• Focus on High Renaissance art & architecture in the city

  Opportunity to visit Casa Buonarotti, the Accademia & the Pitti Palace

• Masterpieces by Michelangelo, Raphael, Pontormo & Bronzino

• Private visit to a major Florentine palace & its private picture collection

• Well appointed 5* hotel in the heart of the Florence close to Piazza della Signoria

• Excellent food & wine & time to explore at leisure

In January 1504, a committee of Florence’s leading architects, sculptors and painters gathered to discuss a possible new location for Michelangelo’s recently completed David. Among them was Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo; all three crossing paths in Florence for a brief moment in time; an undeclared vow of the artistic heights the city would continue to aspire to in the early decades of the sixteenth century. Painting and architecture in the city developed via a maniera, a term coined by Giorgio Vasari based on intellectual preconceptions rather than observational visual perceptions. The insistence of ‘breaking rules’ focused on the primacy of the human figure and an impression of force through the isolation of the figure from the surrounding narrative. Florentine Mannerists like Pontormo, Bronzino, del Sarto and Michelangelo all strained and contorted figurative poses in vivid composition and colour.           

At the same time, the city and its government were entrapped in tumultuous political turmoil and change. The Medici were exiled in 1494 when Charles VIII of France invaded the peninsula to take Naples, with the Republic restored only until the return of the Medici in 1512 who in turn were driven from Florence yet again in 1527. Machiavelli was a witness and documenter of these turbulent times. The Spanish siege of Florence in 1529-30 ended the second short-lived Republic, the re-established Medici under Alessandro de’ Medici self-styling themselves as Dukes of Florence, a title bestowed upon them by Charles V of Habsburg. After absorbing Florence’s bitter rival Siena in 1555, Pope Pius V elevated Cosimo I to the rank of Grand Duke of Tuscany which the Medici would enjoy until their line ended in 1737.

Our week is an opportunity to engage in the flourishing of High Renaissance art in a city in deep and dramatic transition. We visit the great renaissance palaces of the age; Palazzo Pitti, Palazzo Vecchio and Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, admire Mannerist fresco cycles in churches and cloisters and consider Florence’s wider cultural impacts into the Baroque age.      

The visit will be led by Hugh Maguire assisted by James Hill. We stay at the comfortable 5* Hotel Bernini Palace, located close to the Bargello and Piazza della Signoria in the heart of Florence, we could not be better placed! Our hotel has a restaurant and a lounge bar whilst all that we shall see, including restaurants and bars, is within walking distance.

Day 1: Sunday 7 November – We fly early in the morning from Heathrow to Florence Airport, arriving at midday. We transfer by coach to the city centre and check into the 5* Hotel Bernini Palace. After time for lunch (not included), we walk the short distance to the great Franciscan church of Santa Croce to admire the tombs of Florence’s great and good but principally to view Giotto’s recently restored Bardi Chapel and Brunelleschi’s Pazzi Chapel. After time to rest, we have an early group dinner in our hotel. Wine, water and coffee are included with all group lunches and dinners.

Day 2: Monday 8 November – On our first morning, we visit the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, the great Medici palace to see the tiny private chapel with jewel-like frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli and the grander receptions rooms used by the family until 1540 when it was sold to the Riccardi in the seventeenth century. After a coffee break, we walk to the Bargello Museum, housed in the thirteenth century city magistrate’s palace, with outstanding sculptures by all the leading Florentine masters: Ghiberti, Donatello, Michelangelo and Bernini. We pause for lunch (not included) after which we take in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Piazza Signoria. Erected by Grand Duke Cosimo, the raised covered terrace displays two major statues by Cellini and Giambologna. Our final visit of the day is to the building which dominates the piazza and which the Medici used as their primary residence after 1540, Palazzo Vecchio. This tall, cubic and rusticated complex was built initially from 1299 but today hosts the town hall, local government and the mayor of Florence. We shall visit the palace museum with chapels, reception rooms and more intimate spaces with works by Michelangelo, Vasari and Bronzino. Later in the evening we shall have our second group dinner near our hotel.  

Day 3: Tuesday 9 November –Our half day of activities begins at the Casa Buonarotti tracing the artist’s life from 1508 when he purchased the property and enlarged it. Marble reliefs, models and drawings by Michelangelo are some of the surprises at his Florentine address. After a coffee break, we spend the rest of the morning in the Uffizi Gallery, concentrating mostly on Cinquecento painting. These rooms contain some of the finest paintings by all the greatest names of Florentine painting: altarpieces by Leonardo; Madonnas by Michelangelo and Raphael, allegories by Botticelli, even great paintings from Flanders such as van der Goes’s Portinari Altarpiece, which had a profound effect on Florentine art. At the end of this visit, lunch (not included) and the rest of the afternoon will be free for private explorations.

Day 4: Wednesday 10 November – We spend the day in the San Lorenzo district beginning at the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata with a very fine cloister frescoed by Andrea del Sarto and Pontormo. Nearby is the Chiostro dello Scalzo, designed by Sangallo and again frescoed by del Sarto in the early sixteenth century. After a coffee break, we spend the remainder of the morning in the Accademia. Opened in 1784 by Grand Duke Leopold, the gallery features iconic works by Michelangelo including his David, and a selection of Florentine masterpieces from the Trecento to Cinquecento. We pause for a group lunch nearby and visit the great ecclesiastical complex of San Lorenzo. The Basilica of San Lorenzo was designed by Brunelleschi and became the Medici parish church and family mausoleum. The Laurenziana Library is found above the cloister and was begun by Michelangelo in 1523 and completed by Vasari and his contemporaries. Finally, the Medici Chapels feature the ‘Old Sacristy’, a masterpiece designed by Michelangelo where all the Medici Grand Dukes were buried until the last of their line in 1737. The evening will be free.

Day 5: Thursday 11 November – We begin at the Church of Santa Felicita to admire a major chapel painted by Pontormo from 1525. After a coffee break, we cross the Arno to visit elements of the vast renaissance palace, Palazzo Pitti. Sold to Duke Cosimo’s wife, Eleanor of Toledo in 1549, successive Grand Dukes resided here amassing works of art, lavish decoration and adding extensive gardens, the Boboli Gardens. Today, the Palatine Gallery displays a sizeable collection of Medici art with works by Raphael and Titian to name a few. After our gallery visit, we stroll through the gardens after which we pause for lunch (not included). Our final visit of the week is a private one at Palazzo Corsini. This now imposing palazzo was purchased by the Tuscan Corsini family from the Medici in 1649 and significantly upgraded by 1700 with fashionable baroque interiors. Frescoed summer apartments and a collection of paintings are just some of its surprises. After a fitting final visit, later in the evening we shall have our final group dinner.    

Day 6: Friday 12 November – We depart after breakfast and drive the short distance to Florence Airport for our lunchtime departure at 12.45 to London Heathrow arriving at Terminal 5 at 2.10 pm local time.

Price £2970 per person  Without Flights £2770pp Deposit £400pp Single Supplement £495 (Double for Sole Use)

Hotels 5 nights including breakfast 5* Bernini Palace DSU Classic Room/ 2 sharing - Superior Room 

Flights British Airways

BA0520 Depart London Heathrow Terminal 5 0820 arrive Florence 1145

BA0521 Depart Florence 1245 arrive London Heathrow Terminal 5 1410

Price includes 3 dinners and 1 lunch with wine, water & coffee, all local transfers, entry fees, City Tax & gratuities, services of Hugh Maguire & James Hill

Not included Travel to/from London Heathrow, 2 dinners & 4 lunches

Please note our tours generally involve a significant amount of standing and walking, sometimes across uneven ground, or over cobbled streets, or up and down steps and inclines. We do not have an upper age limit for participants, but we require you to have a level of fitness which does not affect other participants' enjoyment of the tour. Please also note that many palaces, gardens, villas, museums and galleries have limited seating and perhaps do not have lifts. You should be able to walk at a reasonable pace and/or stand for at least twenty minutes without aid or requiring a rest. If you are in any doubt, please do contact us for advice on the tour’s suitability for you.