Eleven Day Itinerary
Day 1: Our trip starts this morning in the heart of Rome at 10 a. m. when we board our bus to travel through the countryside viewing vineyards, wildflower studded hillsides, and some environmentally protected natural landscape. There will be an opportunity to stop at one of the famous Italian highway stops for lunch as the Italians do – the Autogrill. After a stop, we’ll make a tour of Orvieto, sitting on top of a sheer-cliffed mesa with its famous Duomo decorated with a fresco by Signoreli. Finally arriving at our residence in Assisi, Umbria’s most famous town and one of its loveliest, we’ll enjoy a welcome dinner.
Day 2: After our buffet breakfast, we will gather for an introduction to our sensory activities and begin our journals with our artist guide. In the afternoon, we’ll tour Assisi and the famous Basilica of Saint Francis with a friar. The lower church holds the crypt of St. Francis, while the upper church holds the 28 fresco panels depicting the life of St. Francis. We will enjoy 3 meals every day in the dining hall of our residence.
Day 3: Our early morning walk through the winding streets of the medieval town, will lead us to the Basilica of Saint Chiara to enjoy the singing of the cloistered nuns as sun rises over the countryside and modern town of Assisi below. Walk is 1 mile downhill. In contrast we can view the front of the Roman Temple to Minerva from the 1st century BC, with Corinthian columns and travertine steps. It is the best surviving Roman temple front on the Italian peninsula, as good as any ruin in Rome for helping your imagination conjure up the classical world. There will be time for a gathering and sharing together directed by our resident artist before our afternoon walk to San Damiano a small chapel among the olive groves used for a cloister by Chiara who was inspired by St. Francis. It is a pink and white striped beauty with a rose window. Today it holds a copy of the crucifix that spoke to St. Francis and told him “to rebuild my church.” Later there will be an opportunity to join in activities led by our artist to increase our creativity.
Day 4: Our tour today will be in Monte Subasio regional park where we walk through the peaceful Eremo delle Carceri located in a beautiful setting on the edge of a ravine, deep in the woods. As we walk through the woods and past rock caves, we can imagine what it might have been like for the first Umbrians walking through the woods and meditating. We’ll take time in this pleasant setting for our own contemplation and reflection. Participants can walk the 2.5 miles to the Eremo and back or take a taxi. The evening leaves us time to focus on recording what we have experienced in our journals.
Day 5: Today our early morning walk takes us down the path of “Light” to Santa Maria degli Angeli and the Porziuncola built in 1569. Now it is in the center of the modern town of Assisi - an example of Baroque design completed in 1684 after an earthquake. The grandiose façade was added in 1927. Inside is a garden with the thornless roses, a museum, and statue of St. Francis by Andrea della Robbia. It is a day of discovery for us as we examine details and the geometric embellishment that the Middle Age and Renaissance builders added to decorate windows, facades, and mosaics.
Day 6: On our last day in Assisi we have time to explore the Rocca Maggiore, a fortress above the town and Palazzo del Comune in the center of town surrounded by shops and the best gelateria for an afternoon gelato. You might chose to attend an afternoon musical play on the life of Chiara before our evening meeting to gather and review our journal entries.
Day 7: After packing and enjoying our buffet breakfast, we board our tour bus for a short ride to medieval Spello built of the same pink and cream Umbrian stone overlooking the Valle Umbra. It has 3 excellently preserved Roman gates and statues from the Roman Republic. The 13th century church of Santa Maria Maggiore with its Romanesque campanile and some 11th century carving incorporated into its 17th century façade has inside the 3 frescoed scenes by Pinturicchio: Annunciation, Nativity, and Dispute of the Temple. The floor of the church is made of painted ceramics. Outside walking the narrow cobbled streets under hidden archways, and up stairways we will observe the traditional contest to decorate every balcony, doorway, and window sill with floral displays. It will be our chance to chose a trattoria, restaurant, or outside café for lunch before meeting back at our bus for our ride to our countryside villa near Cortona. A welcome dinner will be served by our host and hostess at the villa.
Day 8: Our bus will take us through the Tuscan landscape of rolling hills, poplars and parasol pines, vineyards, and winding lanes that can be seen in the paintings of artists where each tree and rock take on a mystic significance. We’ll arrive at the famous Piazza del Duomo to examine the bronze doors of the Bapistry and the great church with Brunelleschi’s dome. We can climb the tower for a wide lens view over Florence. Our guide will take us on a tour across the Pont Vecchio over the Arno River to the Pitti Palace and the Boboli gardens with fountains and statues. We will be able to chose our own lunch cafe before visiting different piazzas, the San Lorenzo open market, Medici Chapels, or the monastery of San Marco with Fra Angelico’s frescos in the monks’ dormitory rooms. Dinner will be back at our villa.
Day 9: Our Italian guide will meet us at the top of Cortona for an espresso (coffee) on a terrace with commanding views of the countryside. We’ll wind down through the small town as we hear about the history and view art, churches, and movie scene locations from the film: Under the Tuscan Sun. After a lunch on our own, we will visit the Museo dell’Accaemia Etrusca with its exhibits of Greek vases, Egyptian mummies, and the most famous Etruscan relic – a bronze chandelier dating back to the 5th century BC. Upstairs there is a fine collection of paintings. After our bus returns us to our villa, there will be time in the late afternoon for a swim or walk in the country before dinner and our gathering to add to our journals.
Day 10: A day of exploration in nature begins when we take up our binoculars and walk out on the boardwalk over Trasimeno Lake with an environmental group naturalist to identify birds and their habitat. We can see the banding procedure that is used to gather information on the migration of the birds that travel south for the winter over the Sahara Desert. Next a boat will take us from Magione across the lake to Isola Polvese, the largest of the lake’s 3 islands, for a picnic lunch and a 2 mile walk around the island, through the Roman amphitheater, and to a special plant garden. It was near this lake that a famous battle of the Second Punic War took place between Hannibal and the Romans, but today it is a shimmering shallow lake embedded in gentle rolling hills. It is possible to stop for an olive oil tasting at a press along the shore of the lake before we return to our villa and a final dinner. This will be an opportunity to share our created journal recording our sensory perceptions of this journey.
Day 11: Our last meal will be our buffet breakfast this morning. Our bus will pick us up at 11 a.m. to transport us to the Florence Airport or Florence train station, Santa Maria Novella. You can buy tickets on the spot for many fast trains departing frequently for other cities in Italy, or you can continue your stay in Florence at one of the hotels or bed and breakfasts.
Diane Cornell loves to journey with groups in the Sierras and throughout the Southwest and has created over 100 trips for Sierra Club International and the non-profit that she co-created Outdoor Science Exploration. Art was the subject that she taught for over 32 years. Since her son moved to Italy 18 years ago to marry into an Italian family, Diane learned to speak Italian and has traveled with her family throughout Italy. She looks forward to sharing this experience of sensual creativity through travel in her favorite region of Italy.
Majio is a mixed media artist, who studied fine art and the cultural arts in Japan and Korea for over twelve years. In 1980 she began investigating creative process as a spiritual journey while teaching at Seika Art College in Kyoto. Majio received her Masters Degree from Naropa University in Creation Spirituality and has a private practice as a Transpersonal Hypno-therapist in Creative Process. Majio’s Studio Anavami offers painting circles, workshops and retreats in Santa Cruz, CA, Abiquiu, NM., Italy & Japan.
