Monday we started at the Medici museum/chapel. https://bargellomusei.it/en/museum/cappelle-medicee/

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The Medici family was a powerful and influential Florentine family that played a major role in Italian Renaissance.

This is the burial place of the Medici family, the Cappelle Medicee(Medici Chapels) is national monument and museum. It features the “Sagrestia Nuova”, whose architecture and sculptures are by Michelangelo. After a tour with Marina we went to the Florence food court at the Central Market. There are a lot of choices but we chose some chicken thighs and gelato. Then we drove to the countryside and had a 3 hour wine tour at Antinori. https://www.antinori.it/en/experience/antinori-nel-chianti-classico-the-tinaia-tour/ . It was something. This winery has been in this family for 100s of years and are very wealthy. This winery happens to be on the cover of Wine Spectator this month! Dinner was at Bargini Trattoria da Bule.https://trattoriadabule.it/

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Tuesday we visited the silversmith and then on to Montepulciano and Pienza. Montepulciano is a medival hilltop town in Tuscany. It’s surrounded by vineyards and has stunning views, ancient churches and a cozy square. Pienza is a town with a 15th century Catheral and Piccolomini Palace (Pope Pius summer residence). It’s famous for its pecorino sheep’s milk cheese. Every store has cheese out for tasting. We brought some home! That night back at Villa was homemade pizza night!

Steps- 9191 Floors-27

Wednesday we drove to the coast for shopping and lunch! Forte dei Marmi is a seaside town and has a very long pier. It is known for upscale shopping and the beaches. It was raining so we took a quick pic on pie. It has the has the best outdoor market! Open on Wednesdays and Sundays and totally worth going! Clothes,homewood,fabrics and jewelry! We got lots of treasures and loved the seafood lunch at Pesce Baracca. Then on to the Carrera marble mountain range! It was truly amazing. We did a jeep cave tour. Carrara marble is famously quarried in the Apuan Alps in Tuscany, Italy, near the city of Carrara. These mountains have been a source of marble since Roman times, and the area is known for its marble quarries and high-quality white marble, including the statuario grade used for sculptures like Michelangelo’s David. Dinner that night was at La Locanda di Pietracupa https://www.locandapietracupa.it/en/restaurant/

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Thursday! Last day! We had an amazing private tour at the Corsini Palace. Our tour guide was the countess/Princess/Ditchess of the Corsini’s. We viewed a $1 billion private art collection, something not open to the public. They were merchants and became extremely wealthy. They eventually sold their ships, and became bankers. One of their ships was named the Mayflower. Their Palace is the largest one fronting the Arno river. The art collection in this place is incredible. The Contessa is 88 years young, and just as agile and sharp as can be. No way to describe the artwork, etc in this Palace.

Lunch was at il Santo Bevitore in Florence then on to the Pitti Palace https://www.uffizi.it/en/pitti-palace for a tour. Outdoor dinner at the villa was delicious. Eggplant Parmesan and arugula salad! Then a big surprise! The band of Rick Hutton played for us. We ❤️ them! Rick was Europes first MTV host. He is very talented and has quite a story. He played guitar, and his band walked us through the story of rock and roll—from Elvis to Springsteen and even U2.

It was the most amazing action packed trip! We highly recommend traveling with RSJ if you get the chance!

We had a

7 hour layover in London so did a 4 hour taxi tour with London Taxi guide. (found them on insta) We got to see the changing of the guard,Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and 10 Downing Place!

Ciao 🇮🇹