The Art & Architecture of Florence

Day 1 – Florence

Scheduled flight to Italy from your preferred airport – transfer with our tour manager in our private executive coach to the 4* Hotel Berchielli in central Florence.

Day 2 – Ospedale degli Innocenti, Galleria dell’Accademia & Palazzo Medici Riccardi

Ospedale degli Innocenti, originally an orphanage, is home to a collection of fifty works of art from the 14th to 18th centuries including Renaissance masterpieces such as the ‘Adoration of the Magi’ by Domenico del Ghirlandaio and ‘Madonna and Child’ by Sandro Botticelli – guided tour at Galleria dell’Accademia, founded in 1563, explores a fine collection of art by an array of artists including Botticelli, Filippino Lippi and Fra Bartolomeo, and of course, Michelangelo’s ‘David’ – Palazzo Medici Riccardi is the oldest Renaissance building in Florence.

Day 3 – Uffizi Gallery, Basilica of Santa Maria del Santo Spirito & Cappella Brancacci

Guided tour of the Uffizi Gallery, one of the world’s finest art galleries housing Renaissance art from the 14th to 18th century and originally established by the Medici family – the Basilica of Santa Maria del Santo Spirito, designed by Brunelleschi in 1435, has 38 side altars decorated with 15th and 16th century Renaissance paintings – Cappella Brancacci contains wonderful frescoes on ‘The Life of St Peter’ commissioned by the Florentine merchant Felice Brancacci around 1424.

Day 4 – The Bargello, the Duomo & Museo dell’Opera del Duomo

In a building dating back to 1255, a guided tour at The Bargello explores a wonderful medley of applied arts and Italy’s finest collection of Renaissance sculpture – at the richly decorated Duomo, Europe’s fourth largest church, we see the Campanile designed by Giotto and Brunelleschi’s dome – the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo is dedicated to the history of Florence’s most famous landmark.

Day 5 – Florence

Morning free to explore the city at your leisure before the transfer to the airport for our scheduled flight back home.