Travel By Design: Italian Adventure

Explore Architecture in Venice and Tuscany

Sunday, October 17 – Monday, October 25

Join us for a journey through Venice and Tuscany as we explore the architectural influences connecting Frank Lloyd Wright, Carlo Scarpa, and the places that shaped their work.

We’ll examine how Tuscany’s historic villages, landscapes, and architecture influenced the early work of Frank Lloyd Wright. The group will also trace Wright’s influence on his contemporaries and successors, including the extraordinary Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa, whose work offers a fascinating lens into Wright’s architectural legacy.

We’ll stay at the Avani Rio Novo Venice Hotel in Venice’s Dorsoduro District, with  expert local guides fluent in Italian and high-quality transportation, including private water taxis and high-speed trains. Plus, all gratuities are included, so you can focus on the experience.

If you’re an architecture aficionado who enjoys going beyond the surface to explore some of the 20th century’s most important architects, this adventure is for you!

Here is a more detailed itinerary of the daily activities:

(PLEASE NOTE: All locations and activities are subject to change)

Depart from the US on overnight flight. Airfare not included.

Arrive in Venice. Transfers will be arranged and priced separately once guests’ flight schedules are confirmed.

Guests will check in individually at the Avani Rio Novo Venice Hotel, a contemporary 4-star property located in the authentic Dorsoduro district. The hotel offers stylish accommodations, contemporary public spaces, a fitness center, and easy access by private water taxi. Guests will have the balance of the day at leisure to settle in and explore the neighborhood.

In the evening, the group will gather for a welcome dinner at a typical Venetian “Trattoria” featuring traditional local cuisine.

Overnight in Venice.

Breakfast is included at the hotel.

The morning begins with a private boat transfer to the Giardini della Biennale, where an expert local guide will lead an architectural tour focused on Carlo Scarpa’s work, including the Ticket Office, Venezuelan Pavilion, Sculpture Garden, and Monument to the Partisan Woman. The tour will also explore Scarpa’s important connection to Frank Lloyd Wright and Wright’s 1951 visit to Venice.

After lunch at a local restaurant, the group will continue by private boat to Murano for an exclusive visit to the Venini Glassworks, where Scarpa collaborated for more than twenty years. Visits will be arranged in small groups as required.

Dinner on your own. Overnight in Venice.

After breakfast, the group will travel by private water taxi and motorcoach to Possagno to visit the Canova Gypsoteca and explore Carlo Scarpa’s thoughtful use of light, materials, and landscape.

The group will continue to Villa Barbaro, designed by Andrea Palladio, followed by lunch at Casa Diamante in the villa’s former barn. In the afternoon, visit the Brion Memorial in Altivole, focusing on Scarpa’s Japanese influences, Venetian craftsmanship, and connections to Frank Lloyd Wright.

Return to Venice in the late afternoon. Dinner included. Overnight in Venice.

After breakfast, the group will travel by private boat to San Marco for an architectural overview of St. Mark’s Square, followed by visits to Scarpa’s Olivetti Showroom and the Querini Stampalia Foundation.

After lunch on your own, the group will visit two private locations: the Masieri Foundation, comparing Frank Lloyd Wright’s original project with Scarpa’s completed design, and the Baratto Hall at Ca’ Foscari University, highlighting Scarpa’s celebrated use of materials, craftsmanship, light, and detail. These two sites are not typically open to the public.

The day concludes at Punta della Dogana, where Tadao Ando’s contemporary intervention reflects on Venice’s historic architectural landscape.

Return to the hotel by private water taxi. Dinner on your own. Overnight in Venice.

Breakfast is included at the hotel. Check out and transfer by private van to Santa Lucia Railway Station.

Meet your local guide for a walking tour through Santa Croce and San Polo, visiting the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, home to masterpieces by Titian, Donatello, and Bellini, followed by the Scuola Grande di San Rocco and Tintoretto’s celebrated Renaissance cycle.

Lunch at a local restaurant, followed by a high-speed Trenitalia Premium Class train to Florence.

Upon arrival at Santa Maria Novella Station, private coach transfer to C-Hotel Club Firenze. After check-in, enjoy dinner at a nearby local restaurant.

Following dinner, take an evening walking tour of Florence’s highlights, including Piazza della Signoria, Ponte Vecchio, Piazza della Repubblica, and the Cathedral District, with a discussion of Florence’s influence on the architectural ideas later explored by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Breakfast at the hotel. Meet your private motorcoach and travel to Fiesole, just outside Florence.

Enjoy a guided visit through Fiesole, exploring Piazza Mino, the historic streets, Belvedere, and the area around Villino Belvedere, where Frank Lloyd Wright stayed. Discover how the Tuscan landscape and its relationship between architecture, nature, and topography influenced Wright’s philosophy of Organic Architecture. Continue to Villa Medici di Fiesole, where the Renaissance villa and gardens further illustrate this harmony with the landscape.

Lunch on your own before continuing to Villa La Petraia, a beautiful Medici villa renowned for its terraces, gardens, panoramic views, and integration with the hillside—principles that strongly resonate with Wright’s architectural philosophy.

Return to Florence. Dinner at an exclusive rooftop restaurant with panoramic views over the city.

Overnight in Florence.

Breakfast and lunch at leisure to explore Florence independently.

After lunch, depart by private coach for the Tuscan countryside and the hill town of San Gimignano, renowned for its medieval towers and beautifully preserved historic center. Enjoy a guided visit of Piazza della Cisterna, Piazza del Duomo, medieval towers, and panoramic viewpoints, with a focus on medieval urbanism, stone architecture, and the relationship between the town and surrounding landscape.

Continue to a selected winery in the San Gimignano or Chianti area. Visit the estate and wine cellars, followed by a Tuscan dinner with wine tasting and time to enjoy the vineyards and countryside.

Return to Florence. Overnight in Florence.

Breakfast is included at the hotel. Check out.

Independent transfer to Florence Airport, railway station, or another location. Transfers are not included.

Extra hotel nights are available upon request.

The cost of the trip includes four nights at the Avani Rio Hotel in Venice and three nights at the Club Hotel in Florence, full-time English-speaking tour escort services, transportation including water taxis, private coach transfers, and high-speed train travel, guided tours and admissions, winery and cultural visits, daily breakfasts, select group lunches and dinners, a Tuscan dinner with wine tasting, luggage handling, and gratuities for drivers, guides, and escort. Airfare, individual arrival and departure transfers, and individual departures are not included.

Double occupancy, per person: $6,250

Single occupancy, per person: $7,500

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Please Review the Terms and Conditions

Payment: 

Payments are due in full at the time of reservation.

Medical Considerations:

This tour involves significant walking and requires participants to be in good physical condition. You must be able to walk, without assistance, a minimum of one mile over uneven terrain and climb stairs that may not have handrails.

Limits on Responsibilities:

All services and arrangements for transportation, accommodations, and other services related to the tour have been made by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House (MH) only as a representative of the participant. Therefore, the MH should not be held liable for any damages, expenses, or other financial losses to a person or property arising out of injury, cancellation, delay, or alteration from any act of negligence by the hotel, bus, restaurant, or company rendering services during the tour. The MH reserves the right to pass on to any participants expenditures, additional expenses, or losses caused by delays or events beyond its control. All participants will be asked to sign a waiver that will agree to waive, release, and hold harmless the MH, the owners, operators, members, officers, directors, trustees, agents, successors and assigns, from any and all claims, injuries, causes of action, demands, costs, liability, and/or harm of any kind acquired against each of them as a result of your participation in this event. This release shall not be effective if the claim or injury is the result of the sole negligence of the named entity. Should actual enrollments significantly fall below the minimum numbers, a surcharge may be added.

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