Walks and visits
Participants can select from seven walks and visits, all of which are led by one of our lecturers with a special knowledge of the city.

They last between one and two and a half hours. In addition time is needed to reach the starting points. They will be scheduled to avoid clashing with concerts and lectures and to allow adequate time before the next event.

We recommend you limit yourself to three walks. You would have to be more than usually energetic to be able to cope with more, especially if they include some of the longer ones. And the chances are that you will not be allocated your first choice of walks because of the complexity of the week’s programme, limited time and the likely imbalance between demand and supply. We shall confirm which walks have been assigned to you about ten weeks before the festival.

Except where indicated, it is not possible at this stage to specify the name of the lecturer leading each walk.

How strenuous? All visits involve quite a lot of walking and standing around in churches and museums. They would not be suitable for anyone with any difficulties with everyday walking or stair-climbing.

Small groups: no more than eighteen participants.

The price of £20 or £25 includes any admission fees, tips and donations and a contribution towards the fees and expenses of the lecturers. 

The walks
The Renaissance in the Accademia
Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto: the development of Venetian Renaissance painting. 1 hour 30 minutes, £25.

Early Renaissance Altarpieces
Paintings by Giovanni Bellini, the Vivarini brothers and Cima da Conegliano in S. Zaccaria and S. Giorgio in Bragora. 1 hour 30 minutes, £20.

Art in I Frari
Paintings by Titian and Bellini and Renaissance tomb sculpture in the church of Sta Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.
1 hour 15 minutes, £20.

San Marco
A study of the architecture, mosaics and works of art of the most illustrious church in Venice in parts only open by special arrangement. 1 hour, £25.

Palladio
Study the two major churches by Andrea Palladio, S. Giorgio Maggiore and Il Redentore. Led by Harry Charrington.
1 hour 50 minutes, £25.

Ruskin in Venice
Looks at buildings and works of art which Ruskin particularly cared about, and considers his lifelong love for the city and his concern for conservation. Led by Christopher Newall. 2 hours, £25.

Titian
Includes S. Salvador and the Church of the Gesuiti to see paintings by Titian, and finishes with his house and workshop. This involves a walk from the Rialto area to the Fondamente Nove and back again and is not recommended for slow walkers. 2 hours 30 minutes, £25.

The lecturers
Polly Buston. Art historian with an MA from the Courtauld. Works as lecturer, editor and picture researcher, and was co-author of Titian’s Venice, the 2003 National Gallery exhibition.

Dr Harry Charrington. Architect and lecturer at the University of Bath. Read Architecture at Cambridge and obtained his PhD from the LSE. Founding editor of Scroope: Cambridge Architectural Journal.

Dr Roberto Cobianchi. Art historian and lecturer at the University of Messina. Obtained his PhD from Warwick. Rome Scholar at The British School in Rome and fellow of the Biblioteca Hertziana and the Villa I Tatti.

Dr Michael Douglas Scott. Studied at the Courtauld Institute, now Associate Lecturer at Birkbeck College specialising in Italian art and architecture of the Renaissance.

Dr Luca Leoncini. Art historian and writer specialising in 15th-century Italian painting. Obtained first degree and PhD from Rome University. Contributed to the Macmillan Dictionary of Art.

Christopher Newall. Graduate of the Courtauld Institute, lecturer and writer on 19th-century British Art and curator of exhibitions worldwide.

Extra meals
There is the option of booking an additional dinner and lunch which ensures you eat in the company of other festival participants on all evenings. The price for this is £95.