This tour includes a private English-speaking driver with his air-conditioned Mercedes at Your disposal for 9/10 hours - A private English-speaking Guide (only for You) for the visit of the Museums
THE ENTRANCE FEES OF THE MUSEUMS ARE NOT INCLUDED
San Marco Museum:
The St. Marco Museum is located in the St. Marco convent, attached to the church, built by Michelozzo in 1452 and it is one of the pillars of the cultural life of the Florentine Renaissance: in its rooms Beato Angelico, Savonarola and Fra’ Bartolomeo lived. This museum is of great interest for the large number of masterpieces by Angelico displayed here. For example it is possible to see here the famous Annunciation, and another notable work like the Ghirlandaio’s Last Supper. Opposite to the entrance there is the Sala Capitolare with a beautiful Crucifixion fresco by Fra Angelico.
Accademia Gallery in Florence:
The Accademia’s undisputed star is Michelangelo’s David. This statue, the most famous sculpture by the most famous artist of all time, was moved here at the Accademia from Piazza della Signoria (where a copy still stands in its place on the square). But the Accademia is full of treasures. Besides other important works by Michelangelo are displayed; here one can find also many paintings dated back to 1200 by the Maestro della Maddalena and Pacino di Buonaguida; a Madonna with Child by Taddeo Gaddi and one by Filippino Lippi. Works by Fra Bartolomeo, Cosimo Rosselli, Bronzino, and many other more.
Bargello Museum:
The history of the National Museum of the Bargello is closely connected to the history of the Palazzo del Bargello which has housed it since the late XIX century. The Palace of Bargello was built in 1255 as the seat of the Capitano del Popolo. Later it was the residence of the mayor and the chief of police. It has a high tower, called the Volognana. In its ancient rooms the National Museum has been located since 1859: one of the most important in the world for the collection of minor arts, weapons, sculptures of Tuscany dating back to the XV and XVI centuries and for terracotta by Della Robbia. The writer Herman Hesse in his Italian diary of 1903 described the Museum with a focus on the works by Michelangelo, but at the same time he praised the courtyard with its elegant staircase, the gallery decorated with coats of arms and the Hall of Donatello.
After the visit to these beautiful Florence museums, you’ll have 15 minutes of free time for enjoying a great Italian gelato. There will be the optional transfer to a Vineyard of Chianti with 1 hour and 30 minutes of free time for lunch (lunch not included) and then the transfer to Siena where You can visit by yourself (no guide) the famous Piazza del Campo and the Duomo. Piazza del Campo, always the centre of city life, in the form of a large semi-circle that descends to the Public Palace with its ancient pavement. At the centre there is the Fonte Gaia, once adorned with reliefs by Jacopo della Quercia: today housed in the Palazzo Pubblico and replaced by copies. All around the square there are beautiful facades of old buildings interspersed with the dark openings of the alleys. Among these buildings, on the left there is the Palazzo Sansedoni, a medieval building renovated in the XVIII century. But above all the buldings, dominates the already mentioned Palazzo Pubblico. The construction of the first nucleus of this building began in 1284, but after a few years it was begun the construction of a new larger building, completed in 1310 and enlarged in 1342 with the addition of the prisons and the hall of the Grand Council. On the first floor of the Palazzo Pubblico, on the left wall of the Room of the Globe you can admire the masterpiece of Simone Martini, the great Maestà of 1312-1315. While the next room, known as Sala della Pace (Peace Hall), is famous for the remarkable profane cycle fresco by Ambrogio Lorenzetti (1337-1339): the Buon Governo, Effetti del buon governo in città e in campagna (Effects of good government in the city and in the countryside) and Malgoverno e i suoi effetti (Poor governance and its effects) a great representation of the ancient Siena.
This tour will finish in Piazza Michelangelo in Florence from where You can enjoy a great view overlooking the city. After that your driver will take you back to Your accommodation.
