art trips to italy

  ART ESCAPE ITALY  

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ART RETREATS IN ITALY

ONLINE ART WORKSHOPS

  art workshops in tuscany  .

An art community in the Italian countryside, with painting and drawing retreats in portrait, figure, still life and landscape. Our all-inclusive art retreats take place at a secluded Tuscan villa, surrounded by nature, in the countryside near Florence. Open to all levels, and taught by exceptional contemporary artists.

Join us for a week in Italy and fully immerse yourself in your art.

See our Facebook reviews here:  86 reviews

" THE BEST experience of my life ...

Getting to stay at this picturesque artists oasis tucked away in the Tuscan hills couldn't have been more perfect!  I was part of the portraiture workshop with Marcos Beccari, who is a phenomenal teacher with so much to give. I learned a lot and the days felt like weeks.  Fruit fresh from the orchard, bottomless wine, and just the sheer beauty of the location made me feel like I was in a dream rather than reality. Every day was filled with creativity and art, amazing food, and good people.  Tana and Dorian have designed a truly unique experience for artists and the level of care and support they provide from beginning to end is noteworthy.  I would 100% join Art Escape again."

Amore (Gangneung, South Korea)

UPCOMING ART RETREATS  

  2024 retreats sold out | 2025 spring retreats now open  .

SHANE WOLF The Nude in Trois C rayons

Figure drawing from life 11-17 september 2024.

TANIA RIVILIS Capturing Character

Portrait & figure painting in oil 6-12 october 2 024.

COSTA DVOREZKY Expressive Realism  

Figure painting in oil 31 oct - 6 nov 2024.

GEORGE RORRIS The Portrait in Oil

Figurative painting in oil 11-17 may 2025.

PAUL KENTON Impressionist Horizons

Cityscapes & landscapes 4-10 june  2025.

CARLOS SAN MILLÀN Color & Light

Landscape & interior oil painting 18-24 september 2024.

Figure Painting in Oil 16-22 October 2024

ALEX KANEVSKY Human Form in the Environment

Figure painting in oil 23-29 april 2025.

GUSTAVO RAMOS Painting Luminous Portraits

Portrait painting in oil 18-24 may   2025.

MARCOS BECCARI The Portrait in Watercolor

Figure painting in watercolor 11-17 june   2025.

LO CHAN PENG Texture & Expression

Portrait painting in oil 29 sept - 5 oct  2024.

DANNY FERLAND Playing with Light & Texture

Portrait painting in oil 23-29 october  2024.

DANIELA ASTONE The Art of Plein Air

Landscape painting in oil 30 april - 6 may   2025.

RUPRECHT VON KAUFMANN Painting to your Full Potential

Painting from the imagination 25-31 may   2025.

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8-Day Art History Tour From Praxiteles to Caravaggio (Rome, Naples, Assisi, Florence)

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• Small group tour, max 12 persons
• in-depth knowledge of the territory
• Expert archaeologists
• Expert art historians
• Top restaurants

At Italian Adventures, we offer an extensive range exceptional tour experiences from archaeological tours of italy to Italian art tours. We are pleased to present to you our art history tour of Italy “From Praxiteles to Caravaggio”. Our team has carefully thought up this tour to take you, accompanied by one of our art historians, to the most beautiful places and museums to admire a vast selection of all kinds of art in Rome, Naples, Assisi, Monterchi, Sansepolcro, and in Florence.

During this fabulous art tour of Rome and significant towns and cities, we will take you to and explain Greek and Roman art sculptures mosaics and frescos, Proto-Renaissance art, and various expressions of Renaissance art up to Mannerism and Baroque art. We will bring you not only to see the famous frescoes, paintings and sculptures which have been gathered in famous big museums, but also to locations away from the big cities in central Italy where interesting and famous art can be admired.

There will also be a field day where we will instruct you, aided by a local expert, to make your own small fresco with natural colours as it was done by the Roman anonymous “pictors” or by Giotto, Michelangelo, and other artists. Afterwards, you can take your fresco work with you.

We will also take care of the eno-gastronomic aspect during your stay as we will lunch and dine in carefully selected restaurants and trattorias. Our company has a 10-year of experience as an online dining guide for high-level restaurants in Rome and Italy. Depending on the season we will make sure to let you taste typical Italian or local delicacies throughout this curated art history tour of Italy

Meet your tour guide

Your tour guide : Dr. Flaminia Franco

Flaminia, as a true Roman, embodies the rich history and cultural legacy of her captivating city. Her name, derived from the title of “Flamen,” echoes the role of priests in the ancient Roman religion. Armed with a passion for art history, Flaminia pursued academic excellence, earning a distinguished degree in art history. complemented by a transformative 3-month internship at the esteemed Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Since 2012, Flaminia has blended her profound knowledge and genuine enthusiasm as a licensed tour guide, specializing in the treasures of Rome and the Vatican. Her tours are immersive journeys through time, art, and culture, curated by a guide who wears her Roman heritage with pride.

Embark on an adventure with Flaminia, where her love for art, coupled with a deep connection to her Roman roots, transforms every tour into an unforgettable exploration of culture, heritage, and the timeless allure of the Eternal City.

Start & end Location

Rome International airport Leonardo da Vinci

Upon your arrival in Rome

You will picked up by us at the airport

Tour duration

8 days – 7 nights

Physical difficulty

Easy, short walks

Price Includes

• 7 Nights of 4-star hotel accommodation
• All dinners and lunches 
• An art historian as your tour guide
• All entrance fees
• All transportation during the tour

Upon your arrival at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport or at the Termini train station, our staff will be waiting for you to bring you to the hotel. After checking in, we will welcome you to Rome and explain to you some ins and outs about the hotel, the area of Rome where the hotel is located and some other things regarding logistics and safety in Rome and in Italy. It will also be a moment to meet our guides and the other persons on this tour. Further, we will explain to you how your week with us will evolve.  After this short welcome we are off to see byzantine mosaics and have an aperitif in front of the Pantheon. Dinner is planned in a nearby restaurant that has a very interesting wine cellar with ruins that date back to the time of Marcus Agrippa.

After a good rest and a good breakfast, transport will be ready outside the hotel to take us to the old Appian Road where our tour of today starts. Our first stop will be at a small private Roman catacomb with interesting frescos to continue with a visit to the Catacombs of Saint Sebastian where we can admire Roman Pagan art, early Christian art, and surprisingly also baroque art. After these visits we will have lunch on the old Appian Road and sometime to relax. After relaxation, we will move to a place where our Roman Pictor will be ready for you to give hands on lessons in making Roman Frescoes. Each one of you can select a subject to paint from available examples and will be assisted to prepare and finish your personal fresco that you can take with you afterwards. In the late afternoon, we will take you back to the hotel for relaxations. Dinner will be in the vicinity of the Hotel. 

After breakfast we will travel by minivan or minibus to Naples. Once we arrive in Naples, we will head for the centre to visit the Capella Sansevero with its amazing sculptures where we can admire  il Cristo Velato  by Giuseppe Sanmartino and  Il Disinganno  by Francesco Queirolo and other sculptures. From there we will go to the  Galleria Umberto I  to have a short walk towards  piazza del Plebiscito  to arrive at the seaside restaurant where we will have lunch. After lunch we will make an extensive visit to the Archaeological Museum of Naples or as, it was formerly called, the  Real Museo Borbonico  since it was Carlo VII, the Bourbon King of Naples who in 1748 took an interest in Pompeii and had excavations started which initially produced the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum and many artefacts. At the museum we will see Roman and Greek art and other interesting finds from Pompei and if you wish, you can also visit the secret cabinet ( Gabinetto Segreto ) which holds the collection of erotic art in Pompeii and Herculaneum. After the museum we will return to Rome, dinner will be close to our hotel.

In the morning we will visit the Vatican Museum with its amazing omnipresent art on ceilings, walls and displayed masterpieces. We will view the archaeological collection to admire Greek & Roman art and the sections with paintings and frescos from Giotto, Raffaello, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio and many others. After the museum we will visit the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peters Basilica. After Saint Peters we will leave the Vatican to have lunch near Piazza Navona. After lunch we will visit Villa Borghese to see more art from Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Agnolo Bronzino, Antonio Canova, Caravaggio, Raffaello, Perugino, Lorenzo Lotto, Antonello da Messina, Cranach, Annibale Carracci, Pieter Paul Rubens, Bellini and Tiziano. After a break and an aperitif, we will pay a short visit to the church of San Luigi dei Francesi to admire three masterpieces by Caravaggio; from there it is a very short walk to enter and appreciate the Pantheon with the tomb of Raffaello. Afterwards, our transport will take us to the hotel for some relaxation; dinner at the hotel.

Today we will check out of our hotel and travel north towards Umbria and Tuscany. Our first target is the town of Assisi where around the year 1200 Saint Francis founded his order and where he started the construction of his church, now the Basilica of Saint Francis. In the Basilica we will see works of Proto-Renaissance painters like Cimabue, Giotto and others. After our tour in the Basilica, we will visit the beautiful town of Assisi and have lunch. From Assisi we will travel to a small hamlet in Tuscany to make a meaningful stopover in our trip to Sansepolcro to admire one of the most enigmatic frescos of the renaissance:  La Madonna del Parto  by Piero Della Francesca. It is located in a small museum in Monterchi, birthplace of the mother of the artist. Once in Sansepolcro, there will be time to rest and relax. Dinner in a restaurant nearby our hotel. 

Today’s visits will be in the sign of Piero della Francesca, first in Sansepolcro where Piero was born and later in the day in Arezzo to admire more works by him in the  Basilica di San Francesco . There will be some time to see the city before commencing the visit at 10.00 hrs of the  Museo Civico di Sansepolcro  that houses frescos and paintings by Piero della Francesca. From Sansepolcro we will travel to Arezzo to have lunch at the main square of the town and subsequently visit the church of  Santa Maria della Pieve  and the  Basilica di San Francesco  where we will see the famous fresco  La legenda della Vera Croce . After visiting we will resume our journey towards Florence. After checking in at the hotel there will be time to explore the city or to rest and relax. Dinner in the centre of Florence.

Today we will explore Florence on foot starting with a visit to the Uffizi Gallery which was commissioned in 1560 by  Cosimo I de’ Medici , first Grand Duke of Tuscany to house the administrative and legal offices of Florence. His predecessor Francesco I de’ Medici 1574 to 1587, was responsible for creating the first art collection on the second floor of the building. The Gallery is famous for its outstanding collections of ancient sculptures and paintings (from the Middle Ages to the Modern period). The collections of paintings from the 14th-century and Renaissance period include some absolute masterpieces: Giotto, Simone Martini, Piero della Francesca, Beato Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Mantegna, Correggio, Leonardo, Raffaello, Michelangelo and Caravaggio, in addition to many precious works by European painters (mainly German, Dutch and Flemish). Moreover, the Gallery boasts an invaluable collection of ancient statues and busts from the Medici family, which adorns the corridors and consists of ancient Roman copies of lost Greek sculptures.

After the Uffizi Gallery we will have lunch followed by a visit to the basilica of  Santa Maria Novella  followed by a visit to the cathedral of  Santa Maria del Fiore both interesting architectural works of art with interesting artworks by various artists. After these visits we will return to the hotel to rest or you can use this time before dinner to explore Florence on your own. Farewell dinner close to the hotel.

After breakfast, we will leave the hotel to return to Rome. On the way to Siena we will stop at the interesting town of Monteriggioni for a quick visit. From there we travel on to see Siena and have lunch. After lunch we will continue our trip back to Rome. Once there, we can leave you at any place you desire, airport, train station or, if you have decided to stay longer, at your new hotel.

Not sure if this tour is right for you?

Or do you have a question.

Call or send us a WhatsApp message and speak with one of our tour guides.

Frequently asked questions

• Airport transfers on first and last day of tour
• Minivan or minibus travel throughout the tour
• Accommodation in 4-star hotels in Rome, San Sepolcro and Florence 
• A field day – create your own fresco
• All breakfasts, lunches, and dinners
• An expert art historian as guide
• All entrance fees and tips

All Breakfasts, Lunches and Dinners are included, further during a 10-year period our company worked with success as an online dining guide for medium high- and top-level restaurants in Rome and Italy. From our guide we have selected excellent restaurants we will visit to have lunch or dinner during our tour. Please inform us of any special dietary requirements at least 30 days in advance of your trip.

Your safety is our biggest concern. Our tours have been carefully selected to be pleasant and never dangerous. All our guides have been trained to live by the “Safety First” rule while guiding. On each hike there will be at least one guide who has had First-Aid training.

We do not provide Insurance. Adequate business travel insurance is a condition of your contract with us. You must be satisfied that your business travel or other appropriate insurance fully covers all your requirements including pre-existing medical conditions, cancellation charges, medical expenses and repatriation in the event of accident or illness. If you choose to travel without adequate insurance cover, we will not be liable for any losses howsoever arising, in respect of which insurance cover would otherwise have been available.

There will be a minimum of six to a maximum of twelve participants on each tour, plus our guides. On our tours you will meet people from various parts of the world and therefore with different backgrounds, most will be in the 40-75 age range. The persons that book our tours are curious and probably well-read who want to explore history, archaeology, and the delicious food of Italy.

Our guides are all English-speaking professionals with years of experience in guiding groups to and through the areas where we will be going, and they all love to share their knowledge and experience with you.

To see the sites and in the museums in all the cities (Rome, Naples, Assisi, San Sepolcro, Arezzo and Florence) we visit we will have to do short walks of maximum 5 km.

In Italy the shops are open until 19.30 / 20.00 hrs and often we will be at our hotel in Rome by 6 pm to give you some time to shop or to relax. When we return to our hotel by van, we can bring you to an area with shops or to a mall when they are not too far from our route.

We recommend a good pair of walking shoes, a small backpack and a hat or a cap for the sun and a rain jacket just in case. If you join us on a trip in spring or autumn pack raingear and a fleece to keep warm. We advise people who wear spectacles to bring a spare pair just in case.

Please  click here , this link will open a page of the Italian Ministry of Foreign affairs where you can check if you require a visa.

This is explained in our booking conditions.

Italian Adventures can organise hikes or tours for private groups or companies of eight people or more.  Please send an email to  [email protected]  or call us at 0039-392-0360775

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Italian adventures organizes tours to experience cultural immersion into Italy and its history by delivering high quality, fully organized, multi-day tours that will bring inspiring stories and adventures to tell at home.

Contact info

E-mail [email protected] Phone +447915608593 Address Crown House, 37 High Street East Grinstead, West Sussex RH19 3AF United Kingdom

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Painting Holiday Italy specialises in exclusive painting holidays around Italy with a truly personal touch.

Our move to Italy many years ago, was inspired by our passion for Italian art, its food, history and culture. It was love at first sight. Starting first with art courses at our country house and art studio ‘The Retreat’, in the heart of the Le Marche region, where guests would find all regions of Italy combined into one – the rolling hill-sides, ancient towns and coastal scenes and beaches of the south all in one panoramic view. We soon expanded to become “Painting Holiday Italy”, offering courses throughout Italy so we could offer our many new returning guests more locations to explore through the eye of an artist.

Join us in sharing our love for all things Italian around the most stunning locations and let yourself be guided by your experienced tutor throughout your creative holiday for an experience of a life-time.

Fantastic Hindu Temples

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Tours to the Hinduist Temple Complexes

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Upcoming Events

05th-10th september 2024 cinque terre watercolour course, 10th -15th september venice watercolour course, 07th-12th october 2024 venice watercolour course, 12th – 17th october 2024 florence watercolour course, 06th -11th april 2025 florence watercolour course, 11th – 16th april 2025 cinque terre watercolour course, 12th – 17th may 2025 sorrento & amalfi watercolour retreat, 19th -24th may 2025 venice watercolour course, 24th -29th may 2025 florence watercolour course, 30th may – 4th june 2025 cinque terre watercolour course, 27th june – 02nd july 2025 cinque terre watercolour course, 15th – 20th september 2025 sorrento & amalfi watercolour retreat, 27th september – 02nd october 2025 florence watercolour course, 02nd – 07th october 2025 cinque terre watercolour course, 07th – 12th october 2025 venice watercolour course.

Travel To Transform: Walking Around Cinque Terre In Italy With A Paintbrush

Travel & leisure asia.

A painting retreat in Cinque Terre – a UNESCO-listed gem on the Italian Riviera – is the best way to savour the taste of La Dolce Vita at your own pace. Here’s why. 

01. Exploring Cinque Terre

02. plan your art holiday, testimonials.

Thank you for your stories, art history, talent, expertise and fun. We truly enjoyed ourselves can’t thank you enough for your support and kindness with my son Derrick.

I loved my week of study with John. It was an amazing experience. I enjoyed the stay at the Convent and the restaurant where we had our meals. He added in a Evening walking tour and a visit to the Uffizi Museum. He is a greyat teacher and a very nice person who worked very hard to help me improve my skills. I look forward to studying with him again.

I came on Easter week. I had the best time! The Oblate convent was a great, simple central location. The watercolour course was inspiring. I had painted before, but John Skelcher was an excellent teacher of perspective and colour theory. He was also a great guide to Florence – showing where the best Gelateria is! He also knew that there was a special Easter ceremony at the cathedral, and made sure we didn’t miss it. I would love to come next year to one of his oil painting courses.

(0039) 334 903 4401 (0039) 334 893 9297 (Italy) call or Whatsapp (0044) 0247 698 0868 (UK)

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Luxury Italy Tours

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Best of Southern Italy & Sicily (17 Days) Rome, Capri, Amalfi Coast, Naples & Pompeii, Palermo with Monreale, Segesta & Erice, Sciacca & Agrigento, Taormina with Syracuse & Mount Etna

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Italy for Art Lovers

(13 Days - Departs Daily on a Private Basis ) Rome, Florence & Assisi, Bologna & Ravenna, Venice & Padua, Milan

This ultimate private art tour of Italy features the best of Italy’s impossibly rich trove of art and architectural masterpieces. During in-depth touring with expert private guides, experience ancient sites, medieval villages, magnificent churches, outstanding frescoes and mosaics, renowned museums, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and the best contemporary art and architecture in Italy. This tour can be fully customized to suit your interests, including private appointments at museums, gardens and private art collections.

Begin in Rome . Enjoy comprehensive private touring and experience the best of Roman culture, history and lifestyle. Discover ancient pagan and Christian monuments, the splendors of Baroque and Renaissance palaces and churches, and the surprising urban additions of the modern city. Highlights include the Roman and Imperial Forums, the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Vatican, Saint Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, Via Veneto, the morning fruit and flower market of Campo dei Fiori, Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, Villa Borghese, the Jewish Quarter, the ruins along the Appian Way, beautiful Aventine Hill, and the catacombs and "Underground Rome." Artisans of Leisure can also arrange special activities such as visits to other ruins and museums according to your interests, a private cooking class, tickets to evening cultural performances, tours of important churches, garden tours, wine tasting and more. During free time in Rome, enjoy la dolce vita and the city's excellent restaurants and boutiques. Also see compelling contemporary highlights such as MAXXI, designed by Zaha Hadid, the Parco della Musica by Renzo Piano, and Jubilee Church by Richard Meier, or visit local markets and design shops.

Next, transfer to Florence, the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance. En route, stop in  Assisi  to tour the Basilica di San Francesco and see its extraordinary frescoes. During private touring in Florence , enjoy skip-the-line access at world-renowned museums such as the Uffizi and Accademia, see renowned sites such as the Duomo and Basilica of Santa Croce, browse antiques and artisan workshops of the Oltrarno district, visit a Dominican monastery where monk cells are decorated with frescoes by early Renaissance master Fra Angelico, and tour less-frequented but fascinating museums such as the Museo del Bargello, a prison in the 13th century and now home to sculpture by Michelangelo and Donatello. Perhaps also learn about Tuscan cuisine at specialty food shops and the Mercato Centrale or stroll through the beautiful Boboli Gardens. During free time, enjoy leisurely meals, walks along the Arno River and shopping for Florentine gold jewelry, handmade paper, leather goods, antiques and housewares.

Continue to Bologna , one of Italy’s great gastronomic centers. Tour the city’s cultural and culinary highlights, such as grand churches, interesting museums, frescoed porticoes, outdoor markets and specialty food shops. One day, enjoy a private excursion to nearby Ravenna to see dazzling Byzantine-era mosaics.

Next, transfer to Venice. En route, stop in  Padua  to see the magnificent frescoes in the Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel. During flexible private touring in spectacular  Venice , see highlights such as the Accademia Gallery, art-filled churches, noble palaces gracing the Grand Canal, Palladian architecture, and modern and contemporary highlights such as the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the Palazzo Grassi, the Punta della Dogana and the Giardini, one of the main venues for the Venice Biennale. Also visit favorite local neighborhoods, architectural landmarks, outdoor markets and specialty shops as desired. During leisure time, you might like to indulge in eclectic Venetian cuisine, discover hidden neighborhoods, shop for high-quality local glass and sample local culinary treats at Venetian  bacari  (wine bars).

End your tour in Milan , a city of fashion, finance and great cultural treasures. During private city touring, see the beautiful Duomo, an impressive Gothic cathedral and city landmark. Browse upscale boutiques under the glass ceilings of the historic Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping arcade. Peruse Italian art masterpieces in the Pinacoteca di Brera museum and see exhibitions of contemporary art at the Fondazione Prada. Perhaps have a meal at one of the many restaurants in the charming Navigli canal district. Artisans of Leisure will arrange tickets to see Leonardo da Vinci’s  The Last Supper.  

This tour can be extended to include more of Italy’s premier art and architecture destinations.

Booking Information >

All Artisans of Leisure tours are private and depart daily.

Please Contact Us for more information regarding the above tour, or to begin customizing your own itinerary.

The Artisans of Leisure Style of Travel:

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This Italy trip was the trip of a lifetime. The accommodations were wonderful. Your restaurant recommendations were always excellent. We cannot think of anyone but Artisans of Leisure who could have made this trip so marvelous.  ~ D.S., Fort Washington, PA

We had experiences and opportunities throughout Italy that we never would have had if we were traveling independently. Our trip was spectacular. Thank you for your excellent planning and insight, and for selecting such lovely, memorable rooms in each hotel. ~ S.G., New York, NY

Thank you for organizing such a wonderful trip to Italy for our family! The knowledgeable guides saved us from standing in lines and expertly maneuvered us through the cities and museums.   ~ P.R., Laguna Niguel, CA

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• Luxury Tours

For Art Lovers, These One-of-a-Kind Italian Itineraries Were Made for You

These five art-focused tours mix in history, cuisine, outdoor adventure, and more across florence, rome, venice, and beyond for delightfully enriching trips..

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Venice, Italy

Courtesy of HFerreira/Unsplash/Collette

Italy, as the seat of modern civilization, has an impressive, centuries-old artistic legacy that’s perhaps best experienced on a guided tour. Of course, visiting Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance, is a must for art and architecture enthusiasts traveling to Italy. Once a modest trading hub ravaged by the plague, it blossomed into a cultural center thanks to the patronage of the Medici family who nurtured the creativity of luminaries like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. But there’s even more for art lovers to explore in Italy, from ancient Roman ruins and the gorgeous baroque architecture of Sicily to the renowned design of fashion icons like Ferragamo and so much more.

To fully immerse yourself in Italy’s rich artistic and cultural heritage, it’s essential to choose the right mode of exploration. That’s where the United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) comes into play. Whether you’re focused on art alone or want to incorporate elements of history, cuisine, or outdoor adventure into your travels, USTOA tour operator members offer expertly designed itineraries that cater to various interests.

Booking a group tour with a USTOA tour operator lets you enjoy distinctive experiences that combine different elements, guaranteeing your trip will be more comprehensive and satisfying. Also, USTOA tour operators prioritize transparency, safety, responsible tourism practices, and environmental preservation, guaranteeing convenience, reliability, and enrichment throughout your travels.

Given Italy’s vast offerings, it’s impossible to experience everything in a single trip. That’s why we’ve curated five unique tours for art lovers, recognizing that one visit to Italy can’t cover everything this fascinating country has to offer.

SUBHED 1: Experience Tuscany, the epicenter of Renaissance art

Italy conjures images of not just exceptional art but also vineyards, olive groves, and floating cities. You can have it all on Collette’s 12-day Italy’s Treasures guided tour. In Tuscany, you’ll see iconic landmarks and the timeless beauty that define Florence. You’ll also do a few unexpected things like venturing to the marble quarries of Carrara aboard off-road vehicles, tracing Michelangelo’s footsteps, and exploring unexpected attractions like the Apuane Mountains, where quarrymen carved roads for precious stone extraction.

In the Tuscan countryside in Chianti, you’ll stay for four nights at a tranquil villa. You’ll learn Tuscan cooking at a family-owned villa and delight in a typical lunch paired with the region’s famous wine.

You’ll also have the chance to explore other regions of Italy, like the picturesque lakeside town of Stresa, known for its charming piazzas and cobblestone streets. Here, a guide will lead you through the exotic gardens of Borromeo Palace, followed by cocktails and antipasto snacks at a wine shop. The following day, a nearby mountain village awaits, offering artisanal cheeses and local wines served by a welcoming local family. There will also be plenty of time to get lost in the labyrinth of canals and bridges in Venice, where you can immerse yourself in the medieval atmosphere and lively squares.

Collette is known for offering plenty of free time for personal exploration. Founded in 1918, the company provides tours to places on every continent. With destination experts around the world, Collette’s tours are designed by travelers for travelers. They include must-see sights, cultural experiences, accommodations, dining, transportation, and expert guides.

Explore Sicily’s baroque architecture on a cycling tour

View of Sicily

Courtesy of iStock/VBT Bicycling Vacations

Embark on a genuine Sicilian adventure, blending art, culinary delights, and outdoor thrills on VBT Bicycling Vacations’ Italy: Sicily, the Noto Valley & Syracuse Guided Biking tour, circling the largest island in the Mediterranean. You’ll stay in historic accommodations, such as an 18th-century villa transformed into a hotel, still managed by the same family for generations.

With two local guides, you’ll pedal along seaside paths and explore the stunning baroque towns of the legendary Noto Valley. Scicli has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site for the extraordinary beauty and the importance of its late-baroque architecture, built after a devastating earthquake in 1693. In the evening, you’ll follow a local guide on a 40-minute walking tour, strolling the city and witnessing the magnificent architecture lit up at night.

You’ll fuel up for all the activity with incredible Sicilian food. Yes, there will be plenty of pasta alla Norma and gelato. You’ll also have lunch on an organic farm with a local family, learn about Sicilian cooking from your hotel chef, and taste wine and olive oil at an organic winery. Recover from all that cycling with some relaxation on the beach while staying in the restored fishing village of Marzamemi.

With more than 50 years of experience, VBT Bicycling Vacations works with the best local guides to provide active and immersive journeys around the world. Their exceptional trips consistently highlight local cuisine, authentic accommodations, and rich cultural encounters. They offer insider access that breathes life into destinations through carefully planned biking itineraries.

Experience the fusion of art and gastronomy in Tuscany and Cinque Terre

Luigi Vaccarella/SIME / eStock Photo

The eight-day Tuscan Treasures with Cinque Terre experience with CIE Tours kicks off in Montecatini Terme, a historic spa town dating back to Roman times, nestled in the hills of Tuscany. One evening, you’ll head to Fattoria il Poggio, an agriturismo farm that embodies the spirit of sustainability. Explore the vineyard and olive grove, savor wine and olive oil tastings, and enjoy traditional, home-cooked cuisine.

No visit to Tuscany is complete without seeing Florence. With the help of a local guide and “skip-the-line” VIP access, you’ll admire architectural landmarks like the Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio, where you’ll see Michelangelo’s David statue up close in the Accademia Gallery.

You’ll also explore medieval Siena on an orientation walk with your tour director and see iconic sites like the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the scenic coastal villages of Cinque Terre. Your journey concludes with a stop in San Miniato for a truffle hunt with a local expert and their trusty dog, followed by a truffle-themed luncheon.

CIE Tours specializes in unforgettable experiences like these, drawing on upwards of 90 years of expertise. With renowned guides and distinctive all-inclusive itineraries, they make it possible for guests to fully immerse themselves in local culture, connect with fellow adventurers, visit dream destinations, and uncover gems known only to locals.

Enjoy exclusive art experiences in Tuscany and the Italian Riviera

Basilica di Santa Croce

Courtesy of Tauck

Tauck’s eight-day journey to Tuscany, Cinque Terre & the Portofino Coast offers unparalleled opportunities for private tours, such as an early-opening, private visit to Florence’s Basilica di Santa Croce, the resting place of Michelangelo and Galileo, and a guided walking tour of Florence’s historic center. You’ll visit the Uffizi Galleries to marvel at Renaissance masterpieces like Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus . Additionally, you’ll explore La Cervara, a 14th-century abbey with exquisite gardens, on a docent-led visit.

You’ll also unwind in a stylish Italian Riviera hotel and explore the paths that follow the shoreline of Cinque Terre National Park. Then, you’ll work up an appetite by cycling along the famous preserved walls of Lucca before a wine and olive oil tasting and learning the art of pasta-making from some local chefs.

Tauck, owned and operated by a family of avid travelers for nearly 100 years, delivers authentic travel experiences through exclusive access with some of the best guides in the world. With all-inclusive trips spanning seven continents, including river and small ship cruising, land journeys, and family adventures, Tauck continually raises the bar to find new ways to connect travelers more deeply with the places they explore.

Uncover the connection between Italian art and design in Rome and Florence

Courtesy of Globus

Globus’ seven-day guided That’s Amore!: Italy by Design tour through Italy promises a taste of la dolce vita while exploring Roman ruins, visiting famous museums, and admiring architectural masterpieces. Follow in the footsteps of Roman painter Pietro Cavallini and wander through the historic streets of Trastevere. Today, this former working-class enclave has a bohemian vibe with trendy shops, cafes, and bars. You’ll then explore the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica and Roman archaeological area, followed by a delightful gelato tasting.

In Florence, you’ll navigate legendary Renaissance landmarks on a relaxed bike tour. You’ll also stop at the Ferragamo Museum, showcasing more than 10,000 shoe designs. With an expert guide, uncover secrets like the ancient art of perfume making at Officina di Santa Maria Novella, Europe’s oldest pharmacy, and savor renowned regional wines amid views of the Chianti hills in San Gimignano.

Moments like these exemplify the Globus commitment to delivering once-in-a-lifetime journeys, one scene, sight, and story at a time. The company ensures its guests don’t just visit remarkable places around the world but truly experience them through immersive encounters.

For these tours and many others that mean expertly planned trips, access to VIP and off-the-beaten-path experiences, local and knowledgeable guides, around-the-clock service, and more, head to USTOA .

Alma Italia Travel. Italy for Groups.

Art in italy.

Alma Italia

Alma Italia tailors beautiful and authentic Italian travel experiences for  groups to be inspired in the heart of Italy.  All Alma Italia private group Italy trips are tailored to meet your groups particular interests and needs.

Schedule a call or email now to begin the journey

For art lovers, students and art school groups or professionals, alma italia can curate the perfect program to appreciate the art of italy. add in the glorious italian food, wine and magical scenery your group will experience the trip of a lifetime..

Italy is the world’s number one destination to study and enjoy art. From the ancient glories of Rome to the renaissance painters, sculptors and architects in Florence. From dramatic baroque art in Naples to Greek temples and baroque architecture in the cultural melting pot that is Sicily. From the Venice Biennale to contemporary art adventures in Milan. Italy has something for everyone

Alma Italia Travel are expert group trip organizers and will take care of every detail of your Italy art trip: a bespoke itinerary, superb guides, private visits, all in-country travel arrangements, hotels, villas and restaurants.

Our guides in Italy include art historians, artists, architects and designers. We design tours from a week, month or even entire semester-long immersive journeys. Wherever you would like to go in Italy,  Alma Italia can organise museum visits out of hours, open the doors to private collections and artists’ studios, as well as take you to some of Italy’s best restaurants and vineyards. 

We will work with you to craft the itinerary that best suits your group– whether you want a mix of culture and time out or are looking to explore a particular place. 

PLAN YOUR GROUP ITALY TRIP

DEDICATED PROGRAM MANAGER

Alma Italia Travel works as an extension of your own team by allocating a dedicated project manager who is available to you at any time to execute your perfect group Italy trip. This single point of contact will provide you with start to finish complete travel planning and project management, including during your trip, to ensure an enjoyable and memorable trip in Italy.

Other Private Group Experiences

ITALY WINE AND FOOD EXPERIENCES

Alma Italia organizes food and wine tours and experiences in spectacular locations in Italy. 

CLASSICAL MUSIC AND OPERA

Alma Italia Travel can curate the perfect private group trip to enable you to experience the music and art of Italy.

PHOTOGRAPHY RETREATS

Alma Italia Travel hosts inspiring workshops and retreats for photography schools and groups to hone their skills amidst the most photogenic landscape in the world. 

Talk to our experts about your Private Group Trip.

The Original & Best Tours and Events

Florence Tours

Florence tour highlights-the best guides, florence tours and experiences in florence, the uffizi galleries of florence.

The original Birth of Venus – need we say more? (Actually, two floors more of artworks!)

You can find the famous Uffizi museum just in the city center of Florence

Brunelleschi's Dome

The pride of Florence!

Santa Maria del Fiore

See the Florence Cathedral and Brunelleschi’s Dome, one of the greatest wonders of the Renaissance on our Original Florence Walk.

Ponte Vecchio

Take in Florence’s stunning Old Bridge and its calm mirror-like waters.

Also known for the  Vasari Corridor .

Now famous for the jewelers of Florence that have a shop on the Ponte Vecc hio

Statue of David

Get up close and (very) personal with Michelangelo’s original Statue of David.

Top 10 list of the Best Florence Tours

Join highly acclaimed guides to lead you on the most unique Florentine journey. Be guided through the Uffizi Gallery; Vasari’s Corridor; or on an overview of the city.

Experience the best Florence sightseeing tours, Florence guided tours and Florence excursions.

The Best of Florence Tours in One Glorious Day (or two)

Make the most of our guides’ expert knowledge with three of our most popular excursions in one excellent package! Get a feel for the real Florence in intimate groups as you explore the city’s world-famous art and architecture.

Tour Package Includes:

The Original Florence Walking Tour Masterpieces of the Uffizi Gallery The Original David – Accademia Museum Visit

The Best of Florence and Tuscany Package One special price opens to door to this iconic city and its romantic surroundings. Our unsurpassed guides will share the secrets of its refined culture, as well as whisking you away for a full-day visit to three Tuscan hilltop towns, including lunch and wine tasting at a regional villa.

The Original Florence Walking Tour The Best of Tuscany Tour-Small Group Masterpieces of the Uffizi Gallery Tour The Original David Tour – Accademia Museum Visit

The Original Florence Walking Tour Join the fun – we offer the chance to experience the entertaining walking adventure featured on numerous TV documentaries. Highly recommended by just about every major travel guide, our exploration of the city’s streets is a great way to learn about its fascinating past.

Masterpieces of the Uffizi Gallery Tour Ours is the only guided visit that covers both levels of the iconic Uffizi Gallery, giving you the best view of art’s greatest masterpieces. As featured in a BBC World documentary with Michael Palin, it offers easy access to the world-famous art museum.

The Original David Tour – Accademia Museum Visit Visit the Accademia and watch art and history be brought to life by our guides. Ours is the only tour that focuses solely on Michelangelo and his statue of David, allowing you to marvel at the masterpiece and discover its story in an intimate group.

Sex, Drugs & Renaissance Tour: Adults Only From the shocking lifestyles of the rich and famous to the seedy underbelly of the city’s past, this absolute first for Florence tours invites you to hear about the scandals that rocked the Renaissance.

An Evening Walk – Murders, Mystery & Wine! The charming medieval Oltrarno quarter hides a dark and mysterious past. Let our experts lead you through its intriguing history on this unique twilight adventure, before taking the edge off with a glass of Italian wine.

Italian Passions Food & Wine Tour Shop not just like a local, but actually with a local! Delve into Italy’s gastronomic culture on this sumptuous experience of food, including more tastings than any other package of its kind.

Monumental Marvels: Duomo Museum & Baptistery Tour Our unparalleled guides will unveil the secrets of one of the oldest monuments in the city, the Baptistery, plus the newly-renovated Opera del Duomo Museum. Don’t miss the chance to access the crypt of the cathedral, Brunelleschi’s Dome and climb Giotto’s Bell Tower at your own leisure.

Original Florence Walk & David Tour

Sites & Statues – Florentine Stories & Michelangelo’s David If you’re short on time, we have the ideal excursion for you. Our good-humoured guide will accompany you on a walking tour around the city to take in its sites and stories, as well as giving you pre-reserved access to the Accademia museum.

Other must-sees include:

Palazzo vecchio, pitti palace, piazza della signoria, basilica of santa croce in florence, the boboli gardens, piazzale michelangelo, about florence.

Florence is the capital of the Tuscany region in Italy. Approximately 380,000 people call Florence home, with more than 1.5 million living in the surrounds.

Founded in 59 BC, Florence was established by Julius Caesar’s solders who named the area “Florentia”, in honour of the Goddess Flora – the symbol of spring and fertility.

A bridge was built where now stands the current Ponte Vecchio (which translates, correctly, to “Old Bridge”), at the narrowest part of the Arno River that runs from the Apennines, through Florence and out to the Tyrrhenian Sea.  

The Roman Forum was set up where now stands the Piazza della Repubblica, whilst a theatre was built in today’s Piazza della Signora and Roman baths where now sits the Florence Cathedral, Il Duomo.

After the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD, a market was established selling international wares where traders would pass through, establish Florence from this time on as a European hub of finance and trade.

Florence is known as the birthplace of the Renaissance, where many of the biggest characters earned their name in history. Florence was home to the important Medici family as well as writers and political, social and religious figures including Galileo, Machiavelli, Dante Alighieri, Giovanni Boccaccio and Savonarola. Numerous master artists also hail from or at least lived out most of their lives in Florence (think Michelangelo, Giotto, Botticelli, Vasari, Donatello, Ghiberti, Masaccio, Rafael, da Vinci and more).

The wealth of the Renaissance also fostered the establishment of Florence as a fashion capital, giving rise to a range of artisan crafts and markets such as the fabric trade, fashion designers, cobblers, leather artisans, jewelers, milliners and the like.

Italy then went through a period of turbulence lasting for two centuries after the Renaissance, culminating with the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy, seeing the unification of the various regions to form the Italy we know today.

From 1865-1871, Florence was the capital of this Italy, during which time the city was given a little bit of a facelift, including the remodeling of the central Piazza della Repubblica.

Florence then had its own renaissance in world fashion after the end of the Second World War, giving rise to names such as Roberto Cavalli, Enrico Coveri, Salvatore Ferragamo, Emilio Pucci and Guccio Gucci.

Today, the city of Florence is a great mix of medieval, Renaissance and early modern architecture. It was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982. There are also a great number of exceptional artworks, many housed in the Uffizi Gallery, plus Michelangelo’s David standing in the Academia Gallery.

The city has never lost its artistic and creative spirit, to this day attracting many art and artisan students to the various art schools and studios in Florence.

As the capital of the gastronomically-rich Tuscan region, Florence has also developed a world-class cuisine that today blends the quality foods of the well-to-do (such as Florentine Beefsteak) with the delicious slow-cooked lower class recipes such as Ribollita, Trippa (tripe), Zuppa di Cipolla (Onion Soup) and a range of delicious sweets.

Visiting Florence today thus gives visitors a chance to see some of the world’s best art by master artists, visit historic palaces and piazzas, enjoy some fabulous shopping for designer and bespoke fashion items, plus to dine on delicious traditional Florentine and Tuscan food (gratefully paired with excellent Tuscan wine).

Now a day there are a lot of Florence Tours , but which Florence Tours would be best if you visit Florence? This, of course, depends on your personal interest. Do you like a cooking class? a tour of the countryside around Florence? a tour with all the must-sees of Florence?  or a museum tour? If you are not able to find the perfect Florence Tours for you we are there to help you find the perfect Florence Tours. Just visit our Get in Touch page and we will help you.

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Best Art Tours In Italy

Oct 28, 2022

Travel Blog

If you love art, history, and architecture, taking a trip to Italy is a must.

Rich in culture and home to many of the most famous Renaissance painters. You can marvel at the incredible churches, ancient ruins, and historical buildings and see some of the most famous paintings close up with the marvelous art tours.

Whether your trip takes you to Rome, Venice, or Florence, art history tours Italy can offer you the most educational, stunning, and engaging experiences that you will find in Europe. 

Read on as we take a look at some of the best Italian art tours to choose from.

Best Places To Visit

Italy can be the most exciting art tour and is without a doubt one of the best places to visit if you’re an art lover. Home to Renaissance artists like Raphael, Michelangelo, and Caravaggio, to name a few – you can visit one of the many galleries to see their artwork in all its glory. 

It’s not just the galleries that house some of Italy’s most impressive artwork but the architecture of buildings, palaces, and churches that boast the most incredible designs that you won’t see anywhere else. 

A few of the best places in Italy to visit if you’re looking to top up your knowledge of art history include Florence, Venice, and Rome.  

Choosing an art tour means that you can benefit from an expert guide to educate you on everything you could possibly need to know about artists and their paintings and sculptures, you can ask questions and truly soak it all in. 

Here are some of the best art tours in Italy that you might be interested in.

1. Villa Borghese Gallery And Gardens

The first name which comes into your art tours Italy list is Villa Borghese. Located in Rome, the Villa Borghese gallery is not to be missed. 

It contains a collection of antiques, paintings, and sculptures in over 20 rooms, with some of the most well-known being featured, such as Caravaggio, Bernini, and Titian. 

Your guide will take you through the gallery, giving you information about the various stunning pieces of artwork that are on offer – you will be given a headset so that you don’t miss any of the key information. 

Once you’ve explored the gallery, you will be able to head out into the Borghese Gardens featuring sculptures, plants, and water features, to take a moment to soak it all in. The gardens feature the Pincio Terrace, which overlooks Rome – a breathtaking view to finish your incredible art tour.

2. Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel

Unsurprisingly, the Vatican Museums are one of the most popular places to visit in Italy, but with one of these art tours, you can skip the line, so you have more time to enjoy all of the history, art, and architecture that they have to offer. 

The Vatican does not only come under the Italy art tour visit. This also comes under the art tours of Europe. With this tour, you will also have access to the Sistine Chapel, which is home to some of the most iconic artwork painted by Michelangelo himself. 

Your guide will also take you to the Stanze di Raffaello or ‘Raphael’s Rooms’, which are dedicated to the Italian artist and his inspiration. Your guide will also take you through the many wings of museums, like the Museo Pio Clementino. 

If you want to experience one of Europe’s most popular sights, choose an art tour so you can benefit from a wealth of knowledge whilst seeing the most stunning sights.

3. St. Peter’s Basilica

One of the best places to visit for those keen on art history is St. Peter’s Basilica, also in Vatican City. Your tour will start in St. Peter’s Square, where you will be able to take in the incredible architecture in all its glory and learn more about how it was designed by Bernini. 

When you enter the Basilica, you will be greeted by gold ceilings and mosaics, as well as masterpieces from the Renaissance era that your guide will give you an insight into. 

You can then choose to delve into the grottoes and see the ancient frescoes that lie underground with St. Peter’s tomb. Italy’s art effects are no less than the art tours in France. Both France and Italy art tours are really great experiences for every age and art-loving person.

If you have a head for the heights, you try and climb up to the basilica’s top dome and witness an amazing panoramic view of Rome. And look down to the marble floors to bask in all that this special place has to offer.  

Bottomline! I Wish You A Great Art Travel To Italy

The art tours are a great experience, as every art lover wants to learn something special and unique from every individual tour plan. Art travel in Italy is more like travel to explore the past and uncover the door of the past. What is your opinion? Are you thinking of planning an Italian art trip? You can share your opinion through the comment section.

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ART & CULTURE

The cultural life of italy is inexhaustible, discover its beauty.

Planning a trip to Italy? Italy is the fifth most visited country in the world and it is for a reason: Italy offers an exciting mix of historic and ancient sites, museums and of course, great cuisine and breathtaking sceneries. From the rolling landscapes of Tuscany to the fashion city of Milan, from the romantic canals of Venice to the eternal city..there are so many great places to discover in Italy that it’s hard to narrow down any list of “best” art cities . Anyway, we tried to do a selection of some of the best Italian art cities that every traveller ought to visit.

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My Art Trip to Italy: The Vatican City and Rome

Although I would love to use this article to tell you all about the things I did during my trip to Italy , I want to keep it more appropriate for the content of my blog. And therefore, I will only share with you the a rt destinations (museums, galleries, halls, gardens, etc.) you must visit during your next trip to Italy . Due to some family events, I wasn’t able to visit all the places I had wished to visit, but that won’t hold me back from sharing them here.

• The Vatican museums

The Sistine Chapel

The spiral staircase, the pinacoteca, villa borghese.

• The Colonna Gallery

The Doria Pamphilj Gallery

Palazzo altemps, villa farnesina.

• Saint Ignazio
• Chiostro del Bramante

A little tip before we get started

Do not go during summer 🙂

I know it’s called an Italian summer for a reason. But the heat and the crowds were incredibly exhausting. I will never again visit Italy in July. Maybe I would go swimming but not walk around or go see museums and art galleries because it was really hectic.

Art trip to Italy: The Vatican Museums

I started my Italy art trip in Rome. I mean, it is the city of art, so that’s kind of obvious.

My first art destination was the Vatican Museums. It was a really dreamy experience. Vatican City is a busy destination, and the long lines under the heat will make you give up on your desire to visit the museums. However, I was able to get my hands on a ticket that granted me a guided tour and entry to all iconic destinations of the Vatican City that was also “skip-the-line”. Let me tell you, this is a lifesaver option.

I booked mine through the Get Your Guide app (a free app available for both iOS and Android). For this ticket specifically , I paid 90 euros as I booked it only 4 days before my trip, but you can get it for half the price if you use my link. I would also like you to keep in mind that going up the dome is not included in your ticket. If you want to do that, you will need to get a ticket in place (right next to the entrance of the St. Peter Basilica) and pay an extra 10 euros for the option with the elevator and 6 euros for the no elevator option.

The Vatican Museums

The Vatican museums are 54 in total, including the Sistine Chapel and the Stanze della Segnatura (it was super crowded when I visited; we couldn’t manage to visit the Stanze della Segnatura and had to wait for about 30 minutes to access the Sistine Chapel). And it is home to 70.000 paintings and sculptures. The main things that you must see are:

The Sistine Chapel is where you can see the original “Creation of Adam” painted on the ceiling by Michelangelo, alongside “The Last Judgement” and the other nine scenes from the book of Genesis (Creation of Eve, the Flood, and the Rebirth of Mankind with the Family of Noah, etc.).

The Papal Apartments : Stanze della Segnatura and the Borgia apartments

These are easily skipped if your guide wants to shortcut to the Sistine Chapel (and will not be included in your tour, so make sure to get a proper ticket with the Raphael Rooms included ). The Room of the Segnatura contains Raphael’s most famous frescoes. Besides being the first work executed by the great artist in the Vatican, they mark the beginning of the High Renaissance. And you certainly don’t want to miss seeing that.

The Apollo Belvedere statue

T he first piece to exist in the art collection of the Vatican before there were Vatican museums

The sculpture portrays the god Apollo, (who existed in both Greek and Roman mythology), as an archer who just shot an arrow. And it shows what was once considered the “ideal” male body, without a single flaw. It was also said that this statue was Napoleon’s favorite piece of art that he took from the Vatican to the Louvre. After Napoleon’s fall, this statue and most of the rest of the art pieces he took were returned to Rome and to the Vatican.

Galleria degli Arazzi – The Tapestries Hall

You will certainly visit this gallery, as you have to walk through it to get to the Sistine Chapel. However, it might start to get overwhelming after you have seen hundreds of artworks and statues.

What I want you to focus on in this gallery are the tapestries on the left wall. That is a series of tapestries that were created in Brussels by Pieter van Aelst’s School and depict the life of Jesus.

The most wonderful part is the following tapestry (in the picture below), which was created in a “ moving perspective “. That means that as you walk past the tapestry and keep your eyes on the eyes of Jesus, you see them moving with you and sense his presence through this majestic work of art. Another mesmerizing part of this hall is the ceiling, which looks like plaster and is actually painted to look like that! I’m just amazed, and my mind can’t process all the mastery.

The Map Hall

This hall follows the tapestry hall and is hands-down amazing. I would’ve personally walked through it in a hurry to reach the Sistine Chapel if it weren’t for the amazing insights that my guide was providing. These maps were created in the 1500s and are both accurate and whimsical. They have stunning gold details of sea creatures and Neptune, the Roman God of the sea. Some of them also show how obelisks were brought from ancient Egypt to Rome via the sea.

The icons I wish I didn’t skip during my tour

So iconic that you have at least seen its picture once online. It is a spiral staircase composed of two staircases that allow people to go up and down without crossing each other. Sadly, nowadays, it is only intended as an exit from the Vatican Museums.

Since my tour included the St. Peter Basilica, I did not exit the museums via this staircase, as I went from the Sistine Chapel directly into the basilica, and I didn’t know about this ATM anyway (so sad).

It takes a lot of time to see every part of the Vatican, surely. But this painting gallery is one of the places I regret not visiting. You again need to book a ticket that includes the Pinacoteca to be able to visit it. There are so many works to see, mainly Raphael’s last work right before he died, The Transfiguration .

The Transfiguration  is seen as the bridge between what is called a “High Renaissance” painting (early 1500s) and a “Baroque style” painting (early 1600s).

Raphael used  chiaroscuro  (“light on dark”, a technique made even more famous by Caravaggio), to highlight the darkness of the sick boy on earth (at the bottom of the painting), and the lightness of Jesus’s body in heaven (at the top of the painting).

And unlike so many of Raphael’s previous paintings, including the Raphael rooms in the Vatican Museums, the figures in this painting portray extreme and very human emotions: awe, disbelief, and anguish.

Rotunda Room And The Porphyry Basin

I have actually visited this room but my guide skipped this piece of information, so I’m here to help you out with it (thank me later :))

First of all, the ceiling of the rotunda room is modeled after the Pantheon. Second, the floor depicts tens of myths in mosaics from around the 2nd century. And last but not least, the giant Porphyry Basin.

What is porphyry? It is a rock created from cooled lava that is full of large pieces of crystal. It is unbelievably heavy, extremely resistant, and almost impossible to cut. And it exists only in Egypt ((there is one quarry in Ancient Egypt where all the porphyry rock came from).

Think about this: about 2000 years ago, the emperor Nero ordered a bath for his Golden House and had someone get this giant rock out of Egypt and then carve it into a single piece like this and get it to Rome. Another piece of information for you is that this porphyry basin also refers to the reddish-purple color that was considered royal in ancient Rome.

Art trip to Italy: Rome

The Vatican Museums are breathtaking for real. However, that’s not everything to see in Rome in terms of art. Your next stop will have to be Villa Borghese . I still can’t believe that I couldn’t actually visit Borghese during my trip to Italy. But I’m trying to recover from it; don’t worry.

Home to some of the most iconic paintings and sculptures in the history of Italy. Bernini, one of my favorite masters, has some of his best works exhibited inside the Villa Borghese.

1- The Rape Of Proserpina By Bernini (Exhibited in Room IV)

This iconic and very emotional piece of art is definitely worth visiting.

The story is that Pluto, the god of the dead and underworld, came to abduct Proserpina, goddess of agriculture and daughter of Jupiter, the god of gods, while she was picking flowers one afternoon.

Out of sadness, Proserpina stopped making the world bloom, and all things died.  Jupiter intervened and made a deal with Pluto. Proserpina would spend half the year with Pluto and half the year above ground. In this incredible story, we see how early people struggled with the idea of the seasons and how to explain them. A story of gods makes it easier to digest.

But what catches my attention is how the grip of Pluto’s fingers on the thigh of Proserpina could be literally felt although it is all just an illusion and they are both made of stone. Totally magical.

2- Apollo And Daphne By Bernini (Exhibited in Room III)

Legend has it that Apollo encountered Daphne and Eros (or Cupid) when he was walking through the woods. He began to mock Cupid (I imagine for his size), and eventually, Cupid became frustrated and retaliated.

Modern society only describes Cupid’s good side as shooting golden arrows and helping people fall in love. Well, he also had lead arrows in his repertoire, and I bet you can guess what they did. He shot Apollo with a golden arrow and Daphne with a lead one. Apollo saw Daphne and immediately fell in love. Daphne saw Apollo, and the lead arrow had the opposite effect.

Apollo raced after Daphne through the forest, madly in love. Daphne pleaded with her father, Penues, the River God, to free her from Apollo.

If you start from Apollo’s back right and walk around the statue counter-clockwise, you’ll see Daphne’s metamorphosis into a Laurel tree. The statue group was designed to be placed in the center of the room and be viewed in motion.

Apollo, in turn, used his power of eternal youth, and this is the reason that Laurel’s trees are evergreen!

You can actually learn the detailed story from walking around the sculpture (you’ve got to do it for yourself in person).

The Colonna Gallery (the Versaille of Rome)

A real masterpiece of the Roman Baroque and a must-see in Rome, you will find works of art by Pinturicchio, Tintoretto, Cosmè Tura, Carracci, Guido Reni, Salvator Rosa, Bronzino, Guercino, and Vanvitelli.

I highly recommend you include Palacio Colonna or the Colonna Gallery in your art trip to Italy.

Another must-see during your art trip to Rome. The best part about the Doria Pamphilj Gallery is that it is still under-appreciated and you don’t see many people talking about it on social media. This means the tickets are pretty affordable and the gallery is way less crowded.

Also if you are a Rococo lover, you can’t skip on this one.

You can grab your entry ticket here .

You can grab a ticket that allows you access to the Roman National Museum with access to Palazzo Altemps, Palazzo Massimo, Baths of Diocletian, and Crypta Balbi for a great price here .

Before entering the palace, take the time to admire the  altana , the corner tower: it is one of the oldest – if not the oldest – in Rome. Inside the building, the  cortile  the inner courtyard, is also beautiful. The loggia covered with frescoes is simply grandiose. The walls and ceilings of the palace are covered with sumptuous Renaissance and Baroque frescoes!

Among the emblematic statues and historical remains on display at the Palazzo Altemps, be sure to have a look at:

• The Ludovisi Gaul (aka The Galatian Suicide)
• The Ludovisi Ares (restored by Bernini)
• The Ludovisi Battle sarcophagus
• The Ludovisi Throne
• The Ludovisi Dionysus
• The Juno Ludovisi

The Villa Farnesina is a Renaissance suburban villa in the Via della Lungara, in the district of Trastevere in Rome, central Italy. Built between 1506 and 1510 for Agostino Chigi, the Pope’s wealthy Sienese banker, it was a novel type of suburban villa, subsidiary to his main Palazzo Chigi in the city.

Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola

The place of the infinite mirror selfie that you see all over Pinterest and Instagram. The ceiling of this church is majestic. And the entry requires no ticket. I highly recommend you go see it during your art trip to Italy.

Chiostro del Bramante (café in a museum)

A very colorful and Instagramable place that I would’ve loved to visit in Rome. It’s a stunning café inside a contemporary museum that would be super fun to hang out at. So do not skip it on your next art trip.

If you are planning an art trip to Italy, make sure you start from Rome and stay longer enough in the city. You should also make sure to book your tickets beforehand to avoid wasting your time waiting in lines. I hope this blog post was helpful and I hope you find the inspiration you seek to enjoy creating <3

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The best art tours in Florence (with prices) – Renaissance Masterpieces

Florence , the cradle of the Renaissance, is the place to be for art lovers. The city itself feels like an outdoor museum, and you’ll most likely need weeks to admire its beauty. The gorgeous Italian city is home to loads of iconic landmarks and masterpieces, and you can feel lost if you don’t pre-plan your visits. Therefore, to avoid that, I narrowed down the best art tours in Florence  and included their prices.

So, before starting with the best Florence art tours, I’d like to tell you that you can, of course, visit every place mentioned in this guide independently. However, many of the tours you’ll see below are guided tours. The reason is that a guided tour will give you a better insight into the places you visit. Moreover, these art tours in Florence guarantee that you’ll skip the line. If you decide to visit a museum or landmark spontaneously, you’ll probably have to queue for hours.

Therefore, it’s always better to pre-book your art tours or at least your skip-the-line ticket. Otherwise, you might lose valuable vacation time. That said, guided tours to the best art museums in Florence and skip-the-line tickets are this guide’s focus.

So, let’s start now with the best art tours you can take right now in Florence, Italy.

Table of Contents

*Some of the links are affiliate links. It means that if you buy something, I might earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

The best art tours in Florence (with prices)

The uffizi gallery tour.

The Uffizi Gallery is probably the most iconic museum in Florence. Considered one of the first modern museums, the Uffizi is famous worldwide for hosting masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance. Located next to the Piazza della Signoria and close to Ponte Vecchio in Florence’s historical center, the museum is a must-see for your Florence vacation.

You’ll sometimes have to book months in advance to get a ticket. For many people, that’s the best art museum in Florence and, therefore, the most desired one. Moreover, all tickets are timed, meaning you’ll have to enter at a specific timeframe. If you’d like to visit the gallery on your own, you can pre-book your Uffizi ticket here .

For the art lovers among us, there are plenty of guided tours that guarantee an excellent experience. Every Uffizi guided tour will offer you loads of info about Renaissance masters like Michelangelo or Botticelli and is provided by professional guides. Moreover, a small group tour means you’ll interact better with your guide. Plus, you’ll skip the line and enter straight inside.

Duration : 2-4 hours (depending on what you’ll choose) .

Price : from 29 euros up to 69 euros .

How to book : Book here the Uffizi Gallery small group tour .

*Private tours* : There are also several private guided tours to Uffizi. The best one currently costs 115 euros per person and lasts 2 1/2 hours. You can book a private tour to Uffizi here .

Explore the Florence Cathedral & The Opera del Duomo Museum

That’s one of the most action-packed art tours in Florence. Florence is home to a world-famous Cathedral called Santa Maria del Fiore. Your guided tour will start here, and you’ll learn everything about the Baptistery of Saint John. Then, you’ll enter the Florence Duomo to admire the mosaics and the Crypt of Santa Raparata. Later, you’ll visit the Opera del Duomo Museum, which hosts masterpieces like Michelangelo’s Pieta and Donatello’s Maria Maddalena .

Duration : 2-3 hours .

Price : from 69 euros per person .

How to book : Book here the Duomo tour .

Leonardo Interactive Museum (skip the line)

Visiting the Leonardo Interactive Museum is one of the most original things to do in Florence. Just a few steps away from the Accademia Gallery, the Leonardo Interactive Museums hosts fifty machines based on the codes of Leonardo Da Vinci . You can actually interact with most of these machines and figure out how they work and what’s their purposes. It’s such a fascinating experience: you won’t have every day the opportunity to -somehow- explore the brain of a genius.

The museum has four distinct sections: earth , water , fire , and air . Moreover, you will also see some of Leonardo’s original paintings and sketches. Last but not least, several multimedia stations and displays will inform you about his life and work. Waiting times are long, and pre-booking is a must.

Duration : 50 minutes .

Price : from 8 euros per person .

How to book : Book here your Leonardo Interactive Museum ticket .

Michelangelo’s David entrance ticket

Michelangelo’s David is probably the most iconic sculpture of Florentine art. Once a symbol of civil liberties for the Republic of Florence, the Biblical hero David became almost a synonym of the Italian Renaissance. A timed entry ticket to Accademia Gallery will give you access to the impressive statue. Still, there’s more Michelangelo to admire: “The Prisoners” and “St. Matthew” are also within the Accademia’s premises.

What’s also important is that, unlike other museums, you can spend as much time as you want here. Well, I think I shouldn’t repeat it, but I’ll do it: the waiting times are very long. The ticket guarantees you skip the line and proceed straight into the Accademia.

Duration : Valid for 1 day .

Price : from 19,50 euros per person .

How to book : Book here your Accademia ticket .

*Guided Tour : You can, of course, book a guided tour of the Accademia and learn everything about its exhibits. The tour lasts 1-2 hours, and prices start from 33 euros per person. You can book here the guided Accademia tour .

Florence in a nutshell: Florence Walking Tour with Accademia & Uffizi

Now, if you are on a short visit to Florence , you might consider taking this guided tour. As its name suggests, it’s a guided Florence walking tour that will take you through the city, and your guide will share info about every place you see. Moreover, you’ll have access to both Uffizi and Accademia (skip-the-line tickets included).

That’s a pricier option, but you’ll see plenty of things in a short time. So, if you’re on a day trip to Florence, that’s the art tour you should book.

Duration : 1 to 4 hours (depending on what you choose) .

Price : it currently starts from 117 euros per person .

How to book : Book this combo tour here .

Explore the Pitti Palace (Palazzo Pitti)

The Palazzo Pitti is one of the most iconic works of Filippo Brunelleschi , dating back to 1458. Once the home of the powerful Medici family , this Renaissance palace nowadays hosts an impressive art collection. The Medicis managed to acquire several masterpieces, and among the exhibits, you’ll see works from Caravaggio, Titia, Rubens, and Raphael.

Specifically, the Pitti Palace hosts the Palatine Gallery (16th and 17th-century art) on its first floor and the Royal Apartments, presenting furnishings from a 19th-century remodeling. On the other hand, on the second floor of the Palazzo, you’ll find the Gallery of Modern Art.

As is the case in Florence art tours, you’ll have to enter the Palazzo Pitti at a specific timeslot.

Duration : The ticket is valid for 1 day .

Price : from 16 euros per person .

How to book : Book here your Palazzo Pitti ticket .

*Guided tour : You can also book a guided tour to Palazzo Pitti, Palatina Gallery, and the adjacent Boboli Gardens. The tour lasts 3 hours and currently costs 83 euros per person. You can book this combo tour here .

Stroll around the Boboli Gardens

Straight behind the Palazzo Pitti, you’ll find the Boboli Gardens. Designed for -surprise, surprise- the Medici family, the Boboli Gardens is one of the earliest examples of Italian gardens. That’s an open-air museum full of Renaissance statues and fountains. Apart from these, you’ll also come across the Grotta del Buontalenti, an artificial cave filled with stalactites and stalagmites and statues of Roman goddesses, sheep, and shepherds.

Duration : the ticket is valid for 1 day .

Price : from 11,20 euros per person .

How to book : Book your ticket for the Boboli Gardens .

Palazzo Vecchio (small guided tour)

If you can’t have enough of the Medici family, taking a tour of Palazzo Vecchio is a great idea. This guided tour is all about art and history, where the lives of the Medicis connect to famous artworks. The building is stunning, featuring decorated ceilings and frescoes, while statues by Michelangelo and Donatello seem to supervise everything.

There’s also a room filled with ancient maps -and through them, you’ll learn a lot about the powerful Medici family. A visit to Palazzo Vecchio feels like a history lesson, and time-traveling in a past era will show how life unfolded once upon a time in Florence. Plus, you’ll learn the story of a secret fresco created by Leonardo da Vinci…

Duration : 2 hours .

Price : from 47 euros .

How to book : Book the small group tour to Palazzo Vecchio .

The best art tours in Florence: final thoughts

Apart from admiring the city’s beauty, most travelers visit Florence as part of their education. The impressive city of the Renaissance hosts an impressive number of architectural and artistic masterpieces. After visiting Florence a couple of times, I can assure you there’s never enough time to see everything. However, carefully planning your journey to Florence will help you navigate the city and see as much as possible.

The Florence art tours mentioned in this guide will give a good impression of the city’s treasures. If you are into Renaissance art history and would love to see as much as possible, pre-book your entry tickets or guided tours. The waiting lines are long, and it’s a pity to queue for hours only to find that there are no tickets left. So, plan your visit and enjoy this spectacular city.

More about Florence : Facts about Florence & the best boutique hotels , Florence travelogue

More Italian guides : Best Chianti tours from Siena , Catania travel guide , Catania wine tours , Pienza guide , Ponte dell’Accademia

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Last Updated on December 2, 2023 by George Pavlopoulos

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Hi, I'm Alexandra Korey and with this blog, which has been online since 2004, my goal is to make art accessible. I'm originally from Toronto, Canada, but live in Florence, Italy where I put my PhD in art history to use as a communications consultant, blogger and photographer.

Let's explore Italy

On this blog you can find almost 20 years of articles about art, travel and life in Italy! Start here to explore by areas: Florence, Tuscany, Rome, and the Rest of Italy.

Where to see Renaissance art in Florence away from the crowds

La specola has reopened: what to expect at florence’s natural history museum, florence museum news 2024, an art historian’s approach to things to do in naples, italy, fiesole: the complete guide, the latest articles.

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Exploring Italy undoubtedly means being breathless in front of the beautiful cities that have their roots in antiquity and at the same time get excited in front of medieval villages or coastal cities with a unique charm.

Exploring Italy undoubtedly means being breathless in front of the beautiful cities that have their roots in antiquity and at the same time get excited in front of medieval villages or coastal cities with a unique charm. 

Sea, mountains, forests, plains, and many more , even metropolises although different from those of America or Asian megalopolises. Great cities, made up of ancient and modern histories that blend, historic centers of great prestige and urban peripheries where life can also be difficult but where you rarely get bored or don't help each other, this is also Italy. 

A face of Italy that can be a starting point on which to dwell and deepen. 

Five are the most loved cities by visitors (and for this reason also the most chosen) of Italy more or less since ever, and this for different reasons: Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples, and Milan. 

Rome, the eternal city, endless with the charm of the old

Rome is certainly one of the most visited and loved cities by tourists in Italy. It may be for its image as the capital of one of the oldest empires in Europe or even just for its countless monuments. It seems in fact that at every step the visitor to Rome always has some wonder to look at, discover or learn about, making these beauties seem truly endless. 

Ruins, Churches, Temples, Arches of Triumph and not only that, even dreamy noble architecture and that typical Italian elegance that makes Rome "a good living room, a great museum to cross on tiptoe" as Alberto Sordi, one of the greatest interpreters of Italian cinema, said. Definitely one of the cities in the world to visit at least once in a lifetime. 

And then Rome, a city full of surprises and treasures hidden in every corner; in fact, every time you go around the city with a tourist map, this becomes only a faint indication because it is the city that overwhelms us with all the energy of its paths, even those that are off the beaten track. 

You begin to notice churches and palaces, squares and streets even outside the mainstream and all this increases the desire to get lost, to explore, to enter a different world. You are landing on planet Rome, a place suspended timelessly between a glorious past and (hopefully) an increasingly bright future.

Florence, the city of the Renaissance and "impossible" architecture

Florence. Among all Italian cities, this is probably the most "human scale", where every street, square, or building is always comfortable to the eye and never excessively monumental, according to the construction methods of the Renaissance. 

The city is the daughter of this extraordinary period of Italian history; a time when, in a relatively short period, it presented the world with some of the greatest artists and architects in European and Western history. In less than 130 years there was an unspeakable exploit of beauty and genius with an enormous contribution that this city made to Italy and the world.

Think of Donatello, Brunelleschi, or Botticelli among these illustrious citizens, but also Masaccio, Michelangelo, Raphael, or Leonardo da Vinci who, even if they were not born in the city, have given great prestige with their presence and their works.   

Think of the architectures considered impossible to realize by the engineering of the time, such as the great dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Never before were such heights and greatnesses reached in supporting what was a true prodigy of architecture: we are talking about the very first years of the 1400s when Filippo Brunelleschi thought of an innovative double dome, self-supporting during construction, which quickly became one of the most important constructive works ever built in Italy. 

Venice, the embrace with its lagoon and its millenary art

It only takes a few minutes inside to understand how its beauty is infinitely different from that of other cities. Hundreds of small islands embraced by the Venetian Lagoon are what support all this charm and gracefulness from over 2 thousand years of history, 1100 of which passed as the capital of a thriving autonomous entity: the Serenissima Republic of Venice.

Besides the Serenissima, it is also known as the Dominant or the Queen of the Adriatic. This is because it was a great political innovation, a form of government that still did not exist in the rest of Italy.

Its economic greatness, together with a series of other factors, allowed the development of a "Renaissance" of the arts that were very different from that of Florence.

Here, both because of the different relationships with foreign countries and because of climatic factors different from those in Tuscany, there developed what we know today as the Venetian school of color, in which painters had gathered the plastic lesson of Donatello enriched by the archaeological knowledge of Mantegna and above all by the oil painting of Antonello da Messina. Even today is known at least among scholars of art its opposition to Florence (city of the drawing), in short, you just have to get lost in the great city of painting and color. 

Naples, the city of cosmopolitan culture bathed by the sea

Surely a city with an ancient history, thousands of years, founded by Greek settlers on a fertile area for the presence of Vesuvius , lush nature, and swept by the wind and the sea. Besides being poetic and aesthetic, its sea has been a very important resource for the economic growth of the city and trade. Just think that first, the Greeks and then the Romans were great masters of the sea, connoisseurs, and creators of specific trade routes with the then known world. 

Today if you walk around the streets of the old town you can see how this great culture has remained perfectly preserved in the structure of the city. It is enough to imagine that the ancient Greek layout and even parts of the ancient city walls that protected the city, can still be seen today in Piazza Bellini , in a good state of preservation. 

The vertical stratification of Naples shows us all the populations that have inhabited or dominated this place among Greeks, Romans, Angevins, Aragonese, Spaniards, Poles. The streets of Naples are teeming with buildings in which you can see fusions of styles and artistic currents. Choose Naples if you want to lose yourself in one of the oldest cosmopolitan cities in the world. 

Milan, the Italian metropolis that never sleeps

Finally, here we are in Milan , the city where modern architecture blends with the ancient. The city of fashion, design, business, and Leonardo da Vinci . Yes, because in this city there is one of the most iconic works of the great Tuscan master: we are talking about the refectory of the church of Santa Maria Delle Grazie, also known as "The Last Supper". 

It is certainly the economic and financial center of the country with its cutting-edge infrastructure and its professionals coming from all over Italy and the world. Milan, however, is not the only economy, but it can also be considered a city of art on a par with the others. This is due to the presence of wonderful ancient and modern museum collections, just to mention: Pinacoteca di Brera, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Museums of Castello Sforzesco (where is the Pietà Rondanini by Michelangelo), the Gallery of Modern Art GAM, the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, the Museum of the Opera del Duomo, the Hangar Bicocca and many others.

Choose Milan if you want to immerse yourself in the history of this country through a modern, fresh and multicultural approach.

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Italoblog » Travel ideas » Italy in Winter: Weather, Tips and What to Wear

Italy in Winter: Weather, Tips and What to Wear

Italy in winter offers a unique and unforgettable experience. From snow-capped mountains to festive celebrations and culinary delights, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. So, bundle up, embrace the magic of the season, and discover the hidden gems of this beautiful country.

Italy is a country renowned for its rich history, breathtaking landscapes and exquisite cuisine. While many travelers flock to Italy during the summer months, winter offers a unique charm that makes it an equally enticing time to visit. Here are several compelling reasons why winter is a great time to explore Italy.

Fewer Tourists

Affordable travel, mild weather, unique festivals and events, culinary delights, enjoying italy’s art and culture, outdoor activities, authentic local experiences.

One of the most significant advantages of visiting Italy in winter is the reduced number of tourists. Major cities like Rome, Florence and Venice , which are typically bustling with visitors during the summer, become much quieter in the colder months . 

This means shorter lines at popular attractions , allowing you to fully appreciate the beauty and history of sites like the Colosseum and the Vatican Museums without the usual crowds. Even during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays , the number of visitors pales in comparison to the summer peak season.

Winter travel in Italy often comes with significant savings. With fewer tourists, many hotels and restaurants lower their prices, making it an excellent opportunity for budget-conscious travelers . Discounts can be found on accommodations, flights and even tours. 

However, it’s essential to check the availability of specific hotels, as some may close during the off-season for maintenance , particularly in tourist-heavy areas like the Amalfi Coast and Cinque Terre.

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Italy’s winter weather varies from region to region , but many areas enjoy relatively mild temperatures . 

Southern regions like Sicily can see daytime highs around 55 °F (13 °C) in January and February, making it a pleasant escape from colder climates. 

In contrast, Northern regions , such as the Alps, offer winter sports opportunities , attracting skiers and snowboarders. While it may be chilly, the weather is often manageable, allowing for comfortable exploration of cities and towns.

Winter in Italy is a season filled with vibrant festivals and cultural events . The Christmas season transforms cities into magical wonderlands adorned with festive lights and decorations. Visitors can enjoy Christmas markets , such as the Obej Obej market in Milan or the stalls in Florence’s Piazza Santa Croce, where local artisans showcase their crafts.

 Additionally, the celebration of Epiphany on January 6 features parades and the traditional figure of the “Befana”, a witch-like old woman who brings gifts to children.

As winter progresses, cities prepare for Carnevale, a lively festival characterized by elaborate masks and costumes. Venice’s Carnevale is particularly famous, drawing visitors from around the world to partake in the festivities. This unique cultural experience provides insight into Italian traditions and allows travelers to engage with locals in a festive atmosphere.

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Winter is an excellent time to indulge in Italy’s culinary offerings. The colder months bring hearty comfort foods to the forefront , such as rich risottos, warming soups and delectable pastries. Many regions host food festivals celebrating local specialties , providing an opportunity to enjoy authentic Italian cuisine. 

Cooking classes are also popular during this season , allowing visitors to learn how to prepare traditional dishes and take a piece of Italy home with them.

Soups and Stews

• Minestrone: A thick vegetable soup packed with beans, pasta, and vegetables.
• Ribollita: A Tuscan bean soup with bread, kale, and a touch of white wine.
• Ossobuco: A veal shank braised in a rich tomato sauce with vegetables.
• Cacciatore: A rustic stew featuring rabbit or chicken with tomatoes, onions, and herbs.

Pasta Dishes

• Tortellini in brodo: A classic Italian soup with meat-filled pasta dumplings.
• Pappardelle al cinghiale: A hearty pasta dish with wild boar sauce.
• Risotto alla Milanese: A creamy saffron risotto with bone marrow.

Main Courses

• Polenta: A cornmeal porridge often served with meat sauces or cheeses.
• Cotoletta alla Milanese: A breaded veal cutlet similar to a Milanese-style schnitzel.
• Arrosto di maiale: Roasted pork with a crispy crust and flavorful seasoning.

• Panforte: A traditional Italian fruit and nut cake.
• Torrone: A nougat candy made with honey, almonds, and other nuts.
• Pandoro: A sweet bread shaped like a star.

With fewer tourists around, winter is an ideal time to immerse yourself in Italy’s rich art and culture. Major museums , such as the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and the Vatican Museums in Rome, offer a more relaxed experience , allowing for a deeper appreciation of the masterpieces housed within their walls. Rainy days can be spent exploring the countless churches, galleries and theaters that Italy has to offer, including catching a performance at Milan’s La Scala or Rome’s Teatro Olimpico.

The Magic of Italian Opera: A Guide to Theaters and Performances

Italian opera blends drama, art, and music into an immersive experience, reflecting Italy’s soul.

For those who enjoy the outdoors, winter in Italy provides a range of activities. The Dolomites and the Alps are perfect for skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing , while the coastal areas offer stunning winter hikes with breathtaking views. 

The Amalfi Coast, although quieter, retains its beauty, allowing for peaceful walks along the coastline without the summer crowds.  The mild winter temperatures make it possible to explore charming towns like Positano and Ravello at a leisurely pace.

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Visiting Italy in winter allows for a more authentic experience of local life . With fewer tourists, it’s easier to connect with residents and experience the culture as it is lived daily. Enjoying a leisurely meal at a local trattoria or sipping hot chocolate in a historic café provides a glimpse into the Italian way of life. Moreover, winter is a time when locals are more likely to engage in conversation , offering insights into their traditions and customs.

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