the center of Venice.  We visit the shops that operate on and near the bridge.  We enjoy an afternoon break at one of the nearby cafés with a wonderful view of the canal traffic and the bridge.  

Then we visit more special sites in Venice. We arrive at the Ca’ Rezzonico palace.  This Baroque style palace houses the museum of 18th century Venice and an exceptionally rich ballroom. 

We also visit Museum Correr with its diverse collection of old master paintings and historic artifacts. The remainder of the afternoon is free to self discover Venice.

This morning we take the vaporetto ferry to several islands in the lagoon, each with its own unique character and charm. The first stop is Murano. Like Venice this island is actually a number of smaller islands, liked together with bridges. We visit the world famous glass works here and watch the art performed. We visit the Glass Museum and see an extraordinary collection of works from antique to modern. We explore some of the wonderful shops.

Next we take the vaporetto to the island of Burano. This is a small fishing village island. The colorfully painted houses give this island a distinctly different flavor. This island is famous for its lace, which originated here. Here we visit the lace museum and do more shop hopping.

We move on to the island of Torcello, the first to be inhabited 1500 years ago. We visit the cathedral Santa Maria Assunta, and see the Byzantine mosaics that date from the 11th and 12th centuries.

We return to Venice for lunch.

Many more fascinating sites remain in Venice. Your hosts will assist you to make selections or explore the marvelous city on your own. Consider the Accademia Gallery for example which houses the most magnificent collection of Venetian art in the world. Admission is included. Here you’ll see the massive Feast in the House of Levi by Veronese, and the famous Tempest by Giorgione.

Tonight your free for dinner with numerous fine restaurants many offering wonderful views. B+L

We enjoy a gourmet lunch on the terrace with a lovely view of the lake.

This afternoon we visit the exceptional gardens of the Villa Serbelloni and Villa Melzi.

Today we offer an excursion cruise on Lake Como. We relax and enjoy the splendid views of the exquisite villas and the majestic mountains.

We visit Villa Carlotta, built in the Italian style by Marquis Clerici in the XVIII century. We enjoy the gardens and the villa with its exceptional works of art.

Next we visit the lake side town of Tremezzo. Here we enjoy lunch overlooking the lake.

This afternoon we continue our cruise and exploration of the town of Varenna. Here we see the fabulous gardens at Villa Monastero. We return to Bellagio by boat where you are free to enjoy dinner and the evening at your leisure. B+L

Villa Balbianello is an extremely enchanting villa with magnificent stone staircases, terraces and statues. We explore the enchanting gardens and the villa.

Tonight we take the ferry across Lake Como to the Grand Hotel Tremezzo. With views of the lake and the mountains we savor an elegant dinner.

We stroll about charming Tremezzo before we take a romantic boat ride back to Bellagio. B+L+D

We leave Lake Como this morning for some exceptional venues in Milan.

We arrive at our hotel where we enjoy lunch.

It’s a fantastic cathedral. The building is adorned with 2245 marble statues, and has a capacity of 40,000! It is the second largest church in the world. We marvel at the largest stained glass windows in the world and enjoy the view of Milan from the roof.

Next we visit the Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle where we enjoy refreshments in one of the fine cafés. The fines shops are a pleasure to explore.