Caravaggio in Rome, Naples & Malta in Europe

Brochure

Click here to download our Escorted Tours 2010.

Dates

15th - 22nd May 2010

Tour Leader

Susie Orso joined Specialtours in 1987 and has arranged and accompanied numerous tours for The Art Fund and specialised American groups. She lives in Florence and has developed many private contacts in Italy, along with a faithful following. Susie is bi-lingual in Italian and speaks fluent French and German, and some Spanish.

Guest Lecturer

Peter Lauritzen, an American historian, author and lecturer, has lived in Italy since leaving Princeton University with a Fulbright Grant for study in Florence in 1962. A resident of Venice for 35 years, he has written 'Venice: A Thousand Years of Culture & Civilization', 'Palaces of Venice', 'Villas of the Veneto' and 'Venice Preserved' as well as the official UNESCO report. He has lectured and led tours specialising in Byzantium, Flemish and Dutch art, Imperial Russia, the Iberian peninsula and the Holy Roman Empire as well as classical antiquity. He has accompanied royalty and VIPs on visits to Venice.

Costs

Per person: £2,890

Single supplement: £390

Airport taxes per person: Currently £76
(Please note that airport taxes include fuel surcharges and security fees and are liable to change without notice)

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Michelangelo Merisi, better known as Caravaggio, is considered by many to be the most revolutionary artist of his time. In the 400th anniversary year of his death, this tour follows Caravaggios’s stormy career from Rome to Naples – where he fled in 1606 after a brawl – and Malta, where he was made a Knight of the Order of St John. Assess the achievements of this temperamental artistic genius in counter-Reformation Rome, visiting churches, palaces and galleries, and his important influence on the development of Western art. In less than two decades, Caravaggio had made his mark, heralding the age of the Baroque with his use of chiaroscuro, his naturalism, his acute psychological observation and his sense of drama.

Our journey begins in Rome where a particular focus will be the galleries and churches housing paintings and altarpieces by Caravaggio.  These include the Capitoline Museum, the Doria Pamphili Gallery, the Galleria Nazionale, and the churches of Sant'Agostino, San Luigi dei Francesi and Santa Maria del Popolo.  A highlight will be a visit to an exceptional exhibition of 30 works of certain attribution from Italy and major museums all over the world.  These will include the Supper at Emmaus from the National Gallery in London and that of the Brera Gallery in Milan, the Musicians from the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Boy with a Lute from the Hermitage and the Amor Omnia Vincit from the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin as well as three versions of St John the Baptist, the recently restored Annunciation from Nancy and the Crowning of Thorns from the Kunsthistoriches Museum in Vienna.  This is a unique opportunity to compare works that have never been exhibited together before thereby giving an extensive overview of the oeuvre of this genius.

We also visit Naples, where highlights will be visits to the Pio Monte della Misericordia, the Capodimonte Museum to view The Flagellation and works by the Caravaggisti, and the Farnese Collection.  Moving to the island of Malta, we explore the 16th and 17th century Baroque architecture created for the Knights of Malta, the State Apartments of the Palace of the Grand Master, Grand Harbour and other sights, including St. John's Co-Cathedral with Caravaggio's Decapitation of St. John the Baptist.  We also visit the medieval capital, Mdina, to see the Vilhena Palace, the Gatto Murina and Santa Sophia palaces and the Cathedral of St. Paul.  A highlight in Malta will be a private visit to the Casa Rocca Piccola in Valletta, residence of an ancient Maltese family.

Day 1: Saturday, 15th May          

London / Rome
Depart London Heathrow on a British Airways morning flight to Rome. 

Lunch at Fattoria Bastianelli.  Transfer to the Hotel Santa Chiara, close to the venerable Pantheon, where five nights are spent.  Afternoon walking tour to the Pantheon, the best-preserved monument of the Roman Empire, the Antonine Column and Piazza Montecitorio.  Introductory talk by Peter Lauritzen, followed by dinner at a classic Roman trattoria.

Day 2: Sunday, 16th May

Rome
Morning walk to the Capitoline Hill to the Picture Gallery of the Capitoline Museum, where Caravaggio can be seen in the context of his contemporaries and his followers, Velasquez, Rubens and Guercino.  Admire the view of the Roman Forum from the Tabularium.

Lunch at Ristorante Vecchia Roma.  Afternoon visit to the Doria-Pamphilj Gallery to see paintings by Caravaggio, including Rest on the Flight to Egypt, the portrait of Innocent X by Velasquez and Bernini's bust of the same pope.  Option to continue to the Baroque church of the Gesù and see the unveiling of the gem-studded image of St. Ignatius Loyola, continuing to Sant' Ignazio to see Padro Pozzo's great illusionistic ceiling.  Dinner under own arrangements.

Day 3: Monday, 17th May

Rome
Walk to Piazza Navona to visit the exterior of Bramante's church of Santa Maria della Pace, continuing to Sant'Agostino to see Caravaggio's beautiful altarpiece of 'Our Lady of Loreto', considered shocking to his contemporaries.  Nearby is San Luigi dei Francesi, celebrated for the three striking scenes from the Life of St. Matthew in the Contarelli Chapel, Caravaggio's first public work.  Continue to Santa Maria del Popolo to compare his Martyrdom of St. Peter and Conversion of St. Paul, where his naturalistic style and use of dramatic chiaroscuro evolved.  Particularly notable is the way in which he draws the spectator in as witness to the dramatic moment depicted.

Lunch at Caffé Rosetti.  Afternoon at leisure with optional visits to the Chiesa Nuova and Sant'Andrea della Valle.  Dinner at Trattoria La Pigna.

Day 4: Tuesday, 18th May

Rome & Naples
Transfer by minibus for the railway station and depart by high speed train for Naples.  Drive to the Pio Monte della Misericordia, to see one of Caravaggio's masterpieces, the Seven Acts of Mercy.  In the Cathedral visit the Cappella San Gennaro, dedicated to the patron saint of Naples.

Lunch at a typical Neapolitan pizzeria.  Afternoon visit to the museum of Capodimonte, focusing in particular on Caravaggio's Flagellation of Christ, the greatest single collection of paintings of Caravaggio's followers and the Farnese Collection, with works of art by Titian, Bellini and Parmigianino.  Return to the railway station for the high speed train to Rome.  Transfer to Hotel Santa Chiara.  Dinner under own arrangements.

Day 5: Wednesday, 19th May 

Rome
Morning visit to the Galleria Nazionale.  Continue to compare Borromini's church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane with Bernini's delightful Sant' Andrea del Quirinale.  See the exceptional Caravaggio exhibition at the Scuderie of the Quirinale.  Visit (by special arrangement) the Casino dell' Aurora, with its ceiling by Guido Reni, in the grounds of Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi.

Lunch at a local restaurant.  The afternoon is devoted to the Galleria Borghese, where several paintings by Caravaggio can be seen as well as the masterpieces of sculpture by Bernini, the genius of the next generation.  Dinner under own arrangements.

Day 6: Thursday, 20th May

Rome / Valletta
Leave for the Villa Malta, seat of the Knights of Malta, on the Aventine Hill to visit the gardens and Church of St. John (subject to special permission). Continue to the airport for a midday Air Malta flight to Valletta.

On arrival transfer to the luxury Hotel Phoenicia, located just outside the principal gate of Valletta's great fortifications, where two nights are spent.  Introductory walk to see the 16th and 17th century architecture created for the Knights of Malta.  Dinner at the hotel.

Day 7: Friday, 21st May

Valletta & Mdina
Walk past the Auberge de Castille and the Auberge d'Italie on the way to visit St. John's Conventual Cathedral, to see Caravaggio's late masterpiece The Decapitation of The Baptist in the Oratory of St. John., painted during his exile on the island.  Visit the State Apartments of the Palace of the Grand Master and the Sacred Infirmary.  Also visit the charming privately owned Casa Rocca Piccola.

Lunch at a local restaurant.  In the afternoon, walk in the noble ancient capital of Mdina, where quiet streets are lined with Baroque palaces of the aristocracy.  See the Vilhena Palace, the chapel of St. Agatha and St. Peter, the palaces of Gatto Murrina and Santa Sophia and the Cathedral of St. Paul.  Return to Valletta. Dinner under own arrangements.

Day 8: Saturday 22nd May

Valletta / London
Morning cruise around historic Grand Harbour, going ashore to explore Sliema and Floriana and the great fortifications of the capital.

Lunch at a restaurant overlooking the harbour.  Transfer to the airport for an Air Malta flight to London, arriving Heathrow Airport mid-evening.