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SOCIAL EVENTS

Reception

Tuesday 11th March 2008, 18:30
Site: Chiesa di Orsanmichele, Via Calzaiuoli
Registration: Not required

Piano Recital
Please click here for further information

Wednesday 12th March 2008, 19:30
Site: Teatro del Sale, Via Dei Macci, 118/R, Firenze
Registration: Required (cost 35€ including buffet dinner)

Awards Social Dinner

Thursday 13th March 2008, 20:00
Site: Grand Hotel, Piazza Ognissanti 1-3, Firenze
Registration: Required (cost 60€)

Farewell

Friday 14th March 2008, 18:30
Site: Grand Hotel Baglioni
Registration: Not Required

TOURS

Dear Friends,

for those of you visiting Florence for the first time as well as for those on a return trip, we thought it could be useful to suggest some brief itineraries round the city and its surroundings.

To this scope we have devised some short trips such as "Classic Florence" and "Essential Renaissance", some slightly less conventional itineraries such as "Intimate Florence" and "Far from the madding Crowd" and a day excursion to Arezzo as well as an unconventional trip to Siena.

We hope that these guidelines will make your journey to Florence interesting and of course we shall be happy to help you on site, should you require further information.

There are two possible approaches for first timers to Florence. Either you want to see what the world identifies Florence with (such as the Uffizi Gallery, the David, The Cathedral, The Ponte Vecchio, etc.) or you can take a less conventional tour on the trails of the Renaissance, or Quattrocento Fiorentino.

We shall however start by what we have defined Classic Florence which will cover some of the most important monuments of the city whilst allowing you to walk around and get a feel of the place. This itinerary is really meant for those who wish to "cover the sites" and not leave Florence with the sense of not having seen that for which Florence is world famous.

Essential Renaissance is more apt for a public of Architecture lovers. It is largely centered around the work of Filippo Brunelleschi the great architect who, breaking away from tradition and the "guardian" Lorenzo Ghiberti that the city of Florence had placed to watch over him, created a whole new style and invented Renaissance architecture.

Intimate Florence wishes to offer those who do not want to visit the classics, a view on Florence as perceived by its own inhabitants over the centuries. Starting with the Palazzo Davanzati a visitor will get an idea of what it signified to live in a tall medieval Palazzo, what it meant to have a courtyard and a well, where the grain was kept in Florence, what the Guilds represented for the arts and crafts, what Florence looked like through the ages.

Far from the madding Crowd, (hopefully we shall be forgiven by Thomas Hardy!) is an itinerary which speaks for itself. By following this itinerary, you will be able to keep very much to one side of the city without getting mixed up in queues and hoards of turists. It is a very quiet itinerary which perfectly illustrates what was going on thanks to enormous patronage on behalf of the Medici family and what creativity sprung up within the monasteries and workshops which populated the city.

We have chosen Arezzo as our day trip. The little city is beautiful and intact and for some reason rarely visited by turists. The only thing that can make life difficult are the opening tmes of museums and churches. But it is well worth a visit.

As to Siena, most guide books on Tuscany will give you a very good idea of what to visit, however there are a couple of things that are difficult to find or simply do not figure amongst the first things on the average visitor's schedule. We have listed them in the hope you may want to give them a try.