Itinerary

Ports

Venice, Italy
It’s called La Serenissima, “the most serene,” a reference to the majesty, wisdom, and monstrous power of this city that was for centuries the unrivaled mistress of trade between Europe and the Orient and the bulwark of Christendom against the tides of Ottoman expansion. Built entirely on water by men who defied the sea, Venice is unlike any other town. No matter how many times you’ve seen it in movies or on television, the real thing is more dreamlike than you could ever imagine. Its landmarks, the Basilica di San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale, are exotic mixes of Byzantine, Gothic, and Renaissance styles. Shimmering sunlight and silvery mist soften every perspective here, and you understand how the city became renowned in the Renaissance for its artists’ rendering of color. It’s full of secrets, inexpressibly romantic, and at times given over entirely to pleasure.

Split, Croatia
The heart of Split lies within the walls of Roman emperor Diocletian’s retirement palace, which was built in the 3rd century AD. Born in the nearby Roman settlement of Salona in AD 245, Diocletian achieved a brilliant career as a soldier and became emperor at the age of 40. In 295 he ordered this vast palace to be built in his native Dalmatia, and when it was completed he stepped down from the throne and retired to his beloved homeland. In 615, when Salona was sacked by barbarian tribes, refugees took shelter within the stout palace walls and divided up the vast imperial apartments into more modest living quarters. Thus, the palace developed into an urban center. Under the rule of Venice (1420-1797), Split became one of the Adriatic’s main trading ports. When the Habsburgs took control during the 19th century, an overland connection to Central Europe was established by the construction of the Split-Zagreb-Vienna railway line. The Tito years saw a period of rapid urban expansion: industrialization accelerated.

Dubrovnik, Croatia
Commanding a splendid coastal location, Dubrovnik is one of the world’s most beautiful fortified cities. Its massive stone ramparts and splendid fortress towers curve around a tiny harbor, enclosing graduated ridges of sun-bleached orange-tiled roofs, copper domes, and elegant bell towers. In the 7th century AD, residents of the Roman city Epidaurum (now Cavtat) fled the Avars and Slavs of the north and founded a new settlement on a small rocky island, which they named Laus, and later Ragusa. On the mainland hillside opposite the island, the Slav settlement called Dubrovnik grew up. In the 12th century, the narrow channel separating the two settlements was filled in, and Ragusa and Dubrovnik became one. The city was surrounded by defensive walls during the 13th century, and these were reinforced with towers and bastions during the late 15th century. The city became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. During the war for independence, it came under heavy siege, though thanks to careful restoration work, few traces of damage remain. Today Dubrovnik is once again a fashionable, high-class destination.

Bari, Italy
Bari comprises a new and an old town. To the north, on a promontory between the old and new harbours, lies the picturesque old town, or Citta Vecchia, with a maze of narrow, crooked streets. To the south is the spacious and regularly planned new town, which has developed considerably since 1930, when the Levant Fair was first held here.

Taormina, Italy
Sicily has beckoned seafaring wanderers since the trials of Odysseus were first sung in Homer’s Odyssey. Strategically poised between Europe and Africa, this mystical volcanic land has been a melting pot of every great civilization on the Mediterranean: Greek and Roman; then Arab and Norman; and finally French, Spanish, and Italian. Today Sicily fuses the remains of sackings past: graceful Byzantine mosaics rubbing elbows with Greek temples, Roman amphitheaters, Romanesque cathedrals, and baroque flights of fancy. Messina’s ancient history lists a series of disasters, but the city nevertheless managed to develop a fine university and a thriving cultural environment. On December 28, 1908, Messina changed from a flourishing metropolis of 120,000 to a heap of rubble, shaken to pieces by an earthquake that turned into a tidal wave and left 80,000 dead and the city almost completely leveled. For this reason there are few historical treasures but the town makes a good jumping off point for explorations of other treasures.

Sorrento, Italy
As you journey down the fabled Amalfi Coast, the route takes you past rocky cliffs plunging into the sea and small boats lying in sandy coves like brightly colored fish. Erosion has contorted the rocks into shapes resembling figures from mythology and hollowed out fairy grottoes where the air is turquoise and the water an icy blue. White villages dripping with flowers nestle in coves or climb like vines up the steep, terraced hills. Lemon trees abound, loaded with blossom or fruit—and netting in winter to protect the fruit. The inhabitants jest that they look after their lemons better than their children. The road must have a thousand turns, each with a different view, on its dizzying 69-km (43-mi) journey from Sorrento to Salerno. Venture north, and you can fall under the spell of Pompeii’s silent streets, frozen in time under the dust of 25 centuries.

Bonifacio, France
“Where the mountains meet the sea,” the beautiful island of Corsica, set in the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean between Italy and France, is steeped in history.

At the tip of Corsica is the ancient fortress town of Bonifacio. Its superb location on a narrow peninsula of white limestone at Corsica’s southernmost point creates a sight unlike any other on the island. Bonifacio was established in the 12th century by the Genoese as their Corsican stronghold against the Moors; an earlier settlement existed here during Roman times. The name originated with Count Bonifacio of Tuscany, who built a castle on the peninsula in 828. To this day, the Italian influence is very strong.

Monte Carlo, Monaco
1297, the Grimaldi family seized this fortified town and, except for a short break under Napoléon, they have ruled here ever since. The Principality of Monaco covers 473 acres; it would fit comfortably inside New York’s Central Park. The Grimaldis made money from gambling and attracted a well-heeled, monied crowd, and the whole world watched as Hollywood movie star Grace Kelly wed Prince Rainier, ruler of Monaco, to put this place on the map. It’s the very favorable tax system, not the gambling, that makes Monaco one of the most sought-after addresses in the world, and the principality bristles with gleaming high-rise apartment complexes owned by tax-exiles. But at the town’s great 1864 landmark Hôtel de Paris—still a veritable crossroads of the buffed and befurred Euro-gentry—at the Opéra, or in the ballrooms of the Casino, you’ll still be able to conjure up Monaco’s belle epoque.

Pricing

Justin Vineyard & Winery fares are currently 60% off Published Rates for this cruise.

*Fares are per person, based on double occupancy. Single and Triple rates available upon request. ** Cruise and air fares are from 22 US and Canadian Destinations, airfare from additional destinations is available upon request.

Silversea is offering the following air promotions on this voyage.  For a list of airports and terms and conditions, please click here.