I will be honest, the first time I went to Florence, I was not exactly a fan, but it is because I did it all wrong and way too cheap thinking I could save money, but what I actually did was waste a bunch of money on a hop on hop off bus with two 50 pund bags on a stop over on my way to Cinque Terre. Trust me, do not make this mistake.

Since I have been back several times, I have grown extremely fond of Florence and all it has to offer. I have now partnered with Andrea for my private tours for out side of Florence and Paola for my private walking tours in Florence. ( Did I mention I found out I worked with Paola at Walt Disney World Orlando back in 1989?)

Andrea has been providing services for my clients with exceptional feedback and has been extremely accomodating with last minute COVID related changes. I honetly feel blessed to have an extremely knowledgeable and accomodating tour operator who knows everyone and has been conducting his business with star review since 1980.

Paola has been nothing short of amazing with her knowledge, experience and accomodating changes on a short notice for my cleints who had experienced changes due to COVID. She was quick to respond and accomodate some clients of mine last minute with private walking tours of Florence.

Check out some of my Favorite Tours

Tour Length: 11 hours (from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm)
Dates: Every season.
Departure Point: From your accomodation. Please note that the rate includes a pick-up and drop-off in Florence. Driver can be arranged to pick you from the place you stay in any region within Tuscany. Stop in Lucca (120 min.)
Departure Time: 8.00 am.
Days of Week: Everyday.
Note: During this excursion transport will be made in a de-luxe limousine or minivan or motorcoach which offers the maximum comfort, with air-conditioning, large panoramic windows and comfortable seats. Please choose your option below. Please dress comfortable shoes and must to be ready to walk and hike.

Kind note: if you choose this tour you must know that stopping to visit Lucca you subtract at least 2 hours at 5 Terre.

Description

5 Terre – Monterosso, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza & Riomaggiore

A whole, intense and unforgettable day dedicated to the discovery of one of the most amazing and enchanting landscapes in the World.
Five villages, suspended between sea and land, hanging from sheer cliffs surrounded by hills and vineyards, which will allow us to immerse into a little piece of Heaven. Our visit will start at daybreak, with the arrival to La Spezia, where we will find a motor vessel waiting for us: we will have the possibility to admire this amazing landscape from the outside, like in a postcard. We will stop either in LUCCA for 120 minutes

Our first stop will be Portovenere, an old town at the end of the promontory where the built-up area still has the typical appearance of a Ligurian Village. Here we will have some free time to take a stroll among the narrow houses and the small alleys before leaving again to Monterosso .
As soon as we land at Monterosso we will be overcome by its enchanting beaches and luxuriant vegetation that surrounds the little village.

After a short informative walk, we will have some free time to enjoy a tasty lunch based on seafood in a typical local restaurant and to dive into irresistible crystal-clear waters.
Our journey will resume towards the last stop, Vernazza, a seaside town surrounding a little natural port, declared UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here we will have free time to relax, enjoying a delicious coffee or ice-cream in the main square, while observing activities of fishermen and locals.

We will leave this little piece of heaven on the boat that will accompany us first to Portovenere and then to La Spezia where, back to reality, we will catch the way to go back to Florence.
In addition to comfortable clothes, we recommend to bring with you swimwear and a hat to protect against the sun…!!!

The 5 Lands – The 5 Terre
The Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. It is in the Liguria region of Italy, to the west of the city of La Spezia. “The Five Lands” is composed of five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Over the centuries, people have carefully built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. Part of its charm is the lack of visible corporate development. Paths, trains and boats connect the villages, and cars cannot reach them from the outside. The Cinque Terre area is a very popular tourist destination.

All the towns slope down to sea-level except for Corniglia, which is perched on top of a tall cliff. Four of the towns possess an old-world charm. The northern-most town, Monterosso, is completely different. It is very beachy-resorty, with not much to see beyond the boardwalk apart from modern apartment blocks and hotels – nothing like the narrow, crooked streets of the other towns, lined with colorful old houses stacked haphazardly on top of each other.

The main attraction of the Cinque Terre is the landscape. Mediterranean herbs and trees grow spontaneously from the top of the hills down to the water level. Well embedded in this magnificent natural scenery, one can admire the intense human activity of the ancestors, when the wine terraces were built. Tourists can enjoy the scenery, walk through the towns (or between them) or hiking on the paths and enjoying the local atmosphere.

Lucca

Walls, streets, and squares

The walls encircling the old town remain intact, even as the city expanded and modernized, unusual for cities in the region. Initially built as a defensive rampart, once the walls lost their military importance they became a pedestrian promenade, the Passeggiata delle Mura Urbane, a street a top the walls linking the bastions. It passes through the Bastions of Santa Croce, San Frediano, San Martino, San Pietro/Battisti, San Salvatore, La Libertà/Cairoli, San Regolo, San Colombano, Santa Maria, San Paolino/Catalani, and San Donato; and over the gates (Porte): San Donato, Santa Maria, San Jacopo, Elisa, San Pietro, and Sant’Anna. Each of the four principal sides of the structure is lined with a different tree species than the others.

The town includes a number of public squares, most notably the Piazza dell’Anfiteatro, site of ancient Roman amphitheater; but also Piazzale Verdi; Piazza Napoleone’; and Piazza San Michele.

Description

BRUNELLO, ROSSO, NOBILE WINE & PECORINO CHEESE! – Wine Tour in Valdorcia, Montalcino, Pienza & Montepulciano

Program

08.30 am Meet your driver directly at your address. Welcome sign ULTIMATE TOURS. Leave Florence from the south and start to drive in the beautiful tuscan countryside in the direction of famous Chianti Wine Region & Brunello Val d’ Orcia Wine Region.

10.00am Visit Montepulciano fortress town. Time to see the Piazza Grande square, the Duomo and taste the famous Nobile Wine from Montepulciano. Montepulciano is a medieval and Renaissance hill town and comune in the Italian province of Siena in southern 𝐓𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐲.

11.30am Visit Pienza renaissance town. Time to visit the famous Duomo and enjoy the a Pecorino cheese tasting at Pienza Pecorino store.

1.00pm Stop for lunch (we suggets you a great restaurant)

3.00pm Visit a beautiful Brunello Vineyard in Valdorcia with Brunello, Rosso e Nobile wine tasting. You can buy or ship directly from the wine producer to your address. You can buy or ship directly from the wine producer to your address.

4.30pm Visit Montalcino Brunello Wine Capital (when the town is less crowded). Time to climb the Montalcino medieval fortress (sky walk experience).

8.00 am Meet your driver directly at your address. Welcome sign ULTIMATE TOURS. Leave Florence from the south and start to drive in the beautiful tuscan countryside in the direction of famous Chianti Wine Region.

09.00am Visit Monteriggioni medieval fortress town

10.00am Visit Siena in the morning (on your own). Time to visit the famous Campo (Palio Horse race square) Duomo, the Baptistery and enjoy the sky walk experience on the top of the Faccaiatone (the unfinish part of the Duomo)

12.30pm Visit a beautiful Vineyard in Chianti with wine tasting, extra virgin olive oil tasting, balsamic vinegar tasting, truffle oil tasting and tuscany authentich lunch. You can buy or ship directly from the wine producer to your address. You can buy or ship directly from the wine and oil producer to your address.

3.00pm Visit San Gimignano (when the town of the medieval towers is less crowded). Gelato stop at the famous Gelateria di Piazza in San Gimignano (Gelato World Champion since 2006) and time to climb the Great Tower (sky walk experience).

4.00pm Visit Pisa (when the town of the famous leaning tower is less crowded). Time to climb the Leaning Tower (sky walk experience according the availability and if you have or not the ticket reservation).

6.00pm Return to your address.

Kind note: According the traffic and the route, Siena or Pisa there will be visit in the morning or in the afternoon.

Accademia Gallery Tour

• Meet your Guide directly at your address in Florence

• Guided visit to the Accademia Gallery.

• Discover the Masterpieces of Accademia Gallery.

• See the famous David (by Michelangelo)

• See the famous Prisoners (by Michelangelo)

• See the famous Cassone Adimari (by Scheggia)

• See the Medici’s Musical Instrument Room

Description

Ultimate MICHELANGELO’S DAVID Tour – A Day with Michelangelo (3hrs)

Discover the Masterpieces of Accademia Gallery. Guided visit to the Accademia Gallery.

See the David and The Prisoners by Michelangelo

David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture, created in marble between 1501 and 1504 by the Italian artist Michelangelo. David is a 5.17-metre (17.0 ft) marble statue of the Biblical figure David, a favoured subject in the art of Florence. David was originally commissioned as one of a series of statues of prophets to be positioned along the roofline of the east end of Florence Cathedral, but was instead placed in a public square, outside the Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of civic government in Florence, in the Piazza della Signoria, where it was unveiled on 8 September, 1504. The statue was moved to the Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence, in 1873, and later replaced at the original location by a replica. Because of the nature of the figure it represented, the statue soon came to symbolize the defence of civil liberties embodied in the Republic of Florence, an independent city-state threatened on all sides by more powerful rival states and by the hegemony of the Medici family. The eyes of David, with a warning glare, were fixated towards Rome.

History

Commission

The history of the statue begins before Michelangelo‘s work on it from 1501 to 1504. Prior to Michelangelo’s involvement, the Overseers of the Office of Works of Florence Cathedral, consisting mostly of members of the influential woolen cloth guild, the Arte della Lana, had plans to commission a series of twelve large Old Testament sculptures for the buttresses of the cathedral. In 1410, Donatello made the first of the statues, a figure of Joshua in terracotta. A figure of Hercules, also in terracotta, was commissioned from the Florentine sculptor Agostino di Duccio in 1463 and was made perhaps under Donatello’s direction. Eager to continue their project, in 1464, the Operai contracted Agostino to create a sculpture of David.

A block of marble was provided from a quarry in Carrara, a town in the Apuan Alps in northern Tuscany. Agostino only got as far as beginning to shape the legs, feet, torso, roughing out some drapery, and probably gouging a hole between the legs. His association with the project ceased, for reasons unknown, with the death of Donatello in 1466, and ten years later Antonio Rossellino was commissioned to take up where Agostino had left off. Rossellino’s contract was terminated soon thereafter, and the block of marble remained neglected for 26 years, all the while exposed to the elements in the yard of the cathedral workshop. This was of great concern to the Opera authorities, as such a large piece of marble was not only costly, but represented a large amount of labour and difficulty in its transportation to Florence.

In 1500, an inventory of the cathedral workshops described the piece as “a certain figure of marble called David, badly blocked out and supine.” A year later, documents showed that the Operai were determined to find an artist who could take this large piece of marble and turn it into a finished work of art. They ordered the block of stone, which they called ‘the Giant’, “raised on its feet” so that a master experienced in this kind of work might examine it and express an opinion. Though Leonardo da Vinci and others were consulted, it was Michelangelo, at 26 years of age, who convinced the Operai that he deserved the commission. On 16 August 1501, Michelangelo was given the official contract to undertake this challenging new task. He began carving the statue early in the morning on 13 September, a month after he was awarded the contract. He would work on the massive statue for more than two years.