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DAY 1 – EN ROUTE TO FLORENCE.
Arrive next day. Leave for Rome Fiumicino Airport or fly directly into Pisa or Florence airports.
DAY 2 - FLORENCE (You could spend one night in Rome to rest from jet lag if you wished)
From the airport in Rome you will need to take a taxi to the train station or we can arrange for this transfer - taxi will be around Euro 70. The train will take you straight into down-town Florence. When you arrive, settle in your hotel. Just outside is the heart of the city. Florence is a city to discover on foot and all the main sites are within easy walking distance.
RESTAURANTS
A hole in the wall near the Mercato di San Lorenzo called Gozzi - but don't get there too late, the food is cooked in the morning, it is a local's hang out and when its finished, its finished. It isn't open on week-ends, it doesn't have a sign, and it isn't in any guidebook so walk behind the leather displays until you see a small door with people eating inside or ask a shop owner.
Al Cinghiale Bianco (the White Boar), your hotel can reserve and you must reserve. Tell your concierge you want the table "in the tower" if available.
Hosteria da Ganino - between the Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio on a little side street, Piazza dei Cimatori. Must reserve: Tel. 214125. Closed Sunday. Ask for a table outside.
La Vecchia Taverna di Bacco - near Piazza del Campo. Via Beccheria 9. Tel. 0577/49331. All credit cards.
Angiolino - on the Oltrearno district Via Santo Spirito - tel. 239-8976, closed Monday and Sunday dinner. Order Ribollita - the soup of Tuscany.
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Walk around and do the Duomo, Palazzo della Signoria, Piazza della Signoria and main sites with private guide. Do either the Palazzo Vecchio or the Bargello or the Santa Maria Novella Church.
PALAZZO VECCHIO is one of the symbols of Florence, which has made it through centuries of battles and rebirths, brought it through the hands of gentlemen and merchants. Its impressive figure gives the piazza a strange but beautiful perspective. In the fifteenth-century it was the seat of the Signori, the highest power figure in the Renaissance, until the Medici family moved to Palazzo Pitti: then, to distinguish it from the Grand Duke's residence, it was named Palazzo Vecchio.
The Palazzo is one of the masterpieces of fourteenth century architecture. The facade, covered with rustic stone, is divided into three levels divided by cornices on which rest the beautiful mullioned windows whose arches are covered and underlined with the same stone. The small balcony, sustained by small arched supports underneath, opens out through an arched window, providing great architectural effect. Between these supports are the different family crests and shields of the ancients.
A second patrol balcony is on the top floor and is protected by Guelf battlements.
Palazzo Vecchio, in its long history, has adapted to the times and functions in which it has found itself. Today it is not just a great museum, but it also houses various offices of the City and is often the seat of important conferences.
Continue along the Via dei Calzaiuoli, one of the main shopping streets in Florence and arrive at Piazza San Giovanni where you will find the DUOMO portrayed in every postcard, book, painting that advertises Florence, the BATTISTERO and the CAMPANILE DI GIOTTO.
It is by no doubt that the dome and its cupola is Brunelleschi's best work ever and no other architect all over Italy has been able to match his talent. No other building stands higher than the Duomo which was first designed in 1294 by Arnolfo di Cambio who died eight years later leaving the design to a number other architects who finished designing Arnolfo's dream but could not figure out how to build such a long dome (142 feet from the ground). Fillippo Brunelleschi came to the rescue and manage to construct this marvellous Dome that has become the largest Church in the Catholic world. If you stand a few metres away from any side of the dome and look up, the whole structure will seem to be falling on you. This gives an idea of how high it is.
The Museum of the Duomo (Museo dell' Opera del Duomo) is located between the baptistery and the campanile and keeps all the exteriors of the Duomo, Campanile and the Baptistery that needed to be kept away.
The BAPTISTERY is one of the oldest buildings in Florence, which was initially the city's cathedral before the Reparata. The three sets of gilded bronze doors have made the building very significant hence they are worth talking about.
So far it has been impossible to date beginnings of the Baptistery, one of the oldest architectural monuments of the city. At one time thought to have been a pagan temple dedicated to Mars, modern research tends to date its origins to the fourth century. Its geometrical decoration in green and white Prato marble results from a happy combination of Paleochristian and Romanesque architecture of the eleventh to thirteenth centuries.
Opening Hours:
Dome: 10:00 - 17:00 , Mon-Sat, 13:00-15:00 Sundays and Religious Holidays
Church: Times vary according to type of services held.
Baptistery - 13:30 - 18:30 Mon-Sat; 8:30-13:30 Sun. Closed on Easter Sunday.
On the Piazza della Signoria later on sip an aperitif at Rivoire where you can sit on the world's greatest piazza, sip a Campari or have the richest hot chocolate in Italy. “People watching” is the main sport of the day here and you really do see just about everything. The best time is to come before dinner, around 6:30 p.m.
DAY 3 - UFFIZI GALLERY and OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
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We will reserve tickets to the Uffizi Gallery for you - one of the finest collections of Renaissance art in the world.
There is no way that one can see everything showed in this art galleries in one visit, since it contains many masterpieces that have been collected all over Italy; however a visit to this incredible collection is a must in Florence. Take it slowly and try to concentrate on a couple of themes you are more interested in.
The gallery building contains rooms and rooms of art collections. Some of these rooms may be closed for a variety of reasons but surely one cannot visit all of them in detailed despite the eagerness. Each has its theme and features a specific artist or a type of art.
To mention just few highlights: Room 1 houses an assembly of antique sculptures, many of which were used as a sort of source by Renaissance artists. Room 8 is dedicated to Filippo . This artist did wonders with the Madonna and Child with two Angels. Following in his footsteps, the pupil, Botticelli takes his well-deserved bows in the next room with the all-fine Madonna. Botticelli's other productions are also found in Room 10 to 14.
Leonardo da Vinci takes room 15's visitors by storm in his work appearing in the Baptism. As if there can be no other competition, Michelangelo presents his Doni Tondo in room 25 which is the only easel painting he came close to completing but it still looks magnificent.
Also found in Room 25 there is another work by Michelangelo, The Holy Family with its vibrant colours and the twisted pose of the Virgin. Room 42 has a different feel to it. It has Roman statues of Niobe and her children and the neo-Attic Medici vase.
Entry to this most historic gallery is not that easy considering that this gallery is in every tourists' 'must see' list.
The Vasari's Corridor can be found on the right end, far north of the museum. This corridor leads to the Palazzo Vecchio going over the Ponte Vecchio bridge.
Info:
Operating Hours: 8:30 - 22:00 Tues-Sat; 8:30 - 20:00 Sun.
Closed on Mondays.
Ticket L. 12.000
Intended by Cosimo I around the middle of the 16th century, the UFFIZI PALACE was designed by Giorgio Vasari. In order to realize the project, Vasari had many houses that surrounded the area demolished. Its construction also included the church of San Pier Scheraggio, which was reserved to worshipping until 1743. The purpose of the extraordinary building was to host the thirteen Magistratures or Uffizi, where the Palace later received its name from, at the time located in different seats. When Vasari died, the building of the Uffizi Palace was entrusted to Buontalenti and Alfonso Parigi.
The building has an unusual horseshoe shape formed by two parallel buildings united by a passageway. The two floors of the building stand over a portico sustained by two pillars and decorated by niches, where the statues of Florentines who distinguished themselves from the Middle Ages until the 19th century are placed.
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DAY 4 - SAN LORENZO CHURCH - MEDICI CHAPELS – ACCADEMIA – OSPEDALE DEGLI INNOCENTI
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Consecrated by St. Ambrose in 393, the SAN LORENZO CHURCH is the oldest church in the city. It was then rebuilt along Romanesque lines in 1060. The present building dates to 1423 and was designed and built by Brunelleschi.
The simple bare facade lacks the marble revetment; Michelangelo's design was never carried out. The internal façade, which Michelangelo also designed is comprised of three doors between two pilasters with garlands of oak and laurel and a balcony on two Corinthian columns.
The interior has a nave separated from the side aisles by Corinthian columns. The ceiling has magnificent gilded rosettes in white-ground coffering.
MEDICI CHAPEL
The Medici Chapels form part of the monumental complex of San Lorenzo, whose building history lasts from the first years of the fifteenth century until the early seventeenth. The church of San Lorenzo was the official church of the Medici from their period as private residents in their palace in Via Larga (now via Cavour), becoming their mausoleum up to the time of the extinction of the line. Giovanni de' Bicci de' Medici (died 1429) was the first who wished to be buried there with his wife Piccarda in the small Sacristy of Brunelleschi. Later, his son Cosimo the Elder, was buried in the crossing of the church. The project for a family tomb was conceived in 1520 when Michelangelo began work on the New Sacristy, corresponding to the Old Sacristy by Brunelleschi on the other side of the church.
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ACCADEMIA
The ACCADEMIA MUSEUM was for a long time considered the deposit of the other Florentine galleries, notably the Uffizi and the collection has changed through the years also owing to the accession of works from the suppressed monastic houses. For many years Botticelli's Primavera was shown here.
Nowadays the gallery can take its place among the finest museums of Florence thanks to the high quality of some of its exhibits, among them Giovanni da Milano's Pieta (fourteenth century), the Annunciation by Lorenzo Monaco (fifteenth century), the beautiful front called Adimari Cassone showing a sumptuous marriage procession (c. 1450) and the Madonna of the Sea attributed to Botticelli (1445-1510).
A recent rearrangement and restoration of some of the rooms have given more space for the display of paintings from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries and public admittance to a spectacular room where are arranged plaster models of Lorenzo Bartolini and Luigi Pampaloni, Famous Italian sculptors of the nineteenth century.
The gallery became the focus of more attention in 1873 when Michelangelo's David was exhibited there for the first time in a specially constructed tribune. Brought there for reasons of conservation from Piazza Signoria where for almost four centuries it had represented the power and dignity of the Florentine Republic, it was joined at the beginning of this century by other Michelangelo sculptures
INFO
ACCADEMIA, via Ricasoli 68
Phone: 055-216261
OSPEDALE DEGLI INNOCENTI
Located right near the Accademia Museum, the Ospedale degli Innocenti (Foundling Hospital) and its portico (gallery) is one of the best-known and most important architectural complexes of the early fifteenth century in Florence. This was commissioned and financed by the Arte della Lana to the designs of Filippo Brunelleschi. The "hospital" aimed to raise abandoned children and teach them some useful trade enabling them to take their place in society. In the buildings of the refectory, cloisters, dormitories, infirmary, nurses’ rooms and porticoes, Brunelleschi created a perfect example of rational and harmonious hospital architecture subsequently enlarged and decorated with frescoes documenting the continuing activities of the institution and the favours of the reigning Medici family.
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PITTI PALACE - BOBOLI GARDENS - PIAZZALE MICHELANGELO – SAN MINIATO AL MONTE
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Situated in the first great square in the area that the Florentines call "Diladdarno" - beyond the Arno - PALAZZO PITTI dominates uncontested at the feet of the small hill Boboli.
Its construction was commissioned in the second half of the 15th century by the banker Luca Bonaccorso Pitti to the famous architect Filippo Brunelleschi. The palace has had a long history of works of construction and of extensions, which have lasted about four centuries.
The first version of Palazzo Pitti had smaller body dimensions compared to the present one. The architectural Renaissance style, austere and balanced, was enriched by classical elements from the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders. The following extensions gave the Palace its present appearance. Around 1550 the Grand-Duke Cosimo I de' Medici purchased it to become the residence of the family and in 1558 he commissioned the works of refinement to Bartolomeo Ammannati who included large windows in the façade, called inginocchiate, and created the portico and thed courtyard. The construction and the creation of the great garden, named Boboli from the homonymous hill, were commissioned to Niccolò Tribolo.
Palazzo Pitti, which through time assumed different functions, is today the seat of important museums (Silvers, Chinawares, Costumes, Carriages, Gallery of Modern Art and the Garden of Boboli) through which it is possible to visit its halls, the displays of the court and the splendour of a faraway epoch which managed to pass down faithful and unchanged through history.
Info:
Palazzo Pitti: Piazza Pitti
Closed on Mondays
Admission:
£ 8000 the Modern Art Gallery (Galleria d'Arte Moderna) and the Costume Gallery (Galleria del Costume)
£ 4000 the Museum of Silver (Museo degli Argenti);
£ 4000 the Museum of Chinaware (Museo delle Porcellane) and the Boboli Garden (Giardino di Boboli).
Phone: 055/2388710
The Boboli Gardens extend between Palazzo Pitti, Forte Belvedere and the Porta Romania. It's the typical Italian garden that mixes architecturalized nature and natural architecture, hosting sculptures and plastics from antiquity to the 19th century.
Info:
Piazza Pitti
Hour: from May to October 9:00 a.m.- 8:00 p.m.
Ticket L. 4.000
WALKING ITINERARY….
Complete your tour with the magnificent panorama view of Florence you will able to enjoy from PIAZZALE MICHELANGELO, looking down onto the Arno and its bridges; on the left the view includes the large 19th century Cascine Parks, lower down the districts of Santo Spirito and San Frediano, to the right the white BASILICA OF SAN MINIATO AL MONTE.
You can reach Piazzale Michelangelo on foot by taking the wonderful spectacular route that architect Giuseppe Poggi created between 1865 and 1871, during the period in which Florence was the capital city of the Kingdom of Italy.
The walk up to Piazzale Michelangelo starts out from Porta a San Niccolò (Piazza Poggi), the only gate whose original high tower of defence (1324) is still complete. The first part of the pedestrian ramp that leads up to Piazzale Michelangelo and then on to the church courtyard of San Miniato is situated in the centre.
From the Piazzale itself you can see the whole of Florence at a glance, from Forte Belvedere to Santa Croce, the Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo, the Uffizi, the Palazzo della Signoria and the Bargello, etc.
SAN MINIATO AL MONTE is one of the most significant examples of Romanesque architecture, built between the 11th and 13th centuries. The view of the city of Florence from its front steps is unsurpassed.
FURTHER SUGGESTIONS...
SANTA MARIA NOVELLA CHURCH - BARGELLO MUSEUM
Santa Maria Novella is the favorite church (and square) of the Florentines. The inside guards some of the finest early Renaissance frescos of the city. It is an Italian Gothic Cathedral. Not to be missed are Masaccio's Holy Trinity and Domenico Ghirlandaio and Lippi's chapels. Works by Brunelleschi (designed St. Peter's) and other are also to be viewed. The Cloisters (outside to your left) are open only in the mornings and beautiful.
As is the case with most other Florentine squares, Piazza Santa Maria Novella is dominated by its church. The facade is one of the earliest and most beautiful in Florence
The inside of the church, which is simply vast, has a number of important art works. The frescoes on the apse behind the main altar are, instead, Domenico Ghirlandaio's masterpiece, stories from the life of the Virgin. The Gondi Chapel, immediately to the left of the altar, contains Brunelleschi's only surviving sculpture, a crucifixion he is said to have done sometime between 1410 and 1425, to show Donatello how he thought the Savior should be rendered.
After, head to Via del Proconsolo for the BARGELLO MUSEUM, with the finest collection of Renaissance sculpture in the country.
This building was the first monumental public building of the council, which was the seat of the Podestà, (the chief magistrate) and in the sixteenth century became a prison (from which it acquired its current name, from the chief of police, the bargello, which means "sbirro"), and in 1865 a superb collection of sculpture from the Florentine Renaissance and an assembly of small renaissance bronzes was installed, including works of art by Michelangelo, Donatello and Cellini.
Opening Hours:
Museum- 8:30-14:00 daily; Closed on the 2nd and 4th Monday AND 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month.
Location: Via del Proconsolo, Phone: 055-238 8606
DAY 5 - THE TUSCANY COUNTRYSIDE (car rental recommended for best way to visit, driving is easy and fun!!)
THE CHIANTI REGION
The territory of Chianti runs on pretty much a north/south axis from Florence down to Siena. It is the famous land of vineyards and hilltop towns, with Greve, Radda and Castellina forming a triangle in the very heart of Chianti.
The area is bordered to the west by the Florence - Siena autostrada, passing first by San Casciano Val di Pesa, the largest town in the area, and on to Poggibonsi.
However, the 'classic' route is via the 'Chiantigiana', the N222 one of the most picturesque roads of Italy. The best way to discover Tuscany is by car…driving here is very easy and roads are well signed!
The first town on your route would be SAN CASCIANO VAL DI PESA, located on the northern edge of the Chianti Classico zone. It is the largest town (pop.16,000) in the area.
Parts of the 14th century walls still remain, and the town is home to an interesting church, Santa Maria del Prato, housing works by Simone Martini, Ugolino di Neri, Taddeo Gaddi and Fra Bartolomeo.
Continue south to GREVE IN CHIANTI, a great place to visit at almost any time of the year, but especially during the spring and autumn. The chief town of the Gallo Nero region, Greve is home to Chianti's largest wine fair, held every September. The small village, named after the nearby river, expanded considerably during the 14th & 15th centuries, and, after the unification of Italy, became the most important centre of the valley.
Today you will find a wine shop around every bend, with some of the better ones being found in the Piazza Matteotti. The statue in the middle of the square is of Giovanni di Verrazzano, the man who discovered New York harbour.
One km from the centre stands the Castello di Montefioralle and if you go back on the "strada chiantigiana" you will find the Castello di Uzzano (famous for its Chianti Classico). A few suggestions for a pleasant walk in the surrounding country-side are as follows. To Lucolena and Dudda, where you can visit the Castello di Querceto, and the Monte S. Michele.
A fundamental stop for history lovers is CASTELLINA IN CHIANTI, another quietly affluent hilltop town, yet it was at one time at the very frontline of the ebbing and flowing wars between Florence and Siena. A striking remnant of those times is the Via delle Volte, a covered gallery that was once part of the town fortifications. The old fort, in the central square, is now home to municipal offices.
Through the discovery of a large grave from the 6th and 7th Centuries AC we know it to have been populated by Etruscan settlement.
Destroyed during the Sienese and Florentine wars in the Middle Ages, it was wisely rebuilt. The shape of the ancient town is oval. To its centre we will visit the historical fortress with the 14th C tower and the embattled dungeon, completed in the following century. We will now see the historical communication trench buried with its defensive function, its watchtowers and the neo-Romanesque church of San Salvatore that was restructured in 1947.
Exiting from Castellina head towards RADDA IN CHIANTI, a famous town between the Pesa and Arbia valleys.
The lovely town, to the east of the Chiantigiana route, has retained more of its ancient character than most towns and villages of the area. It is located in the hills of Chianti, the Monti del Chianti, and was once the seat of the mediaeval Lega di Chianti. This once powerful league took the black cockerel, the Gallo Nero of all bottles of Chianti, as its symbol.
The significance of this dates to a border dispute between Siena and Florence, a dispute that saw the border drawn at the point where a horseman from each city would meet on the road. They were both to set out at the cock-crow, as indeed they did, except that the Florentine cockerel had been starved, and woke to greet the day considerably earlier than its Sienese counterpart.
The town still retains the elliptical form it had in mediaeval times, and the streets of the miniscule town centre are centred around the square, Piazza Ferrucci. It is here you will find the Palazzo del Podesta, with frescoed decorations and numerous ancient coats, shields and crests, and the main church, raised on a platform directly opposite the palace.
Continuing along the Chiantigiana you will reach the ancient border between Siena and Florence, BORGO DI VOLPAIA. This village historically held a primary strategic defensive importance for the Pesa Valley. Today it has lost part of its walls but we can still see the dungeon conserved in the centre of the characteristic square.
If you have time do not miss to visit the beautiful Medieval, CASTELLO DI BROLIO, an ancient building belonging to the Firidolfi family, situated on a hill approximately 600 meters high and on the borderline between Siena and Florence
The castle has been abandoned for centuries, however in 1929 Bettino Ricasoli decided, with the help of Sienese architects Marchetti and Partin, to restructure the castle. The baron, being a good agronomist, built the farm that is famous today for his famous Chianti Amabile table wine.
You can reach the main entrance of the castle through the long path embedded in its wonderful scenic park. The oldest and most central part of the building is the dungeon, built ten centuries ago and fortified by powerful watchtowers. The protective wall, 5Km in length and in the shape of a pentagon, was built during the 1400’s. From the communication trench on top of the wall we have an extraordinary panorama, from the heights of the Amiata Mountains to Volterra.
As we leave the outskirts of this Chianti pearl we will arrive to CASTELNUOVO BERARDENGA, its name derived from Berardo, and from the second half of the 10th C. It was a solid Sienese castle built to protect the surrounding area from the attacks of the soldiers of fortune. You will find many cellars in this area famous for the quality of theirs wines. One example of this is the VILLA PAGLIARESE famous for its wine and its legend of a wizard who could cure the strangest diseases. People came from every part in hopes of being cured by the wizard’s hands of gold.
DAY 6 - SIENA
Sienna (Siena in Italian) is perhaps best enjoyed after visiting Florence, when its easy going and open atmosphere will contrast pleasantly with the traffic-ridden rush that is Florence today. Most famous for the annual PALIO, it is a city of quiet beauty, and the cityscape is easily appreciated by strolling up and down the largely pedestrianised streets. Please remember that cars are not allowed, however there are many parking lots just right outside the walls where you can park your car.
During the Middle Ages it flourished to one of the major cities of Europe, growing rich from banking and the wool trade dominating the routes from France to Rome. The city developed a highly sophisticated civic life, with its own written constitution and a quasi-democratic government. The fourteenth century saw a great amount of building; the Duomo, Palazzo Pubblico and the Campo were all begun then, but in 1348 the Black Death struck and this, together with subsequent political upheaval, saw the beginning of a drastic downturn in Siena's fortunes.
The city became little more than a rural market centre, and, as with SAN GIMIGNANO, it was the growth of tourism that saw a return to wealth and prominence. Indeed, it was exactly this marked decline that accounts for the incredible state of mediaeval preservation that Siena exhibits today.
Siena is built across a range of small hills, a unique position that gives it a pleasant atmosphere of being a collection of smaller towns. Since the thirteenth century it has been divided into three terzi, arranged around the splendid Campo. These terzi are in turn subdivided into contrade, seventeen in all, which play a hugely important role in the life of the city. Loyalty to one's contrada is total, and the rivalry between the districts reaches fever-pitch in the run up to Siena's famous horserace, the Palio, held in July and August.
Because Siena is built across several hills and valleys, and much of it is pedestrianised (or what passes for it here), there is a fair bit of up and down walking involved in seeing the sights. However, the lack of traffic makes it a wonderful place to wander - even when packed with tourists it feels pretty quiet and easygoing. From the Campo it is fairly easy to get your bearings. This spectacular shell-shaped space is the focal point of the city, the meeting place and the market place as well as being the venue for the Palio.
The Circular Piazza del Campo is where the Palio is run each summer. With its amphitheatre curve, it is an almost organic piece of city planning, and is still the focus of city life. This is probably one of Italy's most beautiful medieval city and a must. Visit the Palazzo Pubblico - the Town Hall where the frescos of Simone Martini are displayed. (Siena is worth a full day to be seen in depth - you may choose to do so - it can also be very cold in winter with cutting winds).
The Palazzo Comunale, with its 107-metre bell tower, the Torre del Mangia (daily 10am–5/6/7pm; mid-Nov to mid-Dec closes 1.30pm; L4000), occupies virtually the entire south side of the square , and although it's still in use as Siena's town hall, its principal rooms have been converted into a Museo Civico (Nov 6 to Feb 28 daily 9.30am–1.30pm; March 1 to Nov 5 Mon–Sat 9am–7pm, Sun 9am–1.30pm; L6000), a series of former public rooms, frescoed with themes integral to the secular life of the medieval city.
On the other side of the Campo, Via di Città cuts across the oldest, cathedral quarter of the city, fronted by some of Siena's finest private palazzi.
If you love art, at the end of the street, Via San Pietro you will arrive at the Pinacoteca Nazionale (May–Sept Mon 8.30am–1.30pm, Tues–Sat 9am–7pm; Oct–April Mon–Sat 8.30am–1.30pm, Tues & Sat 2.15pm–5.30pm or 3.45–5.30pm according to month; L8000), which contains a superb collection of pre-Renaissance art.
The opposite side of the via del Capitano leads up to the Duomo, completed to virtually its present size around 1215; plans to enlarge the church withered with Siena's medieval prosperity, and the vast skeleton of an unfinished extension still stands at the north end of the cathedral square. The Duomo is in any case a delight, its style an amazing conglomeration of Romanesque and Gothic style. The interior alone took 200 years to complete and is renown for its marble floors
Behind the cathedral you can also visit the Baptistery (Jan–March & Nov–Dec daily 10am–1pm & 2.30–5pm; Oct daily 9am–6pm; rest of year daily 9am–7.30pm; L3000) and also the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (Oct daily 9am–6pm; Nov–March 9am–1.30pm; rest of year 9am–7.30pm; L5000), which occupies part of the cathedral's planned extension and houses many important pieces of arts.
THE WORLD-FAMOUS EVENT: THE PALIO
The backbone of IL PALIO are Siena's 17 contrade, which can be liken to city wards or administrative districts. These well-defined neighbourhoods were designated in the Middle Ages, basically to aid the many military companies hired to defend Siena's fiercely-earned independence from Florence and other nearby city states.
Over the centuries, the contrada has lost its administrative function and become an area held together by its residents' common emotions and devotions. Its role has broadened, so that every important event - baptisms, deaths, marriages, church holidays, victories, even wine or food festivals - was celebrated by, and only by, the contrada. Even today it is not considered a good idea to marry out of the contrada, and if you do, it's probably wise to sleep at your parents' house the night before the race.
The culminating moment of Il Palio, the actual horse race, is achingly brief: a minute and a half, give or take ten seconds. But so much has happened before the pack of frantic animals finally breaks loose from the ancient rope that marks the starting line!
It takes place twice a year: on July 2, (to commemorate the miracles of the Madonna of Provenzano) and on August 16, (to honour the Assumption of the Virgin).
If you are interested in knowing getting more information about the Palio you can visit the web site of the city of Siena www.comune.siena.it
DAY 7 and 8
Select from Options Below
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SAN GIMIGNANO - MONTERIGGIONI - VOLTERRA
Start in the morning and take the ss223 on your way to San Gimignano and enjoy the ride through this beautiful countryside.
Make a first stop in Monteriggioni, a mere fourteen kilometers from Siena and the epitome of a fortified hill town.
When you round the last curve of the Via Cassia coming from Siena, Monteriggioni miraculously appears before you. Its perfectly intact walls stand majestically defiant of both enemies and time. They are so well preserved that they appear to be a mirage, too perfect to be real. The walls completely encircle the town, their smooth surface being interrupted only by two gates. The Porta Franca or Romea faces southeast towards Siena; the Porta S. Giovanni faces northwest towards Florence and, in fact, still bears the hinges that supported the drawbridge, which faced the eternal enemy. Inside the village, the one and only street dissects the hamlet on its central axis and runs from one gate to the other.
Piazza Roma is charming and includes the Gothic-Romanesque Santa Maria Assunta church. But Monteriggioni's true magnificence can only be fully appreciated from the outside, preferably in the early morning light when it appears to hover a few feet off the ground, as in a vision, truly the queen of fortified towns.
Continue north-west heading to SAN GIMIGNANO, which is probably the most famous small town in Italy, and there are few places that evoke the atmosphere of mediaeval Tuscany so powerfully as it does.
San Gimignano dominates the Val d'Elsa with its dramatic skyline bristling with towers Only fifteen of the original seventy-two towers survive, which in the past represented wealth and influence more than defence and security - the higher the tower, the richer the family.
It was founded by the Etruscans and grew rich from agriculture as well as being an important resting place on the pilgrim way to Rome. The population was devastated by the plague in the fourteenth century, and its economy collapsed as the pilgrim trade all but vanished.
The town really does live up to expectations; it is immaculately preserved and surrounded by some of the loveliest countryside in Tuscany.
A similar renown can also be claimed by its Vernaccia wine, recently awarded the D.O.C.G., the highest acknowledgement and guarantee for quality in Italian enology. Among the numerous activities and cultural events, the prestigious international festival, which is held in the month of July, should be noted.
However, what you may not be expecting is just how popular a tourist destination the town is. It is utterly packed with tourists throughout the summer months (do try to visit out of season), and the atmosphere of quiet rural village is hard to maintain. This should not though deter you from visiting, just be prepared for the crowds. Why not try to stay overnight? - most visitors are day-trippers, and the town is a very different beast at night.
San Gimignano can easily be seen in a day. Enter through Porta San Giovanni, built by the Sienese in 1261, and follow Via San Giovanni past the Pisan Romanesque black and white striped façade of San Francesco, the monastery Cosimo the First suppressed in 1553 (it's now a wine cellar with a spectacular view of the countryside), through the Arco dei Becci, one of the gates of the original city walls, and into Piazza della Cisterna, the social heart of town, where markets, tourneys, and plays were held
San Gimignano was governed from the neighboring Piazza del Duomo. You will most likely wish to begin with the cathedral, with its spectacular fresco cycles of the Old and new Testaments and its Last Judgment. Don't miss St. Fina's Chapel (to the right -- the admission charge will also get you into the other three municipal museums, and the custodian will give you a nice town map). The town's two art museums are both off Piazza del Duomo, one in the cloister of the cathedral, and the other in the Palazzo del Popolo, the new town hall that was completed in 1298.
The former, the Museo d'Arte Sacra, hosts the treasures of the Church and a variety of Etruscan pots and urns found in the surrounding countryside over the centuries (if you take a walk in the fields you will still find Etruscan pot shards today). The latter, which is the town art gallery, has two nice 12th century crucifixes, several Gothic altarpieces, including one showing scenes from the life of Saint Gimignano, the Madonna with Saints Gregory and Benedict by Pinturicchio, and some amusing frescoes of family life, with a couple taking a bath in a tub and going to bed. The Museo Comunale also has the Torre Grande, which takes some effort to climb but offers a stunning view.
Next you will probably want to see Sant'Agostino, the finest of the surviving monasteries (San Domenico looks more imposing from the outside, but has been transformed into a prison). Leave Piazza del Duomo along Via San Matteo, and turn right just before the gate, onto Via Cellolese.
Further interesting museums are the Criminal Museum, a grisly private collection of medieval torture instruments just off Piazza della Cisterna (admission 8,000 Lire), and the museum of the history of handicrafts, a sizable collection of tools and implements with everything from a 17th century doctor's office to a 1920's Fordson tractor (outside Porta San Giovanni; admission 5,000 Lire).
You can also visit the fortress of San Gimignano a typical of the strongholds to which the population of a town could withdraw as a last resort. The view from the bastions is quite pleasant. During the summer it also doubles as an open air theater.
After lunch, you can, if you like, wander down to the wool-washer's fountain outside the Porta dei Fonti, an impressive series of tubs under Romanesque and Gothic vaults, or explore San Gimignano's charming side streets. Or, if you have a car, you can visit Cellole, a pretty Romanesque church about two miles away (follow the signs), which offers a beautiful and completely unexpected view of the town.
MONTALCINO is a lively little town. The main piazza is vibrantly alive: people sit at the cafes to watch those ambling by; drink an aperitif or shop among the narrow cobbled streets. Visits to the vineyards, cellars and properties can be arranged.
Historically an important town its lands have for centuries cultivated olives, grains and the greatest red wine of Italy: Brunello. Stop at the Cistercian church of Sant' Antimo on your way to the town. Built thirteen hundred years ago during the time the Black Plague was devastating the area it is a spectacular construction made more so by its location. It will enchant you.
Continue onwards to PIENZA which is 6 miles northeast of the Abbey of Sant'Antimo in the Orcia Valley. This is a classic model of a Renaissance town.
In addition to wonderful churches, public buildings and private residences of all sizes, the town has a large number of antique and home decoration stores that are among the best in Italy. There are also many health food stores which sell local honey and preserves.
Each September brings a cheese festival to celebrate the local sheep cheese. It has a cathedral, palace, town hall and the buildings are decorated with frescos and paintings. It is Architecturally it is pure perfection.
Then continue, onward to MONTEPULCIANO. Montepulciano is at a high altitude of 2,000 feet and can be seen from a distance with its redbrick buildings. Park outside the town and enter on foot through the Porta al Prato, next to which a column rises to support a stone Marzocco, a lion which symbolizes the town's allegiance to Florence during the Renaissance. The masterpiece of this town is the Piazza Grande. On the hillside is the Madonna del Biagio church, one of the most moving churches built during the Renaissance. It is made out of pale golden stones preceded by a long avenue of tall cypresses, so typical of the Tuscan countryside.
The surrounding vineyards are the source of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, a dark red wine whose name is the subject of many legends. Be sure to pick up a few bottles in one of the shops in town
ABBEY OF S. ANTIMO AND S. GALGANO
It’s well worth to visit this Abbey, a 12th century Romanesque gem of pale stone set in the silvery green of an olive grove. The exterior and interior sculpture is outstanding, particularly the nave capitals. According to the legend, the sacristy forms part of the primitive Carolingian church.
The Gothic cathedral of S. Galgano missing its roof is truly a hauntingly beautiful sight to behold. Grass as grown through the floor, and the roof and windows are gone. What’s left conveys a grandiose and imposing feeling.
Late in the afternoon of day 9 go down to Rome to fly out.
DAY 10 – RETURN HOME
Pricing (final price is based on time of year and available hotels)
Based on charming 3 star boutique hotels €3,995
Based on First Class, 4 star hotels €4,895
Based on Luxury 5 star hotels please inquire
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