Rome, founded in 753 BC, became one of the greatest empires that ever existed, Caput Mundi. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/91/ https://www.pantheonroma.com/home-eng/ Pantheon https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/grtr/hd_grtr.htmBy Lynda Mulvin and Michael Collins

Giovanni Paolo Panini 1691-1765 was the most celebrated and popular view painter in eighteenth-century Rome. https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1766.html Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pira/hd_pira.htmBy Lynda Mulvin and Michael Collins

https://www.rct.uk/collection/406983/the-tribuna-of-the-uffizi Johan Joseph Zoffany's Tribune of the Uffizi 1771 depicts the Florentine Tribuna is the hexagonal domed room created in 1585-9 by Bernardo Buontalenti (1536-1608) at the Uffizi palace for the display of the masterpieces in the Medici collection. https://duomo.firenze.it/en/discover/dome…

For details of Siena a world heritage site : https://www.unesco.it/it/PatrimonioMondiale/Detail/109 For details of the Palio di Siena https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/consorzio-per-la-tutela-del-palio-di-siena For details of Siena cathedral https://www.discovertuscany.com/siena/siena-churches/duomo.html…

San Gimignano UNESCO world heritage monument https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/550/ further details of collections of works by Benozzo Gozzoli (1421-1497) https://www.museothyssen.org/en/collection/artists/gozzoli-benozzoBy Lynda Mulvin and Michael Collins

Intrepid explorers Milordi ventured forth from Venice to Ravenna pausing to wonderful sights and monuments in this spectacular and unique walled early christian city of Ravenna: Mausoleum of Galla Placidia : https://www.turismo.ra.it/en/culture-and-history/unesco-world-heritage/mausoleum-of-galla-placidia/ Neon baptistery https://www.ravennamosaici…

This episode sees the Grand Tourists travelling across the lagoon to see some of the islands. the magnificent Basilica di Santa Maria Assunt was a must see on for the feast of the Assumption on Torcello https://www.venetoinside.com/attraction-tickets-in-veneto/tickets/torcello-basilica/By Lynda Mulvin and Michael Collins

How did the Grand Tourists get around Venice? The flat bottomed gondolier was the main means of transport. Rencently, in 2010 the first female gondolier, Giorgia Boscolo was given a licence !By Lynda Mulvin and Michael Collins

Palladio and Palladian churches loomed large on the Grand Tour with a visit to Il Redentore Church of the Most Holy Redeemer on the island of the Giudecca, during the feast of the Redeemer in July, the festa captured in a painting "La Chiesa del Redentore e il ponte votivo" - Antonio Canal detto il Canaletto…

Venice conjured up myths and legend and tales of the unexpected as imagination is full of images of the carnivale and the luminous lagoon framed by the Istrian sandstone churches of Palladio. Viewpoints of the city. Venice continues to attract the ideology of the grand tour to the city and myth of Venice itself. Venice for so long is the home of th…

Turin is known for its Baroque Rococo and neoclassical architecture elegant palazzi such a Palazzo Madama were built during the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. The first stage on the grand tour James Caulfeild , Lord Charlemont (1728-1799), spent a year in Turin in 1746.By Lynda Mulvin and Michael Collins

This episode takes the grand Tourist over the Alps to Piedmont and the first great City on the Grand Tour : Turin Some useful information is to be found below in the websites: For the architecture of Guerino Guarini: see https://divisare.com/projects/400021-guarino-guarini-chapel-of-the-holy-shroud Palazzo Carignano is a fantastic visit: http://pol…

The Grand Tour was an essential part of education during the period especially the 17th and 18th centuries when young men and women from Ireland, Great Britain and Northern Europe travelled southwards to Rome, home of the empire to which it gave its name, the Caput Mundi. The “coming of age” journey introduced the young voyagers to new languages, f…