A Taste of Italy - Emilia-Romagna from Bologna to Padua

Nine days across Emilia-Romagna, which is where Italians go to eat and where a surprising amount of European art history happens to be stored. Four cities, two nights each.

Bologna opens it. The university there was founded in 1088 and is the oldest in continuous operation anywhere, and the private tour takes in Piazza Maggiore, the Fountain of Neptune, and the Basilica of San Petronio, whose frescoes illustrate Dante’s Divine Comedy and include an image of Muhammad in hell that has caused trouble over the centuries.

Parma follows, for the cathedral’s marble facade and the Farnese Theatre, a wooden auditorium of 1618 that was all but destroyed by a bomb in 1944 and has since been rebuilt from the surviving fragments. The Parmigiano Reggiano and Lambrusco tastings are the other reason to be there.

Ravenna is the one most people underestimate. It was the capital of the Western Roman Empire, then of the Ostrogothic Kingdom, then of Byzantine Italy, and the mosaics left behind in San Vitale, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia and the Archbishop’s Chapel are the finest surviving anywhere outside Istanbul. Dante’s tomb is also there. Padua closes the trip, with Giotto’s frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel, the Basilica of St Anthony begun in 1232, and the world’s oldest academic botanical garden, with optional cycling at Ferrara on the way. Original Travel include the hire car, accommodation, the private tours, local concierge access, a 24-hour helpline and carbon absorption through their own programme. Flights and most meals are separate. Prices run from 2,600 to 3,850 pounds per person.