Florence and the House of Medici share a long relationship so much so that the city is also referred to as Medici’s Florence. We will meet you at the designated meeting point and begin the journey to explore Medici’s Florence. We will begin the day by visiting Palazzo Medici Riccardi and its private chapel. Between 1444 and 1460, Michelozzo built the Medici Riccardi Palace for Cosimo de Medici. It is filled with rich tapestries and frescoes. It has the oldest chapel to have survived in a Florentine palace.
We will spend the afternoon in the countryside surrounding Florence. We will have lunch at one of the finest Italian restaurants in Florence. We will enjoy spectacular views of olive groves and vineyards that overlook one of the Medici family’s favourite hunting lodge. The House of Medici ruled over Florence for over three centuries and have built many villas and country houses in and around Florence to relax, to show off their wealth and behave like tycoons and to entertain guests or plot against their enemies.
We will explore the Villa of Hundred Chimneys which is named thus as it has hundred chimneys. In 1594 Buontalenti designed it as a hunting lodge for Ferdinand I. these miniature towers add a sense of joy to the magnificent but austere façade.
We will then proceed to through undulating hills and picturesque landscapes to reach a Medici Villa built for Lorenzo the Magnificent, the patron of many famous Italian artists. Many considered this villa with its beautiful gardens to be the most magnificent Medici Villa. It was the summer residence of the Medicis. It also has a few scandals associated with it as it was associated with the amorous e rendezvous of Victor Emmanuel II and his mistress. Legend has it that Francesco I and his second wife Bianca were poisoned here.
The villa has an unusual H shape with a portico on each side, facing a garden and the lovely countryside unfolds before the villa. It is filled with many famous frescoes, gold gilding, luxuriant fabrics and stately rooms. It is famous for the lovely lunette fresco by Pontormo depicting Vertumnus and Pomona. The huge garden not only has many beautiful trees and plants but also has statues, sculptures and grottos and fountains.
Enquiry
Fill the registration form and enquire about this trip for your convenient dates. Alternatively you can enquire about this travel tour by email info@excursionsintuscany.com.
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