From the Italian Lake District to the Cinque Terre, Tuscany, the Dolomites, and the Veneto, discover the diverse landscapes, culture, arts, and history of Italy's northern regions.

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Starting at: $6,674 * Includes airfare, taxes & all fees Make a Reservation Ask Us A Question or Call 855-330-1542

Northern Italy

15 days from $6,674 | includes airfare, taxes and all fees

From the Italian Lake District to the Cinque Terre, Tuscany, the Dolomites, and the Veneto, discover the diverse landscapes, culture, arts, and history of Italy's northern regions.

departure passengers

or Call 855-330-1542

WHAT OUR TRAVELERS SAY

A wonderful program. Everything is planned meticulously. This journey gave a great idea of Northern Italy and its history. I feel like I saw so much of this beautiful country. Tour guide was AMAZING!

- Past Smithsonian Journeys Traveler

JOURNEYS DISPATCHES

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Accommodations

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Situated on the shores of Lake Maggiore, the 120-room La Palma Hotel is surrounded by lovely Italian gardens. It features a garden-view restaurant; bar; lounges; internet access; laundry and dry cleaning services; fitness room with panoramic views; solarium; Jacuzzi; sauna; and heated lakeside swimming pool with a view of the Borromean islands. Air-conditioned guest rooms offer balcony, private bath with hair dryer, mini-bar, in-room safe, TV, and phone.

Number of nights: 3

Hotel Metropole

Santa Margherita, Italy

An intimate, family-owned and operated 58-room hotel located just a short walk from the bay and a private beach, the Metropole features a restaurant and bar; complimentary Wi-Fi internet access; laundry and dry cleaning services; fitness center with massage services and Turkish bath; and outdoor pool. Each air-conditioned room has a private bath with hair dryer, in-room safe, TV, and phone.

Number of nights: 3

Palazzo Leopoldo

Siena, Italy

The Palace takes its name from its most illustrious guest, Leopoldo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Arranged over three adjacent buildings, it dates back to the late 13th century, when it gave refuge to pilgrims on the road between Florence and Siena. Wisely restored, it keeps intact the taste of the ancient lords of Tuscany with original pieces of the ancient residence, including frescoes, fireplaces, exposed beams and period furnishings. Modern comforts include a wellness center, heated indoor swimming pool, gym, restaurant, wine bar, meeting spaces, solarium with hydromassage and a terrace. The rooms are uniquely decorated and are fitted with a 32-inch LCD TV. La Perla Del Palazzo, the hotel’s restaurant, provides tasty samples of Tuscan food, also served in the garden. Drinks are served on the terrace overlooking the Chianti hills.

Number of nights: 3

Hotel Scala Stiegl

Bolzano, Italy

This Liberty-style hotel in an updated 1898 coach station sits a short walk from the Bolzano train station and the South Tirol Museum of Archaeology. This hotel boasts a restaurant and bar, sun terrace, garden, fitness center, and sauna, and offers complimentary Wi-Fi internet access and laundry service. All 65 air-conditioned guestrooms feature a private bath with hair dryer, TV, in-room safe, and phone.

Number of nights: 2

Palazzo Veneziano

Venice, Italy

Opening in Spring 2017, the Palazzo Veneziano sits in the trendy Venice neighborhood of Zattere. It overlooks the Giudecca Canal, the widest promenade in Venice with numerous bars and restaurants. Hotel amenities include a bar, library, internal courtyards, and complimentary Wi-Fi internet access. Each of the 84 guest rooms have Venetian furnishings, private bath with hair dryer, mini-bar, in-room safe, TV, and phone.

Number of nights: 2

Activity Level

Activity Level 2: Moderate

Expectations: One of our Classic Land Journeys, this tour features visits to many cities, iconic sites, hidden gems, and various regions. Although comprehensive, it's not rushed, but well paced and finely tuned. Expectations include longer touring days with many full-day motor coach excursions and five different hotels. Mostly full-day excursions from four to six hours, with nine afternoons at leisure. Standing and walking for long periods of time during city tours, museum visits, and outdoor activities. Daily walks of up to three miles; walking over sometimes difficult terrain that includes cobblestones and city hills (especially in hilltowns), uneven pavement (especially at archaeological sites), stairs without handrails, and absence of elevators; longer walks to get to city centers where coaches are prohibited. There are three longer coach rides of approximately three hours duration. This tour also features three boat trips in the Lake Disrict and along the coast of the Cinque Terre.

Appropriate for: Travelers who are physically fit and comfortable with longer days of touring (both walking tours and coach time).

Tour Extension

Venice Post-Program Option — 3 Days, 2 Nights

End your journey with a longer stay in this most beautiful of cities. Your tour price includes:

2 nights accommodations at Palazzo Veneziano (Superior First Class)
2 meals: 2 breakfasts
Transfer to airport

Palazzo Veneziano
Opened in 2017, the Palazzo Veneziano sits in the trendy Venice neighborhood of Zattere. It overlooks the Giudecca Canal, the widest promenade in Venice with numerous bars and restaurants. Hotel amenities include a bar, library, internal courtyards, and complimentary WiFi internet access. Each of the 84 guest rooms come with Venetian furnishings, private bath with hair dryer, minibar, in-room safe, TV, and phone.

Testimonials

WHAT OUR TRAVELERS SAY

A wonderful program. Everything is planned meticulously. This journey gave a great idea of Northern Italy and its history. I feel like I saw so much of this beautiful country. Tour guide was AMAZING!

- Past Smithsonian Journeys Traveler

Reading List

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Highly Recommended

The City of Florence: Historical Vistas and Personal Sightings

By: R.W.B. Lewis

A New York Times Notable BookIn this deeply personal and learned labor of love, R.W.B. Lewis provides a new look at the glories of Florence, the smallish Tuscan city which has been a prime source for modern Western culture and which has also been his second home for fifty years. With a scholar's eye and a lover's passion, he invites us to share his vision of a city and the way of life it has engendered and inspired.

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Italy in Mind: An Anthology

By: Powers, Alice Leccese (EDT)

Comprised of short stories, novel excerpts, essays, poetry journals and letters, this work will delight anyone who loves Italy or great travel writing. Pieces include Barbara Grizzuti Harrison marveling at baroque Sicilian confections, Mary McCarthy celebrating Venice's threadbare dignity, and Henry James's Isabel Archer succumbing to the treacherous antiquities of Florence.

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La Bella Figura: A Field Guide to the Italian Mind

By: Beppe Severgnini

Join the bestselling author of Ciao, America! on a lively tour of modern Italy that takes you behind the seductive face it puts on for visitors—la bella figura—and highlights its maddening, paradoxical true self You won’t need luggage for this hypothetical and hilarious trip into the hearts and minds of Beppe Severgnini’s fellow Italians. In fact, Beppe would prefer if you left behind the baggage his crafty and elegant countrymen have smuggled into your subconscious. To get to his Italia, you’ll need to forget about your idealized notions of Italy. Although La Bella Figura will take you to legendary cities and scenic regions, your real destinations are the places where Italians are at their best, worst, and most authentic: The highway: in America, a red light has only one possible interpretation—Stop! An Italian red light doesn’t warn or order you as much as provide an invitation for reflection. The airport: where Italians prove that one of their virtues (an appreciation for beauty) is really a vice. Who cares if the beautiful girls hawking cell phones in airport kiosks stick you with an outdated model? That’s the price of gazing upon perfection.The small town: which demonstrates the Italian genius for pleasant living: “a congenial barber . . . a well-stocked newsstand . . . professionally made coffee and a proper pizza; bell towers we can recognize in the distance, and people with a kind word and a smile for everyone.”The chaos of the roads, the anarchy of the office, the theatrical spirit of the hypermarkets, and garrulous train journeys; the sensory reassurance of a church and the importance of the beach; the solitude of the soccer stadium and the crowded Italian bedroom; the vertical fixations of the apartment building and the horizontal democracy of the eat-in kitchen. As you venture to these and many other locations rooted in the Italian psyche, you realize that Beppe has become your Dante and shown you a country that “has too much style to be hell” but is “too disorderly to be heaven.” Ten days, thirty places. From north to south. From food to politics. From saintliness to sexuality. This ironic, methodical, and sentimental examination will help you understand why Italy—as Beppe says—“can have you fuming and then purring in the space of a hundred meters or ten minutes.”

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DK Eyewitness Italy (Travel Guide)

By: DK Eyewitness

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City of Fortune: How Venice Ruled the Seas

By: Roger Crowley

“The rise and fall of Venice’s empire is an irresistible story and [Roger] Crowley, with his rousing descriptive gifts and scholarly attention to detail, is its perfect chronicler.”—The Financial Times The New York Times bestselling author of Empires of the Sea charts Venice’s astounding five-hundred-year voyage to the pinnacle of power in an epic story that stands unrivaled for drama, intrigue, and sheer opulent majesty. City of Fortune traces the full arc of the Venetian imperial saga, from the ill-fated Fourth Crusade, which culminates in the sacking of Constantinople in 1204, to the Ottoman-Venetian War of 1499–1503, which sees the Ottoman Turks supplant the Venetians as the preeminent naval power in the Mediterranean. In between are three centuries of Venetian maritime dominance, during which a tiny city of “lagoon dwellers” grow into the richest place on earth. Drawing on firsthand accounts of pitched sea battles, skillful negotiations, and diplomatic maneuvers, Crowley paints a vivid picture of this avaricious, enterprising people and the bountiful lands that came under their dominion. From the opening of the spice routes to the clash between Christianity and Islam, Venice played a leading role in the defining conflicts of its time—the reverberations of which are still being felt today. “[Crowley] writes with a racy briskness that lifts sea battles and sieges off the page.”—The New York Times “Crowley chronicles the peak of Venice’s past glory with Wordsworthian sympathy, supplemented by impressive learning and infectious enthusiasm.”—The Wall Street Journal

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Smithsonian Journeys Cultural Guide: Venice

By: Smithsonian Journeys

For the savvy, cosmopolitan traveler who wants to delve into Venice's history and cultureSmithsonian Journeys Cultural Guide: Venice is a travel guide like none other: it gives a vital overview of the history, geography, foodways, and culture of this remarkable destination. This e-book original from Smithsonian Journeys, the Smithsonian Institution's worldwide educational travel program, provides all the cultural and historical information travelers need to inform their visit to Venice.Readers study the city’s influential architects to appreciate every building from the humble villa up to the towering basilica. They are immersed in the rich artistic tradition of Titian, Mantegna, Tintoretto, and other Venetian Renaissance masters to enrich their museum and cathedral visits. They learn the history of Venice’s trading and banking empire to find out how it shapes the food, spices, and silks offered at the Rialto markets. And they discover the origins of Venice’s iconic gondolas and Carnevale masks.Smithsonian Journeys Cultural Guide: Venice lives up to the reputation of the Smithsonian by providing travelers with the knowledge they need to make the most of the journey of a lifetime.

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The Italians

By: John Hooper

Washington Post bestsellerLos Angeles Times bestsellerA vivid and surprising portrait of the Italian people from an admired foreign correspondent How did a nation that spawned the Renaissance also produce the Mafia? And why does Italian have twelve words for coat hanger but none for hangover? John Hooper’s entertaining and perceptive new book is the ideal companion for anyone seeking to understand contemporary Italy and the unique character of the Italians. Fifteen years as a foreign correspondent based in Rome have sharpened Hooper’s observations, and he looks at the facts that lie behind the stereotypes, shedding new light on everything from the Italians’ bewildering politics to their love of life and beauty. Hooper persuasively demonstrates the impact of geography, history, and tradition on many aspects of Italian life, including football and Freemasonry, sex, food, and opera. Brimming with the kind of fascinating—and often hilarious—insights unavailable in guidebooks, The Italians will surprise even the most die-hard Italophile.

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Venice: A New History

By: Madden, Thomas F.

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The Food of Italy

By: Waverley Root

In this thoroughly comprehensive, utterly captivating culinary guidebook, acclaimed food writer Waverley Root traverses Italy from Lombardy to Sicily, and across 3,000 years of invasions. An exhaustive catalog of the country’s gastronomic legacy, The Food of Italy explains the regional delicacies, the traditions, and the history that define the way Italians eat. From the legally enforced frugality of the Renaissance table to the enduring Saracen luxury of Sicilian desserts, from the lasagna of Bologna to the saltimbocca of Rome, Root explores the secrets and customs of a cuisine so nuanced that even the basic ragu Bolognese has some two hundred variations. A culinary adventurer who made his mark decades before Anthony Bourdain appeared on the scene, Root shares the stories of an elephant forced to spend the winter of 1551 in the South Tyrol and the dishes named after him, the proper way to bottle Chianti, and the mysteries surrounding the origin of tortellini. Essential reading for travelers—of the armchair and ticketed variety, alike—The Food of Italy, which features decorative maps (that may not be legible for all readers) and illustrations, brings the subtleties of the Italian palate into any home.

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Art and Life in Renaissance Venice (Reissue)

By: Brown, Patricia Fortini

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The Medici: Power, Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance

By: Paul Strathern

A vivid, dramatic, and authoritative account of perhaps the most influential family in Italian history: the Medici. A dazzling history of the modest family that rose to become one of the most powerful in Europe, The Medici is a remarkably modern story of power, money, and ambition. Against the background of an age that saw the rebirth of ancient and classical learning Paul Strathern explores the intensely dramatic rise and fall of the Medici family in Florence, as well as the Italian Renaissance which they did so much to sponsor and encourage. Strathern also follows the lives of many of the great Renaissance artists with whom the Medici had dealings, including Leonardo, Michelangelo and Donatello; as well as scientists like Galileo and Pico della Mirandola; and the fortunes of those members of the Medici family who achieved success away from Florence, including the two Medici popes and Catherine de' Médicis, who became Queen of France and played a major role in that country through three turbulent reigns.

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Siena: City of Secrets

By: Jane Tylus

Jane Tylus’s Siena is a compelling and intimate portrait of this most secretive of cities, often overlooked by travelers to Italy. Cultural history, intellectual memoir, travelogue, and guidebook, it takes the reader on a quest of discovery through the well- and not-so-well-traveled roads and alleys of a town both medieval and modern. As Tylus leads us through the city, she shares her passion for Siena in novelistic prose, while never losing sight of the historical complexities that have made Siena one of the most fascinating and beautiful towns in Europe. Today, Siena can appear on the surface standoffish and old-fashioned, especially when compared to its larger, flashier cousins Rome and Florence. But first impressions wear away as we learn from Tylus that Siena was an innovator among the cities of Italy: the first to legislate the building and maintenance of its streets, the first to publicly fund its university, the first to institute a municipal bank, and even the first to ban automobile traffic from its city center. We learn about Siena’s great artistic and architectural past, hidden behind centuries of painting and rebuilding, and about the distinctive characters of its different neighborhoods, exemplified in the Palio, the highly competitive horserace that takes place twice a year in the city’s main piazza and that serves as both a dividing and a uniting force for the Sienese. Throughout we are guided by the assured voice of a seasoned scholar with a gift for spinning a good story and an eye for the telling detail, whether we are traveling Siena’s modern highways, exploring its underground tunnels, tracking the city’s financial history, or celebrating giants of painting like Simone Martini or giants of the arena, Siena’s former Serie A soccer team. A practical and engaging guide for tourists and armchair travelers alike, Siena is a testament to the powers of community and resilience in a place that is not quite as timeless and serene as it may at first appear.

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The Art of the Renaissance (World of Art)

By: Peter Murray, Linda Lefevre Murray

The Renaissance began in Italy, but it grew out of European civilization, with roots in Antiquity, in Christian dogma, and in Byzantium. The artistic ferment which had taken hold of Florence by 1420 was also reflected in the regional schools of Siena, Umbria, Mantua and Rome; and the new ideas spread from Italy through France, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain and Portugal. The book includes artists as diverse as Piero della Francesca, Van Eyck, Durer, Mantegna and Bellini, as well as the High Renaissance masters Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael. With superb illustrations of the artists' work and crucial historical information about the "rebirth" of arts and letters, the authors illuminate one of the most important periods of art history. 251 illus., 51 in color.

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Too Much Tuscan Sun: Confessions Of A Chianti Tour Guide, First Edition

By: Castagno, Dario

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Italian Days

By: Harrison, Barbara Grizzuti

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Extra Virgin: A Young Woman Discovers the Italian Riviera, Where Every Month Is Enchanted

By: Annie Hawes

In 1983, a pale Annie Hawes and her equally pale sister leave England for the sun-drenched olive groves of a small Italian town in Liguria. With fantasies of handsome tanned men and swimming in the sea urging them on, they are hired to work for ten weeks to graft roses -- of which they have little knowledge -- along the Italian Riviera, board and lodging included.But none of the men seem to be under forty, and Ligurians have particular ideas about life, including swimming ("To go swimming in seawater outside the month of July or August is even worse for your health than drinking cappuccino after twelve noon!"). But Annie and her sister are captivated by San Pietro's quirkiness and beauty, and suddenly their brief stay stretches into years, as they are bemused, charmed, and ultimately accepted by the eccentric inhabitants of their adopted home.Resonating with captivating verve and humor, Extra Virgin dishes up a sumptuous sampling of Italian life from an irresistible new voice.

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D. H. Lawrence and Italy: Sketches from Etruscan Places, Sea and Sardinia, Twilight in Italy (Penguin Classics)

By: D. H. Lawrence

In these impressions of the Italian countryside, Lawrence transforms ordinary incidents into passages of intense beauty. Twilight in Italy is a vibrant account of Lawrence's stay among the people of Lake Garda, whose decaying lemon gardens bear witness to the twilight of a way of life centuries old. In 'Sea and Sardinia', Lawrence brings to life the vigorous spontaneity of a society as yet untouched by the deadening effect of industrialization. And 'Etruscan Places' is a beautiful and delicate work of literary art, the record of 'a dying man drinking from the founts of a civilization dedicated to life.'For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

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Every Day in Tuscany: Seasons of an Italian Life

By: Frances Mayes

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND A TIMELESS CLASSIC FROM THE AUTHOR OF UNDER MAGNOLIA Frances Mayes—widely published poet, gourmet cook, and travel writer—opnes the door to a wondrous new world when she buys and restores an abandoned villa in the spectacular Tuscan countryside. In evocative language, she brings the reader along as she discovers the beauty and simplicity of life in Italy. Mayes also creates dozens of delicious seasonal recipes from her traditional kitchen and simple garden, all of which she includes in the book. Doing for Tuscany what M.F.K. Fisher and Peter Mayle did for Provence, Mayes writes about the tastes and pleasures of a foreign country with gusto and passion.

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Women in Sunlight: A Novel

By: Mayes, Frances

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The World of Venice: Revised Edition

By: Jan Morris

A fascinating exploration of the history, sights, seasons, arts, food, and people of an incomparable city. “A highly intelligent portrait of an eccentric city, written in powerful prose and enlivened by many curious mosaics of information...a beautiful book to read and to possess” (The Observer). New Foreword by the Author. Index.

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Death at La Fenice: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery

By: Donna Leon

There is little violent crime in Venice, a serenely beautiful floating city of mystery and magic, history and decay. But the evil that does occasionally rear its head is the jurisdiction of Guido Brunetti, the suave, urbane vice-commissario of police and a genius at detection. Now all of his admirable abilities must come into play in the deadly affair of Maestro Helmut Wellauer, a world-renowned conductor who died painfully from cyanide poisoning during an intermission at La Fenice. But as the investigation unfolds, a chilling picture slowly begins to take shape—a detailed portrait of revenge painted with vivid strokes of hatred and shocking depravity. And the dilemma for Guido Brunetti will not be finding a murder suspect, but rather narrowing the choices down to one. . . .

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Smithsonian Journeys Quarterly (Winter 2015 - Venice)

By: Victoria Pope

Seeing The World In A New Light!

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24x36 World Wall Map by Smithsonian Journeys - Tan Oceans Special Edition (24x36 Laminated)

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Travel Insurance

For the convenience of our travelers, Travel Guard provides an on-tour Insurance Plan. On-tour emergency evacuation insurance (up to $100,000), medical expense coverage (up to $25,000), dental expense coverage (up to $500), travel medical assistance and worldwide travel assistance (U.S. Residents only). It also includes up to $25,000 medical and up to $500 dental expense coverage, and 24-hour worldwide travel and medical assistance. Please click here to view complete coverage details.

Please visit www.TravelGuard.com/SmithsonianJourneys or call Travel Guard at 1-800-208-6142 to learn about additional (optional) coverage.