Italy


13 Day TOUR 

COST $3,389.00 ~ Booking and Registration details - click here

 

Italy is a country with a long cultural tradition - this is a thirteen day guided tour to learn about the cultures and people that became the Italian. Visit some of the best of Ancient Italy, including Paleolithic rock inscriptions, Neolithic Ötzi (the Iceman), Hellenistic temples, Etruscan necropolis and Roman Italy, accompanied by two Professors with expertise and archaeology, ancient history and European prehistory. Enjoy this guided tour by itself or take the tour for university credit by enrolling in this course (see below). The trip will focus on the archaeology, artifacts, architecture, technology, and social developments that characterise Ancient Italy.

Visit the best UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Italy.

 

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This course and Tour is supported by

Highlights:

•  14 sites that are UNESCO listed

•  A traditional dinner in Rome, Naples, Florence and Venice

•  A toga evening experience in Rome

•  See the three best preserved Roman towns in the world: Herculaneum, Pompeii and Ostia Antica

•  The Roman Forum and Coliseum

•  The largest and best preserved Roman artifacts and statues in Italy

•  The largest surviving Etruscan tumulus

•  The largest collection of rock inscriptions in Europe

•  The oldest naturally preserved human mummy in Europe

•  Local guides and two full Professor providing the delivery of information

•  The option of taking the tour as a University course for credit

 

WHAT IS INCLUDED: 

•  A 13-day guided tour of Italy

•  Lectures by two University Professors

•  Guides on each site visited

•  13 nights accommodation

•  Breakfast every day, 5 dinners

•  Entrance to all Museums and sites

•  Private Coach for transfers and touring

 

Itinerary

Day 1 - May 17th 2016
Check into your hotel, meet your fellow travellers and this afternoon head out to the Via Appia Ancient Rome's "Queen of Roads" and then to some of the forgotten underground labyrinths of Ancient Rome, the San Callisto Catacombs. The Via Appia is the most important ancient Roman road and has been proposed as a new UNESCO site. With some spare time you may be able to visit the Trevi Fountain or the Pantheon (the best preserved Roman building).
Day 2 - May 18th 2016 

Start the day at the National Museum (Museo Nazionale Romano) at Palazzo Massimo, Rome. To get a better understanding of the diversity, size and the city of Rome we will embark on a panoramic city tour.

In the afternoon we will see the sights of Imperial Rome, including Rome's best-known monument, the Flavian amphitheatre (Coliseum) and the Arch of Constantine, Arch of Titus, the Forum, Capitoline Hill and Venice Square. These are all UNESCO-listed sites.

Tonight, a traditional dinner at La Gattabuia Ristorante Trastevre - a chance for everyone to get to know one another.

Day 3 - May 19th 2016

A full day tour of the UNESCO-listed ancient Etruscan necropolis sites of Tarquinia and Cerveteri. Also visit the Museum of Ceveteri and Tarquinia.

In the evening a Toga experience dinner at Papa Rex Ristorante.

Day 4 - May 20th 2016

Start the day from Rome and visit one of the best preserved Roman towns in the world, Ostia Antica, the ancient port of Rome.

Next, travel to another of Italy's UNESCO-listed cities, Naples, and visit the National Archaeology Museum which houses the best-preserved Roman mosaics, frescoes and statues, recovered primarily from Herculaneum and Pompeii.

Day 5 - May 21st 2016

A full day tour south to the finest Greek Temple of Magna Graecia and the UNESCO-listed site of Paestum. On the return to Naples visit Herculaneum, one of the best preserved Roman towns due to its burial by the AD 79 eruption of Mt Vesuvius, and for that reason a UNESCO World Heritage site. Only a small amount of Herculaneum is excavated but the buildings are exceptionally well preserved and include much more of the wooden parts of construction than in neighbouring Pompeii. It really gives the best impression of the Ancient Roman streetscape.

Tonight a chance to experience the foods of Naples with a traditional dinner with the group.

Day 6 - May 22nd 2016 

The most famous of ancient Roman sites, in fact perhaps the most famous archaeological site in the world, is Pompeii, where we will spend much of the day. Amongst the highlights, look forward to visiting the Villa of Mysteries.

Day 7 - May 23rd 2016
Travel day to Florence. After we arrive we will visit the Archaeology Museum.
Day 8 - May 24th 2016

Visit the Etruscan tombs in Montefortini. Then, free time. Spend the rest of the day visiting the sites and museums of Florence (another UNESCO-listed city in Italy) or simply soaking up the culture in a trattoria, shopping, or strolling.

Tonight the group sits down to a traditional Tuscan dinner in Florence.

Day 9 - May 25th 2016

Depart Florence after breakfast heading to Lake Garda in the picturesque Lake District. Here we will visit the UNESCO-listed Neolithic Pile Dwellings sites and museums. There will also be an opportunity to sightsee along the shores of idyllic alpine Lake Garda.

Day 10 - May 26th 2016 

Explore the Camonica Valley (Val Camonica) renowned as the first UNESCO site in Italy and the greatest collection of ancient rock inscriptions in Europe. Visit Naquane National Park of Rock Inscriptions depicting art from the Paleolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age.

Day 11 - May 27th 2016

Depart Lake Garda (Lago di Garda) for the inspiring UNESCO-listed Dolomites and visit the Archaeopark in Senales Valley (Val Senales). The Archaeopark displays a reconstructed Neolithic village and demonstrates Neolithic daily life and activities. Our visit there provides a perfect way to understand the times of Ötzi the iceman before heading to Bolzano to see him in the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology.

Day 12 - May 28th 2016

Travel to the UNESCO-listed Verona to see the internationally famous first century Amphitheatre and the other Roman antiquities of Verona. Spend the afternoon enjoying the artistic heritage of Northern Italy and perhaps going to see Juliet's balcony, Ponte Pietra or Piazza Erbe.

Day 13 - May 29th 2016

Depart Verona for the floating city of Venice and another UNESCO city. A full day tour of St Mark's Square, Basilica of San Marco and Palazzo Ducale, and a guided tour of the city walking to the Rialto Bridge; in the afternoon travel by boat to the islands of Murano and Burano.

A farewell traditional Venetian dinner at a local restaurant in Venice.

Day 14 - May 30th 2016
After breakfast transfer to Venice Airport.
 
NOTE: 

Itinerary is subject to change.

 

TOUR FLEXIBILITY

The tour starts on the afternoon of May the 17th, 2016 but travellers can arrive any day prior to this date (at the additional cost to the traveller) which can be arranged with the travel agent.

Many of you will be arriving on the 17th of May.

The tour will finish on the 29th of May, 2016 with transfers to the airport on the 30th of May. Travellers can arrange with the travel agent to extend their stay in Europe at their own expense.

 

Do you want to take this as a course for credit.....

Enrol at Lakehead University in ANTH 3811 or HIST 3811

E-mail: anthropology@lakeheadu.ca for more information.

Course Description

Italy is a country with a very deep and important past. Beginning with Paleolithic Italy, this course traces the human migrations, archaeology and genetics that contribute to the earliest human occupations. It next considers the transition from hunting and gathering, which culminated in the Mesolithic, to farming, which begins in the Neolithic. The most famous Neolithic Italian, Ötzi, whose frozen body was discovered in 1991, will be placed into context by examining Neolithic sites in Tuscany, Val Camonica and South Tyrol. These sites provide evidence regarding the evolution of farming,  pharmacognosy, and  warfare. From the late Neolithic, further cultural change during the Bronze Age and Iron Age saw the appearance of complex, hierarchially organised societies, culminating in the appearance of urbanised states. At prehistory's end, Italy was a contested peninsula, with Etruscans, Greeks, and Romans, amongst others, all contributing to an enormously rich cultural tradition.

Instructors:

Professor Carney Matheson & Professor Tim Kaiser

 

WHAT IS NOT COVERED:

•  Airfare

•  Lunches

•  Some dinners

•  Travel insurance

•  Course registration

•  Travel documents

•  Visas