Florence - full day  

Description - starting from Santa Maria del Fiore, Filippo Brunelleschi’s best work finished between 1420 and 1434, the primitive project belonged to Arnolfo di Cambio who started the construction in 1296.

We proceed with Piazza della Signoria. It is to the medieval town planners that we owe the historic city centre of this city.   Palazzo della Signoria, named also Palazzo Vecchio is located on a corner of the homonymous square.    Initially it was the seat of Priors of arts (heads of guilds) then it became temporarily under Cosimo I of Medici, the place of Medici governement.   

Then we continue to Ponte Vecchio which represents one of the most famous bridges in the world and the most ancient in Florence.    We have a proof of its existence since the 10th century, but a flood of the Arno in 1333 destroyed the primitive structure.

From here we continue to Palazzo Pitti, planned by Filippo Brunelleschi.  It is the largest and the most important palaces in Florence.

Then Uffizi Museum designed by Vasari for Cosimo I in 1560 which represents a typically 16th century scenographic conception.

We will move to Academy Gallery palace founded by the Grand Duke Peter Leopold well known museum because it hosts famous sculptures like the “David” of Michelangelo. This palace was restored and organise in the last century.

Lunch in a traditional Florentine “trattoria”

In the afternoon we will stop in Piazzale Michelangelo where you can enjoy the most beautiful panorama of the city.   Finishing the tour about 5:30pm.

• City & Accademia museum

Meeting point with the guide in front of the hotel. The tour is short so you can visit the Accademia and admire Michelangelo’s David, the best sculpture ever created.

With your pre-booked ticket and a guide’s summary about it you can finally visit Accademia with its masterpieces and breathtaking works.   This building represents a Renaissance “must”, full of artistic treasures that your guide has the pleasure to present to you.

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San Gimignano:- full day

It’s possible to visit San Gimignano in one day enjoying it and without rushing.  You can go there early in the morning and come back to Florence (or Siena) late in the afternoon.

San Gimignano & Siena:-  full day

Description:- Pick you up at your hotel and you will be drivent hrough the wonderful country side of Tuscany  to the medival borgo of San Gimignano where you can enjoy the atmosphere  by strolling through the narrow streets that takes you back in time. 

After a light lunch we continue our way to Siena, strolling through historical palaces, castles, visiting Campo di Siena and the duomo.

Siena:- half day / full day

Museums, Churches, Abbey and Castles can be visited, where you find artistic works of the most famous artists of Siena, like for example Duccio di Boninsegna are guarded, Jacopo of the Oak, Nicholas Pisano, Lorenzetti, Sodoma and many others.

• Siena is a very interesting historic town, it is famous for the "Palio",  July 2 (Palio di Provenzano) and August 16 (Palio dell’Assunta), two annual Palio held in the Tuscan city.  This August 16th’s edition of the most famous historical horse race is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It is a perfect mix of sacred and profane.

As usual Piazza Del Campo, large shell-shaped square dominated by a 300 feet tower, is set to host this 90-second race, where jockeys dressed in medieval costume representing the districts of the city (contrade), ride bareback on horses, by competing for the Palio.
As usual, there is the magical atmosphere infusing the city during the Palio days with the big rivalry among the contrade.

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Pisa:- full day  

Is much more than the famous Piazza dei Miracoli with its tower and the Cathedral with its Baptistery.   Pisa is as well pure artistic expression with the famous Museum of Sinopies.

Pisa is historical witness with its Etruscan origins and its ancient Roman villages, such as Vicopisano.    Pisa is everything you may like to see in a city which, apart from tourism offers as well good cookery and maritime traditions.

Our walking tour starts with a visit to the world famous Field of Miracles with its unrivalled quartet of medieval masterpieces: Leaning Tower, Baptistery, Cathedral and the Campo Santo cemetery.    Passing medieval Tower houses we head for Piazza dei Cavalieri, the central civic square of medieval Pisa with Italy's academic showpiece, the Scuola Normale Superiore.   Following: a stroll through Piazza delle Vettovaglie, the nearby daily market past the State University where Pisa's most famous native, Galileo Galilei, taught.
 

• Museo dell'Opera del Duomo:-  Inaugurated in 1986, the museum displays a vast array of works of art from the buildings of the Field of Miracles.

During our guided tour we get in touch with splendid examples of Islamic art as the bronze griffon from the Cathedral and with eminent works of the major artists of Pisan sculpture, ranging from Nicola and Giovanni Pisano to Tino di Camaino and Nino Pisano.  The visit of the museum is complemented by a presentation of etchings representing the Campo Santo frescoes as they could be admired before the fatal fire during WW II.   This program is an ideal completion of a guided tour of the Field of Miracles.

•Museo National di San Matteo:- The museum is one of Italy's main museums of Italian medieval art.  It boasts an exceptional collection of Tuscan paintings by Giunta Pisano, Simone Martini, Masaccio, Beato Angelico, Benozzo Gozzoli, and Ghirlandaio as well as an amazing collection of Islamic ceramics (10th-13th century) comprising over six hundred items.    Presenting the major works in their historic, social and religious context, this guided tour is designed for a broad public.

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San Miniato:- half day 

Strategically located to control important medieval crossways, the town became the seat of the Imperial Vicars.   Among the important guests: Federico Barbaresca and Federico II.

On a leisurely walk we visit the San Domenico church with interesting frescos and works of Francesco Curradi, a painter devoted to the Domenican order.  Then we visit the Piazza della Repubblica with its Palazzo del Vescovo embellished by Francesco Chimenti.   

From there we reach the Duomo and finally the Torre di Federico II from where we enjoy an amazing view.   The tour concludes with a visit to the Sanctuary of the Santissimo Crocifisso which houses a wooden crucifix much adored since the fourteenth century.

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Volterra:- half day / full day

The town of the legendary Etruscans and the snow-white alabaster.

We start our guided tour on top of the medieval town wall with a view of the untouched Tuscan landscape.   On bright days, you can even see Corsica from there.   In a 5-minute walk, we reach the Arco Etrusco, the 2300-year-old Etruscan gateway. Through small streets and peaceful little squares, we reach the Roman theatre and the adjacent thermal baths. 

The culmination of our tour is the medieval Piazza dei Priori, flanked by the town hall and the Duomo where we see the famous thirteenth century sculpture of The Deposition and works of Benozzo Gozzoli and Fra Bartolomeo.   Our tour concludes with a visit of the Baptistery situated in front of the Duomo.   A visit to Voterra can be combine with a tour to San Gimignano

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Vinci: half day  

Museum Leonardo da Vinci
The museum houses the most complete collection of models of Leonardo da Vinci's inventions.   Each model has been built according to Leonardo's codices and with materials available in 15th century Italy.   Our guided tour in the museum encompasses a detailed presentation of the various models as well as informations about Leonardo's fascinating life and his revolutionary scientific approach.

The guided tour might be completed by a visit of Leonardo da Vinci's birth place at Anchiano, Vinci.

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Lucca: half day / full day

has made a virtue of the necessity to stay in the political shadow of his three mighty competitors Pisa, Florence and Siena.   Instead of striving for unlikely military success, the small town has always looked at economic success.   Even today, it boasts a general wellbeing hardly matched by any other Tuscan town.

We start our guided tour where the residents of Lucca spend their free time: on the city wall topped by a line of shady trees.  Our first stop is San Frediano church with its magnificent thirteenth-century mosaic representing Christ in Majesty and an amazing facade.   

Next, we visit nearby Piazza del Anfiteatro, the most beautiful square of Lucca.  Passing by the elegant shops of Via Filungo and through small, typically medieval streets we reach the Duomo which houses the famous Volto Santo and a splendid marble sarcophagi, a masterpiece of Jacopo della Quercia.   Passing Piazza Napoleone with its distinctive French outlook, we finally arrive at piazza San Michele, the central civic square of Lucca since Roman times.

• Musical Tour:- full day  a tour including the Puccini-Villa at Torre del Lago.

 A tour of the native town of famous composer Giacomo Puccini and other well-known musicians.   Long before Puccini, important personalities of Italian music had lived in Lucca. 

The most eminent builder of organs in the Renaissance, Domenico di Lorenzo, worked here in the romanic churches of the town.    Niccolò Paganini beguiled with his violin virtuosity the people of Lucca.    Lucca is also native town of Luigi Boccherini and of Alfredo Catalani, one of Puccini's contemporary.   Discover with us the musical part of this charming Tuscan town!

We recommend complementing this musical walking tour by a visit of Puccini's native home or by a tour of his beautiful Villa in Torre del Lago, where Puccini composed Manon Lescaut, La Boehème, Tosca, Madame Butterfly and other important operas.   Every year in July and August, Torre del Lago houses a Puccini festival during which the master's famous works are presented at an open air theater.     

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The Maremma

The area known as the Maremma begins south of Livorno and form a coastal plain running to the very southern end of Tuscany.   Famous for cowboys (the butteri), Etruscans, naturally heated springs, this is a different and relatively undiscovered Tuscany, with several large nature reserves, well-kept hill towns and countless Roman and Etruscan ruins.

You will stop by:  Talamone: This is a small town, dominated by the massive Sienese fortress (seat of the Museum of the Natural Park of Maremma) and surrounded by walls, stands on the promontory in front of the sea.

Porto San Stefano: The town is built on a terraced ground and is dominated by an impressive fortress, and Porto Ercole: Hercules is believed to be the founder of this beautiful resort over Tyrrhenian Sea, dominated by a fortress and by the pure shapes of Forte Stella.

Orbetello: It is located in the middle of the lagoon, between the Tombolo di Giannella and the Tombolo di Feniglia.   Its most noteworthy monuments are the Ximenes Fortress and the gothic Cathedral that was built on the ruins of the heathen temple.

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