Garden tours

North Italian lake and Tuscany Garden Tour

8 Days / 7 Nights

Day 1: Milan

Arrive in Milan. Transfer to hotel. Dinner and Overnight.

Day 2: Milan – Como

Breakfast in hotel. Departure for Como, to visit this charming city known for its breathtaking views of the lake and mountains and for its fine quality silk. Lunch in a typical restaurant on the lake. After lunch, visit the Villa Carlotta, a baroque style house built in the 18th century by Marquis Giorgio Clerici which is famous for its beautiful terrace garden. It is named for Carlotta of Prussia, who in 1843, received the villa as a wedding present. Visit the gardens of Villa Melzi, an elegant Neo-classical building, that was the summer residence of Francesco Melzi d’Eril, Vice-President of the Italian Republic during the Napoleonic period. It was built between 1801-1810 and is surrounded by wonderful gardens decorated with classical statues and also contains very old and exotic plants. Transfer to Milan. Dinner on own.

Day 3: Milan – Bergamo- Franciacorta

Breakfast in hotel. Depart for Bergamo and stop at Villa Gromo. The owner will show you this 18th century building, the form of a 7, surrounded by a large English-style garden and the interior with its elegant rooms decorated with frescoes by various 18th century painters. Visit Bergamo for a tour of the “Citta Alta” including its famous Piazza Vecchia and the Capella del Coleoni, a private church decorated with precious marbles. Visit the Academia Carrara, which houses a collection of 15th-18th century art including works by Mantegna, Bellini, and Lotto. Lunch in a typical restaurant. Departure for Villa Terzi, built in the 18th century and surrounded by a terraced Italian style garden. Inside the villa there are many rococo frescoes. Visit the Castello di Bornato, where you will be received by its owner. The castle, a medieval building, was redone in the 16th century and contains beautiful frescoes and is surrounded by a garden designed in the 17th century. In the cellars of the castle you can taste the Franciacorta wine, a typical Lombard wine, accompanied with hor d’oevres. You will also be able to buy oil and wine produced by the castle’s farm. Transfer to Milan. Dinner on own.

Day 4: Milan – Florence

Breakfast in hotel. Shopping and lunch in Milan before leaving for Florence. Arrive in Florence and check in to hotel. Dinner in a typical Tuscan restaurant, located in the hills just outside of Florence where you can eat a famous “fiorentina” steak and other Tuscan dishes. Transfer to hotel.

Day 5: Florence

Breakfast in hotel. Walking tour of Florence with English-speaking guide, who will explain the history of this unique city, showing you its most famous monuments and also its less well known sights. Afternoon free for shopping. Dinner on own.

We start from the Florence eternal masterpiece: Michelangelo’s David and visit a few of his other works in the Academy of Fine Arts Museum. Onward to the Cathedral with the famous Dome by Brunelleschi and the gold Paradise door of the Baptistry. From there we continue to Piazza Signoria, the political heart of Florence since the 1300′s when Florence was considered the richest city in Europe. We are beckoned to Ponte Vecchio, the bridge which attracts so much curiosity not only to its unique charming appearance but also to the fabulous jewelry shops lining the bridge. We finish at Santa Croce Church, one of the most important in Florence containing the tombs of the most famous Florentine citizens.
Free time for Lunch.
During the afternoon we will visit the Boboli and Bardini Gardens:
Boboli Garden, one of the most important garden architects in Florence in the 16th century was Niccolò di Raffaello, called “Tribolo”. He planned the garden in Villa di Castello (1540) and Boboli garden behind the Pitti family palace which Cosimo the 1st has bought to have a new residence in the town. The garden was and is a classic example of Italian Style Garden, even if it was changed and enriched in the centuries. With 45 thousand sqm this is not only a garden but an open museum, with statues, fountains and a theatre. In spring you can see the rose garden, it is a collection of ancient rose trees and have a look also at the lemon house. Climb up to the border with Forte Belvedere Garden, in spring, your hard work will be rewarded both with the view of a wonderful garden full of peonies and a panorama on the city. There is a little bar in this part of the garden where you can rest and have a coffee or an ice-cream or a drink.
Continue to a recent restored Bardini Garden.
The garden is attached o Boboli garden, it is located among the left side of Arno river, the hill of Montecuccoli and the ancient medieval walls and it is an amazing view over Florence.
The garden was originally a loom of the Mozzi Villa (which is still now at the entrance of the garden) in 1700 it was enlarged and enriched with fountains with mosaics. In 19th century the garden was enlarged again in Victorian style. Now, after many years disagreement for the inheritance and after the intervention of the Minister of Cultural Heritage, and after a five years restoration, the garden has again its original look and its original richness of plants: A large baroque flight of steps, six fountains with mosaics, all with rose borders.
In the green theatre you can visit a bed of azaleas and also admire, camellias and many different flowers. In the agricultural part, there are fruit trees, a tunnel of wisteria and a collection of hydrangeas.

Dinner and Overnight

Day 6: Poggio a Caiano – Vinci – Pistoia

Breakfast in hotel and depart for Poggio a Caiano, where one of the most beautiful Medici Villas is located. This is a 15th century jewel designed by Giuliano da Sangallo for Lorenzo de’ Medici and was completed during the Pontificate of Leo X (of the Medici family) in the 16th century. Outside the villa is a reproduction of a classic temple decorated with glazed “terracotta” made by the famous Della Robbia family. Visit to Leonardo da Vinci’s house and the Castello dei Conti Guidi a Vinci, a 13th century castle which also has a museum of Leonardo’s inventions and designs. Lunch in a typical restaurant. After lunch, depart for Pistoia, an old town that faces the Appennino mountains. Visit the world famous Villa Garzoni gardens, built in the 17th century, with its many fountains, jeux d’eau, flowerbeds, statues, flights of steps, grottos, theatres, ponds, etc. Return to Florence. Evening free. Dinner on own.

Day 7: Lucca

Breakfast in hotel. Depart for Lucca. Visit to the Villa Reale di Marlia, originally built by Napoleon’s sister, Elisa Bonaparte. The gardens are world famous, particularly the open-air theatre formed by its decorative edges. Visit the Villa Grabau, built in the 16th century. This villa has been lived in continually since the early 1800s by the Grabau, originally from Northern Germany. Lunch in the villa. After lunch, a tour of Lucca, a medieval walled town with a wonderful Romanesque dome. Visit Villa Torrigiani, built in 16th century by Muzio Oddi, with its gardens that are famous for its magnificent cypress trees. The Duchess. Transfer to Florence. Dinner on own.

Day 8: Departure

Breakfast in hotel and departure.

The Medicean Villas in Florence and the Val D’Orcia

6 Days / 5 Nights

Day 1: Rome – Siena area

Arrival at Rome Airport. Meet your local Tour escort and departure to Siena area.
Accommodation at the hotel in Chianciano where you will stay for 5 nights, dinner and overnight stay.

Day 2: Siena area – Montalcino – Bagno Vignoni

Breakfast at the hotel. Departure for Montalcino, whose fortress is the symbol of the independent and warlike character of this town’s people who defeated many invading armies. The pentagon-shaped fortress has towers in every corner, and its walls overlook the Val d’Orcia.
Departure for Castello Banfi. Here you will taste the famous wine Brunello and enjoy a typical lunch. Through enchanting landscapes the itinerary reaches Sant’Antimo’s Abbey. It is said that it was built in one day by fairies carrying columns on their heads and rocks on their fingers. Built by monks, the abbey is a remarkable work of Romanesque architecture.
On the way back stop at Bagno Vignoni to visit the square-pool, where the famous film-maker Tarkovski shot one of his movies. Back to the hotel, dinner and overnight stay.

Day 3: Pienza – Montepulciano

Breakfast at the hotel. Departure for Pienza, the ideal town wanted by Pio II. Seen from the valley below, this little town looks as if it were floating up in the sky, outlined in the light of the sun. The local little shops where you can taste the famous “cacio delle crete” and the “pecorino di Pienza” (typical cheese) are well worth a visit. Tasting of local products in a charcuterie. After a short journey, arrival at Montepulciano where Medieval architecture is still visible but Renaissance elements, due to the work of famous architects such as Antonio da Sangallo il Vecchio, Vignola, Baldassarre Peruzzi, and Ippolito Scalza, are prevalent. Tasting of Nobile di Montepulciano in a typical wine-shop.
Back to the hotel, dinner and overnight stay.

Day 4: Garden’s in Siena area

Breakfast at the hotel. Departure for an itinerary which winds through the soft and undulating Tuscan countryside to visit some enchanting private gardens in Siena’s area. We start with a visit to Castello Celsa, a neogothic-style estate surrounded by an interesting garden offering a wonderful panorama. We proceed to Vicobello’s Garden, designed in 1531 by Baldassarre Peruzzi, with its terraced gardens which go up to the villa, offering an interesting collection of exotic plants. After a stop to Villa Geggiano the journey will continue to Villa Cetinale where the spacious garden rises up to the hermitage on the top of the hill, inhabited by friars up to the end of the XIX century. During the tour we will enjoy a buffet offered by Margherita and Benedetta Anselmi, the Vicobello’s owners. Back to the hotel, dinner and overnight stay.

Day 5: Medicean Villas

Breakfast at the hotel and departure for a tour of the most interesting Medicean Villas. We start with Poggio a Caiano. Designed by Giuliano da Sangallo for Lorenzo the Magnificent and built around 1480, this is the best known of the Medicean villas. Visit both to the villa and garden.
After the lunch in a typical restaurant visit to Villa Petraia known for its garden planned by Tribolo. Visit both to the villa and garden. Buffet in a typical farmhouse. Transfer to the near Villa Reale, (also known as Villa Castello) for a visit to its garden designed by Tribolo. An artificial grotto contains a basin, shaped like a classical sarcophagus, surmounted by a pyramid-shaped group of both exotic and ordinary animals, that look as though they are escaping from the rock, carried out by Giambologna and school in various types of stone and marble. Back to the hotel dinner and overnight stay.

Day 6: Departure

Breakfast at the hotel and end of tour.

Villas and Garden of Central Italy

8 Days / 7 Nights

Day 1: Rome

Arrival in Rome. Mett your local guide. Dinner and overnight.

Day 2: Rome

Morning visit to the Vatican Gardens, a unique assortment of trees and plants, a rock garden with shaded woodland and wine-covered pathways on the upper slopes. Lunch at Villa Valadier in the Pincio gardens, with its spectacular vistas of Rome and St. Peters. In the afternoon, we will visit Villa Borghese, the largest and most beautiful of Rome’s public parks. It was created for Cardinal Borghese in the early 17th century. The city of Rome’s zoo and the International Equestrian Ring at Piazza di Siena are only some of its many attractions.
Dinner and overnight.

Day 3: Rome – Tivoli

Full day excursion to Tivoli visiting the spectacular Villa Adriana and then continue on to the Villa d’Este, built on the site of another Roman villa. The Villa d’Este is a former Benedictine convent which became the home of the 16th century governor Cardinal d’Este. The gardens of the villa are one of the most famous in Italy, both for their natural location and design. It has more than 500 fountains with a wonderful blend of nature and architecture.
Dinner and overnight.

Day 4: Ninfa – Norba – Sermoneta

Today we will go southeast of Rome to discover the ruins of Ninfa. Today, wild, romantic gardens cover the shells of medieval houses: roses and clematis vines climb cypress trees and spring bulbs blanket green hillsides. The Caetani Family has gathered thousands of specimens from around the world and made them flourish in this ideal micro-environment. Visit to the ancient Italic town of Norba, which looks down on Ninfa from a high bluff. Light lunch followed by a tour of the Castle of Sermoneta. Return to Rome for dinner and overnight.

Day 5: Bomarzo – Villa Lante – Siena

We leave Rome and make our way north to Bomarzo or the Park of the Monsters, ordered by Duke Orsini. It is a bizarre testament to a fantastic and twisted taste which developed in the late, declining Renaissance. Practically forgotten for centuries, it was only after the end of the war, that the park was restored and “rediscovered”. It is one of its kind, situated on the edge of a natural amphitheater, and consisting of a series of terraces, with gigantic sculptures cut out of the rock. The figures are animals, real and imaginary, grotesque colossi with little or no significance.
After lunch, we will visit the splendid Villa Lante, designed by the Renaissance architect Vignola. It is a typical Italian garden of the Late Renaissance with its fantastic play of water. There are five terraces, the center piece of which is a monumental rectangular fountain. In the late afternoon, we drive through the beautiful Tuscan countryside to Siena. Check-in at our hotel, dinner and overnight.

Day 6: Villa Cetinale – Florence

The morning begins with Villa Cetinale, placed at the edge of a dense wood just outside Siena. It was designed by a pupil of Bernini for Cardinal Chigi. A long green way lined with tall cypresses and statues by Mazzuoli, leads to a crescent terrace from which stone stairs ascend to a hermitage on the summit. Vistas of the surrounding countryside are breathtaking. Rustic lunch will be served in a typical Tuscan country restaurant. In the afternoon, we move on to Florence. Check-in at the hotel, dinner and overnight stay.

Day 7: Florence
Morning visit to the Historical Topographical Museum to view the painted lunette by G. Van Utens, which depicts the Villa Medici in the town of Castello, just outside Florence, which the importance of its influence on Italian garden design. Leisurely walk to the Boboli Gardens and the Palazzo Pitti, the best example of formal Italian landscape architecture of the Renaissance. With its variegated terracing, sculptures and grotto one can see the art of Italy’s finest landscape artists. Free afternoon in Florence. Farewell Dinner in a typical Tuscan restaurant in Fiesole.
Overnight stay at the hotel.

Day 8: Florence – Rome

After breakfast, Departure to Rome Airport.

Roman and Naples area Gardens

8 Days / 7 Nights

Day 1: Rome – Naples – Santa Chiara

Arrival to Rome Airport, meet your local guide and departure to naples.
During the afternoon we’ll make a visit in the church of Santa Chiara and the internal cloister garden, the church is the centre of the city and this place is like an oasis with peace and quite.
Dinner and overnight.

Day 2: Pompeii gardens – Villa San Michele

After breakfast visit to Pompeii, where many of the gardens has been excavated with help of the frescoes that has been found during the years and plants that were originally in this gardens has been planted again.
The plants growing was ivy, cut box hedge (Buxus Semperviren) or bush, cut laurel, myrtle, acanthus and rosemary.
Back to Naples we take the hydro- boat over to Capri, and by minibus continue to Anacapri to visit the Villa San Michele to see the villa and garden made by Axel Munthe.
Return to Naples.
Dinner and Overnight.

Day 3: Villa La Mortella – Ischia

From Naples departure with hydro-boat to Ischia, upon arrival bus is waiting to take us to the town of Forio where we’ll visit the gardens of La Mortella that was founded by Russel Page in the end of the 50ties for the famous compositor Sir William Walton and his wife Lady Susana, on a steep hill over the sea.
Free time for independent Lunch.
During the afternoon return to naples. Free time
Dinner and Overnight.

Day 4: Ninfa’s and Landriana’s gardens

Breakfast to the Hotel and departure to Rome area, during the way stop in the wonderful gardens of Ninfa south of Rome. Ninfa is an amazing place and for many it is the ideal garden. We make a stop and the gardens of Landriana 50 km south of Rome, the marchioness Lavinia Taverna has been working 40 years to grow the garden which is in different levels, with 32 different sections, each with a theme and a mixture of English abundant growing and strict Italian style.
Continue to Tivoli.
Dinner and overnight.

Day 5: Cloister gardens in Rome

Breakfast to the Hotel and departure to Rome. We will visit the church San Paolo outside the wall with it’s beautiful garden.
Rome Orientation Tour.
Time at disposal.
Dinner and overnight.

Day 6: Palazzo Farnese in Caprarola and Villa Lante in Bagnaia

Breakfast to the Hotel and departure to Palazzo Farnese in Caprarola, was built 1570 by Vignola whom probably even produced the garden, which is divided in summer and winter garden which is possible to reach from the Palace through various bridges. From the bridges a path under secular trees brings to Vignolas masterpiece “Casino del Piacere” made in 1560, that suddenly appears behind an arrangement of fountains and steps. The perfect balance between landscape, architecture and sculptures makes Villa Farense one of the biggest architectonic Italian masterpieces. In Bagnaia a small village we visit Villa Lante, a renaissance garden.
Dinner and overnight.

Day 7: Villa D’Este in Tivoli

After breakfast we will visit Villa D’Estes gardens, Tivoli was chosen by the roman emperors as the ideal place to build villas for summer residences. Villa D’Este (today part of the UNESCO property) was constructed for the Cardinal Ippolito D’Este 1559 by Pirro Ligorio, the garden is built on a steep hill in terraces and the water is the part of main compositions.
The park is built as a classical Italian garden with low box hedges and neatly cut bushes, the water is led in from the Aniene river through a canal spraying in the fountains and than going back to the river.
Afternoon at disposal.
Dinner and overnight.

Day 8: Departure

Transfer to Rome airport.

Sicilian Gardens Tour

8 Days / 7 Nights

Day 1: Palermo

Arrival at Palermo airport and meet your tour manager. Transfer to your hotel in Palermo followed by a welcome cocktail and presentation of the tour. Dinner and overnight in hotel.

Day 2: Palermo – Monreale

After breakfast, departure to visit the Botanical Garden in Palermo, founded between 1779-95, where one may admire a remarkable collection of plants from the tropics and subtropics including giant fig trees from Asia and Australia, aloes, a fine selection of Mediterranean plants, palms and tropical trees. Continue to Villa Giulia. Goethe visited this garden in 1787 and described it as “the most wonderful spot on earth…it seems enchanted and transports one back into the ancient world”.
Independent lunch and continue for a visit of the magnificent Villa Bordonaro.
Free time in Palermo.
Dinner and overnight.

Day 3: Palermo – Bagheria

After breakfast depart for your guided visit of Villa Camastra (which dates back to the XVth century) situated along the way to Monreale, acquired and restored by the Tasca family in the 1800’s. We will see the two gardens, “first garden”, in front of the neoclassical villa and the “romantic garden” divided by ponds and groves in three areas. Continue to the villa and gardens of Malfitano maintained by the Whitaker foundation where one may admire an outstanding collection of exotic plants.
Independent Lunch and continue to Bagheria where you will visit “Villa Palagonia” known all over the world for its grotesques carved out of local tufa stone. Continue on your guided visit of the baroque XVII century villas of Bagheria.
Return to your hotel in Palermo for dinner and overnight.

Day 4: Taormina

After breakfast departure to Taormina.
Arrival and free time to admire this beautiful town and its famous Greek theatre.
Dinner and overnight.

Day 5: Taormina – Girdini Naxos

After breakfast, guided visit of the lovely garden and house of Casa Cuseni built by Robert Kitson in 1907. This garden has a distinctive English atmosphere and a spectacular view of Mount Etna and the sea. Continue to the gardens of Villa Madonna della Rocca. The hanging gardens are deeply terraced with magnificent views of the Greek theatre to the east and the sea to the west.
Independent Lunch.
Afternoon at disposal for relax in this beautiful area.
Dinner and overnight.

Day 6: Lentini – Siracusa

After breakfast departure for Lentini for your guided visit of the garden of Il Biviere a truly unique Mediterranean garden, illustrated by the owner.
Independent Lunch and continue to Siracuse for a brief visit of the town and the gardens of “Villa Lucia”. Dinner and overnight.

Day 7: Piazza Armerina – Palermo

After breakfast, departure to Villa Romana del Casale, where you will admire the mosaics found in the roman villa and the garden located in the centre of the villa complex.
Independent Lunch in Piazza Armerina and continue to Palermo for farewell dinner and overnight.

Day 8: Departure

After breakfast transfert to Palermo Airport. Departure