The Italian Cultural Institute in Sydney is organising a history and art course to uncover the great beauty of Italy’s lesser known UNESCO World Heritage sites. Guide Kathleen Olive, art historian with a PhD in Italian Studies, will take you on a virtual tour across the sites that are off the beaten track but just as charming as the renowned sites that draw thousands of tourists every year.
The course will begin on 31 January, starting with Nuraxi, in Barumini (Sardinia), an extraordinary archaeological site of the Nuragic civilisation. The following session will be on 14 February, on the Necropolis of Pantalica, near Syracuse, in Sicily, with its more than 4,000 tombs dating back to the period between the 12th and the 7th centuries BCE. On 28 February, Tarquinia and Cerveteri take centre stage, with their Etruscan cemeteries, which still house exceptional paintings, funerary sculptures and daily life artifacts. Paestum will be the topic on 14 March and a virtual visit of the Sassi di Matera is scheduled for 28 March. Classes will be held in English, online on Zoom.
