• Focus on Quattrocento art & architecture in the city

• Opportunity to visit Palazzo Strozzi’s major exhibition on Beato Angelico

• Masterpieces by Donatello, Masaccio, Gozzoli, Botticelli, Alberti & others

• Gently paced week of visits

• Well-appointed 5* hotel in the heart of Florence

In a city of guilds, confraternities and competition, the heyday of the Medici family and their rivals in fifteenth century Florence coincided with greater networks of patronage between competing Florentine families and by consequence some of the most ground-breaking artistic developments of the Italian Renaissance. The list of the architects, sculptors and painters employed in Quattrocento Florence is astounding; so too the variety of buildings in and around Florence which the Medici in particular, either directly funded or contributed to. These include Brunelleschi’s Old Sacristy at San Lorenzo – a family mausoleum; the Medici Palace with Benozzo Gozzoli’s jewel-like chapel of the Magi within; Donatello’s bronze statue of David; Botticelli’s lyrical mythological paintings The Birth of Venus and Primavera and Fra Angelico’s mystical frescoes at San Marco, the friary funded by Cosimo de Medici for the salvation of his soul. Indeed, it is the life and career of Fra Angelico who is the subject of the first monographic exhibition in two generations in Florence in the Autumn of next year entitled Angelico.

Fra Giovanni da Fiesole (1395 – 1455) was a Dominican friar and, as a member of the Order of Preachers, developed a conservative approach to painting initially infused in a more direct, teaching style devoid of mysticism. He later entered the Dominican friary at Fiesole and soon after gained commissions in Florence. His mature style embraced the new renaissance principles of perspective and light as an aid to contemplation and prayer, fulfilling the intellectual and the spiritual and fully internalizing his understanding of God through his art. Soon enough, he would be called to Rome in the service of Popes Eugenius IV and Nicholas V and in the last century beatified.

The exhibition will be the fruit of the restoration and re-assembly of several of Fra Angelico’s great altarpieces dispersed and displayed all over Europe and North America and loaned to Palazzo Strozzi for this occasion. The exhibition also places his career within a dialogue with his contemporaries in Florence such as Masaccio and Michelozzo to name but two. Our visit to Florence is also an opportunity to enjoy the city’s art and architecture at a quieter time of the year.   

The visit will be led by Hugh Maguire, assisted by James Hill. We stay at the comfortable 5* Hotel Bernini Palace, ideally located close to the Bargello and Piazza della Signoria in the heart of Florence. This hotel has an excellent restaurant and a lounge bar and all that we shall see, including restaurants and bars, are within walking distance.

Day 1: Sunday 9 November – An early start this morning flying from Heathrow to Florence Airport, arriving at midday. We transfer by coach to the city centre and check into the 5* Hotel Bernini Palace. After time for lunch (not included), we walk the short distance to the great Franciscan church of Santa Croce, which houses masterpieces by Giotto and Donatello, and Brunelleschi’s Pazzi Chapel. After some time to rest, we shall have an early group dinner in our hotel. Wine, water and coffee are included with all group lunches and dinners.

Day 2: Monday 10 November – On our first morning, we walk to the great Cathedral complex, viewing the Romanesque Baptistery and visiting Florence’s Cathedral, Il Duomo, with its great dome by Brunelleschi after which we pause for coffee. Many of the artworks made for these buildings are now spectacularly displayed in the nearby Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, including the original sculptures from the cathedral and campanile, Ghiberti’s ‘Gates of Paradise’, Donatello and Della Robbia’s Singing Galleries. We pause for a group lunch. In the afternoon, we make our way to Santa Maria Novella, the Dominican church, to see Masaccio’s Trinity fresco and the great fresco cycle in the Tornabuoni Chapel by Ghirlandaio. Our final visit of the day is at the nearby and largely unknown treasure, the Ruccelai Chapel, located inside the Church of San Pancrazio. The architect and renaissance theorist Leon Battista Alberti (who also designed the facade of SM Novella) not only completed the influential facade of the Rucellai family's palace nearby, but also designed this extraordinary space – a small funerary chapel with a tempietto emulating the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. This evening will be free.

Day 3: Tuesday 11 November – We begin with a visit to the nearby Bargello Museum, housed in the thirteenth century city magistrate’s palace, with outstanding sculptures by all the leading Florentine masters: Ghiberti, Donatello and Michelangelo. We pause for a coffee break. The remainder of our day is firmly rooted in the world of the Medici. The church of San Lorenzo, designed by Brunelleschi and paid for by Cosimo de’ Medici, was their parish church and became the family mausoleum. After lunch (not included) in the San Lorenzo district, we visit the nearby Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, the family’s great palace to see the tiny private chapel with jewel-like frescoes by Benozzo Gozzoli. It includes many Medici portraits amidst the great cavalcade of Florence’s ‘great and good’. We end our formal explorations at the church of Santa Trinita, which contains the fascinating Sassetti Chapel, by Ghirlandaio. The remainder of the afternoon will be free. Later in the evening we shall have a group dinner.

Day 4: Wednesday 12 November – Our half day of activities focuses on the life and career of Fra Angelico at two sites with parallel exhibitions. We walk to the first, the Dominican friary of San Marco, to explore the renaissance master’s most important work in the city. We pause for coffee and then make our way to Palazzo Strozzi to view the exhibition Angelico. At the end of our formal visit, you will be free to revisit the exhibition. The remainder of the afternoon and evening will be free. 

Day 5: Thursday 13 November – We take a gentle walk across the Ponte Vecchio and the other side of the Arno (Oltrarno) to visit Santa Maria del Carmine where in the Brancacci Chapel the innovative frescoes by Masaccio, Masolino and Filippino Lippi mark the birth of renaissance painting. After a coffee break, we spend the rest of the morning in the Uffizi Gallery, concentrating mostly on Quattrocento painting. These rooms contain some of the finest paintings by all the greatest names of Florentine painting: altarpieces by Leonardo da Vinci; Madonnas by Michelangelo and Raphael, allegories by Botticelli, exquisite portraits by Piero della Francesca; even great paintings from Flanders such as van der Goes’s Portinari Altarpiece, which had a profound effect on Florentine art. At the end of this visit, lunch (not included), and the rest of the afternoon will be free for private explorations. Later in the evening, we shall dine in one of Florence's best restaurants.

Day 6: Friday 14 November – We depart after breakfast and drive the short distance to Florence Airport for a lunchtime departure to London Heathrow arriving at Terminal 5 at 14.20 local time.

Price £2595 Without Flights £2360 Deposit £400 per person Single Supplement £500 (Double for Sole Use) 

Hotels

5 nights inc breakfast at 5* Bernini Palace DSU Classic Room/ 2 sharing - Superior Room

Flights British Airways

Outward:          BA0524 Depart London Heathrow Terminal 5 0820, arrive Florence 1140

Return:             BA0525 Depart Florence 1255, arrive London Heathrow Terminal 5 1420

Price includes 3 dinners and 1 lunch with wine, water & coffee, all local transfers, entry fees, City Tax & gratuities, services of Hugh Maguire & James Hill

Not included Travel to/from London Heathrow, 2 dinners & 4 lunches