This Summer, Pick an Italian Destination Free of Tourists

UK based, Martin Randall Travel (MRT) is happy to offer guests a different look at Italy this summer, through the Friuli–Venezia Giulia region.  Cumbersome by name, complex by history, the region of Friuli–Venezia Giulia is tucked within the north-eastern borders of Italy and bound by Austria, Slovenia, the Veneto and the Adriatic.  Understandably, this region is marked by variety – ethnic, linguistic, cultural, gastronomic and topographical.  This tour will operate from June 2-8, 2008 with 12-22 participants.

The city of Udine, located 70 miles from the Venice airport, is the base of the tour.   A lively city, it has an extensive historic center with a succession of enchantingly picturesque streets and squares and a central piazza, as fine as almost any in all of Italy. The other big city visited is Trieste, for centuries the principal Austro-Hungarian outlet to the sea and one of the most important ports in the Mediterranean. 

Art and architecture are the main themes of this tour. There is much fine Renaissance painting and architecture: Palladianism was the dominant creed for a couple of centuries after Palladio’s death, and in addition to painters who established themselves in Venice there are several lesser-known figures of talent who are not well known outside the region. Painting reached another climax in the eighteenth century as G.B. Tiepolo, the greatest painter of the 18^th century spent the years of his early maturity in Udine. The works of G.B. Tiepolo, will be seen and discussed throughout Udine in the cathedral, the Oratorio della Purità and the Archipiscopal Palace.

Other towns visIted in the tour include Sesto al Reghen, Aquileia, Grado, Palmanova, San Daniele, Spilembergo, Pordenone and Passariano.

 This tour package includes: Roundtrip air travel (economy class) on scheduled British Midland flights from London to Venice, 6-night accommodations in a 4-star hotel in Udine, travel by private coach, breakfasts and 4 dinners with wine, all admission to museums and sites, all tips for waiters, guides, drivers, all taxes, the services of the lecturer.

For booking information send an email to info@martinrandall.co.uk or call at 011-44-20-8742-3355.