Learn more about this travel program. Click here to view our webinar, "An Artist`s Hidden Venice," and enjoy a free lecture from our faculty leader Adam Van Doren!

“Every time I describe a city, I am saying something about Venice,” said Italian novelist, Italo Calvino in his book, Invisible Cities. We`ll begin our program with four days in Venice, exploring the masterpieces of art and architecture that comprise this miraculous city on the sea. From the galleries of the Peggy Guggenheim Museum - the 18th century palazzo home of the famed heiress and art collector - to the Teatro La Fenice, to lesser-known gems like San Giorgio Maggiore (designed by Andrea Palladio), this study of Venice`s hidden corners offers you the unique pleasures of walking through history with the illuminating eye our faculty leader, Adam Van Doren, an artist and expert in its beauty.

From your home at the Hotel Aquarius, a quiet pocket of residential life, you`ll venture to a full concert evening at Teatro La Fenice and enjoy private tours of important churches and galleries. You`ll also experience undiscovered highlights like the Acqua Alta Bookshop, where books are stored in bathtubs to protect them from the ever increasing “high water” of Venice floods. Tastings feature iconic masterpieces of hospitality: tea at the Hotel Danieli, and a private reception at Ernest Hemingway’s favorite hotel, The Gritti Palace.

The program also includes free time to wander Venice’s calli, as Venetians call the streets in this city built on water, and explore the wonders of the Piazza San Marco, the vast public space in front of St. Mark’s Basilica that Napoleon called, “the drawing room of Europe.”

Sailing from the Venetian Lagoon, you`ll embark on the elegant Sea Cloud II for an unforgettable journey on the Adriatic Sea straddling the Italian and Croatian coastlines. With warm autumn breezes filling the billowing sails of the privately chartered Sea Cloud II, cruise the shimmering Adriatic to timeless towns and archaeological sites in Italy and Croatia and trace the history of The Venetian Republic.

Savor a rare, exclusive inside look at the landmark achievements of the many cultures—from ancient Greeks and Romans to Byzantines and Venetians—who have made the Adriatic region their home. Starting in the lustrous canals of Venice, journey to Ravenna, the former capital of the Western Roman Empire, to admire the fifth- and sixth-century mosaics of its early Christian churches. Traverse the Adriatic to UNESCO-listed Dubrovnik, Croatia, one of Europe’s best-preserved medieval cities, which Lord Byron called “the pearl of the Adriatic.” Discover nearby Hvar, a fertile island of green mountains, Venetian fortifications, and pale stone houses surrounded by rosemary, lavender, and laurel. Step ashore in Zadar, home to historic Roman ruins, medieval churches, cosmopolitan cafés, and quality museums. Further highlights include the seafront city of Pula, whose foundations date to the fifth century B.C. Experience these cities as they were centuries ago by Roman magistrates and Venetian merchant princes—by sea.