Paradise of Exiles – Anglo-American gardens of Florence
Saturday 30 April – arrival in Florence – met at airport and taken to magical hotel Villa Le Rondini, whose gardens also enjoy magnificent views over Florence.
Sunday 1st May –
10.00 meet in Piazza del Carmine at 10am for drive to La Foce – home of author and garden expert Iris Origo ,
1.30 lunch and wine tasting in Montepuliciano,
16.00 afternoon at Palazzo Piccolomini in Pienza
Monday 2nd May
9.30 driven to gardens in or around Fiesole –many of which were worked on by Cecil Pinsent –
10.00: Villa Medici – home of Sybil Cutting – mother of Iris Origo
11.00: Le Balze – home of philosopher Charles Strong
12.00 San Domenico – University gardens
12.30 Vincigliata – medieval castle of Sir John Temple Leader – where we will also explore the castle and enjoy a wine, cheese and prosciutto tasting.
13.30 time to take lunch ( if still needed!)
15.00– bus to Florence – Walking City Tour of Florence with Penny Howard
Tuesday 3rd May –
9.30 La Pietra – last refuge of the aesthete – home of father Arthur and son Harold Acton
11.00 I Tatti –one of the first Anglo American gardens – home of Bernard and Mary Berenson
13.00 lunch at hotel in Torre di Bellosguardo – home of Lady Paget
14.30 Pratolino the exotic Mannerist ‘garden of marvels’, created by Grand Duke Francesco de Medici in the late sixteenth century.
17.30 Villa Capponi – a baroque jewel lived in by American art Historian Charles Perkins and Henry Clifford –curator of paintings at the Philadelphia museum
21.30 – Optional Italian Opera:- Tosca – performed at St Marks EnglishChurch, Via Maggio Florence
Wednesday 4th May
10.00 The Boboli gardens – developed by Niccolo Tribolo for the very wealthy Eleonora de Toledo, who bought the Pitti Palace from financially overstretched Luca Pitti when he ran out of money, and the Palazzo Vecchio became too small and constrictive for her and her growing family
12.00: The Bardini Gardens and the famous herb garden at Palazzo Corsini?
Free time after lunch in Florence – visit to the Uffizi and/or Palazzo Vecchio and the Iris Gardens
18.00: Dr Katie Campbell gives a talk at the British Institute on the Gardens of Florence -The talk takes place in the Palazzo Lanfredini Lungarno Guicciardini, 9 and lasts one hour -followed by reception with a glass of wine and opportunity to talk to other gardening enthusiasts living in Florence
Thursday 5th May
10.00 Villa Gamberaia – home of the reclusive Rumanian Princess Giovanna Ghyka and her inseparable companion , Miss Blood
13.00 Lunch Casa del Prosciutto –north of Fiesole
15.00 – Optional Tuscan cookery class with personal chel – Lisa Banchieri
Friday 6th May
10.00 Humanist and Masonic Giardino Torrigiani – Florence
Saturday 7th May
12.00 I Briscieri
16.00 – BM Bookshop Borgo Ognisanti Florence – Talk and Book signing with Katie Campbell
Sunday 8th May
Pratolino – hideout and home of Francesco de Medici and Bianca Cappello
