While a discernable community of interests and aspirations lends some sort of general tone and character to Tuscan and Umbrian art of the 15th and 16th centuries, the closer one looks at the Italian Renaissance, the more local traditions and individual talents detach themselves from their apparently simple and harmonious relationship with the intellectual and

artistic landscape. On this tour, we explore and discuss the systems – artistic, political, and commercial – within which those individuals flourished whose works distinguished them in their own time as in ours, and throughout the intervening centuries, as the Great Masters.

We fly from London to Florence and transfer by coach to our comfortable three star hotel in Citta di Castello (a journey of about 1hour and 30 minutes). Dinner this evening, and every evening, is included and will be taken in a local restaurant.

After breakfast, we drive to Arezzo on the trail of Piero della Francesca, one of whose most famous and characteristic works – the frescoed legend of the True Cross - is to be found here in the Basilica of San Francesco. We will also take a stroll about the town and look at Piero’s Mary Magdalen and the fine French stained glass in the Cathedral, the Lorenzetti Virgin and Child behind the quaintly columned façade of S Maria della Pieve. After an independent lunch we will make our way back to Citta di Castello via Piero’s celebrated Madonna del Parto in the village of Monterchi, and his resurrected Christ in Borgo di San Sepolcro.

We begin this morning with a walking tour of Citta di Castello, fief of the Vitelli family, whose discreet patronage favoured Signorelli in the 15th century and Raphael in the 16th. Our visit includes the cathedral and the 6th century church silver from Canoscio in the treasury; and ends in the municipal Pinacotheca which houses a collection of Tuscan and Umbrian paintings second only to that of the National Gallery in Perugia. After an independent lunch in the town centre, our coach takes us to the hill-top town of Cortona where we will spend the afternoon with Signorelli and Fra Angelico in the diocesan art collection and inspecting the remarkable Etruscan artefacts in the local museum; but also strolling amongst the modern inhabitants and amenities of the town.

Our journey this morning takes us over the Apennines to the city of Urbino whose Ducal Palace – itself an early Renaissance masterpiece – was the scene of that idyllic Golden Age described by Baldassare Castigilione in The Book of the Courtier, and now houses the National Gallery of the Marches, including some of the best-loved and best-known images of the early Renaissance, works by Laurana, Uccello and Signorelli, and most famously, Piero’s mysterious Flagellation. In the afternoon, we will take a look at Raphael’s family home and the Salimbeni frescos in the Oratorio di San Giovanni before making our way back to Citta.

We head south this morning to the ancient Etruscan stronghold of Orvieto to visit the cathedral which conceals behind a spectacular façade and a sober interior one of the greatest and best preserved fresco cycles in Italy, Signorelli’s Capella Nuova where the Sermon of the Antichrist confronts the four last things, Death and Judgement, Heaven and Hell. After an independent lunch in the town, we make our way back to Perugia where our visits take us up through the buried ruins of Etruscan, Roman and Medieval occupation to the National Gallery of Umbria in the Palazzo dei Priori and Perugino’s delightful decorations in the tiny Collegio del Cambio.

Our coach takes us to Assisi this morning, where we will visit the upper and lower basilicas where centuries of pilgrims have found spiritual refreshment in the storied walls, where Giotto, Simone Martini and others have imagined the Crucifixion, the resurrection and the exemplary lives of the saints. After some free time for lunch in the town, we return to Citta via Spello where the tiny Baglioni chapel in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore was exquisitely decorated by Pinturrichio in 1501.

Today is spent in Siena. In the morning we will explore the Town Hall with its entertaining anthology of illustrative frescos by Simone Martini and the Lorenzetti brothers. Those who still possess the energy to climb the hundreds of steps to the top of the tower will be rewarded with a view over the Campo – scene of the notorious Palio horse-race – of the ancient city centre and the woods and fields beyond, a landscape that has scarcely changed since the declining years of the Roman Empire. After an independent lunch in the town we meet up again to visit the Cathedral and Pinturrichio’s exquisite Piccoluomini library. A stroll through the medieval centre takes us to the local art gallery for a final appraisal of the distinguishing features of Sienese art.

Our tour ends in Florence where we have a timed entry to the Uffizi, the sanctum sanctorum of Florentine painting before, during and after the Renaissance which has been the object of our tour. From the Uffizi we transfer directly to Florence airport and our flight home.

• Accommodation -
  • 7 nights bed and breakfast in a good 3 star hotel in Citte di Castello
  • Dinner every evening in local restaurants
• Transport
  • Private coach throughout for all transfers and excursions
• Excursions as outlined in the itinerary.
• Entrance fees to all places mentioned in the itinerary
• Services of an experienced lecturer/tour leader -
• Local guide where required by local legislation
• All tips and gratuities

• Insurance
  • It is a condition of booking that you have adequate travel insurance to cover your needs when you travel with us. This will need to cover a missed departure, any emergency that may arise while you are travelling with us, and should also enable you to claim back from the insurance company any monies already paid to us or due to us in the event of your having to cancel the tour after booking and before the departure date.
    
    If you have difficulty finding cover due to your age, it may be of help to know that there are at least two companies who provide Travel Insurance to those over retirement age:-
    • Age Concern - Tel 0845 601 2234 Click here for Website
    • Saga - Tel 0800 559 3231 Click here for Website
  
  
• Walking - Most of our tours involve a good deal of walking.
• Sites and Museums - Archaeological sites in some countries can be rough and uneven underfoot and do not always conform to western standards of health and safety.

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FLIGHTS:             Economy Class    Club Class (if available and at supplementary cost)    None