TUSCANY & CINQUE TERRE
LIGURIA
Monterosso al Mare
Cinque Terre Portovenere Lucca Florence TUSCANY ITALY Carrara
the Master himself. Next up is a visit to the Galleria dell’Accademia. By midday you’ll understand how art and history are inextricably intertwined in Florence. Look around the city on your own before joining us for a lesson in some basic Italiano. Meals B
Art, music, cooking... all things Florence à la Culturious where local experts take you inside their worlds
1. RENAISSANCE REVIVAL IN FLORENCE Tour begins: 3 PM at Gallery Hotel Art, Florence. Look for us at the Peretola Airport for your included transfer to the hip and hot Gallery Hotel Art. Freshen up for a fresh look at Florence through the eyes of our local guide; walk along the Arno, mingle with memories of the Medici in the San Lorenzo area and see the massive duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore. Cocktails and canapés follow back at the hotel – you’ll dine at a riverside restaurant across the Ponte Vecchio. The restaurant is lively, the views wonderful, the conversation fascinating... Benvenuti in Italia! Meals D
2. THE HEART OF ART A Florentine art history scholar provides a “tell all” on the artist Michelangelo during an insider lecture. Then it’s off to the Uffizi, built centuries ago by the Medici as an office building and to house their private collection. Today, it’s home to Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo – nestled in a frame designed by
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3. LIVING THE FLORENTINE LIFE Walk along the cobbled streets of the Oltrarno to the artisans’ workshops in the old San Niccolò district. Visits inside two working restoration workshops introduce artists plying their crafts, including art restoration specialist Bettina Schindler-Pratesi who gives new life to old ivory, bone and mother-of-pearl. It is only fitting that we then pay our respects to Michelangelo, who is buried at the Basilica of Santa Croce along with Galileo, Rossini and other illustrious Italians. Join our local guide for a stroll through colorful Mercato Centrale, sampling traditional Florentine street food... lampredotto sandwiches… fresh fruit... porchetta… gelato… a feast for the senses. Tonight you are hosted by the grandson of a former Florentine mayor, concert pianist Gregorio Nardi, and his wife Annegret, at Palazzo Bargellini for a private evening that includes a tour, a recital on a Steinway Grand piano, lively discussions on history & politics, and an aperitivo. Meals B
4. THE WAY TO CINQUE TERRE Your first Culturious road trip twists and turns its way toward the Mediterranean Sea; en route, see the huge mountains of white marble at Carrara; take a tour aboard a 4 x 4. Changing landscapes, continue to the seaside villages of Cinque Terre and Portovenere on the Gulf of Poets; it’s not hard to see why this Roman-Byzantine town was named for the goddess Venus. Cruise from Portovenere, where colorful houses cascade along a hillside against the azure sea, guarded by the black-and-white-striped Gothic church of San Pietro perched above, to the village of Monterosso. Meals BD
5. DISCOVERING “THE FIVE LANDS” Your villa is perched on a hillside overlooking Monterosso al Mare; perhaps an early morning dip off the private beach of Porto Roca?
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