TUSCANY & UMBRIA
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1 – 9 April 2009
with Anthony Earl |
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COST: £985 the price includes return flights; accommodation with breakfast at the centrally located Minerva Hotel in Siena (3 nights); half board at the Oasi Hotel, a former monastery on the outskirts of Cortona (5 nights); transport; services of the tour leader; and some entrance fees.
EXTRAS: Travel insurance, drinks or tips or any items of personal expenditure. There is a supplement for single accommodation of £195. Some entrance charges. |
The theme for this tour is the city and the countryside in central Italy. In the Middle Ages much of Italy comprised small but wealthy independent or semi-independent city-states, surrounded by the countryside that fed them, but often enriched by trade or manufacture. Siena for many is the best preserved medieval city-state in Europe, and the Italian city with the most congenial lifestyle: its warm red brick, superb buildings, distinctive and attractive café routines, not to mention good restaurants and civilised streetscapes, make it a city to feel at home in. It echoes with the memories of saints, writers and bankers. A major fresco by Ambrogio Lorenzetti in the Palazzo Pubblico portrays an idealised vision of the city and its surrounding countryside as part of an allegory of a just and well-governed community. It is the beautiful surrounding countryside - the gentle verdure of the valleys and appealing mountains of Umbria - where we shall explore how people have lived and still live in the country. Among the towns we will visit are: Montepulciano (famous for wine), Pienza, Perugia.
Siena is one of the most important cities in Tuscany. Sited at the summit of three hills, it commands wide views over the surrounding countryside, and is crowned with a spectacular cathedral, dominating the city skyline. Its wealth was based on the textile industry, on a tradition of fine goldsmith work, and on its strategic position on the main pilgrimage route south to Rome. Siena enjoyed a period of outstanding artistic achievement in the fourteenth century, when her painters and architects rivalled those of Florence as pioneers of the dawning spirit of the Renaissance. Duccio created his great altarpiece for the Cathedral by 1311, and the next generation of artists included some of the most innovatory in the history of Italian art. Simone Martini, and the brothers Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti, left their mark on the city, its surrounding territories.
Cortona is a charming hill-top town close to the border of Umbria. It has Etruscan and Roman origins and many Renaissance and later buildings. A fortress dominates the town and there is a rewarding small art gallery. The hotel Oasi, where the Travellers’ Club has stayed frequently, is below the town with views across to Lake Trasimeno.
| Date |
Provisional Itinerary |
Wed1st April |
Arrive via airports of , Bologna, Pisa or Florence, in Siena. Dinner included. |
Thurs 2nd April |
Day in Siena: the Palazzo Pubblico (the seat of government of the medieval commune) with its 14th century frescoes. We will see the buildings of the Campo (the great fan-shaped campus where the Palio is run each year), and visit the Pinacoteca – the National Gallery of Siena – house in an elegant palazzo of the 15th century – which contains works of the Sienese school. Dinner at own choice from the variety in the city. |
Fri 3rd April |
Day in Siena : the Duomo was planned to be greatly enlarged in the 14th century, but the work was never completed due to the Black Death and a shortage of funds. The Cathedral contains the famous altarpiece by Duccio and works by Pisano (pulpit), Donatello, Bernini and the famous library frescoed by Pinturicchio We will explore the Battistero, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo; Hospital of S Maria della Scala; afternoon public bus to local township ( Asciano, or Monte Oliveto Maggiore or Monteriggioni). Dinner at own choice |
Sat 4th April |
Transfer to Cortona via Montepulciano, famous for vino nobile, where the 16th century Palazzi wind up the hill; stay in Cortona at the Hotel Oasi, well known to Travellers' Club members. Dinner in Hotel included |
Sun 5th April |
Cortona small busy town, with Etruscan treasures, a lovely park, some eco-food shops; afternoon trip (by coach) for a visit to a vineyard. Dinner included. |
Mon 6th April |
A day in the country by coach, to Pienza and the garden of La Foce, where we shall take tea in style. Dinner in hotel included. |
| Tues 7th April |
A trip by local train to Perugia: the Palazzo dei Priori, now the art gallery, ancient Roman and Etruscan streets, fabulous ice-creams. Return to Cortona. Dinner in hotel included |
| Wed 8th April |
By coach: to a nineteenth century weavers' still in operation, and a town famous for majolica pottery. Dinner in hotel included. |
Thurs 9th April |
Return through Pisa, Florence or Bologna airports. |
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