My next garden tour will be a wonderful 12-day trip to Northern Italy from April 27 to May 9, 2025.
The tour is designed with lavish three day stays in four great cities in Northern Italy. We will start in Milan before going on to Verona and Parma and ending in Genoa. The plan is to visit other destinations while we use these cities as a base.
The shape, pace and content of the tour has been refined to focus heavily on the delights of what I call “ambient travel” – meaning the fun and thrill of being in places of extraordinary beauty and cultural significance that exude charm, elegance and quality.
This unique, customized tour includes relaxing visits to Lake Como and Bellagio and gives ample time to explore the delights and wonders of Milan.
From Milan, we will move on to other iconic destinations of Lombardy, Liguria and Emilia-Romagna, including Verona, Lake Garda, Sirmione, Desenzano, Mantua, Parma and Genoa.
In Verona, we will visit the famous Giusti Garden and also take a boat ride around the Sirmione peninsula before having lunch in Desenzano. You’ll recognize these names from Tennyson’s exceptional poem, Frater Ave Aqua Vale, about the Roman poet Catullus.
Verona, of course, has its Shakespearean connection and it would be remiss of us not to take a brief stop at the Juliet statue and balcony. But it is the ambience of the quiet side streets of the city and its lovely market place and amazing arena that I will be looking forward to most.
From Verona we will travel to Parma, a fantastic city of culture and cuisine excellence. On the way, we will stop in Mantua to see all the sights. In Parma, our hotel will be in the heart of the city and we will take time to explore all the sights of the old town.
From Parma, we skip westward to see the picturesque villages of Bobbio and Castel’Arquato. Then, we will go east a little to visit the cities of Reggio Emilia and Bologna.
Bologna, of course, needs no introduction as the heart and soul of Italian food culture, so we will certainly be spending time there eating and drinking and discovering the delights of the lovely Piazza Maggiore.
Leaving Parma, we will continue our adventure by heading to Genoa from where we would visit the famous five villages of Cinque Terre as well as neighbouring La Spezia, a town of equal beauty and charm.
There will be plenty of time to discover Genoa with its amazing labyrinth of medieval streets, but we will also visit the famous photographers-paradise of Boccadasse just outside.
On this tour, will be staying in top-notch four-star hotels, located to make it easy to walk the town and visit museums and art galleries. The idea is to provide a perfect jumping off spot that offers a high standard of comfort and convenience.
All I can suggest at this point is that you go through the itinerary day-by-day. Check out each of the destinations carefully.
You will find spectacular gardens such as Villa Melzi on Lake Como as well as the quirky garden of Andre Heller on Lake Garda and much more.
You will quickly discover more people than Shakespeare, Tennyson and Sirmione and Leonardo da Vinci were inspired by being in these exceptional places.
For a complete day-by-day itinerary plus price and other details, please email or text our agent, Lyle Truden. (See below)
TO RESERVE YOU SPOT:
Contact: Lyle at lyle.truden@trudentravel.com or call 778-400-5544
