Enogastronomic Tour of Tuscany

Late afternoon arrival in hotel. Check-in and welcome cocktail. Dinner and overnight stay

Breakfast in hotel. Meet your escort and depart for San Gimignano where you will visit the antique village famous for its many medieval towers. Later on in the morning, you'll come to a wine farm lying in the countryside and you'll visit the cellars where oil and wine are produced. Then a practical demonstration of tuscan cooking will take piace; typical dishes like tuscan soups, roast saddle of pork, braised beef in Chianti sauce wili be prepared and then sampled at lunchtime together with various local wines. Each participant will receive a copy of recipes. During the aftenoon, departure to Siena, town famous for its "Palio", where you will visit the Piazza dei Campo, Duomo (Cathedral) as well as other we11-known monuments. Retum to hotel for dinner and overnight stay.

Email: ilsogno@romeguide.it

Breakfast in hotel, meet you escort and depart for Florence. Enjoy a guided tour of the city stopping off at the Duomo (CathedraI), Battistero (Baptstry), Piazza della Signoria and Ponte Vecchio. Lunch in the centre of the city the menu made up of typical fiorentine dishes. Afternoon departure to Vinci, birthplace of the famous Leonardo, taking the splendid panoramic route through olive groves and vineyards leading to the antique village. Later you'll stop off for a snack, tasting excellent local olive oil production. Dinner and overnight stay in hotel.

Breakfast in hotel, meet your escort and depart for Abelone, a we11-known tourist and winter sports resort, lYIng in the pistoiese mountains, one of the most important and best equipped resorts in the tosco-emiliano appenines. During the trip through fir, beech, maple and birch woods you'll stop off at the ethnologic museum of Rivoreta, where you'll discover, with the help of images, objects, documents and sounds, the local's way of life from the beginning of the century up to date. A typical menu of polenta with sauce, followed by underbush fruit fart will be served for lunch in a restaurant nearby. In the afternoon a visit of a handcraft shop with home produce: jams, syrups, undergrowth fruit, líqueurs and pickled mushroons can be sampied. Return to hotel for dinner and overnight stay.

Breakfast in hotel, meet your escort and depart for Pienza, village lying on the top of a hillside in the countryside around Siena and considered the ideal renaissance town as desidered by Pope Piccolomini. Stop off in the splendid Popel's square to admire the Borgia, Ammanati and Piccolomini palaces, as well as the Cathedral with its choir in wood, dated 1462. Later in the morning departure to Bagno Vignoni, an antique spa town with aver 36 springs lying more than 1000 m. deep. Don't miss the antique warm spring water pool in the main square. You'll then stop off in a handicraft shop, where you'll taste different types of cheese, typical sienese cold cuts, pickied vegetables and pastries, washed down with delicious local red wine. Return to hotel for dirmer and overnight stay.

Breakfast in hotel, meet your escort and depart for Lucca. Enjoy a visit through thìs city, famous for its walis and numerous churches, stopping off at San Michele in foro, Duomo, the Roman Amphitheatre. Enjoy a mixed grilled meat menu for lunch before an afternoon visit around a farm producing milk and cream, sampling some of its produce. Return fo hotel for dinner. After dinner a trip up to Montecatini Alto, a splendid village on the hillside overlooking Montecatini Terme where you'll try a home made ice-cream in the medieval square. Overnight stay.

Breakfast in hotel. Home departure.