Travel Program
Powerful and “Illuminati”, Tuscany owes a lot to the Medici family: wonderful villas like Poggio a Caiano, food and wine traditions and a thousand treasures kept in Florence such as the Medici Chapels. We get to know the Medici better with this itinerary.
How the journey is structured...
1st day
Arrival in Poggio a Caiano by own means. Poggio a Caiano is located at the meeting point of the routes between Florence and Pistoia on one side and between Prato and Montalbano on the other. From the hill that gives the town its name you can enjoy a splendid view over the Ombrone and Bisenzio plain, over the cities of Prato and Florence and over the plain leading to Pistoia and its Apennines. It was no coincidence if Lorenzo de’ Medici decided to have his villa built right here - free visit (free admission, reservations required). Well preserved and declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2013, it was designed by Giuliano da Sangallo for “Lorenzo il Magnifico”, as an example of Renaissance architecture that blended the lesson of the classics with characteristic elements of Tuscan rural architecture. In the surprising and majestic Sala di Leone X, one of the most important Tuscan fresco cycles of the sixteenth century is almost entirely preserved, created by Pontormo, Andrea del Sarto, Franciabigio and Alessandro Allori. Outside the Villa extend the garden and the park, dominated not only by the mass of the villa, but also by the large nineteenth-century lemon house, at the foot of which stand the monumental sixteenth-century stables.
Continue to Carmignano and lunch / tasting of typical products in one of the restaurants in the center (tasting of 3 local dishes including Fico Secco Dop + 3 Carmignano wines); in addition to wine and oil, the DOP product of the area is the Dried Fig proposed by local restaurateurs in various very original and particular recipes. Guided tour of the Museum of Vine and Wine and of the church of Saints Michael and Francis (within walking distance) where the masterpiece "The Visitation" by Pontormo, an artist exponent of Mannerism in painting, is kept. At the end, transfer to Florence for accommodation in a boutique b & b in the city center and overnight stay. Free dinner.
2nd day
Breakfast. This Florentine day will be entirely dedicated to getting to know the Medici family, accompanied by a guide: a walk through the streets of the historic center in the footsteps of this great family originally from Mugello, which for over three centuries dominated the political and cultural landscape of our Florence of the world of the time.
Between Piazza San Marco and Piazza del Duomo where the conspiracy took place which led to the death of Giuliano, Lorenzo's brother, up to Piazza della Signoria where the family lived in Palazzo Vecchio. Following (externally) the path of the Vasari Corridor from the Uffizi, we arrive at Palazzo Pitti, another residence. Break for free lunch. In the afternoon visit of one of the most important religious complexes of the city where the glories of the Medici family and the beginnings of the Renaissance are celebrated and where the genius of great artists such as Filippo Brunelleschi, Donatello, Michelangelo triumphs. Starting from the Basilica of San Lorenzo, one of the oldest churches in the city, where splendid masterpieces of Renaissance art are kept by Donatello, Andrea del Verrocchio, Desiderio da Settignano, Filippo Lippi, Bronzino. Continue with the visit of the Medici Chapels: from the crypt you enter the Chapel of the Princes, an imposing family mausoleum designed by Cosimo I as a place to gather all the burials and celebrate the greatness of his family. You will enter the New Sacristy, an architectural space created by Michelangelo which houses some of the artist's finest sculptures in addition to the burials of Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano. Termination of services
