Italy
Italy: Classic Tuscany and the Treasures of Florence
Program No. 19715RJ
Explore medieval villages, discover Renaissance architecture, visit ancient marble quarries and savor renowned wine and cuisine as you learn the timeless story of Tuscany and Florence.
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13 days
12 nights
23 meals
11B 5L 7D
1
In Transit to Program
In Flight
11
Uffizi, Free Time
Florence
12
Bargello, Orsanmichele, Free Time
Florence
At a Glance
For centuries, the verdant landscapes and medieval villages of Tuscany remained frozen in time. Scarcely changed in appearance, the entire region is a living cultural treasure today. In the hills of northern Tuscany and the plain of Florence, discover the unparalleled artistic genius that blossomed into masterpieces of marble, canvas, and architecture whose brilliance transcends time and place.
Activity Level
Let's Go!
Walking up to five miles a day. Extended standing during site visits with limited or no public seating. Uneven terrain, limited public handrails, unavoidable stairs, marble and terracotta flooring, cobblestones, steep inclines, loose gravel, dirt paths, escalators. Elevator use is limited or restricted in historic sites. Expect crowded conditions in pedestrian centers and museums. Program-related travel and transfers will be via bus and regional train.
Small Group
Love to learn and explore in a small-group setting? These adventures offer small, personal experiences with groups of 13 to 24 participants.
What You'll Learn
- Visit the quarries of Carrara to learn why great sculptors and architects choose this marble.
- View the great masterpieces in Florence: works by Donatello, Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Caravaggio, Cellini, and Michelangelo’s iconic sculpture, "David."
- Visit a winery in the Tuscan countryside and explore San Gimignano, a beautiful walled medieval hill town with an unforgettable skyline.
General Notes
The program includes independent time to explore Lucca, Siena, and Florence and several meals on your own. The Group Leader will provide directions for self-directed excursions. Suggestions for free-time activities are provided in your Final Information Packet
Featured Expert
All trip experts
Umberto Cattani
Umberto Cattani is a licensed group leader in Florence, Carrara and the Cinque Terre, and has been working with the Trinity College for 15 years. After completing his studies in accounting, Umberto worked in Parma as a sales manager for a clothing manufacturer. At the start of the new millennium, he discovered his real passion for guiding, and completed the required courses in art history, archaeology and history to achieve his new goal. Umberto lives in Carrara with his wife and daughter.
Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.
Umberto Cattani
View biography
Umberto Cattani is a licensed group leader in Florence, Carrara and the Cinque Terre, and has been working with the Trinity College for 15 years. After completing his studies in accounting, Umberto worked in Parma as a sales manager for a clothing manufacturer. At the start of the new millennium, he discovered his real passion for guiding, and completed the required courses in art history, archaeology and history to achieve his new goal. Umberto lives in Carrara with his wife and daughter.
Linda Lorenzetti
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Linda Lorenzetti is the president of a cooperative of professional group leaders that leads explorations of the city of Lucca and the Tuscan countryside. She has been leading Road Scholar field trips in Lucca since 1987 and never fails to enthusiastically showcase her native town. Linda got her degree in English literature from the Università di Pisa. She has worked for movie productions like The Portrait of a Lady and television programs such as The Today Show.
Lara Mattioli
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Lara Mattioli is from Ancona, a city on the eastern Adriatic coast of Italy. She has an advanced degree in communications from the Università degli Studi di Macerata and has been working for many years as group leader in Italy and abroad. Lara studied and worked in Barcelona and Rio de Janeiro where she learned to speak Spanish and Portuguese fluently. When not leading Road Scholar programs in her beautiful country, she loves to travel and pursue her hobby of scuba diving.
Jane Bacon-Fiori
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Jane Bacon is an associate of the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art. She edited theater books, popular history, novels, and travel books for the London publisher Eyre Methuen for several years before moving to Italy. Jane lives in the little-known corner of Tuscany called the Lunigiana, where she continues to teach, write, and study Anglo-American writers who spent most of their lives in Tuscany.
Suzanne Myers
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Suzanne Myers originally hails from Lincoln, Nebraska and has been living in Florence since 2011. She has a BA in art history from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota and an MA in art history from Syracuse University. She works as a lecturer for several study away programs in Florence and as a licensed group leader. Suzanne specializes in Italian Renaissance art, but also loves to lecture on a wide range of subjects from the Medici family to the Black Death to Florentine fashion.
Elena Cappelli
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Elena Cappelli was born in Florence and studied at the Università degli Studi di Firenze where she completed her degree in foreign languages. She worked for a number of years as an event planner for a cultural association. A few years ago, she decided to follow in her mother’s footsteps to showcase her city to visitors, soon becoming a licensed expert in Florence. Elena lives in the Oltrarno neighborhood, an old residential district on the other side of the Arno River, with her teenage children.
Barbara Gigi
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Barbara was born in Milan to a southern Italian family. She graduated from a school for interpreters and translators learning French, English and Dutch. She worked as an import manager for a fashion company before deciding to become a group leader. She now leads exclusively for Road Scholar and has decided to devote her life to the social sciences. When she is not leading groups, she is a full-time graduate student in anthropology at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris.
Eleanor Pieruccini
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Eleanor was born in Vancouver, B.C. to Italian parents that had migrated from Lucca to Canada. She received her education there including a pianist's diploma and a university degree. She settled in Lucca where she met her husband and after running a few businesses together, studied to become a travel professional in Lucca and province. She loves Lucca and is proud to share her home. She has had the good fortune of living in two beautiful corners of the world — Vancouver and Lucca.
Olivia Fiori
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Olivia Fiori has spent most of her life living in Tuscany apart from a period in England where she attended the University of London and earned a degree in French and Spanish literatures. During her childhood and since she returned to Italy, she has helped run her parents’ bed and breakfast, cooking many of the local dishes for their clients — in particular, those dishes of the so-called Cucina Povera which have now become part of the traditional Tuscan cuisine in many restaurants.
Marco A. Ceccarani
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Marco Ceccarani, a native of Assisi, holds a PhD in humanities from the Università degli Studi di Perugia. His field of expertise includes medieval and Renaissance Italian civilization and literature. He has taught for several American universities in the United States and currently teaches in Florence for American university study away programs.
Monica Shenouda
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Monica Shenouda, originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee, now calls Florence home. She majored in French Literature at Swarthmore College, worked in New York City, and studied art history and architecture in Rome. She then went to the University of Virginia and earned a master’s in architectural history and a PhD in the art history and architecture. She did her research in Venice, the subject of her dissertation. Monica teaches for study abroad programs in Florence and Venice and works as a translator and editor.
Suggested Reading List
(20 books)
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You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
Italy: Classic Tuscany and the Treasures of Florence
Program Number: 19715
Tea with Mussolini
From Google: In 1930s fascist Italy, adolescent Luca (Charlie Lucas) just lost his mother. His father, a callous businessman, sends him to be taken care of by British expatriate Mary Wallace (Joan Plowright). Mary and her cultured friends -- including artist Arabella (Judi Dench), young widow Elsa (Cher), and archaeologist Georgie (Lily Tomlin) -- keep a watchful eye over the boy. But the women's cultivated lives take a dramatic turn when Allied forces declare war on Mussolini.
The Stones of Florence
From Amazon: Renowned for her sharp literary style, essayist and fiction writer Mary McCarthy offers a unique history of Florence, from its inception to the dominant role it came to play in the world of art, architecture, and Italian culture, that captures the brilliant Florentine spirit and revisits the legendary figures—Dante, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and others—who exemplify it so iconically. Her most cherished sights and experiences color this timeless, graceful portrait of a city that's as famous as it is alluring.
Insight Guide Tuscany
An illustrated guide in the popular series, noteworthy for its maps and illuminating essays on history, art, food and culture.
Life Is Beautiful (La vita è bella)
From Google: A gentle Jewish-Italian waiter, Guido Orefice (Roberto Benigni), meets Dora (Nicoletta Braschi), a pretty schoolteacher, and wins her over with his charm and humor. Eventually they marry and have a son, Giosuè (Giorgio Cantarini). Their happiness is abruptly halted, however, when Guido and Giosuè are separated from Dora and taken to a concentration camp. Determined to shelter his son from the horrors of his surroundings, Guido convinces Giosuè that their time in the camp is merely a game.
Florence: The Paintings & Frescoes, 1250-1743
From Amazon: A magnificent, never-before-published collection of every painting and fresco on display in the Uffizi, the Galleria Palatina of the Pitti Palace, the Accademia, and the Duomo, and more -- nearly 2,000 works of art -- all presented in a beautiful slipcased package.
The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall
This well-researched and engaging book provides readers with a detailed chronicle of the Medici family's ascent to power in Florence during the 15th century. It explores the family's origins, their role as bankers, and the astute political maneuvers that allowed them to become the de facto rulers of Florence. The Medici's patronage of the arts, particularly their support for artists like Botticelli, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci, is a central theme in the book, highlighting their significant impact on the Renaissance. Hibbert also delves into the tumultuous political landscape of Renaissance Italy, marked by power struggles, alliances, and rivalries between various city-states and noble families.
The Scribe of Siena: A Novel
From Amazon: Equal parts transporting love story and gripping historical conspiracy, debut author Melodie Winawer takes readers deep into medieval Italy, where the past and present blur and a twenty-first century woman will discover a plot to destroy Siena. Accomplished neurosurgeon Beatrice Trovato knows that her deep empathy for her patients is starting to impede her work. So when her beloved brother passes away, she welcomes the unexpected trip to the Tuscan city of Siena to resolve his estate, even as she wrestles with grief. But as she delves deeper into her brother’s affairs, she discovers intrigue she never imagined—a 700-year-old conspiracy to decimate the city.
A Room with a View
From Amazon: Helena Bonham Carter plays a young, independent-minded, upper-class woman who is trying to sort out her feelings, divided between a free spirit (Julian Sands) she meets on vacation and the bookworm (Daniel Day-Lewis) to whom she becomes engaged back home. Funny, sexy, and sophisticated, this art-house hit features a sublime supporting cast and remains a touchstone of intelligent romantic cinema.
The Reluctant Tuscan: How I Discovered My Inner Italian
From Amazon: After years of working on a string of sitcoms, Phil Doran found himself on the outside looking in. Just as he and his peers had replaced the older guys when he was coming up the ranks, it was now happening to him. And it was freaking him out. He came home every night angry, burned-out, and exhausted. After twenty-five years of losing her husband to Hollywood, Doran’s wife decided it was finally time for a change—so on one of her many solo trips to Italy she surprised her husband by purchasing a broken-down 300-year-old farmhouse for them to restore. The Reluctant Tuscan is about the author’s transition from being a successful but overworked writer-producer in Hollywood to rediscovering himself and his wife while in Italy, and finding happiness in the last place he expected. In the witty tone that made him a success as a writer in Hollywood, The Reluctant Tuscan captivates those who simply love a good travel narrative as well as anyone who loves the quirky humor of Bill Bryson, Dave Barry, and Jerry Seinfeld.
The Renaissance: A Short History
From Amazon: The Renaissance holds an undying place in our imagination, its great heroes still our own, from Michelangelo and Leonardo to Dante and Chaucer. This period of profound evolution in European thought is credited with transforming the West from medieval to modern and producing the most astonishing outpouring of artistic creation the world has ever known. But what was it? In this masterly work, the incomparable Paul Johnson tells us. He explains the economic, technological, and social developments that provide a backdrop to the age’s achievements and focuses closely on the lives and works of its most important figures. A commanding short narrative of this vital period, The Renaissance is also a universally profound meditation on the wellsprings of innovation.
Siena: City of Secrets
From Amazon: Jane Tylus’s Siena is a compelling and intimate portrait of this most secretive of cities, often overlooked by travelers to Italy. Cultural history, intellectual memoir, travelogue, and guidebook, it takes the reader on a quest of discovery through the well- and not-so-well-traveled roads and alleys of a town both medieval and modern.
Light in the Piazza
From Amazon: Meg Johnson (Olivia de Havilland) is eager to discover the glories of Italy with her beautiful daughter Clara (Yvette Mimieux), who was mentally impaired in a childhood accident.
La Bella Figura, A Field Guide to the Italian Mind
From Amazon: You won’t need luggage for this hypothetical and hilarious trip into the hearts and minds of Beppe Severgnini’s fellow Italians. In fact, Beppe would prefer if you left behind the baggage his crafty and elegant countrymen have smuggled into your subconscious. To get to his Italia, you’ll need to forget about your idealized notions of Italy. Although La Bella Figura will take you to legendary cities and scenic regions, your real destinations are the places where Italians are at their best, worst, and most authentic: the highway, the airport, and the small town.
Tuscany in Mind: From Byron and the Brownings to Henry James, D. H. Lawrence, Robert Lowell, and Penelope Fitzgerald--Two Centuries of Great Writers Seduced by Tuscany
From Amazon: Tuscany in Mind assembles a glittering mosaic portrait of an unforgettable place: Kinta Beevor • James Boswell • Elizabeth Barrett Browning • Robert Browning • Lord Byron • Bruce Chatwin • Ann Cornelisen • Charles Dickens • Sarah Dunant • Lawrence Ferlinghetti • Penelope Fitzgerald • E. M. Forster • Laura Fraser • Paul Gervais • Barbara Grizzuti Harrison • Robert Hellenga • William Dean Howells • Henry James • Erica Jong • D. H. Lawrence • David Leavitt and Mark Mitchell • Robert Lowell • Frances Mayes • Mary McCarthy • H. V. Morton • Eric Newby • Iris Origo • John Ormond • Elizabeth Romer • John Ruskin • Mary Shelley • Percy Bysshe Shelley • Kate Simon • Tobias Smollett • Matthew Spender • Stephen Spender • Mark Twain • Edith Wharton
The Medici: Power, Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance
From Amazon: A dazzling history of the modest family that rose to become one of the most powerful in Europe, The Medici is a remarkably modern story of power, money, and ambition. Against the background of an age that saw the rebirth of ancient and classical learning, Paul Strathern explores the intensely dramatic rise and fall of the Medici family in Florence as well as the Italian Renaissance, which they did so much to sponsor and encourage. Interwoven into the narrative are the lives of many of the great Renaissance artists with whom the Medici had dealings, including Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Donatello as well as scientists like Galileo and Pico della Mirandola. In his enthralling study, Strathern also follows the fortunes of those members of the Medici family who achieved success away from Florence, including the two Medici popes and Catherine de' Medici, who became queen of France and played a major role in that country through three turbulent reigns.
Fodor's Florence 25 Best
From Amazon: Compact and affordable, Fodor's Florence's 25 Best is a great travel companion for travelers who want a light, easy-to-pack guidebook to one of Europe's most exciting cities. Recommendations, pull-out map, practical tips and phrases, gorgeous photos and maps, and trip-planning tools.
A Culinary Traveller in Tuscany
A Tuscany resident for 30 years, Elon presents 100 recipes from a hand-picked selection of favorite restaurants in this charming cookbook and travel guide. With 10 itineraries highlighting largely undiscovered regions of Tuscany, restaurants, trattorie, shops, wineries, olive oil producers, markets and food festivals.
Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture
"Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture" is a meticulously researched and beautifully written book that chronicles the brilliant mind and unwavering determination of Filippo Brunelleschi, the visionary architect behind the construction of Florence's iconic cathedral dome. King skillfully navigates the complexities of both the architectural and political landscapes of 15th-century Italy, offering a compelling narrative that unveils the challenges, innovations, and triumphs of this monumental undertaking. Through King's storytelling, readers gain a profound appreciation for the genius of Brunelleschi and the enduring legacy of his architectural masterpiece, which continues to awe and inspire to this day.
The Agony and the Ecstasy, A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo
From Amazon: Irving Stone’s classic biographical novel of Michelangelo—the #1 New York Times bestseller in which both the artist and the man are brought to vivid, captivating life. His time—the turbulent Renaissance, the years of poisoning princes, warring Popes, and the all-powerful de' Medici family… His loves—the frail and lovely daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, the ardent mistress of Marco Aldovrandi, and his last love, his greatest love—the beautiful, unhappy Vittoria Colonna... His genius—a God-driven fury from which he wrested brilliant work that made a grasp for heaven unmatched in half a millennium... His name—Michelangelo Buonarroti. Creator of the David, painter of the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, architect of the dome of St. Peter's, Michelangelo lives once more in the tempestuous, powerful pages of Irving Stone's towering triumph. A masterpiece in its own right, this biographical novel offers a compelling portrait of one of the greatest artists the world has ever known.
The Most Beautiful Villages of Tuscany
From Amazon: A celebration of one of the most rich and varied landscapes in Europe, here are thirty-six villages and towns from all over Tuscany chosen both for their intrinsic beauty and for the part they have played in Tuscan history. Stand at the edge of a Tuscan hill village and gaze across one of the most extraordinarily rich and varied landscapes in Europe. There are vineyards producing the finest wine, and miles of wild mountain scenery; almost any view will take in other villages, clustering around the upper reaches of some hill, or the russet roofs of a fortified town deep in a valley.