TRAVEL PLAN ITINERARY

DAY 1 | ARRIVAL IN ROME; CIVITA DI BAGNOREGIO WITH WINE/EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OILOIL LUNCH; ORVIETO AND PERUGIA!!

 Morning arrival at Rome Fiumicino Airport.

Car rental (for 9 days) or optional transfer by private driver.

We suggest an automatic transmission car, GPS equipped English speaking, illimitate kms and total cover insurance included – International driving license and credit card headed to the driver required. Umbria and Tuscany are very easy and relaxing regions to ride by car

Pickup location: Rome Fiumicino airport

Drop-off location: Rome Fiumicino airport

Afternoon departure towards Civita di Bagnoregio (2 hours drive).

The locals know that there are singular delights in rural Lazio, speckled by vast volcanic lakes. This is the case of the storybook loveliness of the ‘dying town’ of Civita di Bagnoregio, a town built on an island-like outcrop, reached via a narrow bridge. The tufa rock on which it stands is slowly crumbling, making this one hidden gem that should be discovered before it vanishes completely. This is wander off the beaten track in Italy, to know Italy’s best-kept secret!!

Of all the Italian hill towns, Civita di Bagnoregio is our favorite. Less well-known than Siena or Assisi, this stunning little gem has escaped the modern age mostly because of topography. The town teeters atop a crest rising high above a vast canyon ruled by wind and erosion. Photographs around town show the old donkey path that once linked the hamlets.

Today, the only way in or out is by a footbridge. Supplies are ferried in on mopeds. Inside the gate, the charms of Civita are subtle. Those searching for arcade tourism won´t know where to look. There are no lists of attractions, orientation tours, or museum hours. It´s just Italy. Civita is an artist´s dream, a town in the nude. Each lane and footpath holds a surprise. Ivy drapes over arches and scrambles up walls; potted flowers parade across balconies. The warm stone walls glow, and each stairway is dessert to a sketch pad or camera.

Walk in the city center on your own (it´s a little jewel and it only takes one or two hours to visit it).

Stop for lunch at one of our favorite Olive Mills and Wineries (20 min drive).

Here the time seems to have stopped in terms of authenticity of cultural identity and accuracy of the final product. Serena (the owner) welcomes guests with a big smile, explaining how extra virgin olive oil was made in the past and nowadays (they have both olive mills typologies). She will also show you her winery, where the aging part is a Second Word War II cave (where citizens used to hide from the enemies). You will taste wine, oil and local products (like bruschette, olive patè, local beans, cheeses and cold cuts) at the candle light of this special winery, underneath the ground!

Later stop in Orvieto (22 min drive), visually stunning Etruscan city. Time at leisure to explore

the city (suggested, 2 hours). Native Guide add-on (we really suggest it)

Walking along this cinematically beautiful city, history hangs over the cobbled lanes, illuminated medieval piazzas and churches astride a volcanic plug of rock. Few churches in Italy can hold a candle to its wedding cake of a Gothic cathedral, which frequently elicits gasps of wonder at its layers of exquisite detail.

Orvieto is one of the most striking, memorable, and enjoyable hill towns in central Italy. A visit here will reward you with a delightful, perfectly preserved, and virtually traffic-free world highlighted by a colorful-inside-and-out cathedral and some of Italy´s best wine.

In Orvieto you can include a visit to the Etruscan underground or the visit to one of the most impressive sites in the world. The Pozzo di San Patrizio, just off Piazzale Cahen, is the town’s novelty act, a huge cylindrical well commissioned in 1527 by Pope Clement VII to guarantee the town’s water supply during an expected siege by the Imperial Army (which never came). You can walk inside it and its unique stairs…, Water was brought to the surface by donkeys on two broad staircases, cannily designed never to intersect. It’s a striking piece of engineering, 13m wide and 62m deep, named after its supposed similarity to the Irish cave where St Patrick died in 493 

Transfer towards Perugia (1 hour and 15 min) and check in at your Villa/Countryside agriturismo, one double classic room in bed and breakfast treatment.

Lunch included. Dinner at leisure.

DAY 2 | TORGIANO WINE/OIL MUSEUM, MONTEFALCO WINE LUNCH AND ENOSAFARI; ASSISI!

Breakfast and morning drive towards the Wine/oil Museum in Torgiano (20 min drive).

Visit at leisure of the beautiful site. (Tickets to be payed on the spot). At the end you can have a tasting of their excellent Torgiano DOC wines

Conceived and created by Giorgio Lungarotti and his wife Maria Grazia, the Wine and Oil Museum was opened in 1974 and is now managed by the Lungarotti Foundation.

The wine museum is located in a 17th century noble summer residence.Created as a companion collection to the Wine Museum by Lungarotti Fundation, the Olive Oil Museum is located in a small nucleus of medieval houses within the town walls.

Olive oil is represented as a significant element in cultural imagery, with symbolic, propitiatory and curative values. On display are artworks and historical finds regarding the mythological origins of the olive tree, the use of oil as a source of light and heat, in religion, medicine and nutrition, in sports and cosmetics.

The Wine Museum comprehends many archeological finds (Cycladic jugs and Hittite vases; Greek, Etruscan and Roman ceramics; glassware and bronze pieces) technical equipment and sets for viticulture, ceramic wine vessels from the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and contemporary periods, engravings and drawings, learned texts on viticulture and enology, artifacts of gold, weaving and other pieces representing the applied arts. All these document witness the importance of wine in the collective imagery of the civilizations that over the millennia have lived in the Mediterranean basin and continental Europe.

In the late morning you will head towards the wonderful Montefalco, where you will meet your private tour escort. Nice walk in the city center.

You will then reach a great winery where you will do an unforgettable jeep safari through one of the most panoramic vineyard, among shady paths and beautiful valleys and conclude the experience with a nice lunch!

A unique experience to discover Sagrantino and Montefalco red wines and among the barrels to capture all the secrets of these famous wines. The visit will include a brief winery introduction, a jeep tour among the vineyards, surrounding the winery. You will walk trough the barrels to see how the Sagrantino and Montefalco wines are produced and then you will experience a tasting of these wines paired with Umbrian food. You will be delighted by a taste of Montefalco doc, Grechetto Doc

accompanied by a selection of cheeses and hand made jam to continue with Rosè IGT Umbria, tasting the true flavors of Umbrian black truffle. You will taste Sagrantino Doc, which expresses all the power of tannin with "Porchetta" a crispy meat (steak of the pork neck) cooked on the grill.

The experience ends with the meditation wine: Sagrantino Passito Doc, with typical Umbrian sweets "Tozzetti".

In the afternoon you will the head towards Assisi, always assisted by your tour escort.

Crowned by a ruined castle, Assisi spills downhill to its famous Basilica of St. Francis, named after its hometown boy who made very, very good. Francis´ legacy is now Assisi´s basic industry, and mementos of his days in Assisi are everywhere — where he was baptized, a shirt he wore, a hill he prayed on, and the church where a vision changed his life. While this beautifully preserved Umbrian town bursts with flash-in-the-pan Francis fans in summer, even just a block or two off the main drag you can find pockets of serenity that, it´s easy to imagine, must have made Francis feel at peace.

Back to your accommodation.

Lunch included. Dinner at leisure.

DAY 3 | BEVAGNA, OIL-WINE LUNCH IN A REWARDED OLIVE MILL & SPELLO SECRETS!

Breakfast and morning drive towards Bevagna.

Meeting with your private tour escort in Bevagna and nice walk in the city center!

Bevagna has been a settlement since at least the time of the Ancient Romans. The highlights of the pretty village are the medieval square called Piazza Silvestri, the Roman and medieval walls, towers of various shapes, the 1st century Roman Theatre, the Roman Thermae with a mosaic floor, with scenes of life in the sea.

In Bevagna you can make a very impressive experience: you can visit a real mediaeval paper craft mill, creating your own sheet of paper with the original system used in the Middle Ages!

Late morning transfer towards a rewarded olive mill (always assisted by your tour escort).

The owners will introduce you the ancient and modern techniques that brought them to the production of the best DOP olive oil in Umbria. Their extra virgin olive oil has been recently rewarded, by the jury of DOP Umbria Oil Prize. We will then become a panel of experts getting to know the famous "streap technique", and matching the "green gem" with several dishes in a superb light lunch!

Later transfer towards Spello. Nice walk in the city center (assisted by your tour escort).

Sometimes it seems like it´s just not possible for the next Umbrian town to be prettier than the last.

And then you visit Spello, a higgledy-piggledy ensemble of honey-colored houses spilling down a hillside, guarded by three stout Roman gates and chess-piece towers. During summer, the green-fingered locals try to outdo each other with their billowing hanging baskets and flowerpots, filling the streets with a riot of color and scent.

Spello is a beautiful and colorful village, known above all for its alleys covered with fragrant flowers in May - June. Enjoy a nice stroll in the city center.

There are numerous Roman remains incorporated in the structure of the village, including the walls and the ancient gates of access (as Le Torri di Properzio). Of great interest also the palaces of the Renaissance period and the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Maggiore.

 You can also visit:

The Galleria Luigi Proietti a nice small art gallery in the main street of Spello, Via Cavour n.61, with the masterpieces of the famous local artist Norberto. His favorite subject are the local Franciscan friars and the countryside of Assisi. The artist Norberto is famous all over the world for its singular masterpieces.

We also suggest to visit the micro brewery in the village centre, they realized something unique for the beers lovers… the flower beer made with local raw materials and flowers (swetter taste) and the spreadable beer a real new! Perfect as original souvenir/present for relative and friends…!

Spello is also known for the magnificent Infiorate (flowering streets ground), created, to celebrate the Corpus Domini, every year. its typically medieval structure, with winding alleys and ancient stone houses, fascinates everybody! It’s the most important event for this small village. (See picture below).

The Infiorate of Spello consists in preparing carpets made with flowers or parts of them representatives’ figurations and ornamental motifs of liturgical.

After Spello you can return at your hotel and relax, before dinner at leisure and preparing the departure, for tomorrow morning.

Lunch included. Dinner at leisure.

DAY 4 | MORNING OLIVE HARVEST AND MONTEPULCIANO NOBILE WINES: PAIRING WITH A SOMMELIER!

Morning check out from your accommodation in Perugia area.

Transfer towards Chianciano area, where at a great family runs a superb olive mill. You will meet here your expert guide and local tour escort (food&wine expert) going in deep in the world of extra virgin production.

From the harvest to the production, passing though the labeling and the tasting technique! Everything will be easy to understand, very funny, practical and interesting! You will become a panel of experts tasting the extra pure olive oil and learning about the "streap" technique!

At the mill, you will also literally take part to the harvest (so I really suggest to wear

comfortable clothes and shoes).

Later transfer towards Montepulciano (15 minutes drive)

Discover this medieval scented village and its Noble wines!

Montepulciano is one of my favorite towns of the top wine-making region of Tuscany. The city, full of elegant Renaissance palaces, ancient churches, charming squares and hidden corners, boasts vast panoramas all over the wonderful Val d´Orcia and Val di Chiana valleys that surrounds it.

In Montepulciano you will find a venerable coppersmith, Cesare, hard at work. He will show you the pan he first made as a 12-year-old boy in 1948. Cesare will explain how copper transmits heat but, to be safe for cooking, you need to line it with tin. A great thing about Montepulciano is that the town has several historic wine cellars that you can explore, followed by generous tastings.

You will have the honor to drink inside one of the most fascinating winery of the village.

The wine farm was the ancient cathedral of a noble family (and previously an Etruscan and Roman house), completely underneath the soil! Here you will meet the owner (and expert sommelier) who will accompany you for the privilege of a highly dedicated visit.

You will have here a great wine tasting experience, a light lunch and an educational winery tour.

Drive to your accommodation in Montepulciano. A perfect way to maximize the Tuscany experience is to actually stay on a working farm. The term “agriturismo” can only be used by a rural B&B on an actual working real farm.

Check in at Agriturismo or a nice country hotel in Montepulciano, one double room in bed and breakfast treatment.

Lunch included. Dinner at leisure.

DAY 5 | PIENZA DAIRY AND BAGNO VIGNONI OR SAN QUIRICO!

Breakfast and morning drive towards Pienza.

Visit at leisure of this pretty village.

Once a sleepy hamlet, pretty Pienza was transformed when, in 1459, Pope Pius II began turning his home village into an ideal Renaissance town. The result is magnificent – the church, papal palace, town hall and accompanying buildings in and around Piazza Pio II went up in just three years and haven’t been remodelled since. Fans of architecture and urban design appreciate this pint-sized Renaissance town with well-planned streets and squares. For a hill town, it´s notable for being relatively flat. In 1996 Unesco added the town´s historic centre to its World Heritage list, citing the revolutionary vision of urban space.

Your next stop will be in a fattoria (dairy), 10 min. from Pienza, where the owner Giuseppe “creates” a wonderful pecorino cheese matched with wine and other spectacular food products of this land! Guided visit of the dairy and special tasting-light lunch!

Later transfer towards Bagno Vignoni and San Quirico D´Orcia, to get to know this

enchanting glimpse of Tuscany. The Val d’Orcia is famous all over the world and boasts these mentioned places of great historical and artistic value.

Back to your accommodation.

Lunch included. Dinner at leisure.

DAY 6 | MONTISI FIRST PRESSED OIL, SIENA AND HEAD TO SAN

GIMIGNANO!

Breakfast and check out from your accommodation in Montepulciano.

Morning drive towards the beautiful village of Montisi, where in a Medioeval setting you will enjoy a famous first pressed oil in the rewarded local olive mill.

You will then stop in Siena, with a visit at leisure of the majestic city center.

You will for sure appreciate the sloping piazza popularly known as Il Campo. The piazza is the civic and social center of Siena, with the majestic Fonte Gaia (Happy Fountain), the Complesso Museale Santa Maria della Scala, the elegant Palazzo Comunale, the graceful Torre del Mangia, 102 m high and with 500-odd steps. The Campo is the undoubted heart of the city with the famous “Palio”. Its magnificent pavement acts as a carpet on which tourists picnic and relax, and the cafes around the perimeter are the most popular aperitif (pre-dinner drink) spots in town.

Siena has spiritual and secular monuments that have retained both their medieval forms and their extraordinary art collections, providing the visitor with plenty to marvel at. The city´s historic contrade (districts) are marvellous too, being as close-knit and colourful today as they were in the 17th century, when their world-famous horse race, the Palio, was inaugurated. And within each contrada lie vibrant streets populated with artisanal boutiques, sweet-smelling pasticcerie (pastry shops) and tempting restaurants. It´s a feast for the senses and an essential stop on every Tuscan itinerary.

Arrival to your Agriturismo in San Gimignano area, one double suite room in bed and breakfast treatment.

Lunch at leisure. Dinner at leisure.

DAY 7 | FARM IN LUCCA & PISA!

Breakfast and morning transfer towards Lucca.

Before arriving, you will stop in a wonderful winery and farm producing extra virgin olive oil and wine.

In a privileged position, surrounded by pines and cypresses, you will find the Fattoria. In an idyllic setting, crops grow interspersed with tree-lined avenues that converge towards the eighteenth century Villa.

The farm extends over 70 hectares and this morning you will visit the cellars of preservation and bottling, the wine-making and oil conservation rooms, the canes for drying grapes and the kegs for the aging of the Vin Santo.

The Vannelli family still lives in the historic Villa of the 1500s. The scenarios of the Farm have hosted various films and advertisements.

After the visit in a wonderful panorama, you will have a great tasting/light lunch made of pecorino cheese, salami, seasonal side dishes, bruschette with extra virgin olive oil matched with 4 wines! The native cultivars vines combined with the French vines that you will taste are: Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet; Roussanne (DOC Montecarlo), Sauvignon, Semillon, Pinot, and the very interesting native cultivar grape  Vermentino.

Later transfer towards Lucca.

Surrounded by well-preserved ramparts, layered with history, alternately quaint and urbane, Lucca charms its visitors. Though it hasn´t been involved in a war since 1430, it is Italy´s most impressive fortress city, encircled by a perfectly intact Renaissance wall. The wall is enjoyed like a community roof garden by locals and is ideal for a laid-back bike ride. It´s simply a uniquely human and  undamaged, never-bombed city. Romanesque churches seem to be around every corner, as do funloving and shady piazzas filled with soccer-playing children. Locals say Lucca is like a cake with a cherry filling in the middle…every slice is equally good.

2.00pm-4.00pm Group guided tour of Lucca’s historic center.

The guided walk will include: the main tourist sights and monuments of the city center of Lucca

Later transfer towards Pisa.

Here you will have time (at your leisure) to stroll around the famous Miracle square and visit the leaning tower.

The Piazza del Duomo ("Cathedral Square") is a wide, walled area at the heart of the city of Pisa, recognized as one of the main centers for medieval art in the world.

Partly paved and partly grassed, it is dominated by four great religious edifices: the Duomo, the Leaning Tower (the cathedral´s campanile), the Baptistry and the Camposanto. It is otherwise known as Piazza dei Miracoli ("Square of Miracles").

This name was created by the Italian writer and poet Gabriele d´Annunzio who, in his novel Forse che sì forse che no (1910) described the square in this way: L’Ardea roteò nel cielo di Cristo, sul prato dei Miracoli. which means: "The Ardea rotated over the sky of Christ, over the meadow of Miracles."

Back to your accommodation in San Gimignano.

Lunch included. Dinner at leisure. 

DAY 8 | TRUFFLE HUNTING IN CERTALDO AND SAN GIMIGNANO!

Breakfast at your accommodation and car drive towards Certaldo (15 min drive).

Certaldo Alto is a small, Medieval and characterful town that packs some lovely sights and serious charm.

A place that clings to the past and treasures its heritage, located in the heart of Tuscany. A place so full of Medieval atmosphere that entering its gates feels like you’re stepping back into the 13^th century.

Among the woods and vines in this area of sloping Chianti hills are hidden priceless treasures; the earth’s bounty changes with every season. Today you will follow Luigi in search of the legendary white truffle. Then at the end of your pursuits Pina will welcome you all back home to enjoy a great truffle meal, 4 dishes with truffles!

In the afternoon you will go back to San Gimignano.

San Gimignano is the epitome of a Tuscan hill town. Visually striking and perfectly preserved, it is beloved because of its skyline of medieval towers. Though a unique sight today, pointy skylines were the norm in Tuscany in the Middle Ages, when feuding noble families ran the hill towns (think Montagues and Capulets). Today, 14 of its original 72 towers still stand. At the center of town is Piazza della Cisterna, named for the cistern that is served by the old well standing in the center of this square.

The charm of San Gimignano is easiest to enjoy after hours, when most tourists have gone back to their buses and the town recaptures its magic. Smart travelers arrive here late in the day and stay overnight.

No matter where you stay, eating dinner at one of San Gimignano´s restaurants provides a fine opportunity to sample typical Tuscan home cooking. Cinghiale (wild boar) is made into stews, soups, and salami. The area is well-known for producing some of the best saffron in Italy;

you´ll find the spice for sale in shops and as a flavoring in meals at finer restaurants. Although Tuscany is normally a red-wine region, the most famous Tuscan white wine comes from here: the light, and fruity Vernaccia di San Gimignano.

After dinner, the empty streets are yours to savor. Enjoying San Gimignano at night gives you a chance to experience the romantic Tuscan town you´ve been dreaming about.

Truffle lunch included. Dinner at leisure.

OR ALTERNATIVE DESTINATION:

San Galgano abbey tour. 40 min driving from San Gimignano. An enchanting and religious medieval story to hear in an enchanting context…

Native guide optional

St. Galgano was born in 1148 in Chiusdino from a family of small local nobility, and died December 1181. Galgano lived as libertine knight and addicted to wildest entertainment, until something changed his life and turning it into a true Knight of God. It happened that one day dedicated to lust and debauchery, suddenly Galgano had a vision of the Archangel Michael. Galgano followed the Archangel, crossed a bridge and a flowery meadow, reaching Monte Siepi, finding a round building and the Twelve Apostles. This event converted him permanently.

The tradition tell a second episode. In a quiet day his horse led him back again to Monte Siepi, in the same place where he had previously met the Twelve Apostles. Galgano had no doubt, it was a sacred place and, as such, deserved a Cross. He decided to take his sword and drive it into the rock. Then he heard a voice that invited him to stay in that place, Galgano accepted the invitation, and began his real life as hermit. Four years after his death was sanctified by Pope Lucius III.

The atmosphere of the places where this legend is magical, fascinating, full of energy. The story of Saint Galgano is very similar to that of St. Francis, both abandon a world of entertainment empty and corruption, to devote himself to the next and to prayer.

There are several points in common with the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, in which the protagonist is just the sword in the stone, as well as the knight named Gawain, very similar to Galgano. Probably the author of the narrative of King Arthur had been in Tuscany and absorbed the legend.

You can see the sword already is right there yet, fixed in the rock. Recently a team of scientist did the geoscanner analysis to study this singular relic.

DAY 9 | SEE YOU SOON ITALY!!!

Breakfast and car transfer (with drop off) from your accommodation in San Gimignano towards Rome Fiumicino or Florence or Pisa airport, on time for your flight (3 hours and 30 min drive).