Florence

The centre of secular life in Florence, it is the third church in the world and the largest cathedral in Europe. It's complex of buildings and monuments surrounding it of extraordinary importance and will impress any visitors in sheer opulence and scale.

Gallerie degli Uffizi Is the oldest art museum of Western world. Its staggering collection of works by Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci are worth a visit alone.

The Garden that extends from the hill behind the Pitti Palace as far as Porta Romana, reached its current extension and appearance, becoming one of the largest and most elegant Italian style gardens, through several stages of enlargement and restructuring work carried out at different times.

Il Giardino Torrigiani is the largest private garden within the walls of Florence, a green lung of six acres in the heart of Oltrarno and represents a unique masterpiece of history, architecture and botanical varieties. Born as a garden in the middle of the '500 behind the city walls and enlarged and embellished over the centuries with groves, citrus and green collars. The garden, as we see it today is a garden of the English Romantic period, and which boasts over 30 garden decorations (from the cave at the Gothic church, the sacred grove of the garden botanist, from fountains to aviaries, the stream of water games) - to achieve one of the highest order of Romanticism: the fusion between architecture and landscape.

The museum features paintings from the sixteenth to eighteenth century, the highlights of which are a collection of a number of works by Titian and Raphael. The Gallery also offers a full view of 17th century European painting, displaying very famous works, which include the paintings of Rubens, the portrait of Cardinal Bentivoglio by Van Dyck, the portraits by Giusto Sustermans, the Madonna with Child by Murillo and lots more.

Gallerie degli Uffizi Is the oldest art museum of Western world. Its staggering collection of works by Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci are worth a visit alone. When you consider the collections also contain some seminal pieces of the world-class art by Duccio, Cimabue and Raphael, you'll understand why this is a must visit or anyone studying renaissance art.

Amongst the finest museums of Florence, mainly because of the high quality of some of its exhibits. It houses a very large art collection including Giovanni da Milano's Pieta, the Annunciation by Lorenzo Monaco, the beautiful front called Adimari Cassone showing a sumptuous marriage procession and Botticelli?s The Madonna of the Sea.

The Bargello is a National Museum and focuses mainly for works of sculpture and many examples of the decorative arts (having become The Bargello became a sculpture museum in 1886). Its courtyard and interiors contain some of the masterpieces of the Tuscan Renaissance.

The Costume Gallery is housed in the small building of the Meridiana of the Pitti Palace, which was begun under Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo in 1776 and ended in 1840 and chosen as residence by the families that ruled Tuscany and by the Savoy house until 1946. The Lorraine/Savoy rooms display the exhibitions of the collections of historical clothes and accessories, which had previously been stored in the palace's warehouses. The collections cover the period between the 18th century and the present-day. The recent restoration of the funeral garments of Grand Duke Cosimo de Medici, of Eleonora of Toledo and of her son Don Garzia has further enriched the museum with some rare examples from the 16th century. The collections of the Costume Gallery also include a group of about ninety theatre costumes belonging to the Sartoria Tirelli, which were given to the museum together with a large number of historical clothes by Umberto Tirelli. The Meridiana building, close to the gallery, is also the seat of a fabric restoration laboratory. There is a permanent exhibition at the Pitti Palace Costume Gallery which examines trends in clothing throughout the history of Florence, a must for Fashion Historians.

Pitti Filati the premier fair for international fabric buyers in Florence, who converge to see the new collections, themes, colours, and preliminary inputs on the trends we'll be seeing on the market a year and a half from now: this is a place with its finger on the pulse of haute cauture.

Salvatore Ferragamo was a Florentine and Italian shoe designer. He worked with many Hollywood stars in the 1920s, before returning to Italy to found the eponymous company making unique hand-made footwear. His scientific and creative approach to shoes spawned many innovations such as the wedge heel and cage heel. In 1995 the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum opened . The Museum extends over four rooms and comprises a collection of over ten thousand models of shoes created by Ferragamo over forty years, from the Twenties to his death in 1960. The Museum also has a small collection of period shoes (18th and 19th century), a collection of clothing from 1959 onwards, a collection of handbags from 1970, and a huge document archive. Step this way?!

The history of Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale probably stretches back as far as Roman times. Just like the finest wines, the highest quality balsamic vinegar takes considerable time to mature and manufacture. We arrange study visits to the leading Balsamic vinegar factories.

We can organise Italian cookery lessons for groups of all culinary standards. Preparation, food hygiene and tasting are all covered. Please contact us for details.

This typically Mediterraneanesque museum is located in a small nucleus of medieval houses within the Torgiano town walls. Covering ten rooms, the tour commences with information provided by the National Research Council on the botanic characteristics of olive trees, and the traditional and avant-garde techniques for cultivating and extracting the oil - slick!

Modena is one of the few official areas sanctioned to produce authentic Parmesan cheese. Here you can enjoy an introduction to one of Italy's most famous tastes with a visit to a Parmesan factory. See how the process takes place using milk specifically from pedigreed red Reggiana cows and learn how parmesan recipes are closely guarded.

Attention all Willy Wonka fans! The factory is actually called 'Stabilimento (chocolate factory) Nestle', as the Swiss chocolate giant purchased Perugina some years ago. The tour starts with an explanation of where chocolate comes from. You're shown the cocoa beans, then the results of processing - cocoa paste, chocolate paste and white chocolate, which is actually cocoa butter. there then follows a 10-12 minute video about the manufacturing & packaging of the chocolates. Then you'll visit the production lines.. Students will assist in the various steps of producing the famous chocolate Baci di Perugina. An appointment is necessary. The tour is available in different languages, but is only conducted in a single language (Italian) you must arrive to San Sisto which is not far from Perugia, just before the town entrance.

Discover the art of winemaking on a private visit to a winery beautifully situated in the Chianti Classico zone of Tuscany, within easy reach of Florence and Siena. Explore in detail how wines are made . A visit to a Chianti vineyard offers a full-bodied but fragrant palate of knowledge. From the vineyard, to the table; the student will discover how the combination of local climate, soils and grape varietals vary from region to region, producing subtle differences on the tongue.