Celebrating 23 Years

All prices are per person, based on double occupancy, and subject to availability at the time of booking. The from price reflects the lowest available price, which is valid for a specific departure date or dates and also based on availability at the time of booking. Prices do not include airline taxes and fees, which range between $85 and $350 per person depending on the routing and airline(s) used.


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Regular Program
DESTINATIONS

9 Day Tuscan Wine Country Adventure
 Florence, Chiusi, San Gimignano, Sienna, and Montepulciano
Package # 221
 Starting at $ 1399

  • RT Air from JFK to Rome and home from Florence 

  • 3 nights Villa Il Patriarca, Chuisi in Tuscany

  • 4 nights Hotel Cavour, Florence

  • Breakfast daily

  • 1 dinner at La Taverna del Patriarca, typical Tuscan Osteria located in the old wine cellars of our villa (excluding beverage)

  • English guided tour of an old wine cellar of Montepulciano, renaissance town famous world wide for its Nobile wine

  • Special Wine Tasting

  • 3 days use of car.

  • Full Day tour to Siena and San Gimignano

Please note pricing does not include airport fees and taxes of about $185. Pricing is based on midweek travel. Weekend surcharge will also add $25

Optional Tours to increase your enjoyment:

A journey through the Chianti countryside, one of the most suggestive areas of Tuscany famous the world over for its wine, to reach a magnificent Castle: a visit to the gardens and the splendid cellar with its the famous barrels of the Chianti Classico wine. Stop for snack and wine tasting, followed by a visit to one of the most beautiful Romanesque churches in the area. For dinner: a typical meal (with rich menu and excellent Chianti wine) in the magical atmosphere of an old village among the hills. 

The excursions take place in different areas of the Chianti region. Weather permitting, dinner will be served in the open. Please wear suitable clothing. Includes: transport, tour escort, snack and wine tasting, snacks and wine.

Sienna and  San Gimignano
Take a Full Day tour to Siena and San Gimignano, an e xcursion through the delightful hills of the Chianti countryside, with an ever-changing scenery of vineyards and olive trees.

Upon arrival in Siena, you will enjoy a guided tour of the old city centre: walking along the small medieval streets, admiring the splendid palaces and ending up at the Cathedral where you can visit the splendid interior including the Libreria Piccolomini and the adjacent Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana. 

The guided tour will conclude in the Piazza del Campo, one of the most beautiful in the world, where you will find the Palazzo del Comune (exterior). Free time for lunch (not included).

Departure for San Gimignano a tiny city that has remained intact through the centuries; situated on a hilltop, it is famous for its numerous towers, frescoes and other art treasures; free time to discover this fascinating city. During the return journey, along the way visitors can admire the old mediaeval village of Monteriggioni enclosed by its famous walls, still intact.

Grand Hotel Cavour is surrounded by Renaissance Florence! As you look around and see the magnificent, impressive Palazzo del Bargello, leave your bags in the hall and and walk out on Via del Proconsolo, to the right you glimpse Piazza della Signoria, to the left the stirring Piazza del Duomo.

Grand Hotel Cavour is located in a building dating back to 1280, and has been transformed into its current role as a comfortable hotel where you'll find excellent hospitality and services. Its 105 rooms have been created with a focus on comfort and eye to Italian style and taste. The alchemy is perfect, Florentine charm, Italian inspiration...

Legend has it that in the courtyard of this age-old building, now a hotel, the masterful poet Dante Alighieri turned his gaze on his beloved Beatrice.

Florence
Giotto, Masaccio and the others: Fresco cycles in Florence

Biblia pauperum, the Bible of the poor, this is how the frescoes were defined which depicted the sacred stories in Medieval churches, thanks to their educational usefulness, and the possibility of teaching the stories of God and his saints to a population composed mainly of illiterates. But aside from their purpose, the fresco cycles are one of the fields where the best artists of the past were put to the test by Giotto, Masaccio and Michelangelo.
In Florence two of the most famous fresco cycles decorate the walls of the Cappella Bardi and Cappella Peruzzi in Santa Croce, painted by Giotto and his workshop with stories of St. Francis and St. John the Baptist and Evangelist. But in reality, the Church also preserves other cycles of significant interest: Agnolo Gaddi is the author of the frescoes with the Story of the Invention of the True Cross in the Cappella Maggiore and the stories of the Saints Antonio Abate and John the Baptist and Evangelist in the Cappella Castellani.
The stories told in the churches normally regard the saint the church is dedicated to, the religious order supporting the church or the families who own the chapels. In the latter case, the selected saint often coincides with the name of the customer. Thus if in Santa Croce the stories of Saint Francis are told, in Santa Maria Novella the frescoes in the Cappellone degli Spagnoli by Andrea del Bonaiuto (1367-c.69) depict the fight of the Dominicans against Christian heresy; while inside the church, the chapel of Filippo Strozzi's family was frescoed by Filippino Lippi with stories of San Filippo (1494-1502).

In addition to the developed subject, the mural stories offer present-day visitors other sights: often the scene is set in the contemporary city with period architecture, clothing and furnishing, painting a type of postcard of the past. This is the case of the Cappella Tornabuoni by Ghirlandaio in Santa Maria Novella (1485-90), where you can admire the lavish clothing of the depicted noblewomen and the very bright interiors of fifteenth century houses.

But the fresco cycles were mainly a test field for representing figures in space, for the application of prospective. This problem, previously dealt with by Giotto with a type of empirical prospective, was resolved by Masaccio in the Cappella Brancacci cycle in the Chiesa del Carmine (1424-28), with such authoritativeness to become a type of school for later artists, including Michelangelo.

Villa Il Patriarca started its life as an 1800 prestigious patrician house. I t is now a wonderful example of a sensitive restoration into a first class small hotel. 

Situated on a hill and surrounded by pine and cypresses, with view on Tuscan hills, the Villa Il Patriarca Hotel Chiusi offers its guests the opportunity of a relaxed holiday with all modern comforts.

Location
 The Villa Il Patriarca Hotel is located 4 kilometres from Chiusi, a wonderful Tuscan town with a relevant Etruscan heritage. The hotel's unique location gives the opportunity of visiting many historical and artistic towns situated in the centre of Italy.

Rooms
The hotel has 23 comfortable rooms and suites, all of which are pleasantly decorated and equipped with numerous in-room amenities.

Restaurant
The onsite restaurant offers a very creative cuisine in which traditional dishes are reinterpreted in original style and matched with a very wide selection of wines.

General
The Villa Il Patriarca Hotel also offers a spacious and elegant banqueting hall, which can host up to 350 people for ceremonies, wedding parties or meetings. During leisure, guests can take a refreshing plunge in the swimming pool, laze around the beautiful garden or explore the city and its surrounding attractions.

Located in the heart of Italy, midway between Rome and Florence in the part of Tuscany well known for its wonderful wines, Etruscan artifacts, excellent cuisine, olive oil and its history of exceptional art. Set in a park of large cypresses, the hotel has just 23 rooms, each uniquely and comfortably decorated. Eight of the rooms are in the Villa and others are in a recently restored wing with elegant and romantic furniture, bright colours and interesting themes.

There are several categories of rooms: standard, superior, junior suites and suites (two dedicated to Federico Fellini and his wife who were often guests at the hotel in the past). The Restaurant 'I Salotti' was awarded a Michelin Star in 2003 and 2004. Its Noble Tuscan Cuisine reflects the perfect balance between tradition and innovation, and made with the best local produce. A prestigious wine cellar with over 1000 labels adds to its attraction. A new Taverna offering local specialties has recently been opened in the antique cellar. There is a luxurious swimming pool in the garden, where light lunches can be served. The hotel staff can arrange wine-tasting in the local wineries, guided tours, and cooking classes. There are also special weekend events (La Dolce Vita - a romantic escape from routine, and "Grand Tour Gourmet, for food and wine lovers. The land of the Springs, for relaxation and wellbeing, in cooperation with local thermal centers of Chianciano Terme and Montepulciano.

In the Heart of the Tuscan wine country, find Montepulciano, is built along a narrow limestone ridge and, at 605 m (1,950 ft) above sea level. The town is encircled by walls and fortifications designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Elder in 1511 for Cosimo I. Inside the walls the streets are crammed with Renaissance-style palazzi and churches, but the town is chiefly known for its good local Vino Nobile wines. a long, winding street called the Corso climbs up into the main square, which crowns the summit of the hill. In July-August there is Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte, an arts festival created by the German composer Hans Werner Henze. In August there are two festivals: the Bruscello takes place on the 14th, 15th and 16th, when hordes of actors reenact scenes from the town's turbulent history. For the Bravio delle Botti, on the last Sunday in August, there is a parade through the streets followed by a barrel race and a banquet to end the day.

The main street of Montepulciano stretches for 11.5 kilometers from the Porta al Prato to the Piazza Grande at the top of the hill. The main landmarks include:

  • The Communal Palace
  • Palazzo Tarugi
  • The church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (late 16th century). It has a simple Mannerist façade with a three-arcade portico. The interior has a single nave, and houses a precious terracotta altar by Andrea della Robbia.
  • The Sanctuary of the Madonna of St. Blaise, on the road to Chianciano outside the city. It is a typical 16th century Tuscan edifice, designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger on a pre-existing Pieve, between 1518 and 1545. It has a circular (central) plan with a large dome over a terrace and a squared tambour. The exterior, with two bell towers, is built in white travertine.

The Sanctuary of St. Blaise. The walls of the city were designed and built under the direction of Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici in 1511 by Antonio da Sangallo the Elder. Famous citizens Roberto Bellarmino, a Roman Catholic Saint, Cardinal, and Doctor of the Church was born here on October 4, 1542. He is one of the 33 Doctors of the Roman Catholic Church and was active in the Counter-Reformation. Agnes of Montepulciano, a Roman Catholic Saint. The Florentine classical scholar and poet, as well as one of the revivers of Humanist Latin, Angelo Poliziano was born in Montepulciano on July 14, 1454.

Dates of Travel Air/Land Land only Single Supp
2008-12/01  $       1,599  $       1,199  $       699
2008-12/08  $       1,599  $       1,199  $       699
2008-12/15  $       1,999  $       1,399  $       799
2008-12/22  $       2,099  $       1,399  $       799
2008-12/29  $       1,899  $       1,399  $       799
2009-01/05  $       1,399  $       1,099  $       599
2009-01/12  $       1,499  $       1,099  $       599
2009-01/19  $       1,499  $       1,099  $       599
2009-01/26  $       1,499  $       1,099  $       599
2009-02/02  $       1,499  $       1,099  $       599
2009-02/09  $       1,499  $       1,099  $       599
2009-02/16  $       1,499  $       1,099  $       599
2009-02/23  $       1,499  $       1,099  $       599
2009-03/02  $       1,499  $       1,099  $       599
2009-03/09  $       1,399  $       1,099  $       599
2009-03/16  $       1,599  $       1,099  $       599
2009-03/23  $       1,599  $       1,099  $       599
2009-03/30  $       1,899  $       1,399  $       799
2009-04/06  $       2,029  $       1,399  $       799
2009-04/13  $       2,029  $       1,399  $       799
2009-04/20  $       2,029  $       1,399  $       799
2009-04/27  $       2,029  $       1,399  $       799
2009-05/04  $       2,029  $       1,399  $       799
2009-05/11  $       2,029  $       1,399  $       799
2009-05/18  $       2,699  $       1,399  $       799
2009-05/25  $       2,699  $       1,399  $       799
2009-06/01  $       2,699  $       1,399  $       799
2009-06/08  $       2,699  $       1,399  $       799
2009-06/15  $       2,699  $       1,399  $       799
2009-06/22  $       2,699  $       1,399  $       799
2009-06/29  $       2,699  $       1,399  $       799
2009-07/06  $       2,699  $       1,399  $       799
2009-07/13  $       2,699  $       1,399  $       799
2009-07/20  $       2,499  $       1,199  $       699
2009-07/27  $       2,429  $       1,199  $       699
2009-08/03  $       2,429  $       1,199  $       699
2009-08/10  $       2,429  $       1,199  $       699
2009-08/17  $       2,429  $       1,199  $       699
2009-08/24  $       2,429  $       1,199  $       699
2009-08/31  $       2,699  $       1,399  $       799
2009-09/07  $       1,999  $       1,399  $       799
2009-09/14  $       1,999  $       1,399  $       799
2009-09/21  $       1,999  $       1,399  $       799
2009-09/28  $       1,999  $       1,399  $       799
2009-10/05  $       1,999  $       1,399  $       799
2009-10/12  $       1,999  $       1,399  $       799
2009-10/19  $       1,999  $       1,399  $       799
2009-10/26  $       1,999  $       1,399  $       799
2009-11/02  $       1,799  $       1,329  $       799
2009-11/09  $       1,799  $       1,329  $       799
2009-11/16  $       1,599  $       1,329  $       799
 

CALL US TOLL-FREE AT 1-800-248-3487

or locally  201-585-1549
 to make a reservation

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