The Florentine Renaissance in Tuscany

Tour 27 May to 9 June 2012

Escorted by Dr Angela Mackie
Tour Operator: Claudio Polles

Tour begins and ends at the airport in Florence where we will be met by the tour operator


A tour for those who appreciate the finer aspects of life: art and architecture, the great cuisine of Tuscany, fine wines, a laugh or two. There will be plenty of time to wander on your own to enjoy what Florence and other centres have to offer. Accommodation is in elegant 4-star country villas.

Claudio Polles, an artist from the Veneto who spends half the year in Italy, will introduce us to the food and wine of this famous region while the Art History lecturer, Dr Angela Mackie, will explain the salient points of Renaissance art in Florence. Duccio, Giotto, Brunelleschi, Donatello, Piero della Francesca, Paolo Uccello, Ghiberti, Beato Angelico, Bernardo Rossellino, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, not to mention Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael! These are the artists whose works we will study. We will also have day trips to Siena, Montepulciano, Pienza, San Sepolcro and Arezzo to view relevant architecture, sculpture and paintings.

As well as visiting the above centres we will also spend a day driving through the rolling hills from our villa to the Chianti valley for a wine tasting. We of course will be sampling the fine regional cuisine and wine from the local vineyards each time we eat in our hotel or local restaurant!

Cost of tour: $AUS7950
Single room supplement $AUS1250


Download the booking and deposit form

TOUR COSTS INCLUDE -

  • Transfers
  • Accommodation with private facilities
  • All excursions
  • All breakfasts, all dinners (wines with evening meals)
  • Entrance fees as per itinerary

NOT INCLUDED -

  • Airfares and all associated airport and airline taxes
  • Travel insurance
  • Any personal costs

DAY 1 - 27 May 2012


Arrival - PICK-UP - FLORENCE AIRPORT 12 pm transfer to "Hotel Sovestro"; Visit S. Gimignano

DAY 2 FLORENCE


Gothic: Santa Croce, Florence

Santa Croce, Florence, begun 1294, nave & choir attrib. to Arnolfo di Cambio, ext. 19th cent.
Giotto: St Francis undergoing the Test by Fire Before the Sultan, 1320s
Bardi Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence
Donatello: Annunciation, 1430s, limestone and terra cotta with gilding
Bernardo Rossellino, Funeral Monument to Leonardo Bruni, 1445-50

Gothic: Florence Cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore, begun 1296 by Arnolfo di Cambio

DAY 3 FLORENCE


First visit to the Uffizi

Gothic art: Cimabue, Enthroned Madonna or Madonna of Sta Trinità, panel, 1280
Giotto: Madonna Enthroned (Madonna d'Ognissanti)

Gentile da Fabriano: Adoration of the Magi, (Strozzi Altarpiece), 1423,
Fra Filippo Lippi: Madonna and Child, c 1455
Paolo Uccello: Battle of San Romano, panel
Domenico Veneziano: The St Lucy Altarpiece

Piero della Francesca: Battista Sforza, 1472-3, panel,
Piero della Francesca: Federico da Montefeltro, 1472-3,
Alesso Baldovinetti: Annunciation, before 1460
Antonio del Pollaiuolo: Hercules and the Hydra, c 1460
Pollaiuolo: Hercules and Anteus, c 1460, panel,
Domenico Veneziano: St Lucy Altarpiece, 1445-47
Andrea del Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci: Baptism of Christ, c1470

DAY 4 SIENA


Cathedral Museum and Town Hall

Duccio, Maestà Altar, Madonna Enthroned 1308-1311, Cathedral Museum, Siena
Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti (or Laurati) Effects of Good Government in the Countryside,
Donatello: Feast of Herod, panel on the Baptismal font, Baptistery, Siena

DAY 5 FLORENCE


Romanesque art: Baptistery, Florence, 1060-1156

Ghiberti: North Doors, Baptistery, Florence,
Ghiberti: The Gates of Paradise, (East Doors), Baptistery, Florence, 1425-1452, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo.

Orsanmichele, Florence, rebuilt 1337, arches closed late 1300s

Nanni di Banco: Four Crowned Martyrs, 1410, marble, Orsanmichele, Florence
Verrocchio: Doubting of Thomas, 1465-83, bronze, Orsanmichele,

Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence
Masaccio, Masolino and Filippo Lippi,

Visit to Boboli Gardens

Santo Spirito, Brunelleschi: nave & choir, model 1434-36 construction 1446 to late 1400s

Ospedale degli Innocenti by Brunelleschi

Pazzi Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence, Michelozzo di Bartolommeo:
Palazzo Medici, Florence, now known as the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, attributed to Michelozzo or Brunelleschi.
Benozzo Gozzoli: Procession of the Magi, c 1459, fresco, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi

DAY 6 FLORENCE


Santa Maria Novella, Florence

Leon Battista Alberti: Santa Maria Novella, façade, Florence, c 1456-70
Masaccio, La Trinità, The Holy Trinity, fresco, 1427
Paolo Uccello, The Flood, Chiostro Verde, Santa Maria Novella, Florence, c 1450

Museum and Monastery of San Marco, Florence

Fra (Beato) Angelico (1400 - 1455) Guido di Pietro numerous frescoes in monastery
Michelozzo di Bartolomeo, Library, Monastery of San Marco, after 1436, Florence

Day 7 CHIANTI WINE VALLEY and TASTING


Greve-Castellina di Chianti

DAY 8 FLORENCE


San Lorenzo, Florence, by Brunelleschi

Fra Filippo Lippi: Annunciation, c 1440, panel,
Donatello: Lamentation (Deposition), 1460s, completed by students of Donatello, St Lorenzo
Old and New Sacristies by Brunelleschi and Michelangelo respectively, Medici Chapel
Brunelleschi: Old Sacristy, San Lorenzo, Florence 1421-28
Donatello: St Stephen and St Lawrence, niche above doorway in Old Sacristy, stucco, Donatello: The Resurrection of Drusiana, tondo in pendentive of Old Sacristy, stucco,


Palazzo Rucellai Leon Battista Alberti: Palazzo Rucellai, Florence

San Miniato al Monte, Florence 5.00 or 6.00 pm Vespers sung
Antonio Rossellino: Chapel of the Cardinal of Portugal in Florence, 1460-66.

DAY 9 MONTEPULCIANO and PIENZA


Montepulciano
Michelozzo: The Palazzo Comunale,
The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, or the, constructed between 1594 and 1680
Taddeo di Bartolo: Assumption of the Virgin in the Duomo of Montepulciano
Andrea della Robbia: terracotta altar in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (late 16th century)

Antonio di Sangallo the Elder: Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Biagio on the road to Chianciano outside the city. It is a typical 16th century Tuscan edifice, between 1518 and 1545; circular (central) plan with a large dome over a terrace

Pienza
Pienza is a wonderful example of Renaissance town design. The centre of Pienza was completely redesigned by Pope Pius II during the Renaissance. The architect Bernardo Rossellino was commissioned to build a cathedral, papal palace and town hall.

DAY 10 FLORENCE


Museo dell'Opera del Duomo

Pisano, Andrea
Donatello: Lo Zuccone ("Big Squash" or "Baldy"), identified as Habbakkuk
Donatello: Jeremiah, formerly on the Campanile
Luca della Robbia, Cantoria, marble,
Donatello: Cantoria, 1433-39, marble and mosaic, 18'8", removed from the Duomo
Paolo Uccello: Sir John Hawkwood, 1436, fresco transferred to canvas,
Donatello: The Penitent Magdalen, 1430s-1450s


Bargello, Florence

Brunelleschi, Filippo: Sacrifice of Isaac, 1402-3, bronze with gilding,
Ghiberti, Lorenzo: Sacrifice of Isaac, 1402-3, bronze with gilding,
Donatello: David, 1408-9, reworked 1416

Ghiberti, St John the Baptist, and niche, 1405-17,

Ghiberti: St Matthew, and tabernacle, 1419-22, bronze figure
Luca della Robbia, Virgin with the apple, glazed terracotta, Bargello, Florence
Luca della Robbia, Garland, Bargello

Donatello: St Mark, 1411-15, marble figure

Donatello: St George, marble, orig. location Orsanmichele
Donatello, David, National Museum, Florence, 1425-1430
Donatello: David, bronze, 1446-60, Bargello, Florence
Donatello: St George and the Dragon, relief now removed from the St George tabernacle, Orsanmichele, Florence, c 1417, marble, Bargello, Florence
Pollaiuolo, Hercules and Antaeus, c 1475, bronze, Bargello, Florence
Verrocchio: Bust of a Young Woman, 1480s, marble, Bargello, Florence
Verrocchio: David, prob. Early 1470s, bronze, Bargello, Florence

DAY 11 SAN SEPOLCRO and AREZZO


Sansepolcro

Piero della Francesca: Madonna of Mercy, Misericordia Altarpiece, Museo Civico
Piero della Francesca: Resurrection, c 1458, Museo Civico, orig Town Hall


Arezzo

Piero della Francesca: Legend of the True Cross, San Francesco, Arezzo, 1454-58

DAY 12 FLORENCE


Uffizi Gallery, Florence, second visit

Botticelli: Adoration of the Magi, prob. Early 1470s, panel
Botticelli: Camilla and the Centaur, after 1842Botticelli, La Primavera, 1482? or 1477/78,
Botticelli, Birth of Venus, canvas
Botticelli: Portrait of a Man with a medal of Cosimo de' Medici, c 1465-69,
Botticelli: Enthroned Madonna with Saints, mid 1480s,
Botticelli: Annunciation, panel, 1489-90
Botticelli: Calumny of Apelles, 1497-8
Hugo van der Goes: Portinari Altarpiece, late 1470s
Leonardo da Vinci: Landscape, sepia, 1473
Andrea del Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci: Baptism of Christ, c1470,
Leonardo: Annunciation, panel, Leonardo, Adoration of the Magi, unfinished,
Leonardo: Architectural Perspective and Background Figures for the Adoration of the Magi
Perugino: Francesco delle Opere, 1494, panel

Day 13 FLORENCE


Pitti Gallery,
Fra Filippo Lippi: Madonna and Child with the Birth of the Virgin, panel,
Raphael: Angelo Doni, c 1505,
Raphael: Maddalena Strozzi, c 1505

Sta Trinità, Florence

Ghirlandaio: Nativity and Adoration of the Shepherds, 1485, 65¾"sq, Sta Trinità, Florence

Accademia, Florence

Michelangelo, David, marble, 13'6" plus various other "unfinished works" by Michelangelo
Fra Bartolommeo: Vision of St Bernard, 1504-7
Casa Buonarroti, Florence

Michelangelo: Battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs, c 1492, marble

The above timetable is subject to change at the discretion of the tour operator in conjunction with the art history lecturer