The Gardens of Florence and Tuscany
The gardens of Tuscany evoke the British dream of Italy: sun-drenched parterres filled with the scent of box, with the soothing sound of a classical fountain playing in the cool shade of a cypress-lined alley.
The great Renaissance architects of Florence and Siena laid out magnificent formal gardens surrounding the villas they built for the leading Tuscan families, many of whose descendants still live in them. Much later a number of talented landscape architects, inspired by their Renaissance predecessors, constructed gardens for the Anglo-American community who settled in Tuscany in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
With the eminent garden authority Robin Lane Fox to lead us, we will visit the finest of these gardens, where we will be entertained by the owners, including the Villa Medici, enjoying a superb view over Florence, La Foce, the creation of the writer Iris Origo, and Gamberaia, rated by Sir Harold Acton as the finest of all Tuscan gardens. Early May is the perfect time to visit these gardens, when they will be looking their very best. The tour also gives you an excellent chance to compare the cities of Florence and Siena, whose age-old rivalry inspired many of the greatest works of the Renaissance.
Hotel: We will spend the first three nights at The Savoy Hotel, 200 yards from the Duomo in Florence, a chic and comfortable hotel in Rocco Forte’ s group of five-star hotels. The remainder of our stay will be at Borgo Scopeto Relais, a charming four-star hotel in the Tuscan countryside with views of Siena.
Lecturers: Robin Lane Fox and Charles FitzRoy
Tour Leaders: Charles FitzRoy and Jane Rae