Fine culture and exquisite food: everything Italian

On DAY2, in the morning time, your English speaking guide will take you to the island of San Erasmo. This Island is just 15 minutes by boats from Venice and in the 16th Century was covered in vineyards. Michel Thoulouze and his family decided to relaunch wine production on the island using the traditional methods of the local farmers and the expertise of Lydia and Claude Bourguignon (Doctors of the Earth) and Alain Graillot whose Crozes Ermitage wines have a worldwide reputation. The resulting wine, ORTO, has all the character of this special island and it is the only wine cultivated within the territorial boundaries of Venice. A tour of the winery is a unique experience demonstrating the dedication that goes into every stage of production, artisanal in care and refined in technology. Here, a glass of wine awaits to reveal the secrets behind a great passion. In the afternoon, you will discover the secrets of Venice. The tour will start from the “Museo della Musica”, an exhibit dedicated to one of the artistic expressions that has contributed to the greatness of Italian culture: the making of stringed instruments. Venice, where the exhibit is situated, was a workshop for great makers of stringed instruments. Their excellent craftsmanship was evident in the experimentation and production of the musical instruments, always perfectly responsive to the new requirements of the sonorities which came to define those times. Hosted in the splendid Church of San Maurizio, the purpose of the museum is ‘take the visitor on a journey into the history of music’. After you will discover, hidden in its own little court yard, the elegant staircase “Contarini Del Bovolo”. It is an example of transition from Gothic to Renaissance style architecture in Venice with its peculiar spiral (bovolo in Venetian dialect) stairs going up the outside of the building instead of the inside. From the top is a lovely view of Venice’s roofs and spires. The tour continue with the visit of the world-famous Teatro La Fenice. Founded at the close of the 18th century, La Fenice quickly became the go-to theatre for the opulent premiers of some of the most famous operas in the world. With a seating capacity for over 1,000 people, La Fenice boasts excellent acoustics, a 98-member orchestra and 66-person opera chorus, a dedicated local audience and a large international following. The tour will end with a 1-hour boat tour on the Grand Canal of Venice, where you will see dozens of palazzos, mansions, churches, and iconic bridges that span the waterways as well as a romantic sunset that you will never forget.