"This was my first MRT tour and I was blown away by the brilliant execution. Immediately following completion of the tour, which I did alone, I registered my wife and me for the same tour next Spring. Thank you for the best nine days of my life."
Discovering Friuli: Art Treasures in Italy's Hidden Corner, by Dr Carlo Corsato
16 Jun 2025
Discovering Friuli: Art Treasures in Italy's Hidden Corner, by Dr Carlo Corsato
Dr Carlo Corsato, art historian and expert lecturer on our Friuli tour, reveals why this overlooked region of northeast Italy holds some of the country's most extraordinary artistic treasures.
Friuli-Venezia Giulia remains one of Italy's best-kept secrets, a region with treasures one would not be surprised to see in Venice, Florence, or Rome. Yet here they remain beautifully undiscovered. From ancient Roman ports to Renaissance masterpieces hidden in churches, from the villa where Napoleon signed away the thousand-year Republic of Venice to enigmatic Lombard monuments, this corner of northeastern Italy reveals how its position as a cultural crossroads between Italy, Austria, and the Balkans created an extraordinary artistic heritage. Here, diverse influences—Lombard, Venetian, Germanic, and Ottoman—converged to produce works of remarkable sophistication and beauty.
Beginning in Udine, we follow Giambattista Tiepolo's artistic evolution from promising young painter to absolute master. In the Oratorio della Purità and Archbishop's Palace, we witness genius unfolding before our eyes, understanding how this master transformed Venetian painting in the eighteenth century.
Our journey moves to the ancient coastal settlements of Grado and Aquileia, where early Christians built churches of breathtaking beauty and created the largest and oldest mosaic floor in Western Christianity—a masterpiece that has survived centuries of invasions. These early Christian communities reveal not only stunning artistry but the profound spiritual transformations that shaped medieval Europe.
In Trieste, we explore Castello di Miramare, where tragedy meets art history. We discover how Archduke Maximilian and his wife Charlotte of Belgium designed this extraordinary castle and its 22-hectare seashore park. Maximilian never saw their dream completed—fate called him to become Emperor of Mexico, where he was eventually deposed, tried, and killed. At the Museo Sartorio, we get up close to the finest public collection of Tiepolo's drawings—exquisite sketches that allow us to examine every delicate line and brushstroke that reveal the master's creative process.
We discover Cividale, the ancient Lombard capital, where power and devotion inspired works of extraordinary art. Together we will unlock the secrets of the Tempietto, one of Italy's most enigmatic medieval monuments. In San Daniele del Friuli, we encounter the Renaissance frescoes of Pellegrino da San Daniele in the church of Sant'Antonio, works that demonstrate the northward spread of Renaissance artistic ideals.
At Spilimbergo's Gothic cathedral, fourteenth-century frescoes transport us to the world of medieval piety, whilst Villa Manin in Passariano offers magnificent Baroque frescoes by Dorigny alongside the historic rooms of Ludovico Manin, the last Doge of Venice, where Napoleon signed the treaty that ended the Republic. In Sacile, Palazzo Ragazzoni celebrates the extraordinary life of Giacomo Ragazzoni, a man honoured by Queen Mary Tudor, King Henry III of France, and Mehmed Pasha, Grand Vizier of Constantinople.
This tour offers more than sightseeing—it's a cultural experience through art and history, where every place tells a story, and every story changes how we see the world around us.
I hope you can join me for Friuli Venezia Giulia: The Border Lands of Northeast Italy, 29 September–4 October 2025.
