Arezzo and the Elegance of the Renaissance

Day 1 - Thursday October  31st '24 - arrival in Arezzo

Independent arrival in Arezzo and accommodation in the reserved rooms at

Hotel Continentale  4* - www.hotelcontinentale.com/it/

always considered the point of reference for those who want to stay in Arezzo. An elegant environment in the historic center, with a beautiful terrace with spectacular views of the city. The rooms will be available in the early afternoon.

Afternoon: Meeting at the hotel with the guide and start of our visit of Arezzo on foot.

We will visit the medieval and Renaissance historic center that has its center in the splendid Piazza Grande surrounded by tower houses where the "Giostra del Saracino" is held twice a year, from the Palazzo della Fraternita with the sixteenth-century astronomical clock and the Logge di Vasari. Along the way we will enter the Pieve di Santa Maria, a majestic Romanesque church to admire the polyptych by Pietro Lorenzetti; in the Gothic Cathedral with the splendid sixteenth-century stained glass windows and the fresco with Saint Mary Magdalene by Piero della Francesca. We will continue with San Domenico to admire the splendid Crucifix painted by Cimabue.

The afternoon will end with a visit to the Legend of the True Cross by Piero della Francesca in the Bacci Chapel inside the Church of San Francesco, an extraordinary masterpiece of Italian Renaissance art. An immortal cycle of frescoes, one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of Italian and world art.

Welcome dinner at a selected restaurant with a traditional Arezzo menu.

Casa Vasari Museum
“A house begun in Arezzo, with a site to make beautiful vegetable gardens in the village of San Vito, in the best air of the city”: with these words Giorgio Vasari described his house, purchased in 1541, currently home to the museum of the same name. The house consists of three floors, the basement, the stately apartment on the first floor and another on the second, probably intended for the servants. The geometrically structured garden extends around the house. The painter personally took care of the pictorial decorations of the stately apartment which still testify to the artist's intention to start a precise program of celebration of art, artists and himself. In 1687, the last descendant of Vasari, Francesco Maria, left his real estate to the Fraternita dei Laici in his will. After a subsequent change of ownership, in 1911, on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of the artist from Arezzo, the house was purchased by the Italian State to be used as the Vasari Museum.

Day 2 - Friday November 01st '24  – Arezzo (on foot)

Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: Meeting with the guide at the hotel. We will dedicate the day to “Giorgio Vasari in Arezzo”. The itinerary will include Vasari’s places in the city, to delve deeper into the figure of the artist, architect and first art historian. We will visit the church of the Badia delle SS. Flora e Lucilla to admire the family altar painted by Giorgio Vasari, we will see his birthplace still existing in via Mazzini and the Logge Vasari in Piazza Grande.

Afternoon: We will visit the great exhibition "Giorgio Vasari. The theater of virtues", which explores the sacred and profane allegorical motifs present in the master's works, which will be held at the Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea which will display important national and international loans, works by contemporaries and collaborators of Vasari. We will conclude our day with the entrance to the Museum of Casa Vasari, the Arezzo house designed and frescoed by Vasari himself and one of the very rare examples of a 16th-century artist's house that have reached us. Lunch and dinner free. Overnight stay in hotel.

Day 3 - Saturday November 02nd '24 –  Valtiberina (By bus) -Monterchi / Citerna / Anghiari / Sansepolcro

Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: Departure by coach for the Piero della Francesca itinerary in the Tuscan Tiber Valley. The first stop will be in Monterchi to visit the Madonna del Parto by Piero della Francesca. We will then continue to Citerna where we can admire the Madonna by Donatello, at the sacristy of the Church of San Francesco. Stop for lunch in Anghiari, listed among the Most Beautiful Villages in Italy, a medieval village perched on a hill, surrounded by ancient walls and crossed by narrow streets in a dominant position over the Tiber Valley.

Afternoon: We will continue to Sansepolcro, the birthplace of Piero della Francesca, and where we will visit the Civic Museum and admire important works by the painter: the fresco with the Resurrection, a true masterpiece defined by the English writer Aldous Huxley as “the most beautiful painting in the world”; the polyptych of the Madonna della Misericordia; the San Giuliano and the San Ludovico. Return to Arezzo by coach. Free dinner and overnight stay in hotel.

La Madonna del Parto

The Madonna del Parto is one of the highest expressions of the Renaissance. The Madonna is pregnant and, standing at the center of a canopy of precious brocade, shows herself to those who look at her. She is positioned in three-quarters, so that her now advanced pregnancy is even more evident. With her right hand she caresses her belly, with a gesture of modesty and protection but also of conscious pride. Her eyes are lowered to her belly but her expression almost seems to foretell the fate of the child she is carrying. Two angels, symmetrical and specular in color and design, with a decisive and rapid gesture open the curtain of the canopy so that the faithful can contemplate the Virgin, majestic, solemn and at the same time humble, with her left hand resting on her hip and her dress slightly aside. Piero's fresco of the Madonna del Parto represents a unique example in the history of art as a synthesis of the values ​​of Humanism and Christian spirituality and is one of the highest and most original expressions of the iconography of the Madonna as the mother of Jesus.

Day 4 - Sunday November 03rd '24 –  Departure

Breakfast at the hotel and check out.

Individual departures.

INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPATION QUOTES (minimum 15 people)

In a double room 990 euros
Supplement for a double room for single use: 120 euros

THE PACKGAGE INCLUDES:

• 3 nights with breakfast at the 4* Continental Hotel
• Assistance of a companion for the entire period
• Guided tours (half day on October 31st and two full days on November
• 1st and 2nd) by art historian Dr. Susanna Buricchi
• Welcome dinner on the day of arrival in a selected restaurant - Coach transport to the Tiber Valley on November 2nd
• Lunch during the excursion on November 2nd in a selected restaurant
• Entrance fees to the Museums as specified in the program (Piero della Francesca frescoes in Arezzo, Madonna del Parto in Monterchi, Civic Museum of Sansepolcro, Casa Vasari Museum in Arezzo)
• Entrance ticket to the exhibition “Giorgio Vasari. The theater of virtues”
• Medical-luggage insurance

THE PACKGAGE DOES NOT INCLUDE:

• Tourist tax, Euro 1.50 per person per night to be paid on site;
• Travel to/from Arezzo;
• Extras, tips and anything not expressly indicated under “The price includes”

• The organizer reserves the right to cancel the trip, NO LATER THAN 30 days before departure, if the minimum number of participants has not been reached. In this case, the amount paid will be refunded in full.

   

  HOW TO BOOK:

  The reservation becomes effective upon receipt of:
  1. Travel contract that we will send you at the time of booking
  2. deposit requested by bank transfer

  DEPOSIT:

  A deposit of €350.00 and any insurance premium for the "trip cancellation" policy are required upon booking.
  Cancellation insurance can only be taken out at the same time as registering for the trip.

  BALANCE:

  30 days before departure (by October 1, 2024)

  CANCELLATION

  In case of CANCELLATION by the customer, the following penalties will be applied, in addition to the insurance fee:

  50% of the participation fee for cancellations by October 1, 2024
  75% of the participation fee for cancellations by October 14, 2024
  from October 15, 2024 no refund in case of cancellation

   

Medical Baggage Policy included in the package

SUPPLEMENTARY INSURANCE POLICIES

It is possible to subscribe to the "Travel Cancellation" policy at the same time as booking the trip (regulations will be sent upon request)

Amount per person in a double and/or single room
- € 29.00 per person up to 74 years old (cancellation also for pre-existing illnesses)
- € 58.00 per person from 75 years old (cancellation also for pre-existing illnesses)