Grand Tour of Tuscany - The 5 Senses 2026-27

Day-by-day itinerary

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1. 1Day 1Rome > Cortona, “the most beautiful village in Tuscany” – Arezzo, 240 km

   Departure from Rome – lunch at leisure – guided visit of Cortona (a town rich in monuments of great historical and cultural interest, where Etruscan and medieval art hold sway, among them Piazza della Repubblica with the twelfth-century Town Hall, Piazza del Duomo with the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, and the Diocesan Museum) – in the evening, check-in at the hotel in Arezzo – dinner at the hotel – after dinner, Arezzo by night with private coach and tour leader: a walking tour through the historic centre – overnight stay.

2. 2Day 2Arezzo, “an elegant and ancient city”, and Montepulciano, “between the…

   Val di Chiana and the Val d’Orcia”, 100 km. Breakfast at the hotel – full-day guided excursion – a visit of Arezzo (the cathedral, the Medici Fortress, Petrarch’s house, Piazza Grande, the Vasari Loggia, the Church of Santa Maria della Pieve, Piazza San Francesco, the Church of San Francesco with one of Piero della Francesca’s most celebrated works, The Legend of the True Cross, and the Roman amphitheatre) and of Montepulciano (an ancient Etruscan hill town that came into its own during the Renaissance; its historic centre, held within fourth-century walls, is a succession of elegant palaces and churches, culminating in Piazza Grande with the Palazzo del Capitano, seat of the Town Hall, and the cathedral) – traditional lunch in a restaurant – tasting of local produce – free time for shopping – return to the hotel in Arezzo in the evening – dinner at the hotel – after dinner, a walking tour with the tour leader – overnight stay.

3. 3Day 3The Val d’Orcia, “the eighth wonder of the world, a UNESCO World Heritage…

   Site” – Pienza, “the ideal city” – San Quirico d’Orcia, “a fairytale setting” – Montalcino, “home of Brunello”, 190 km. Breakfast at the hotel – full-day guided excursion – a visit of Pienza, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (the ideal city imagined and built by the humanist Pope Pius II, a small jewel set among the gentle hills of the Val d’Orcia, with its splendid square, its palaces steeped in history, winding lanes and romantic views), of San Quirico d’Orcia (an ancient Etruscan village on the Via Francigena, wrapped in an almost fairytale landscape of vineyards and olive groves, standing high on the hill among beautiful rocky outcrops and medieval parish churches) and of Montalcino (a walking tour through this medieval village of military origin, famous the world over for its wine) – traditional lunch in a restaurant – DOC wine tasting – return to the hotel in Arezzo in the evening – dinner at the hotel – after dinner, a walking tour with the tour leader – overnight stay.

4. 4Day 4Arezzo – Siena – San Gimignano, “the Manhattan of the Middle Ages”…

   Lucca, 200 km. Breakfast at the hotel – full-day guided excursion – Siena, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (the Basilica of San Domenico, the cathedral, the crypt, the baptistery, the Piccolomini Library, Piazza del Campo, the Torre del Mangia – exterior only) – tasting of traditional sweets – traditional lunch in a restaurant – a visit of San Gimignano, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (a tour of the historic centre of the city of towers, Piazza della Cisterna, Vicolo dell’Oro, Piazza del Duomo, the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta) – arrival at the hotel in Lucca in the evening – dinner at the hotel – evening at leisure – the tour leader is at guests’ disposal – overnight stay.

5. 5Day 5Versilia and the Apuan Alps, “Colonnata lardo, Carrara marble and the…

   beaches of Versilia”, 180 km. Breakfast at the hotel – full-day guided excursion – a visit of Carrara (Piazza Alberica, the Cathedral of Sant’Andrea, the Teatro degli Animosi, the Floating Stone fountain in Piazza d’Armi), Colonnata (a characterful village in the heart of the Apuan Alps, famous for Carrara white marble and for the delicious Lardo di Colonnata), Forte dei Marmi (its elegant seafront) and Viareggio (a walking tour along the pier and a tour of its Liberty architecture) – traditional lunch in a restaurant – DOC wine tasting – return to the hotel in Lucca in the evening – dinner at the hotel – after dinner, Lucca by night with private coach and tour leader: a walking tour through the historic centre – overnight stay.

6. 6Day 6Livorno, “the city of Modigliani and of the Italian Communist Party”…

   and Pisa, “the Leaning Tower”, 100 km. Breakfast at the hotel – full-day guided excursion – a visit of Livorno (a walking tour of the historic centre and the places bound up with Modigliani – Piazza del Municipio, the Teatro San Marco in the Venezia quarter, the octagonal Church of Santa Caterina, the lanes and bridges above the Medici canals, the Mercato delle Vettovaglie) – traditional lunch in a restaurant – in the afternoon, a guided visit of Pisa (a walking tour through the city centre: Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, Corso Italia, the Logge dei Banchi, Lungarno Mediceo, Piazza dei Cavalieri, and Piazza dei Miracoli with its UNESCO-listed monuments: the Leaning Tower, the Baptistery, the cathedral and the Camposanto) – return to the hotel in Lucca in the evening – dinner at the hotel – evening at leisure – the tour leader is at guests’ disposal – overnight stay.

7. 7Day 7Lucca – Florence, “Palazzo Pitti”, 90 km

   Breakfast at the hotel – in the morning, a guided visit of Lucca (the Church of San Francesco, Piazza dell’Anfiteatro, the Basilica of San Frediano, Palazzo Pfanner, the city’s Renaissance walls, Piazza Napoleone and the Palazzo Ducale, the Cathedral of San Martino) – traditional lunch in a restaurant – in the afternoon, a guided visit of the Ponte Vecchio and Palazzo Pitti (Palazzo Pitti is home to some of Florence’s most important museums: on the first floor, the Palatine Gallery with its vast collection of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century painting, together with the Royal Apartments furnished with nineteenth-century pieces. On the ground and mezzanine floors is the Treasury of the Grand Dukes, also known as the Silver Museum, which holds the Medici family’s great collection of precious objects. The Gallery of Modern Art occupies the top floor, with an outstanding collection of paintings including works by Tuscan artists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the Palazzina del Cavaliere, standing apart from the palace within the Boboli Gardens, is the Porcelain Museum, while the Palazzina della Meridiana houses the Museum of Fashion and Costume, known as the Costume Gallery, whose garments and fashion pieces trace the history of the past 300 years) and of the UNESCO-listed Boboli Gardens – dinner in a gourmet restaurant – evening at leisure – the tour leader is at guests’ disposal – overnight stay.

8. 8Day 8Florence, “the UNESCO-listed historic centre”

   Breakfast at the hotel – a full day given over to a guided walking tour of Florence’s UNESCO-listed historic centre (the Basilica of Santa Croce and the Pazzi Chapel, Piazza della Signoria, the Loggia dei Lanzi, Palazzo Vecchio, the Baptistery of San Giovanni and Giotto’s bell tower, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, the Museum of San Marco with frescoes by Fra Angelico) – free time – traditional lunch in a restaurant – dinner in a traditional restaurant – after dinner, Florence by night: a panoramic minibus tour with the tour leader (Piazzale Michelangelo, San Miniato al Monte, Scandicci, the Certosa, Fiesole) – overnight stay.

9. 9Day 9Florence, “the Uffizi Gallery” – Rome, 280 km

   Breakfast at the hotel – in the morning, a guided visit of the UNESCO-listed Uffizi Gallery (the Gallery occupies the whole of the first and second floors of the great building raised between 1560 and 1580 to a design by Giorgio Vasari: it is one of the most famous museums in the world for its extraordinary collections of ancient sculpture and of painting from the Middle Ages to the modern era. Its fourteenth-century and Renaissance holdings include outright masterpieces of all time, with works by Giotto, Simone Martini, Piero della Francesca, Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Mantegna, Correggio, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Caravaggio, alongside masterpieces of European painting, German, Dutch and Flemish above all) – lunch at leisure – free time for shopping – departure in the afternoon for the return journey – arrival in the evening. Please note: the scheduled visits may be rearranged between days according to museum opening times or operational requirements, but the programme remains unchanged.