Depart From: Flight departs from US

Note: Leisurely walk around the neighborhood.

Breakfast: Breakfast served aboard plane prior to landing.

Morning: Transfer to hotel from the Florence airport for check-in.

Lunch: Light lunch buffet.

Afternoon: Neighborhood walk around Piazza S. Croce, to Palazzo Vecchio and Ponte Vecchio, and to the area around the Duomo to see Brunelleschi's Dome. Welcome reception.

Dinner: Dinner at a local restaurant. Early to bed or free time to walk around town.

Lodging: Plaza Hotel Lucchesi

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Note: Walk to Palazzo Vecchio and after lunch to the Archaeological Museum, about 2 miles for the day round trip.

Breakfast: Breakfast at hotel restaurant.

Morning: Hands-on lesson on how to paint using the fresco technique (you may keep your 5" x 11" tile masterpiece). After, learn about Florence's city hall building from a docent-led visit of Palazzo Vecchio. See Donatello's "Judith" and Machiavelli's study.

Lunch: Lunch on your own to try out local eateries. Suggestions provided on site.

Afternoon: Expert led lecture at the Archaeological Museum to begin discovery of the Etruscans, the people from whom Tuscany is named. See the famous "Chimera" of Arezzo and other artifacts from that civilization. The museum also contains items from Egypt.

Dinner: Dinner at a local restaurant.

Evening: Prepare bags for the morning's departure toward Assisi. Perhaps a walk along the Arno to Ponte Vecchio?

Lodging: Plaza Hotel Lucchesi

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Lectures on St.Francis, Medieval and Renaissance Heritage, visit Roman excavations

Breakfast: Breakfast at hotel restaurant.

Morning: Coach to Assisi and enjoy gazing at the fabled Tuscan countryside. Stop in picturesque Cortona for an expert-led field trip to the Archaeological museum with an Etruscologist.

Lunch: Lunch at a local restaurant.

Afternoon: Check into hotel room and settle in. Gather for an illustrated lecture on the Basilica of St. Francis, its history and art (frescoes by Giotto and his workshop). Learn about the on-going restoration of the paintings following the damage caused by the 1997 earthquake. Prior to dinner at the hotel, a brief neighborhood walk to orient you to this charming town.

Dinner: Dinner at hotel restaurant.

Lodging: Hotel Sole

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

St. Francis Basilica / Assisi in Roman times, explore the Temple of Minerva area and altar

Note: Traverse hill side to the Basilica, R/T about half a mile, walk up a couple of flights of stairs.

Breakfast: Breakfast at hotel restaurant.

Morning: A expert-led visit to the lower and upper church. See the Giotto frescoes and the place where St. Francis is buried as well as some of his personal possessions and important documents for the Franciscan Order.

Lunch: Lunch at hotel restaurant.

Afternoon: Roman era excavations under the main piazza, in front of the old Temple of Minerva, bring to light the area of the altar and surrounding structures. The temple, with its columns and pediments still intact, was converted into a church. After a little rest, learn about medieval and Renaissance Heritage through an illustrated lecture.

Dinner: Dinner on your own

Lodging: Hotel Sole

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch

Note: Light activities

Breakfast: Breakfast at hotel restaurant.

Morning: Lecture on the history and traditions of Umbria followed by an excursion to the Basilica of S. Clare.

Lunch: Lunch on your own

Afternoon: Free time to explore upper Assisi and enjoy this singular town. Suggestions given on site.

Dinner: Dinner at hotel restaurant.

Evening: At leisure.

Lodging: Hotel Sole

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Excursion to Deruta and Torgiano Wine Museum / Lecture on Gubbio's medieval traditions

Note: Leisure walk to visit ceramic workshops and wine tasting

Breakfast: Breakfast at hotel restaurant.

Morning: A private coach ride through the Umbrian hills to Deruta, a town famous for its hand painted ceramics, an industry dating back to the middle ages. A visit to a local potter's workshop demonstrates the process that turns a lump of clay into richly decorated dinnerware and objects d'art. In the city of Torgiano, visit a wine museum and learn about the history of viticulture in the region. Enjoy a light lunch and tasting of fine locally produced wines.

Lunch: Lunch at a local restaurant.

Afternoon: Return to the hotel for a lecture on the history and spirit of the hill towns of the region. Learn about the local festivals, including the "Corsa dei Ceri" in Gubbio, a competition that takes place every May among rival neighborhoods of the town. Runners carry heavy wooden structures resembling candles ("ceri") on their shoulders. They race up the hill to the church of S. Ubaldo. This religious/civic event dates back to the 12th century.

Dinner: Dinner at hotel restaurant

Evening: Prepare luggage for morning's departure.

Lodging: Hotel Sole

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Note: Somewhat slow, steep walk up the hill to Gubbio's main piazza, be rewarded with a spectacular view of the Tiber river valley.

Breakfast: Breakfast at hotel restaurant.

Morning: Board coach for a 2 hr. ride to Gubbio, a quintessential Umbrian hill-town, dating back millennia. In the archaeological museum see an example of the earliest written records in the native Umbrian language.

Lunch: Lunch at a local restaurant.

Afternoon: Board bus to Perugia. After checking into the hotel, a brief neighborhood walk and ride up the escalator to the upper city, return to the hotel for dinner.

Dinner: Dinner at hotel restaurant.

Lodging: San Gallo Palace

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Collegio del Cambio/ National Art Gallery / Renaissance Art and Literature

Note: Leisurely walk on Perugia's main streets and Art Museum led visit

Breakfast: Breakfast at hotel restaurant.

Morning: Guided visit to the Collegio del Cambio, the Money Changer's Guild hall, with richly decorated frescoes by Perugino. Visit continues to the adjacent National Gallery of Umbria, a collection of medieval and Renaissance art, including masterpieces by Perugino and Pinturicchio.

Lunch: Lunch at local restaurant.

Afternoon: An expert-led orientation walk in Perugia. An escalator near the hotel leads up to the upper city. Sites include the citadel Rocco San Paolina that dominates the town, and the imposing "Palazzo dei Priori." Enjoy a leisurely stroll back to the hotel along Corso Vanucci and take in the latest fashions in the elegant shops or stop for a caffe' or gelato.

Dinner: Dinner at the hotel restaurant.

Lodging: San Gallo Palace

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Note: Somewhat steep walk from terminal to main piazza.

Breakfast: Breakfast at hotel restaurant.

Morning: A local expert leads you through the stunning medieval Duomo where in the S. Brizio chapel you can study Signorelli's fresco of the Last Judgment.

Lunch: Lunch at a local restaurant.

Afternoon: Orvieto was established and settled by the Etruscans and our expert will discuss the artifacts displayed in the Archaeological Museum. After some free time, board coach and return to Perugia.

Dinner: Dinner at hotel restaurant.

Lodging: San Gallo Palace

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Note: Leisurely day.

Breakfast: Breakfast at hotel restaurant.

Morning: Historian lectures on Etruscan art and civilization. Learn about these people who excelled in almost everything: construction, metallurgy, art and commerce, but not literature. Their inscriptions are deciphered, but they left no written stories, although their frescoed tombs give an indication of their beliefs on the afterlife.

Lunch: Lunch on your own.

Afternoon: Free time in which you may go to the Archaeological Museum in Perugia on your own to solidify what you have learned or to explore the town more fully. Begin packing for the morning's transfer.

Dinner: Farewell dinner at hotel restaurant.

Lodging: San Gallo Palace

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Note: Leisurely coach ride.

Breakfast: Breakfast at hotel restaurant.

Morning: Coach to Florence and check into hotel.

Lunch: Lunch at a local restaurant.

Afternoon: Come full circle to the Basilica of Santa Croce, built in honor of S. Francis by his followers. In the Bardi chapel, learn from Giotto's fresco the sorrow at the death of the saint. While in the basilica notice the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli and Rossini, as well as other funerary monuments to great Florentines, such as Dante and Leonardo da Vinci.

Dinner: Dinner at a local restaurant. Free time to walk around Florence and pack for the next day's departure.

Lodging: Plaza Hotel Lucchesi

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Coach to and departures from Florence Vespucci Airport. Sack breakfast for early departures.

Meals Included: Breakfast