REMEMBER YOUR PASSPORTS! Today we go visit the famously beautiful Lake Region, just to the north of Milan, on the Swiss border. In the morning, we stop in the fashionable resort town of Stresa, on Lago Maggiore, Italy’s 2nd largest lake, and take the ferry out to the amazing island-creation of Isola Bella, one of the great masterpieces of the Baroque, created in the 16th and 17th century by the princely Borromeo family on what was originally a barren, rocky island. We should be right in the middle of the rose season, which goes particularly well with the island’s resident white peacocks!   After a lovely lunch in Stresa, we then drive into Switzerland, to the town of Ascona, the ultimate artists’ colony of the early 20th century, where people like D.H. Lawrence, Hermann Hesse, and Erich Maria Remarque (and Professor Lear’s grandparents!) came to relax and be inspired. Among them was a fascinating gay figure, an Estonian aristocrat poet, artist, and philosopher named Elisàr von Kupffer, who came here with his partner to build a temple to their new religion, Clearism, with a collection of 16 murals featuring *84* male nudes, mostly (it seems) based on the young von Kupffer. This little known (and difficult to visit) monument to the gay world of the 1890s-1930s will astonish you! Note that von Kupffer also published in 1899 a collection of literature on the theme of male-male love as a protest against the prosecution of Oscar Wilde.

Also, for Professor Lear’s fans: you may know that it is generally believed (in the Harvardian world where Professor Lear and André Aciman originally knew each other) that Elio’s childhood—living in a big house on the water in Northern Italy, with a famous professor father, speaking French, Italian, and English—is based on Professor Lear’s childhood. If so, then today, we will be driving by the place where the real Elio lived—before visiting the places where Hollywood Elio lived tomorrow….

Our last day in Milan is dedicated to perhaps the greatest of the many gay geniuses, Leonardo Da Vinci. We start our day at Milan’s castle, now a cultural center with several museums—though long a hated symbol of tyrants and foreign domination. In Leonardo’s time, however, it was the principal residence of his great patron, Lodovico il Moro, Duke of Milan, for whom (while working in his customary dilatory fashion on a perhaps unrealistically massive equestrian monument to the Duke’s father) Leonardo served as decorator and party-architect. From the castle we go to the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana (the St Ambrose library and art gallery) where we can see one of Leonardo’s best-preserved paintings, as well as a rotating exhibit from the museum’s astonishing collection of Leonardo’s drawings and manuscripts. After one last traditional Milanese lunch, we go to see one of Leonardo’s great masterpieces, the Last Supper that he painted in the refectory of the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie. This painting, which astonished contemporaries with its realistic sense of space and its lively portrayal of complex emotions, initiated the High Renaissance; indeed, along with Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, it is one of the most influential paintings of all time. Along the way, we will learn the story of Leonardo’s life and of course of his love for the assistant he called “Salaì” (the devil)—whose face may have influenced the Mona Lisa!

Today, after 5 days in Milan and Lombardy, we take off to the East, to the Veneto, the province of Venice. On the way, however, we stop at yet another one of the Italian lakes—and according to many, the most beautiful of them—the Lago di Garda, where we visit the so-called Grottoes of Catullus—the ruins of a Roman lakeside Villa connected with the bisexual rockstar poet of ancient Rome, Gaius Valerius Catullus—who probably didn’t live here, but did live on this peninsula (a word he invented to describe it!). And you have seen this area too in Call Me By Your Name, because it is where Professor Perlman’s colleague has discovered an ancient statue in the lake. We then visit the charming town of Sirmione, where among many other celebrities over the years, Maria Callas (one of the ultimate gay icons, no?) lived with her husband Giovanni Meneghini, whom she abandoned for Ari Onassis. We have lunch in Sirmione and late in the afternoon drive to Verona.

Hotel (3 nights): Hotel Giberti, an elegant, modern hotel only 10 minutes walk from the ancient Roman arena and the historic center of Verona.

Verona is mainly known for 2 things: the Roman amphitheater where the world’s most famous summer opera festival takes place and the story of Romeo and Juliet. Today we will learn about the story of Romeo and Juliet, which is of course a legend—but has many real connections to Verona. And we will visit the city, which is truly one of the most beautiful of northern Italy’s many beautiful cities, and in a superb area for food, wine, and cheese. Think of cheeses like Asiago (truly one of the greats) and wines like Valpolicella, Amarone, Bardolino, Soave, and Lugana. So this is a big day for food! First we have a great lunch in a place right on the Piazza Erbe, Verona’s main square, with local specialties like bigoli (a pasta shape typical of the Veneto) and risotto all’Amarone—our first encounter with our second regional cuisine, the food of the Veneto. And then we take off for the countryside of the Valpolicella region for tastings of wine, cheese, prosciutto, and salame!

Today we take an excursion to another (even more?) charming city in the area, Vicenza. Vicenza is mainly known as the home of the great architect Andrea Palladio, and the city is full of his works, as is the surrounding countryside. We will visit the city, especially Palladio’s Basilica and his lovely Teatro Olimpico, still with its 16th century sets for a production of Oedipus Rex. Then another truly spectacular lunch at a bistro known for its excellent baccalà and its fabulous cellar of local wines. After lunch, we visit two nearby country villas: first the most famous, the Villa La Rotonda, the model for Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, and then, just a few hundred meters away, a villa with many frescoes by Veronese (a nom de plume which just means “the man from Verona”), including, in a corner, a little gay/trans detail which will start off our discussion of Venice and sexuality….

Note btw that the famously handsome Italian swimmer Thomas Ceccon is also from Vicenza, so let’s keep our eyes open when we’re there…. Maybe he’ll be sleeping in a park….

Today we reach our final destination, the city which is not just beautiful, but gorgeous, Venice, the Pearl of the Adriatic—and the European city with the raciest history outside of Paris. We will spend two days here, exploring its splendid palaces and churches and the steamy history that took place in them. Today we start with the stunning main square and its two principal monuments: the cathedral of San Marco and the Doges’ Palace. We also, however, spend some time in prison, in the so-called Leads (Piombi) up under the roof of the palace, from which one of Venice’s iconic heroes, Casanova (98% straight, but fun anyway) escaped to continue his career as a mountebank and mass seducer (said to be the model for Don Giovanni in the Mozart libretto, written by another fun, multi-faceted Venetian character, Lorenzo Da Ponte). Lunch will be at a restaurant well known for excellent seafood (what else in Venice?) and particularly for its desserts, including a famous tiramisù.

Note: this evening, as in Milan, we have the possibility of seeing an opera in one of the iconic opera houses, Venice’s La Fenice. Built in 1789, the Fenice has seen many important premieres, including those of Rigoletto and La Traviata (and of more recent operas such as Stravinsky’s Rake’s Progress and Britten’s Turn of the Screw). The house suffered from a mafia-arson fire in 1996 but has been splendidly restored. This evening, there will be a performance of Verdi’s Attila—which also premiered here in 1846. As in Milan, tickets will be hard to get, so please let us know asap!

Hotel (2 nights): NH Venezia Santa Lucia. A pleasant hotel that is quiet despite its very central location, the NH Venezia Santa Lucia sits right on the Grand Canal, and right by the stop for the vaporetto that will take you everywhere in the Venetian lagoon.

This morning we lean into Venice’s scandalous history, We tour the city’s notoriously tortuous streets—and canals, of course—while learning about Venice’s long history as Europe’s freest and sexiest city, from the early (think Renaissance) porn industry and the great courtesans that (probably) modeled for Titian to the libertine 18th century and the sex tourism side of the Grand Tour—lasting until the early 20th century. And of course we will emphasize the LGBT+ side of all of this, from a 14th century trans (?) prostitute named Rolandina to the gnaga (again, trans?) masks of the 18th century Carnival to probably the most famous of all gay novels, Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice (and Visconti’s 1971 film version, starring great gay actor Dirk Bogarde and “the most beautiful boy in the world,” Björn Andrésen). And of course also The Talented Mr Ripley! The highlight of our tour will be a visit to a Renaissance palace, where we will see the role of gay myths in the period’s imagination. Your afternoon is free, to explore museums and shop. Maybe a coffee at the Caffè Florian—arguably the first café in the world? Or a drink at Harry’s Bar? Known for its connection to Ernest Hemingway—but also a favored hang-out of Toscanini, Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, and so on—also where drinks like the Bellini were invented, Harry’s was closed by the fascist government during WWII because of its gay and Jewish clientele. Whatever you do this afternoon, this evening we will gather for one last, fabulous Italian meal—right on the Grand Canal of course—to celebrate northern Italy’s beauty and gay history—and the new friendships we will have made.

Our tour ends with breakfast this morning, but please let us know if you would like help with further travel arrangements.