LUCCA

Spello

Montefalco

Bavagna

Painting excursions

As well as evening meals in carefully selected restaurants, our programmes include superb selections of excursions to historical towns and places of scenic, cultural and artistic interest

As well as Italian culture a very important part of the holiday is food and wine. An important criteria in the selection of the hotels has been the food they serve. We have also chosen the restaurants very carefully and tried to find unusual typically Italian restaurants that serve great food.

We choose local wine and in two of the programmes there will be a wine tasting.

Programmes include visits to some of the following places - see individual programmes
	ANGHIARI Located in the northeast corner of Tuscany near the Umbrian border, Anghiari is a beautiful and well preserved medieval village. Much art can be found in the Abbey church, the church of San Agostino, and the Palazzo Comunale. The 6th Century church of San Stefano is one of the oldest in the region. An ideal place for sketching.
	GUBBIO An ancient Umbrian settlement, influenced by the Etruscans. A very picturesque, well-preserved town. The cathedral, a 14th Century Gothic structure, stands in front of the Palazzo. It was nearby that the meeting between St. Francis and the famous savage wolf of Gubbio took place. Located in Gubbio are several good restaurants and some antique shops, and the town has a wonderful old feeling to it.
	PERUGIA The capital of Umbria was once one of the twelve Etruscan City States. Entry to the city is made through a massive Etruscan wall within which are streets and evidence of house fronts which gives a clear indication to how the city was in Roman times. The National Gallery of Umbria contains a world class collection of paintings mostly executed in Tuscany or Umbria between the 13th and 16th centuries. There are works by Piero della Francesso, Perugino, Fra Angelico and Duccio.
	ASSISI The mystical birthplace of St. Francis. So little change has occurred that the surrounding countryside would still be familiar to him now. We will visit the Basilica of St. Francis. Pope Gregory IX laid the first stone of the Lower Basilica the day after the canonisation of St Francis on July 17th 1228. The walls of the Lower Church are richly decorated and include frescoes by Cimabue,Giotto and Lorenzetti.The Chapel of St Martin is by Simone Martini. The Upper Church is strikingly bright and filled with frescoes which emphasise its perfect proportions. This is one of Italy's most famous freso cycles, Giotto's Life of St. Francis.
	AREZZO, TUSCANY We will be visiting The Church of San Francesco which is a grand church built in the Gothic style in the 14 C for the Franciscan Order. We will see Piero della Francesca's famous fresco cycle 'Legend of the Holy Cross'. The frescoes were painted between 1452 and 1466 and is one of the masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance.
	SANSEPOLCRO, TUSCANY This is the birthplace of Piero della Francesca ,1415. It is a small walled town with many old houses some dating from the Middle Ages. We will visit the Civic Museum where we can see 'Madonna della Misericordia' and 'The Resurrection' by Piero della Francesca. The museum also has works by Bassano and Signorelli.
	MONTERCHI, TUSCANY This is a very small town. It is amazing to see a very important Renaissance masterpiece being exhibited in what was the village hall! It is Piero della Francesca's 'Madonna del Parto' which is the only image of the Madonna,pregnant, in Italian art.


	FIESOLE We will visit The Villa Medici at Fiesole. This is one of the oldest Renaissance residences with a garden and is also one of the best preserved. The villa was completed in 1461 by Michaelozzi for Cossimo di Medici. We will also visit the church of San Domenico which as two works by Fra Angelico.
	FLORENCE We will have two separate excursions to Florence.