With Mark Walters!
ANCIENT HERITAGE OF SOUTHERN ITALY
April 19-30, 2010

Join us as we explore the vestiges of ancient civilizations and see the very best that Southern Italy has to offer. Though criss-crossed and settled by many peoples, it was the ancient Greeks who had the most impact here. Our leitmotif will be the great thinkers of antiquity who have shaped Western thought and wisdom, and we will examine the ties between the Greeks in the West and in their original homeland.

We start in Sicily where the ingenious Archimedes lived and visit his home town of Syracuse - modern-day Siracusa - in the East of the island. Did Archimedes really harness sunlight from mirrors to set fire to enemy ships as they anchored in the Great Bay.

Our second focus will be closer to our base of Castelmola, spectacularly situated just above Taormina. At sea level in Giardini Naxos we see the vestiges of the first Greek colony on Sicily way back in 734 BC against the backdrop of Europe's highest volcano, Mt Etna.

We will then cross the narrow Straits of Messina to the Italian mainland to explore superb sites in Southern Italy. We visit the Pythagorean sites of Croton and Metapontion on Italy's eastern seaboard, and ancient Paestum and ancient Elea, home to the school of Zeno and Parmenides, on the western side.

Still surrounded by fertile agricultural plains, Paestum has some of the best-preserved Greek temples found in the ancient world. Our itinerary also takes in several other major UNESCO World Heritage sites in southern Italy: Castel del Monte, an enigmatic 13th century castle built by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, the beautifully preserved village of Alberobello with its curiously-shaped conical houses called trulli, and our last destination, Matera, with its remarkable dwellings hewn out of the bright limestone.

During the itinerary, we will also focus on southern Italy's landscape and ecology.

The archaeological sites will be awash with flowers at this time of year, and spring bird migration from Africa will be under way. Some of our highlights will be walks through maquis vegetation, examining plant species and discussing the use of plants in ancient times, or going for an early morning bird walk to hear - and identify - the Mediterranean dawn chorus.

Our itinerary includes:

• Alberobello - This town has a remarkable cluster of age-old trulli, conically shaped dry-stone dwellings which are characteristic of the flat plateau lands of Puglia in southeastern Italy. Alberobello has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996.

• Syracuse - Sicily's largest city in antiquity, Syracuse was home to Archimedes, Greece's best-known inventor and mathematician who lived in the third century BC and died during the Roman siege of the city in 212 BC. We will explore the archaeological sites that would have been standing in his day. Our stroll will take in the ancient Greek Temple of Athena, now fully incorporated into the various architectural elements of the cathedral in present-day Siracusa.

• Castelmola - One of the most attractive and best-preserved hill villages in Sicily, perched on a limestone dome about 1600 feet above sea level. Lying well off the beaten track, this historic gem will be our base while we explore the eastern seaboard of Sicily.

• Matera - Like a town in a time-warp, Matera lies in the heart of the region of Basilicata. On the hillside in the old town, many of the historic buildings are sculpted out of the white limestone. The town is also home to Europe's largest breeding colony of Lesser Kestrel, a major wildlife spectacle as they return from their African winter quarters to breed in southern Italy.

• Castel del Monte - Built supposedly as a hunting lodge by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the 13th century, Castel del Monte lies in rolling countryside in Puglia. This well-preserved octagonal castle is an architectural marvel of the High Middle Ages. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

• Paestum - Situated south of Salerno, Paestum marked the northern boundary of Greek influence in the 6th century BC. Its three main temples dedicated to Athena and other deities are some of the best preserved from the ancient world.

• The Riace bronzes - Most bronze statues from antiquity were melted down over time and used for other purposes. We visit the archaeological museum of Reggio Calabria to see the two larger-than-life bronze statues fished out of the sea off nearby Riace in 1972.

• Crotone - Lying on Italy's Ionian coastline facing Greece, this is where Pythagoras settled in 530 BC after leaving his native island of Samos off the coast of Asia Minor. There is extensive archaeological evidence all round Crotone, especially at Capo Colonna south of the main town, site of an ancient temple to Hera.

$3,850 plus air fare.

Brochure (Requires an Adobe pdf reader to view)