TUSCANY pappa e ciccia

1° Day Pisa

Your group arrives in Pisa, “the city of the leaning tower”, in the early afternoon, and you will visit: Ponte di Mezzo, Borgo Stretto, Church of San Michele in Borgo, Piazza and Palazzo dei Cavalieri, Palazzo dell’Orologio, Church of Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri, Piazza del Duomo, Campanile, Battistero, Duomo, Museo delle Sinopie, Church of Santa Caterina, Church of San Francesco. Departure for your hotel in the province of Pisa for your evening meal and accommodation.

2° Day San Miniato – Vinci

After breakfast in the hotel, departure for a sightseeing tour of San Miniato: the Stronghold and Tower of Federico II. The present building of the Cathedral dates back to 1220-1250 and was built on top of a church dating back to the eighteenth century. All that remains of the ancient church dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta are the rampant lion and bracket, a maze and the devil’s mask in the façade. Palazzo Griffoni, the Palazzo del Seminario. The allegorical figures amidst the medallions and the inscriptions with the verdicts of the Church Fathers were fresco painted by Francesco di Pietro Chimenti from Fucecchio in 1705. On the ground floor some of them stick out like “T”s, and this proves the early ones date back to medieval handicraft. The Palazzo Comunale, opposite the Church of the Santissimo Crocifisso, was built in the 1300s as a home to the 12 defenders of the locals. In the Sala del Consiglio you can see some coats of arms of the judges that date back to the years between 1390 and 1500. The Church of the Santissimo Crocifisso was built so a crucifix, that the people of San Miniato believed would protect them from the 1631 plague, could be kept there; in the centre of the triangular shaped Piazza Bonaparte you can see the statue of the Grand dukeLeopoldo II, also called the “Canapone”. For centuries the square was home to the weekly market, so is also called “piazza dei polli” (“chicken square”), and all around it there are buildings that even today still have their original, ancient façades, dating back to the years between the XVI and XVIII centuries and owned by nobility families of San Miniato. On the corner, at the start of Via P. Maioli, you can see the Oratory of Saints Sebastiano and Rocco. Lunch in a farm holiday centre. In the afternoon a visit to the Leonardi da Vinci Science Museum, with a collection of his models, the Leonardo Library, the monument of Mario Ceroli, the horse statue of by Nina Akamu, and the square of Mimmo Paladino. This tour enables you to fullyn appreciate the peace and quiet of the hills in Vinci, with its vineyards and olive groves that are often growing on ancient terracings. Return to hotel for evening meal and accommodation.

3° Day Montelupo Fiorentino - Montelupo ceramics museum

After breakfast in the hotel, departure for Montelupo Fiorentino to see one of the most important Ceramics Museums in Europe, that in May 2008 opened a new seat. The new ceramics Museum covers an inside area of 2.100 square metres, plus 400 square meters that are outdoors, and a huge entrance hall with a cafeteria and book shop. The tour is on three different floors: in the first room on the ground floor you can see the evocative copy of what was called the “well of the wash houses”, with large, explanatory drawings in chronological and typological order of the history of the ceramic industry of Montelupo, as well as the start of the Museum’s collections of Ceramics; in the remaining rooms on the ground floor you can see the majolicas that date back to the late thirteenth century up to the mid fifteenth century, with a life size copy of a medieval feast. The Renaissance period starts on the first floor, and here you can see many excellent examples of the classical decorations of that time. The wonderful period of the early Renaissance comes to an end in the last rooms on the first floor, where you can see the grottesque style decorations and the tray called “the red of Montelupo”, one of the Italian Renaissance works of art in majolica. Return to San Miniato for lunch in a holiday farm centre.