Florence and Rome...what beauty!

Breakfast at the hotel and meet your tour leader. As you stroll, your guide will take you through the most fascinating and interesting sights of the city par excellence of the Italian Renaissance: Piazza Santa Croce with its Basilica, Piazza della Repubblica, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore with Brunelleschi’s Dome, the Baptistery with its famous Gates of Paradise and Giotto’s Bell Tower. We visit Piazza della Signoria, the political heart of the medieval city adorned with splendid sculptures, a true collection of masterpieces en plein air. The Piazza is overlooked by Palazzo Vecchio, the political symbol of the city, and the Loggia dei Lanzi. We will admire Ponte Vecchio, one of the symbols of Florence with its goldsmiths’ workshops and the famous Vasari Corridor, which was built at the request of Cosimo I de’ Medici. Thanks to this elevated pathway, the Medici were able to move freely and safely between their residence in Palazzo Pitti and the seat of government in Palazzo Vecchio.

In Florence, everything tells us about popular legends, curiosities, and sayings. In a city so rich in history and culture, every street has an anecdote or a mystery to unveil.

Free time for lunch.

Breakfast at the hotel and meeting with the local guide for the visit of the Uffizi Gallery.

Free time for lunch.

In the afternoon we will meet the guide again for a magical walk! Florence is rich in esoteric symbols, magical signs from centuries past, and symbols that speak of people who believed in magic and communicated with each other through secret codes: esotericism, magic, and alchemy. The facades of Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novella will reveal their symbols, and stories of necromancy near the Basilica of Santa Croce, the palindrome of the Baptistery of Florence. We will find Pazzino dei Pazzi and the three flint splinters from the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, which light up the traditional Explosion of the Chariot in Florence on Easter Day. We will analyse the arsenic poisoning and death of the intellectual Pico della Mirandola in 1494, a close friend of Lorenzo the Magnificent, who was fascinated by the Kabbalah. We will also meet Fra Girolamo Savonarola, the rigid and inflexible Dominican who was hanged and burned at the stake in Piazza della Signoria in 1498. And more stories of punishments at the Bargello, Templars, and Cathars in Florence! Children were rejected by their families because they were said to have been born malformed due to the intervention of the evil one! We will face an esoteric symbol: we will try to count the bees that adorn the equestrian statue of Ferdinand I in Piazza Santissima Annunziata. It will bring good luck… at least try to count them, since they are uncountable!

Dinner in a restaurant, overnight stay

Breakfast at the hotel and departure by bus to Rome. Arrival in the capital, one of the best known and most visited cities in the world: rich in history, culture, and art that fascinates the visitor, as well as its delicious cuisine and the art of cinema. Accommodation in the hotel and free lunch. Meet with the local guide for the tour of ‘Baroque Rome’, which will allow you to discover the treasures, the wonders, and the unique and enchanting charm of this splendid city. A walk through the streets and alleyways of the city centre to visit the squares, fountains, and most famous buildings of Baroque art. From the Spanish Steps in Piazza di Spagna to the spectacular Trevi Fountain, then the incredible architecture of the Pantheon, and the liveliness of Piazza Navona, with Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers.

Dinner in a restaurant and overnight stay.

Breakfast at the hotel and meeting with the local guide for the “Christian Rome” tour: this tour takes visitors through the most important religious and cultural areas. Entrance for the visit of the Vatican Museums, considered among the most important in the world, because it is here that the Popes collected and preserved some of the highest masterpieces of all time and the most precious testimonies of the past. They were the first to make the art collections of their palaces available to culture and the public. Continuation of the visit to the Sistine Chapel, not forgetting the Raphael Rooms where you will be enchanted by frescoes such as ‘The School of Athens’ and ‘The Liberation of St Peter’. Continue your visit to St Peter’s Basilica, the true heart of Christianity, the seat of the popes, and the place where faith, history, and art meet in a unique synthesis of majesty and beauty. You will admire the naves, the chapels, and the works of art they contain, where the genius and imagination of great artists, such as Michelangelo, Bernini, Raphael, to name but a few, are expressed to the utmost of human possibilities. Inside each monument lives the history of men, popes, saints, and artists who have dedicated their lives to the Church and to spreading the Christian message. Free lunch. Afternoon at leisure to discover the most beautiful and interesting aspects of Rome.

Dinner in a restaurant, overnight stay.

Breakfast at the hotel and meeting with the local guide for a visit to the best-known ‘Ancient Rome’: the Colosseum, the most important and imposing Roman amphitheatre of ancient Rome that has come down to us, known throughout the world as the symbol of the city of Rome and one of the symbols of Italy. Included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1980, it was also listed among the New Seven Wonders of the World. Then the Roman Forum, the political, social, and religious heart of the city, where the most important public buildings are located, to the Palatine Hill, where legend has it that Romulus founded Rome. Free lunch. Free afternoon at disposal for shopping.

Dinner in a restaurant and overnight stay

Breakfast at the hotel and departure for the return journey.