The Places: Our tour of Italy starts in the countryside near Orvieto, moves to the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, then to Montalcino and its ancient abbey. We see the Tuscan landscape around Montepulciano, glimpse Siena and finally see something of the historic buildings of Florence.

The Music: As part of his Grand Tour of Europe, the young Felix Mendelssohn visited Italy in the autumn of 1830 and it was there that he began his Italian Symphony, completed in 1833 in Berlin and first performed in that year in London. His Violin Concerto in E minor was completed in 1844 and remains an essential element in any violinist’s solo repertoire.