Italian Interlude

Leave your home on an overnight flight to Rome.

Arrive in Rome, an illustrious city with a rich architectural history that spans over two and a half millennia. Check into your hotel — centrally located within walking distance of the Villa Borghese and the Spanish steps — before meeting your fellow guests and Frank Lloyd Wright tour leaders, including professor Paolo Bulletti, in the late afternoon. Enjoy cocktails and a private visit to Casa Baldi, designed by Paolo Portoghesi and built between 1959 and 1961. This peculiar and important example of post-war Italian organic architecture now houses the Creative Centre of Casalgrande Padana, a leading maker of cutting-edge ceramic tiles. Portoghesi went on to design the Roman Great Mosque, his most renowned work, in 2019. Return to our hotel and get to know your fellow guests at the Welcome Dinner, set in an elegant private Art Deco dining room.
Grand Hotel Palace, D

After breakfast, depart overland through rural scenery to Florence. Our first introduction to this majestic city is a bird’s-eye view from Piazzale Michelangelo, a 19^th-century building and plaza dedicated to the artist. A short downhill walk takes us just below the first villa where Wright stayed, and to a beloved trattoria where we enjoy a parade of Florentine specialties, including stuffed zucchini flowers, Tuscan steak and more. Then, continue strolling through the sumptuous gardens of Villa Bardini, enjoying more panoramic views of Florence along the way. Finally, enter the magical city itself and check into our elegant hotel located amongst grand Regency Mansions that surround a park. Your evening is free to explore the streets of this time-honored city.
Hotel Regency Firenze, B L

After breakfast at the hotel, join Professor Bulletti on a walking tour of Florence, studying its architecture through the ages. In the morning, explore architecture of the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, including the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo. This Florentine cathedral — the largest building in medieval Europe (and the fourth largest in Europe today) — is a masterpiece of Gothic and First Italian Renaissance architecture. Highlights from its collection of over 750 works of art spanning more than 720 years include sculptures “Pietà Bandini” by Michelangelo and “Penitent Magdalene” by Donatello. After a relaxing lunch of homemade pasta at a nearby trattoria, continue our exploration on foot, ending at Palazzo Strozzi, home to Wright’s influential 1951 exhibition. The rest of the afternoon and evening is yours to further explore this storied city.
Hotel Regency Firenze, B L

Depart after breakfast for a day of food, wine, and architecture. Travel to Chianti, a rural agricultural region known mostly for its wine, as well as olive oil, cheeses, meats, and stunning landscapes with rolling hills, cypress trees, and historic stone castles. Visit the historic and traditional Castello di Verrazzano for a winery tour and tasting. The picture-perfect estate includes a castle and splendid renaissance-era gardens. In the afternoon, enjoy lunch and an exclusive tour of Antinori nel Chianti Classico winery, awarded first place in the World’s Best Vineyards competition in 2022. The winery is also known for its dramatic modern architecture, which is mostly underground, and its tasting menu with wine pairings, held at their restaurant. Return to Florence for an evening at leisure.
Hotel Regency Firenze, B L

After breakfast, trace Wright’s path and ponder his lasting legacy. Travel along winding roads to the romantic, ancient hilltown of Fiesole, whose impossible beauty has been preserved and appears much the same as it did in Wright’s day.  From the charming town square, walk uphill for an exterior tour of Villino Belvedere, where Wright and his lover Mamah Borthwick Cheney lived until 1911. What Wright learned from his time here had a profound influence on later designs—especially Taliesin—for the relationship between the land and buildings, and for its stone courtyards and belvedere tower (in Italian; bel “beautiful” and vedere “to see”) which frame expansive views of the surrounding rolling hills that bring to mind Italy, as well as his native country, Wales. The goal is to come to a new understanding of Wright’s work as we follow the same ancient, cobbled streets and behold the same views the architect had absorbed more than a century past.

Visit the Giovanni Michelucci Foundation to learn about the so-called “Florentine School,” which also included Leonardo Ricci and Franco Bonaiuti. These post-war architects were greatly influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1951 Exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi. One can only imagine the impact that Wright’s work—including an enormous three-dimensional plastic model of Broadacre City—had on these young minds.

Next, visit the Musei di Fiesole to see remarkably preserved Roman and Etruscan ruins. After lunch at a local favorite, visit an enclave of private homes by Leonardo Ricci. The Wrightian influence is palpable and stands out among the historic architecture in the area. End the day at Michelucci’s Chiesa dell’Autostrada, one of the shining examples of the Florentine School.

Return to the hotel for some time to relax before our Farewell Dinner in the hotel’s lovely garden restaurant.
Hotel Regency Firenze, B L D

After breakfast at the hotel, transfer to the airport, or continue your onward journey.
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Daily Itinerary subject to change.

NOTE: Rome is included as a convenient place to gather, as international flights are plentiful. Extra nights at the group rate can easily be added. Extra nights can also be added in Florence.