ITALY


Art was power in the days of the Venetian Empire... which is to say that power expressed itself in art, which is why the vast rooms and halls in the Doge’s Palace in Venice are filled with Renaissance masterpieces – frescoes, giant allegorical sculptures, gilded mantles and staircases, lush paneling, and sumptuous carved marble to honor the place where justice was meted out and affairs of state were decided. Explore this inner sanctum on an exclusive after-hours tour that reveals the soul of an empire, from the duke’s private chambers and the council halls, to the Bridge of Sighs and the prisons below.


It can’t be said for sure that Michelangelo hated every minute of it, but he complained that


he wasn’t a painter, and only took the job because the Pope held out a lucrative sculpting job as bait... Then there were the years of painting standing up, which ruined his neck, the missed deadlines, and the impatient pontiff who threatened to knock the scaffold out from under him if he didn’t finish on time. But the small group that first saw the Sistine Chapel ceiling at its unveiling was stunned into silence, as visitors have been ever since. And the nearest you can get to that moment, perhaps, is our after-hours visit to the chapel and the Vatican Museums, without the jostling crowds... just the awe and the heavens above.


You might guess that the city of Bologna is called “the Fat One” because of its centuries-long


love affair with food (although this medieval moniker actually referred to the land and its abundance of farm produce). But Bologna is the undisputed capital of Italian cuisine... the place that invented tortellini, tagliatelle, Bolognese sauces and sausages, and much more... where you can learn at the elbows of local masters in hands-on cooking lessons – beginning with the art of making homemade pasta – and indulge in culinary Italian masterpieces you’ve made yourself.


Call your travel agent or Tauck at 800-468-2825


www.tauck.com 15


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