Artstur Tours 2014 – 2015

I attach a revised Tour to Venice this October by Marie Ghisi. We have taken into consideration the comments that we received about the first addition of the Tour distributed in March. Principally the comments were that the pricing was too high. For this revised Tour the price is as follows: £1825 for a couple in a twin or double room and a single supplement of a £150. If you wish to go ahead and book this Tour please let us know as soon as possible as hotel space in Venice in October is being rapidly booked up.

1. Verona (September 2014). The current exhibition on Veronese at the National Gallery moves to Verona in June of this year. We will go to Verona to see the exhibition and mainly to visit works that could not be included in the exhibition as they are mainly frescoes. Among places outside Verona we will go to Villa Barbaro in Maser, a villa frescoed throughout by him and Veronese’s greatest masterpiece.
2. Paul Roberts’s Rome (March 2015). We have not discussed this with Paul Roberts until we have some feedback on its popularity. Paul has nearly completed a book he is writing on Roman Rome. It is not a tourist guide but Paul has researched in depth the personalities that inhabited or were associated with the various buildings. Following the content of his book he will give us a highly personalised Tour of Roman Rome.
3. Provence (April 2015). The Tour to Provence this year was very successful due partly to the hotel where we stayed, whose staff looked after us in a very special way and whose dinners were the most creative and artistic gourmet experience. Also the position of the hotel in St. Remy was central to the sites that we visited. Next year we are planning to stay in the same hotel, but with a very different theme. The Tour, titled “Writers and Artists in Provence”, will visit places associated with the main personalities from Petrach to Van Gogh.
4. From Matera to the Riace Bronzes in Reggio Calabria (May 2015). Matera in Basilicata is a beautiful medieval town carved in the rocks. 25 years ago it was nominated a world heritage centre by Unesco. The route to Reggio Calabria will follow the Ionian coast and many archaeological sites culminating in a viewing of the Riace Bronzes, the most wonderful examples of Greek culture complementing the Exhibition on Greek Sculpture to be held in the British Museum from March 2015.
5. Western Sicily (June 2015). We will visit the Norman sites around Palermo  basing ourselves at private palazzi and seeing the sites as it would have been done in the time of Il Gattopardo.
6. Ravello – a Concert at Dawn “Il Concerto dell’Alba”(August 2015). The summer concerts in Ravello are world famous and around 11 August there is a concert held at dawn with the music heralding in the sun as it rises from the sea. Those who have been to this concert say that it is the most beautiful and atmospheric occasion they have ever experienced. Ravello, high on the coast above Amalfi is blessed with cool breezes, so welcome during the heat of August. During this Tour we will visit Ravello, Amalfi, some of the rarely visited mediaeval churches in the area and Positano  with excellent shopping and a picturesque restaurant on the rocks accessible only by boat where we will have lunch.
7. Puccini Festival – late August. Every year we repeat in some form this festival dedicated to Puccini.

At this stage these are only proposals and will be finalised depending on the feedback you give us. To help us in this we ask you to let us have your comments on any of the Tours that you would like to join. As a thank you to those who take the trouble we will give a discount of £100 on any of the Tours that are booked and included in our final presentation of the chosen Tours.

Thank you for your help.

Anthony and Rosa Maria Letts