Full Day – 8 hours
 You will meet your art history guide at the designated meeting point and then start your journey discovering the highlights of 'Medici's Florence'. The first stop will be the 'Palazzo medici Ricardi , then through their private chapel
The afternoon will continue into the countryside surrounding Florence. We will meet with the driver and then venture off to enjoy lunch in a magnificent restaurant that has been judged one of the best in Italy.
 Here you enjoy spectatcular views over the fields of olives and vineyards and overlook one of the Medici families favourite winter hunting lodges. The Medici family ruled Florence for upwards of three centuries, they naturally established country homes outside the city where they could relax, entertain guests, plot against their enemies and generally behave like tycoons. This villa, built by Buontalenti has been nicknamed  'The Villa of 100 Chimneys' as there are more than 100 chimneys that proudly adorn the roof of this majestic structure. Through the rolling hills and heading east the last stop of the day will be another famous Medici villa, which was built for Lorenzo the Magnificent. It is said to have been the venue for amorous ren-des-vous for Vittorio Emanuelle II and his mistress and both Francesco I and his second wife Biana are rumoured to have been poisoned here.
The villa is glorious and boasts many magnificent entertainment rooms and formal halls, frescoes, decadent fabrics, goldguilding and its own mini theatre. There are lovely frescoes by Pontormo, and outside is a gigantic garden replete with grottoes, statues and fountains. In front of the villa there is a garden redesigned in the nineteenth century.
|
