16 NOV, Friday, Day 1, Venice
Use Ernest Hemingway Travel Destinations to plan your flight and to check for group air.
Check into our Venice Hotel – Hotel Splendide Suisse or similar

Our Hemingway tour leader will meet the group for lunch at the hotel restaurant

Tour begins at 1:30 PM in the lobby of the tour Hotel

We’ll start our first tour of Venice proper with a walk to Piazza San Marco. From there the group members’ interests and knowledge of Venice will help decide the tour itinerary (but first time visitors shouldn’t worry as we’ll make sure you see all of the major “sights” before the week is up). An afternoon visit might stop at the Basilica di San Marco, include an elevator ride up the Campanile for a bird's eye view of Venice, and linger at the Museo Correr (museum of Venetian civilization).

The group will stop for afternoon tea at the Piazza's oldest and most literary cafe, the Caffe Florian and some late afternoon refreshment at Harry’s Bar, a Hemingway favorite watering hole where the Bellini cocktail was invented.

7:00 PM - The Welcome Dinner Reception this evening will include short presentations by our tour leader. (D)

17 NOV, Saturday, Day 2 – Day Trip – Schio-Udine (Kobarid)
8:00 AM –Hemingway scholar Dr. James Meredith has written extensively on Hemingway and battlefield literature and military topics and we will use his material to take a Day Trip via minibus to Hemingway sites including the town of Schio, site of the “Schio Country Club,” the name given to the headquarters of the Red Cross Ambulance Corps in which Hemingway served. We’ll also visit Fossalta do Piave, where Hemingway was wounded as an 18 year old ambulance driver becoming the first U.S. injury in World War I.

We’ll journey through the photogenic Friuli-Venezia Giulia region and stop for lunch in the osteria area of Udine and enjoy the balloon glasses of local white wines with prosciutto and other area specialties before heading back to Venice.

Note: If there is sufficient interest, we can explore extending this day trip for a supplemental fee to Kobarid, Slovenia (formerly “Caporetto, Italy”) and the area of the 12th Isonzo Battle (also known as the Caporetto Breakthrough) one of history’s major conflicts and a decisive battle and retreat in World War I that fueled Hemingway’s imagination for his novel, “A Farewell to Arms.” The Kobarid Museum has a balanced approach to the World War I fighting in the region. The city has a large, multi-tiered, Italian War Memorial. The museum honors Hemingway in its entrance way with a large portrait and copies of his novel’s manuscript pages.

Mid-afternoon return to Venice. Free evening. (B,L)

18 NOV, Sunday, Day 3 – City Touring
9:00 AM – A Venetian native will lead our group today on visits to some of her most enjoyable spots on the left bank including Scuola Grande di San Rocco (lots of Tintoretto) and a visit to the nearby huge and hugely impressive Frari, a Franciscan church and cloisters.

From the Rialto Bridge we’ll take a boat ride down the Grand Canal to the Guggenheim Museum for lunch at the museum restaurant.

This afternoon, the group will visit the Basilica della Salute, to set the stage for the upcoming 21 NOV Feast Day Celebrations. Later we’ll visit the Arsenale to learn about the boat-building craft and Venice's historical love affair with sea travel and conquest.

Then it’s onto the Gritti Palace for cocktails. We’ll join together on our own for a visit tonight to the Cichettere, Venetian wine bars serving the ombres of wine and Venetian versions of tapas. (B,L)

19 NOV, Monday, Day 4 – Free Day
FREE DAY to spend wandering Venice’s alleys.
(Venice is very manageable, you can walk from one place to another in a leisurely and laid-back pace that is most appropriate for the city known as La Serenissima).

Or join our tour leaders/guide for some more visits to Venice’s many wonderful sites such as the Doge's Palace, the recently reopened La Fenice theater, and the Galleria dell’ Academia.

Note: There are evening concerts in a palazzo or church almost every evening, and there are often free Sunday organ concerts at the Basilica and at La Salute. (B)

20 NOV, Tuesday, Day 5 – Venetian Islands
9:00 AM - Board a private motor launch and take a Tour of the Venetian Islands, including a visit in Murano to see a glass-blowing demonstration and visit the glass museum.

We’ll then take our boat to the island of Burano to see the brightly painted houses and lace-making.

We’ll continue our tour with a visit to Torcello, where Hemingway spent a good deal of time and enjoyed duck hunting. It was on Torcello that he first met Adriana Ivancich, who became the prototype for Renata, the young Italian love interest for protagonist Colonel Richard Cantwell in Hemingway’s WW II novel, “Across the River and Into the Trees,” that is set in Venice.

We’ll start with a leisurely lunch at the famous Locanda Cipriani, a favorite of Hemingway and European royalty alike.

Our afternoon exploration will include the cathedral (with its spectacular wall mosaic) and the marsh area.

On the return trip to Venice, we will stop at the Island of the Armenians, in whose impressive library Lord Byron worked (Hemingway and Byron's lives and works share many common features, including a love of Venice), for a guided tour by the resident Armenian priests.
Return to Venice for dinner on own. (B,L)

21 NOV, Wednesday, Day 6 – Feast Day
This is the city’s Festa della Salute giving thanks to the Virgin Mary for delivering the city from a plague in the 16th century. On this day a special pontoon bridge is put over the Canale Grande (il ponte votivo) for pilgrims carrying lighted candles to cross from a place right next to the Gritti Palace over to the La Salute Church. Near the La Salute Church are booths and kiosks selling delicious food items. The church itself is dressed up for the occasion and framed in candles.

6:00 PM - After a festive day, we’ll meet at the hotel to proceed to our gondolas ready to take us to the Palazzo Malcanton for cocktails and a Farewell Dinner in the Hemingway tradition. (B,D)

22 NOV, Thursday, Day 7
Leave for flights back to the USA. Early flights should get you back that same morning. (B)

LAND Cost: $2,799 per person double occupancy
Single Supplement: $599

Contact Scott Schwar or Luis Vasquez at Ernest Hemingway Travel Destinations, at 800-367-7378 or at milalatin@aol.com for additional details and information on Airfare and PRE and POST TOUR options to MILAN or other European cities.