Page 34 - Lonely Planet Europe’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

The Drive » The two-hour stalked by prostitutes streets in Europe. Visit
(170km) drive to Genoa is all and beggars, while the the finest of them, the
on autostrada, the final stretch excessive shrewdness of Palazzo Spinola (www.
twisting through the mountains. the Genovese banking palazzospinola.beniculturali.
Leave Turin following signs for families earned them a it; Piazza Superiore di Pellic-
the A55 (towards Alessandria), reputation, according to ceria 1; adult/reduced €4/2;
which quickly merges with the
A21 passing through the pretty author Thomas Nugent, h8.30am-7.30pm Tue-Sat,
Piedmontese countryside. Just as ‘a treacherous and from 1.30pm Sun) and the
before Alessandria turn south over-reaching set of Palazzo Reale (www.
onto the A26 for Genoa/Livorno. people’. palazzorealegenova.benicul
And yet with tour- turali.it; Via Balbi 10; adult/
ists and businessmen reduced €4/2; h9am-7pm
2 Genoa arriving from around the Tue-Sat, 1.30-7pm Sun). After
Some travellers, shy of world, Genoa was, and stop for sweets at Pietro
crossing the Alps, might still is, a cosmopolitan Romanengo fu Stefano
arrive by boat in Genoa place. The Rolli Palaces, (www.romanengo.com; Via
(Genova). Despite its a collection of grand Soziglia 74r; h3.30-7.30pm
ITALY 1 GRAND TOuR
superb location, mild mansions originally Mon, 9am-1pm & 3.15-7.15pm
microclimate and lush meant to host visiting Tue-Sat).
flora, the city had a popes, dignitaries and 5 p40, p107
dubious reputation. Its royalty, made Via Balbi
historic centre was a and Strada Nuova (now The Drive » This 365km
warren of dark, insalubri- Via Giuseppe Garibaldi) drive takes most of the day,
ous caruggi (alleys), two of the most famous so stop for lunch in Cremona
(p40). Although the drive is
on autostrada, endless fields
of corn line the route. Take the
A7 north out of Genoa and at
DETOUR: Tortona exit onto the A21 around
MILAN industrial Piacenza to Brescia.
At Brescia, change again onto
Start: 1 Turin (p30) the A4 direct to Padua.
No Grand Tour would be complete without a detour
up the A4 to Milan (Milano) to eyeball Leonardo da
Vinci’s iconic mural The Last Supper (Il Cenacolo; 3 Padua
%02 9280 0360; www.cenacolovinciano.net; Piazza Santa Bound for Venice
Maria delle Grazie 2; adult/reduced €6.50/3.25; h8.15am- (Venezia), Grand Tour-
7pm Tue-Sun; mCadorna). Advance booking is essential ists could hardly avoid
(booking fee €1.50). visiting Padua (Padova),
From his Portrait of a Young Man (c 1486) to although by the 18th
portraits of Duke Ludovico Sforza’s beautiful century international
mistresses, The Lady with the Ermine (c 1489) and students no longer
La Belle Ferronière (c 1490), Leonardo transformed flocked to Palazzo del Bò
the rigid conventions of portraiture to depict highly (%049 827 30 47; www.unipd.
individual images imbued with naturalism. Then it/en/guidedtours; Via VIII
he evolved concepts of idealised proportions and Febbraio; adult/reduced €7/2;
the depiction of internal emotional states through hsee website for tour times),
physical dynamism (St Jerome), all of which cohere the Venetian Republic’s
in the masterly Il Cenacolo.. radical university where
Copernicus and Galileo
taught classes.

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