• Overview
• Day by Day
• Practicalities

Tour Overview

Sir William Hamilton was British envoy to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from 1764 to 1800. His period in office coincided with the “rediscovery” of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Paestum and a host of other sites. He possessed a wide range of influential friends and one of his most extraordinary achievements has to have been his marriage to the infamous Emma Hart, the later confidante of Nelson.

It was in the mid eighteenth century that the famously lethargic Bourbon dynasty finally authorised systematic “archaeological” exploration of the extraordinary places within its control. Hamilton, an intelligent, sophisticated and particularly acquisitive individual, was ideally placed to make the most of such unprecedented opportunities. Sir William moved suavely about with royal approval, excavating and collecting until he had amassed the finest non-royal collection of antiquities assembled at that time. Choice pieces were eventually published in a series of luxury folios, the most famous of which are the four volumes edited by Baron d’Hancarville, illustrating his collection of vases and other treasures.

Ours will be a journey in the manner of a true “Grand Tourist” as we move in the footsteps of the Hamiltons and their friends, shadowed by Vesuvius, as we too seek to find that “attic grace” so beloved by the eighteenth century, a grace captured in the “Hamilton Vase” once owned by Sir William and pictured above.

We stay at the very comfortable 5* Grand Hotel Santa Lucia, situated picturesquely on the shores of the Bay of Naples. It is an easy walk to and from the city centre, though strategically placed at enough distance from its many disparate temptations!