Parma and Bologna tour

October 2-12, 2002

Price $2860, Single Supplement $365, Deposit $600

Tour Director: Professor Peter Gravgaard

Introduction

EMILIA-ROMAGNA comprises a string of wealthy and civilized cities in middle Italy, between Milan, Venice and Florence. They are PARMA, MODENA, BOLOGNA, FAENZA, CESENA and RIMINI.

PARMA is famous for its beautiful architecture, lovely city atmosphere and quality of life claimed to be the best in Italy. Its food is also superb: Parma cheese and Parma ham. The most outstanding buildings are the glorious castelli, which are to Parma what the chateaux are to the Loire.

MODENA is rich - with the highest per capita income in Italy - and, not content with just madonnas and saints, its cathedral boasts a carving of King Arthur and Gawain attacking the castle of Mardoc, Lord of Hell. (Now that is fame!)

BOLOGNA is the capital of the region: to use the well-known formula; "la dotta, la grassa, la rossa" ( the learned, the fat the red.) Learned for its university, probably the oldest in Europe; fat for its gastronomy and its money; red for its brickwork and socialist politics.

FAENZA is famous for ceramics - faience ware - and should be visited for the same reasons you would visit Limoges, Dresden or Copenhagen.

CESENA and RIMINI are both connected with that notorious Renaissance troublemaker, Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta ("Headache"). Cesena houses his Malatesta Library and Rimini, the Malatesta Temple - the enigmatic burial chapel of the Malatesta family.

Itinerary

Day 1 (October 2, 2001)

You fly from the USA to Rome, Italy.

Day 2 (October 3, 2001)

You arrive at Rome Airport (Leonardo da Vinci) where you change plane to fly to Bologna Airport. Here you will be met by your tour director, Peter Gravgaard, who will take you to the hotel where you spend the next three nights. The afternoon is free; in the evening we will have our WELCOME DINNER, and the tour director will explain the tour program.

Day 3 (October 4, 2001)

Today you have the opportunity to visit that overlooked metropolis of Italy, Bologna. As opposed to Florence, Venice and Naples, which were always the seats of the aristocracy, Bologna is the city of the bourgeoisie - the middle class. Early on, in 1088, the city got its university, the old Archiginnasio. This is Europe's oldest university, older than Paris and much older than Oxford. Its pride was its Law School, where the "glossators" wrote their comments on Justinian's Roman law codices. It is, therefore, not surprising that when Frederick Barbarossa needed lawyers to establish what legal rights the German emperor had in Italy, these so-called Regalia were then promulgated as the Decrees of Roncaglia after the doctors of Bologna Law School had established what was the law of the land.

Whilst the university was willing to work for the emperor, the town's allegiance was to the popes, and in 1249 Bologna defeated the army of Emperor Frederick II at the battle of Fossalta and captured Frederick's natural son, Enzo. As a hostage, Re Enzo (King Enzo) spent the rest of his days in a palace in Bologna. He is buried in the San Domenico church.

You will see the Archiginnasio as well as the San Domenico during our walk. The main building of the university is the Palazzo Poggi (Via Zamboni 33). Here you may visit the classroom where the great Italian poet, Giosua Carducci, taught Italian literature. The university is full of fascinating museums: Historical, Military Architecture, Ethnography, Astronomy - something for all tastes. Some of the university's more famous alumni are Copernicus, the astronomer; Rodrigo Borgia, who became Pope Alexander VI; Cervantes, the novelist who wrote Don Quixote ; and Ignatius Loyola, who founded the order of the Jesuits.

Other places of interest are the Carducci House and Museum where the great poet lived and the Giorgio Morandi Museum for the great painter.

Whatever you choose to visit, remember that we are in one of the two gastronomic capitals of Italy, so be sure to find a good restaurant for lunch. I recommend the following: La Mela; Il Cantinone; Cambusa; Cantina Bentivoglio.

Day 4 (October 5, 2001)

Today you can explore the sights and shops of Bologna at your leisure.

Day 5 (October 6, 2001)

Today we leave our hotel in Bologna to drive to Forli, where we spend two nights in Castrocaro Terme. On our way we will visit Faenza to see the terrific Museo Internationale delle Ceramiche (at Viale Baccarini 19). The word "Faience" comes, of course, from "Faenza", and this is the town where you can buy the most beautiful faience ware.

From Faenza we drive to Forli to visit the castle, the Rocca di Rivaldino which, in 1499, was the scene of the dramatic meeting between Cesare Borgia and Caterina Sforza. He was the son of the above-mentioned Pope Alexander VI, and at this time was commander of the papal army, the Army of the Keys. Moving fast and furiously westwards he was stopped by the presence of Caterina Sforza, the commander of the fortresses of Forli and Imola. She was a strong lady, married to a Medici with whom she had a son, Giovanni delle Bande Nere (John of the Black Gangs - he later became a successful condottiere). Caterina's motto is worth quoting: "I will feel the blows, before I fear them". But that was not the stance of the citizens of Imola and Forli, who surrendered to Cesare Borgia without a fight. Caterina was so furious at the cowardice of her subjects that she had the envoys' throats cut. She herself still held the castles, however, and awaited Cesare's arrival in the Rocca di Rivaldino, the castle of Forli. Pretending to want to discuss the terms of surrender, she invited him inside the castle, instructing the guard to pull up the drawbridge behind him as soon as he entered. Unfortunately, her beautiful plan failed when the overenthusiastic guard pulled up the drawbridge before Cesare was in the trap! Two weeks later Caterina was captured by Cesare and was later paraded through Rome in his triumphal march.

After our visit to Rocca di Rivaldino we drive to Cesena, where we see the interesting Biblioteca Malatestiana, the library which was founded in the mid 15^th century by Malatesta Novello dei Malatesti. Here you get an idea of the library facilities for the New Learning of the Renaissance - Cosimo dei Medici had a similar library installed in the Dominican monastery of St Mark in Florence.

Time permitting, we would like to visit Rimini to see the Malatesta Temple, ie the church of St Francis which Sigismondo Malatesta chose to rebuild as his dynasty's burial chapel. The Temple became the meeting place for some of Italy's finest artists when Malatesta hired Leon Battista Albert, the architect, Agostino de Duccio, the sculptor, Piero della Francesca and Filippo Lippi. The project was never properly completed, however, as Malatesta was deposed in 1460.

From Rimini we drive back to Forli (Castrocaro Terme) where we will spend two nights.

Day 6 (October 7, 2001)

Today we will make an excursion to Ravenna.

A bit of history might be helpful towards understanding what we will see today. Forget the Renaissance for a moment, while we look at the darkest Middle Ages:

402 AD Honorius makes Ravenna capital of the West Roman Empire.
410 AD Alaric, King of the Visigoths, sacks Rome.
476 AD Odoacer, King of the Herules, deposes Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor of the West Roman Empire.
Theoderic, King of the Ostrogoths, kills Odoacer.
Wars between Constantinople (East Rome) and the Ostrogoths.
Belisarius establishes an Exarch (=viceroy) for Constantinople in Ravenna.
751 AD Aistulf, King of the Lombards, seizes Ravenna and terminates the Exarchate.

Ravenna has the finest mosaics in Europe, but compare the Norman churches in Sicily and Constantinople/Byzantium/Istanbul. Today we will visit the San Vitale church, built between 525 and 548, and the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. Later we will see the St Apollinare Nuovo church and the remains of the Palace of Theodric. We return to the hotel in Forli.

Day 7 (October 8, 2001)

In the morning we will have a look at the center of Forli with its fine 12^th century Basilica di San Mercurio. From here we drive to Modena, to see its Piazza Grande and Romanesque Cathedral, the Duomo di San Geminiano. This is where you will find the carving of King Arthur and Gawain in the lunette over the Porta della Pescheria. This splendid church is well worth a visit!

Next sight in Modena is the Palazzo dei Musei where we will see the Biblioteca Estense with its collection of illuminated manuscripts. Here you absolutely must see the Bible of Borso d'Este, made in the 15^th century by Crivelli and Rossi for the Duke of Modena. In the same palazzo we will also see the Galleria Estense with the collection founded by Duke Francesco I d'Este.

From Modena we drive to our hotel in Parma where we will stay for three nights. The afternoon is free for you to explore Parma.

Day 8 (October 9, 2001)

This morning we will take a walk through Parma. Parma is the main city of the former Duchy of Parma and Piacenza which Pope Paul III (the former Alexander Farnese) carved out and alienated from Church property in favor of his natural son, Pier Luigi Farnese. In terms of nepotism and corruption this is probably a world record. We will today visit and admire the artistic merits of this political immorality.

First to the Palazzo della Pilotta, the bomb-scarred frame for so many treasures: the Museo Archeologico Nazionale and the Galleria Nazionale with its collections of paintings.

The Teatro Farnese was built in wood between 1618 and 1628 by Aleotti, was bombed in May 1944 and totally reconstructed in the 1950s. It is located in the Piazza della Pace where you will find the Glauco Lombardi Museum, devoted to the life of Napoleon's widow, Marie Louise of Austria, once Empress of France and later Duchess of Parma. Here is also located the Teatro Regio which she had built between 1821 and 1829. (She abdicated in 1859.) Close by is the Camere del Correggio, rooms decorated by Correggio in the ex-convent of San Paolo, for its former abbess Giovanna Piacenza.

In the Piazza Duomo we will visit the Romanesque cathedral (the Duomo) and the terrific baptistry (octagonal, because eight is considered to be the perfect number: 2x2x2).

This afternoon you are free to explore the city.

Day 9 (October 10, 2001)

Today we explore the lovely surroundings of Parma. As I have already mentioned, the castles (castelli) are to Parma what the chateaux are to the Loire valley. I would like to show you the following: Torrechiara, Montechiarugolo, Roccabianca, Colorno, Soragna, Sala Baganza, Casino dei Boschi; but this is, of course, not possible in one short day, especially as you should also see two splendidly picturesque little towns - Fontanellato and Busseto. We will see as much as is comfortably possible, and make this truly a day to remember!

We spend the night in Parma again.

Day 10 (October 11, 2001)

Today we return to Bologna where we spend the last night. The afternoon is free for exploring Bologna, seeing that last museum or for shopping - you choose. In the evening we will have our FAREWELL DINNER in Bologna.

Day 11 (October 12, 2001)

This is the last day of the PARMA AND BOLOGNA TOUR. We will take you to Bologna Airport for your return flight to Rome and hence home to the USA. We wish you a safe journey home!