IL MUGELLO: VILLAS AND CASTLES

1° Day Florence – Mugello

Late morning arrival in Florence, the capital city of Tuscan art, where you will visit: Piazza Duomo, Piazza della Signoria, Galleria degli Uffizi, Palazzo Vecchio, Campanile di Giotto, Ponte Vecchio. Lunch in a restaurant in La Certosa. In the late afternoon departure for your hotel in Il Mugello, where you will be given your evening meal and accommodation.

2° Day Florence – Mugello

Late morning arrival in Florence, the capital city of Tuscan art, where you will visit: Piazza Duomo, Piazza della Signoria, Galleria degli Uffizi, Palazzo Vecchio, Campanile di Giotto, Ponte Vecchio. Lunch in a restaurant in La Certosa. In the late afternoon departure for your hotel in Il Mugello, where you will be given your evening meal and accommodation.

3° Day Florence – Mugello

After your breakfast in the hotel, departure for a tour of Bivigliano, where you will go up to the Convent of Monte Senario, founded, according to tradition, by the Order of the Servi di Maria on September 8th 1233. Just before the building there are three grottos and the hermitage of the seven saints who founded it. There is a truly breathtaking view of Florence and the surrounding areas from the large balcony that goes round the entire building. A stairway takes you up to the basilicata. To be seen: the wooden choir, a fresco by Pietro Annigoni, the Chapel of the Apparizione. You can reflect over the seven pains and sins of the Madonna as you walk along the road that leads to Via Martis. The monks prepare the famous “gemma d’abeto”, a liquor similar to “Strega” but with a very unusual fragrance. The liquor is on sale in a refreshment stall run by the monks, and you can also buy other special food products. Via San Piero a Sieve you get to Borgo San Lorenzo in the Villa Pecori Giraldi, home to the new Chini Museum, named after the famous artist from Mugellano, where many of his works are on show. Lunch is in the “CUPOLE” of Borgo San Lorenzo right next to the Piscine. After some time to relax, you head for Scarperia, famous for its “ferri taglienti” (“sharp irons”), where you will visit the Palazzo dei Vicari (castle), an exact miniature copy of Palazzo Vecchio. An absolute must is a visit to one of the many “coltellinai” (artisan cutlers), who have helped to make Scarperia so famous, and these artisans of a fascinating, antique craft will show you the many hidden aspects of how a real knife or any other cutting tool is made. In the direction of Sant’Agata, another place you must visit is the Autodromo di Scarperia, where tests for the Ferrari are carried out. Going through the Mugellana countryside you get to the town of Sant’Agata, where you can admire its magnificent Romanesque Abbey with an octagonal baptismal font made out of stone blocks inside, terracottas by Giovanni della Robbia, statues, canvas paintings like that of Sant’Agata from the school of Giotto, frescos and paintings on wooden boards by Jacopo di Cione. You mustn’t miss out on a visit to the permanent exhibition of Leprino’s “ artisan and country life with characters in motion”. The evening comes to an end with a visit to “Lo Sprocco”, Medicean Villa with an extensive, well-kept monumental park, built by Lorenzo and Giovanni dei Medici in the XIV century, based on the drawings of Cosimo il Vecchio. There are frescos in every room, and you will see a fireplace and ceilings of unique beauty, and it is here where you will be served a characteristic evening meal “in the typical antique MUGELLANA style”, in the Renaissance atmosphere of the Villa, where famous people have stayed and lived, like: Napoleone Bonaparte, Pope Clemente VII, and Pope Leone X, Vittorio Emanuele Terzo, Lorenzo il Magnifico. Return to hotel in the evening.