florence

Day 1 | Thursday 21 January
Arrival
Founded as the Roman settlement of Florentia in the 1st century BCE, Florence later emerged as a principal centre of the Italian Renaissance, where commerce, civic ambition and artistic patronage reshaped the urban landscape and intellectual life of the peninsula. In January, the city belongs more to itself – the piazzas quieter, galleries less crowded and the winter light lending a particular quality of stillness. Gathering in the lobby of the hotel in the late afternoon, we begin with an orientation walk through the surrounding streets. Our route traces the Roman origins of Florentia, whose original street grid still underlies parts of the modern centre, and includes a visit to the archaeological remains beneaththe hotel itself – an evocative introduction to the layered history on which this city stands. A glass of Prosecco marks our first evening together before we continue to a local restaurant for our welcome dinner. Overnight Florence (D)

Day 2 | Friday 22 January
The Sacred Heart of Florence
For centuries, the cluster of buildings around Piazza San Giovanni formed the ritual and spiritual heart of Florence. The Baptistery, the Cathedral and Giotto’s Campanile – the so-called sacred axis – were not merely places of worship but theatres of communal identity, where the ambitions of the commune were expressed in marble, mosaic and fresco. In winter, without the crush of summer visitors, the scale and detail of these buildings can be appreciated with unusual clarity, and our morning is spent exploring the full Duomo complex. We begin with the Baptistery, the oldest of the sacred buildings, begun in 1059, before moving to the Cathedral Museum. Here, an impressive reconstruction of the cathedral’s original 14th-century facade provides essential context for the building’s evolution, alongside masterpieces by Arnolfo di Cambio, Donatello and Michelangelo. We then enter the Duomo itself and, conditions permitting, ascend to the terraces for views across the winter city. Lunch is enjoyed together at a nearby restaurant before we walk to the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, the prestigious state workshop whose origins lie in the 16th-century Medici court. Guided by a specialist from the workshop, we explore the art of pietra dura – an intricate form of inlay using precious and semi-precious stones – and observe the restoration work that continues here today. On return to our hotel, the evening is at leisure. Overnight Florence (B, L)

Day 3 | Saturday 23 January
The Rise of the Medici
No family shaped Florence more profoundly than the Medici. Rising to prominence as bankers in the 14th century, they accumulated wealth and influence that eventually extended to the papacy itself, and it was their patronage that funded many of the defining works of the Florentine Renaissance. To understand the city is, in large part, to understand the Medici – their ambitions, their rivalries and their extraordinary investment in art as a form of power. We begin today at the Convent of San Marco, rebuilt at Medici expense in the 15th century, where Fra Angelico’s frescoes occupy every cell of the cloister. These intimate, luminous works were designed for private devotion rather than public display. We then continue to the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, the family’s first great Florentine residence, where Benozzo Gozzoli’s frescoes in the Cappella dei Magi offer a brilliantly staged celebration of Medici prestige, with portraits of Cosimo the Elder and Piero the Gouty woven into the biblical procession. The afternoon brings us to the San Lorenzo complex, including the church itself and the Cappelle Medicee, where Michelangelo’s allegorical sculptures of Dawn, Dusk, Day and Night preside over the tombs of the later Grand Dukes. In the evening, we reconvene for a performance (schedules permitting) at one of the city’s fine theatres. Overnight Florence (B)

Day 4 | Sunday 24 January
Court Life – Palazzo Pitti & The Brancacci Chapel
Across the Arno, on the south bank of the river, lies the grandest expression of Medici dynastic ambition: the Palazzo Pitti. Begun in the mid-15th century, it was acquired in 1549 by Eleonora da Toledo and transformed into the official residence of the Tuscan Grand Dukes – a role it retained until the unification of Italy in the 19th century. Its galleries contain one of the finest Medici art collections in existence, with works by Caravaggio, Raphael, Rubens, Titian and Filippo Lippi displayed in rooms whose decorative program are themselves works of art. We spend the morning in the palace before making our way, weather permitting, into the Boboli Gardens. Laid out from the 1550s under Cosimo I and extended by successive architects, the gardens in January have a particular character – the formal geometry of the terraces and gravel walks visible without the concealment of summer foliage. Lunch is enjoyed together near the Brancacci Chapel, where we spend the afternoon with Masaccio’s celebrated fresco cycle in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine. Known informally as the Sistine Chapel of the early Renaissance, these paintings were studied by generations of Florentine artists, Michelangelo among them. On return to our hotel, the evening is at leisure. Overnight Florence (B, L)

Day 5 | Monday 25 January
Monteriggioni & Siena
The landscape beyond Florence in winter has its own austere beauty, with the hills of Tuscany veiled in winter mist and pale light. Our morning drive through this countryside brings us first to Monteriggioni, built by the Sienese in the 13th century to guard their northern frontier against Florence. Its famous ring of walls and 14 towers, still largely intact, inspired lines in Dante’s Inferno. After walking the circuit of the walls, we continue our journey south to Siena. In winter, Siena is at its most unguarded, with the Piazza del Campo drawing fewer visitors and the city’s winding streets free from the crowds of high season. On arrival, we walk to the Church of San Domenico and the Sanctuary of Santa Caterina before exploring the Campo. Our tour takes in the Duomo complex, including the atmospheric frescoed crypt and the Baptistery, before returning to Florence in the early evening. Overnight Hotel Brunelleschi (B)

Day 6 | Tuesday 26 January
The Accademia and the Uffizi
Today we visit two of the world’s most significant art collections – and in quiet January, enjoy some of the best conditions in which to see them. The Galleria dell’Accademia is home to Michelangelo’s David, as well as the four unfinished Prisoners that offer an extraordinary window into the sculptor’s working process. After exploring the Accademia this morning, we turn out attention to Galleria degli Uffizi, whose collections were built through the acquisitions, inheritances and occasionally coercive collecting of the Medici and Lorraine Grand Dukes across four centuries. Moving through the galleries, we take in works by Cimabue, Giotto, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Bronzino, Caravaggio, Artemisia Gentileschi, Titian and Rembrandt, setting each within its broader cultural and historical moment. We return to the hotel in the early evening before gathering for our farewell dinner
at a local restaurant – a fitting close to a week in one of Europe’s most everlasting cities. Overnight Florence (B, D)

Day 7 | Wednesday 27 January
Departure
Our tour ends after breakfast this morning. Please see your individual bookings for onward travel. (B)