This tour includes a private English-speaking driver with his air-conditioned Mercedes at Your disposal for the entire tour - A private English-speaking guide for the visit of the Uffizi Gallery (2 hours)
THE ENTRANCE FEES ARE NOT INCLUDED
Obviously, this program can be modified according to Your needs: for example, we can organize guided tours in English both in Pisa and San Gimignano, as well as in Florence. In Florence, for example, the tour with Your private English-speaking guide could last more than two hours, including other famous monuments of the city. Kindly, let us know Your wishes and we shall customize this tour for You.
UFFIZI GALLERY:
The Uffizi Gallery houses a huge collection of masterpieces. Actually the Gallery is probably the most famous art museum of the Western world. Pictorially here you can admire the birth of the Renaissance, seeing how the changing ideas about the nature of humanity were translated into visual forms. You can witness the change if you start your visit with Cimabue’s great Crucifixion, still inspired by the flat forms and ritualized expression of Byzantine art. The masterpieces by Sandro Botticelli with his Birth of Venus and Primavera. The spectacular triptych by Hugo van der Goes. The Portinari Triptych arrived in Florence in 1483. With this work, Hugo van der Goes wanted to impress the city and he succeeded both for its size and for the style of the Triptych. Tommaso Portinari required the work to the Flemish painter for the high altar of the church of Sant'Egidio. Completed by 1478, the painting was loaded on a ship passing through Sicily and it arrived in Pisa by sea and then in Florence along the Arno river. Piero della Francesca’s famous diptych with full profile portraits of Federico da Montefeltro and his wife. Unique and extraordinary work by Piero della Francesca in the collection of the Uffizi Gallery, the diptych became part of the Medici collection with the legacy of Vittoria della Rovere, the last descendant of an important family. These and many other masterpieces are waiting to be admired in the Uffizi Gallery.
SAN GIMIGNANO:
A perfectly preserved medieval town, San Gimignano delle Belle Torri (San Gimignano of the Beautiful Towers), is one of southern Tuscany’s most famous destinations. Actually, among the ancient cities of Tuscany, San Gimignano is the one that has preserved almost intact its medieval urban structure and the buildings. The city is located in a very good strategic corner, overlooking the Valdelsa territory. San Gimignano was an important centre for trade routes already in the IX century and many rich families lived there. And it was those families that, as sign of their power, had the towers built, one for each family. In fact the current fame of this town comes from the charm of the 15 survived towers out of the 72 existing in the XIV century. It is said that the windows and the holes in the towers served once to unite the various towers via some walkways, to promote interaction between allied families and to protect themselves from urban assaults. Because of its imposing towers, San Gimignano has been called The Manhattan of Tuscany. The Big Tower (Torre Grossa) dates back to 1311 and it is the tallest tower (54 meters high) among those remained in San Gimignano. This tower is located near the Palazzo Nuovo del Podestà, to which it is connected. It is the only tower on which you can get on, by paying an entrance fee, to admire a beautiful panorama: on clear days it is possible to see to the naked eye the Apuan Alps and Pistoia, Particularly worth visiting the Museo Civico inside the palace with the Sala di Dante (Dante’s Room), you can reach via an external staircase from the courtyard. The room is dedicated to Dante in memory of the visit that the famous Florentine poet did in San Gimignano in 1299. This external staircase is decorated with splendid frescoes by Lippo Memmi whose Maestà is considered a masterpiece.
