CONTROCORRENTE

Venice, Mantua, Cremona: the three main cities of Claudio Monteverdi's life 

Our main purpose is to retrace the same itinerary that Monteverdi used to do to reach his beloved cities. Each city claims its paternity, because all of them marked an important milestone in his artistic and personal life.
This is the starting point of the new edition of “Monteverdi Festival 2022”. This edition wants to undertake  a  counter-current  route  starting  from  Venice,  visit  Mantua  and  get  to  Cremona  in  the opening day of the Monteverdi Festival. A long weekend full of events!

16TH June – VENICE/ MANTUA
This particular excursion will take you to admire the beautiful Venetian Lagoon with the panoramic  St. Mark’s Basin and the navigation on the ancient canals connecting the Serenissima Republic of Venice and some important cultural and commercial cities such as Chioggia. We are going to enter the uncontaminated territories of the Po Delta Natural Park, where history and nature dominate the amazing Landscape. 

8.30 am: Meeting with our tour leader at  the Naval Museum close to the Arsenal of Venice and   boarding on the motorboat. Welcome breakfast on board. Sailing and panoramic view of St Mark’s basin.   

11:00 am Landing in CHIOGGIA :  we will have a pleasant stroll ( 1 hour ) in the typical narrow  streets called "calli", going into the fishermen’s life with their nets, the boats and the unforgettable  fish smell.   

01:00 pm: Our board restaurant will serve you a Bellini Aperitiv  accompanied by light snacks.  A seafood lunch will follow. Wine, water and coffee included.
Navigation from the Venetian Lagoon to the Po Delta Natural Park, passing through the following locks: Brondolo, Cavanella d’Adige Sinistra and Destra and Volta Grimana, which is the longest one in Italy. These locks are like a water-lift built following some technical designs by Leonardo da Vinci and enable the navigation from Venice to Cremona.  

03:00 pm Arrival at TAGLIO DI PO (Ro)  disembarking and proceed by bus to MANTUA: you will reach the city center in about 1h15. Our local guide will show the beauty of the city with a visit of the most squares and churches such as: Sordello Square and Palazzo Ducale (inside visit), Monteverdi place par excellence.

The beauty and opulence of Palazzo Ducale, the reigning Gonzaga family with its immense spaces, the magnificent frescoed rooms, the galleries of paintings , is hard to describe. This is probably the grandest and most architecturally dense palazzo of its period.  Along with works by the likes of Pisanello and Rubens, the most famous work on display is Andrea Mantegna’s frescoes in the Camera degli Sposi (Bridal Chamber). Painted between 1465 and 1474, the  Camera  degli  Sposi  fresco  is  notable  for  its  use  of  trompe l’oeil and ‘di sotto in su’  painting techniques. Dinner in a restaurant with a typical menu. Overnight stay at Grand Hotel San Lorenzo or Casa Poli.

17TH June –  MANTUA/CREMONA

Breakfast and check out. Morning dedicated to the guided tour of Palazzo Te that represents one of the most appreciated architectonic testimonies of the Gonzaga's noble house. Palazzo Te was the palace  intended  for  entertainment  and  holiday  of  the  lords  of  Mantova.  The  Duke  Federico  II Gonzaga in 1525 commissioned the project and the realization to Giulio Romano,  painter  and architect of the late Renaissance and student  of  Raffaello. Built  over  a  decade, the building complex is built around a square court, the Cortile d'Onore, from which through the Loggia di Davide you pass in the rear garden.The main attraction is however the frescoed rooms, which in pictorial representations give us back the habits of the people who used to live in the palace. Among the various rooms worthy of note, there are the Camera of Psiche and the Sala of Giganti. Transfer by bus to Cremona. Stop in the surroundings
( 9 km ) for Lunch in a typical ‘Trattoria’ . We will then move to Cremona aboard the Mattei motorboat, docked nearby. One hour cruise discovering the River Po ecosystem: full of charme , which allows to know an unusual landscape.

At the arrival of the cruise in Cremona, on the banks of the Po river, passengers will be greeted by the Baroque Brass Ensemble (ensemble of baroque trumpets and trombones) of the Monteverdi Orchestra Festival - Cremona Antiqua; in addition there will be a moment with the staff of the Ponchielli theater.  
Accommodation in a 4 * hotel in the city center (Hotel Delle Arti or Impero). A guide will be available for those who wish to visit the mediaeval Duomo Square.

At 7:30 pm meeting at the Ponchielli Theater for the opening night of the Monteverdi Festival, with the Opera “Il  ritorno  di  Ulisse  in  patria”, with the musical direction of Maestro Ottaviano Dantone, accompanied by his Byzantine Academy; the directing project, based on a new layout, will be curated by Luigi De Angelis and his creative team from the Fanny & Alexander company.

18TH June –  CREMONA

Buffet breakfast. Guided visit of the historical city centre. Piazza del Comune is closed on three sides by the harmonious architectural masses of the main historical monuments of the city; The Torrazzo, bell tower symbol par excellence of the city that dominates Cremona from the top of its 111  meters; The  Duomo,  one  of  the  most  famous  religious  buildings  of  northern  Italy.  It  is  a composite structure because, to the original Romanesque construction, have been added gradually
over the centuries reworking of Gothic, Renaissance, mannerist and Baroque style, which have been well harmonized with the existing structures. Significant are the sculptural works that adorn the facade. The inside has a monumental aspect, both for its size and for the sumptuous decorative scheme. Valuable are the frescoes, works of Cremona's painters. Battistero, Loggia dei Militi and Palazzo Comunale complete the square Piazza del Comune.
The tour continues with the Museo del Violino, unique in the world, which is situated in Piazza Marconi in the historical Palazzo dell'Arte. The Stradivarius Museum's collections are merged into the museum (in which are retained Antonio Stradivari's work instruments) to get to the “treasure chest” where the most important instruments of the great classical masters of Cremona, belonging to  the  collection  of  the  municipality  of  Cremona,  are  exhibited.  Not  less  important  is  the Permanent Collection of Contemporary Lutherie. At the end of the tour the participants will attend
the Audition of an Instrument of the Collection. Lunch in a restaurant with typical menu.
Free afternoon with the possibility of further sightseeing. There will be concerts in all the places of high historical importance in the city; there will also be the #monteverdisottrraneo (underground Monteverdi)  and  the  new  format  #monteverdiclandestino  (clandestine  Monteverdi)  with  the
contamination of the music and character of the Divine Claudio.

At  7:30  pm Appointment at the  Church  of  Sant’Agostino. The Orchestra and Chorus of the Monteverdi Festival - Cremona Antiqua directed by Maestro Antonio Greco will perform an absolute masterpiece in the history of music: Il Vespro della Beata Vergine.

19TH June –  CREMONA
Breakfast and check out. End of our services.