top of page
Top

Opera in Italy
and much, much more
with Miguel
Rodé

October 17 - 27, 2026
October 17 - 27, 2026
 
TRIP STATUS:  OPEN

 

Activity Level:  pretty vigorous to make all the above visits!

Cost:  $8250, double occupancy; $1575 single supplement

SOME of the HIGHLIGHTS

 

  • Gounod’s Faust at La Scala

  • Cenacola (Last supper)

  • Basilica Sant'Ambrogia

  • Milan Duomo

  • Villa Medici Piano Collection

  • Mozart’s Zauberflöte at Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza

  • Scrovegni Chapel

  • And many other sites and lots of good food!

Join us on a spectacular Artful Journey, certain to indulge your 5 senses and perhaps even to fill your 6th or 7th sense.  Musically, we’ll see and hear 2 operas, Gregorian chants at the Milan Duomo, and a symphonic concert at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza. 

duomo - Copy.jpg

Miguel Rodé will join us and lead discussions about Faust and the Magic Flute.  We’ll also visit a favorite of mine, Villa Medici Giulini, where Ms. Guilini has 140 pianos for you to marvel at!  And harpsichords and clavichords, and even a keyboard or two!

IMG_1142.heic

Visually, besides the operas and the great theatres, we will visit Basilica Sant'Ambrogio, which has the most beautiful golden altar in the world, according to a friend, who is an art historian. 

san abrogiano.jpg

We’ll visit at least two other art museums in Milan, the Brera and Ambrosiana, Also, on the list of places we’ll visit is Ansaldo, which is the production facility for La Scala and is loaded with opera models.  There you’ll also see workers building sets and costumes.  It’s really a fascinating place.  And of course, we’ll visit The Last Supper (Cenacola in Italian). 

In Padua (Padova, in Italian), we’ll visit the Scrovegni Chapel.  Many  of Giotto’s frescoes adorn the walls of this chapel, built in 1303 to save Scrovegni’s father from eternal damnation that Dante wished him in the Inferno.   We’ll spend at least a day roaming the Padua Duomo, Basilica de Sant’ Antonia, the Scuola del Santo and Oratorio di San Giorgio.    This will be my first time in Padua, and I am very excited to see its riches.

Hosts

We’ll walk around Vicenza, which is just filled with Palladian architecture.  The concert and opera will be held in the Teatro Olimpico, pictured here.  Since it’s open air, I really hope it doesn’t rain!

On our last day,  if you’d like,  we will take the short train ride to get a taste of Venice and its  quite unique aqueous layout.   

sinadelaville_lobby.avif

 

In Milan, we will be staying at the very centrally located 4-star Hotel Sine de Ville, which is really a stone’s throw from La Scala and the Milan Duomo and the impressive Galleria.  

In Padua, we will be staying at Garden Inn Padova City Centre,  a 4-star hotel by Hilton, which is within walking distance of most sites we will visit.

YOUR HOSTS

Screen Shot 2024-09-04 at 8.58.33 PM.png
Miguel Rodé
Facilitator
Cost

Miguel Rodé was born and raised in Montevideo, Uruguay and moved to the US in 2002 as part of his Information Technology career and currently resides in Seattle, WA. A life-long music lover, over the years Miguel developed a special fascination with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, and in particular with his cantatas and other vocal works. During the Covid pandemic, Miguel initiated a series of virtual meetings called "The Cantata Trail" with the intent of sharing this incredibly rich musical universe with some close friends. This small community grew organically through word of mouth to its current size of about 70 members. As a musician, Miguel plays the baroque flute and is a member of several chamber ensembles in the Seattle area, for which he also enjoys transcribing and arranging music. 

joan_hill.jpg
Joan Hill
Owner, Host, & Director

In 2008, the seed of Artful Journeys was planted in her brain, when Joan brought together all of her life's passions, her love of music, an affinity for the beautiful things in life, and an ability to organize events to give birth to Artful Journeys, a program of art education trips for the soul.​

Joan was born and raised in the apple country of the Hudson River Valley in New York; her father was a gentle, very tolerant, educated land surveyor, and her mother was the efficient business administrator and home engineer. The youngest of four children, Joan was encouraged to pursue anything she wanted, but also to do her best. Sometimes that was very difficult, especially succeeding three very accomplished siblings.

JOURNEY COST

Cost:  $8,250. per person double occupancy​​ 
  • $1,575 single supplement

  • NOTE: A  deposit of $500 per person is required upon registration.

  • Airfare is not included to enable travelers to use their “travel points,” upgrade flight arrangements, or to extend their trip.  

  • Not included are personal purchases and pampering

  • Travel insurance is strongly encouraged

  • Covid vaccinations and booster are advised.  ​

For details or questions, please click here to contact Joan Hill.
To register for this journey, please click below:

Please note that PayPal remittances must go through the form on this website.  Thank you.

copyright 2025 - Artful Journeys LLC

©Artful Journeys LLC 2026

bottom of page