Northern Italy

The first overnight trip of the year is to Florence, the birthplace and undisputed centre of The Renaissance.

Florence with its unique towers, bridges, the beautiful River Arno, museums, palaces such as the Bargelo, Accademia, the Baptistry, Palazzo Pitti, and of course the world renowned Uffizi art gallery with its unequalled collections of Bernini, Botticelli, Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael, and many more is explored first hand by CCI students. 

In addition to mandatory visits to the Uffizi and the Accademia, students sign up for Tours by Choice that are teacher-led initiatives that cater to specific areas of study. Florence, with its rich history rooted in both the Arts and Sciences, is a unique and fascinating place to explore and apply classroom learning. 

Venice is another mandatory CCI visit. Here a dozen primitive communities clustered on mudbanks of a northern Italian lagoon became the unique city which is an incredible web of water ways and a myriad of narrow pedestrian streets, beautifully bridged narrow canals, and the magnificent Grand Canal. All traffic is solely by gondola, boat, or barge. Through five centuries to 1508, Venetians made their city a dominant imperial European trading and seafaring Republic of huge wealth and power whose remains are visible throughout the city in exquisite and lavish public squares, monuments, palaces and churches.

Visitors from all over the world were drawn to Venice for the next four centuries, as she became known as the Queen of the Adriatic. Venice was also the workplace of Palladio, Sansovino, Tintoretto, Titian, Veronese and other art masters who all flourished here after political power had waned, and whose works can be seen--in the inevitable Italian company of Leonardo, of course--in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, the Ducal Palace and many other museums and galleries that today, still keep Venice alive.