Artviva: The Original and Best Walking Tours Italy has a fantastic team of professional and personable guides in Florence, Tuscany, Venice, Rome...

Artviva: The Original and Best Walking Tours Italy has a fantastic team of professional and personable guides in Florence, Tuscany, Venice, Rome, Cinque Terre and Pompeii as well as super experts from the famous Maurizio Seracini the Da Vinci Code art detective finding a lost Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece in Florence, Italy to the best known Tuscany wine expert Burton Anderson to other great guides and art historians they have collaborated with over the years including Florence guide Silvia , Rome guide Chris , Florence guides Aniko Szabo, Elisabetta Francini, Freya Middleton, Tanya Bruckner, Tuscany and bike guides Stefan Derich, Douglas , Cristine De Mello , Andrea, Venice experts Cynthia Johnson, Jennifer, Rosemary, Louisella, Pompeii guide Gaetano Manfredi, and other Italy guides, Laurence, Paola, Molly, Sara, Suzy, Ros , Paul , to name a few... we are very careful about who we work with providing training and resources for our guides and historians.

Why use a reputable tour operator rather than go direct with a guide....reliability! Artviva is the Original and Best Tours in Italy with internationally acclaimed high quality services and entertaining guided tours. Enjoy your holiday knowing you have the security of a fully accredited tour operator based in Florence, Italy. Experience the best small group tours and exclusive private tours in Florence, Tuscany, Venice, Rome and beyond

Experience the Venetian way of life - Learn to be a Gondolier|

Ever wondered what it would be like to manouver a gondola through the lovely water alleys of Venice?

We glide through Venice's prettiest canals and out into the Venetian lagoon where we will learn how to row a gondola.

Enjoy the chance for fabulous views of Venice from this unique vantage point and don't forget your gondolier hat!

Cruise along winding Tuscan roads on our Vintage 500 Fiat Tour

Imagine being part of a classic old Italian film!

Experience a leisurely escorted driving tour in a vintage Fiat 500 car -we are talking about those cute tiny Italian cars you see in old films!

Enjoy a Half-Day Hike with a Perfect Morning In Tuscany Tour

Enjoy a 2 hour hike through the woods in Fiesole, an ancient Etruscan town that overlooks Florence followed by a lunch at a famous Renaissance Villa where 'Tea With Mussolini' and 'A Room With A View' were filmed!

One Minute Guide To The Uffizi Gallery Florence Italy

Chris Leadbeater from Travelmail has provided this overview of the Uffizi in Florence Italy.
See it in style and with a small group with our Masterpieces of the Uffizi Gallery Tour

"The One Minute Guide To...

The Uffizi Gallery, Florence By Chris Leadbeater, TravelMail

The Uffizi is home to some of the finest treasures of art anywhere in the world
The gallery is as beautiful on the outside as it is from within
What: One of the world's finest art galleries – if not the finest. After all, the Galleria degli Uffizi, to use its full Italian name, has been open to the public as a cultural treasure trove since 1765 – a time when the Louvre was still slumming it as a plain old royal palace. The Uffizi was also one of the key stops on the 'Grand Tour' of Europe – the cross-continental travel route followed by the wealthy and the itchy-of-feet in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. They didn't have budget flights in those days, you see.
Where: Right in the heart of Florence, just up from the River Arno, on the Piazzale degli Uffizi. To be precise, it sits within a Renaissance pile built between 1560 and 1581. The sort of building that looks just as glorious as the art it holds, in other words.
Why go? Well, at this time of year, there is one very good reason to visit. The Uffizi is home to Sandro Botticelli's The Birth Of Venus – the masterpiece, painted some time between 1482 and 1486, that shows the famously lovely deity perched on a shell as she emerges from the sea, nothing but well-positioned strands of her long golden hair preserving her immortal decency. Venus was, of course, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. Valentine's Day is this week. Do you see where we're going here?
Random fact: The world can consider itself fortunate that The Birth Of Venus still exists. It could easily have perished in 1497 during the infamous Bonfire Of The Vanities – the destruction of thousands of priceless works of art and literature on large pyres in the Piazza della Signoria. The purge was ordered by Hieronymus Savonarola, a Dominican priest and the city's then-leader, as a way of ridding Florence of items he deemed impure and sinful. The Birth Of Venus, with its glorification of a pagan icon and – let's face it – blatant nudity, might well have fallen victim to the flames (other works by Botticelli, as well as pieces by Michelangelo certainly did), but somehow survived, possibly because Botticelli had friends in high places with immaculate taste.
Best bit: Unless you're an art historian who wants to argue the matter, Botticelli's chief achievement is the best bit about a visit to the Uffizi. But the gallery's list of showstoppers does not end there. Its walls play host to glories created by Da Vinci, Titian, Caravaggio, Raphael and Michelangelo, as well as other Botticelli numbers..."

New Villa Swim Tour

Fancy lounging by the pool with a glass of wine with a view of the marvelous Tuscan countryside below?

We are now offering visits to private villa where you can choose to spend half a day relaxing by the pool with a light lunch, and alternatively, also lounge by the pool side and join a wine-tasting at the villa with the experts!

New York Times Article Europe Discounts

New York Times still recommends booking now as the reasonable prices make Europe affordable. “Right now, the great deals are for departures before the end of May and some are leaking into mid-June,” said Rick Seaney, chief executive of Farecompare.com, a price tracking website. He recommends that Americans book now for trips to Europe in May or June, but to hold off for flights later in the summer.

See our Super Special Rick Steves Readers Grand Tour of Italy Special DISCOUNTS

Tuscany Bike Tours Review and Information about the new Tuscany Bike Tours and Villa Swim Tours

Here is a review of our Tuscany Bike Tours and an introduction to our new Tuscany Bike Tour and Villa Swim. We are the first company in Italy to offer a day bike tour with a villa swim. If you don’t fancy biking, you can choose to meet family and friends up at the Villa to enjoy with them the wine tasting, walk around the vineyards and olive groves, and lunch. You can laze away the afternoon beside the fabulous pool with stunning views of the Tuscany countryside. Our new Tuscany Bike Tour allows you to just do the bike tour, or take the option to stay at the Villa and laze away the afternoon swimming. The guide then comes back and brings you back to Florence.
The Villa is a magnificent renaissance villa replete with beautiful olive groves, vineyards and ancient hunting grounds. The Villa estate also produces wonderful wine and olive oil.
Book the Original Tuscany Bike Tours or Tuscany Bike Tour and Villa Swim at http://www.italy.artviva.com/

You can also choose to have a day just lazing around the Villa pool with lunch or a wine tasting, Villa visit and lunch with or without a swim, see our site http://www.italy.artviva.com/ for more information.

Spring 2009 Tours Italy-Review Marvelous Chianti Castle Wine Tour Tuscany Italy

Our favorite review so far for 2009

"the epicentre of wonderfulness" said by one of our clients while relaxing over a glass of wine and delicious Tuscan lunch at the castle on our Marvelous Chianti Castle Tour....

and for those that love the Tuscan spring, here's one of the first poppies in Tuscany for 2009!

Concerts July 2009 at La foce, Tuscany Italy

A Wonderful July Concert Series at the Famous La Foce Villa in Southern Tuscany

About La Foce
The property of La Foce lies on the hills overlooking the Val d'Orcia, a beautiful and miraculously intact valley in Southern Tuscany. Midway between Florence and Rome, it is also within easy reach of Siena, Arezzo, Perugia, Assisi, Orvieto.
Renaissance and medieval gems such as Pienza, Montepulciano, Monticchiello and Montalcino are only a few miles away. The countryside abounds in lovely walks among woods and the characteristic crete senesi (clay hills); the food is among the best in Tuscany and famous wines such as the Vino

“Incontri in Terra di Siena” is a not-for-profit cultural association, founded in 1989 in memory of Antonio and Iris Origo, who dedicated their lives to the development and progress of the Val d’Orcia. The Incontri chamber music festival is now recognized as one of the best and most refined in Tuscany.
Incontri is based at Villa La Foce and in a medieval castle nearby, Castelluccio di Pienza. Its aim is to spread the appreciation of music and art through concerts, meetings, and artistic events in the many beautiful venues of Southern Tuscany. Members and donors receive invitations for the many activities – contemporary art exhibitions, conferences, symposia, youth concerts – initiated by Incontri.
The Avalon String Quartet with pianist Alexandros Kapelis The famous zig-zag road visible from Castelluccio
Antonio Lysy, the internationally acclaimed cellist, now also Professor at UCLA, and grandson of Antonio and Iris Origo, is the Incontri’s Artistic Director and its principal founder.
Musicians like Charles Dutoit, Maurizio Pollini, and Hans Werner Henze, among others, are on the Incontri’s Honorary Board, while some of the most interesting and talented artists have played in the Incontri concerts – such as Louis Lortie, Ronan O’Hora, Kathryn Stott, Jeremy Menuhin, Daniel Phillips, Ani Kavafian, Anthony Marwood, Daniel Zisman, Rachel Podger, Mark Kaplan, Lucy Shelton, Stephan Genz, Nicki Kennedy, Steven Isserlis, Carter Brey, Colin Carr, Janet Hilton, Antony Pay, James Campbell, Stephen Stirling, and chamber groups like the Orpheus and Schidlof Quartets, Goldberg Ensemble, Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, Kremlin Chamber Orchestra, Red Priest, and many others.

“The Incontri constitute one of the most enjoyable musical enterprises of the Tuscan summer” — William Weaver, Financial Times

July 22 - 25 2009
The 2009 festival sees the return of Vladimir Ashkenazy and Pascal Rogé and the first visit of The Tallis Scholars. Mr. Ashkenazy will conduct the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto in a programme of music by Prokofiev, Poulenc (soloist Pascal Rogé) and Schoenberg.
Other festival highlights include the legendary Tallis Scholars in the newly restored S.Maria dei Servi in Città della Pieve, a recital by the renowned Irish pianist Barry Douglas, and the return to Incontri of the Italian violinist Domenico Nordio in duo with Russian pianist Mikhail Lidsky.

Wednesday July 22Mercoledì 22 luglio
S. Maria dei Servi, Città della Pieve‘The Tallis Scholars’, conductor Peter Phillips
music by Victoria, Allegri, Palestrina, Monteverdi
Thursday July 23Giovedì 23 luglio

Castelluccio di Pienza, La FoceBarry Douglas, piano
programme to be announced / programma in preparazione

Friday July 24Venerdì 24 luglio



Castelluccio di Pienza, La FoceDomenico Nordio, violin, and Mikhail Lidsky, piano
J.Brahms, Sonata op.78E.Grieg, Sonata no.2A.Dvorak, “Romantic Pieces”L.Dallapiccola, “Tartiniana Seconda”N.Paganini-K.Szymanovsky, Tre Capricci op.40
Saturday July 25Sabato 25 luglio



Villa La Foce, ChiancianoGala Concert in the Lower Gardenwith the Orchestra di Padova e del Venetoconductor Vladimir Ashkenazy - Pascal Rogé, piano
choreography by Alessandra Ashkenazy
Dinner in the Limonaia Garden before the concertCena nel Giardino della Limonaia prima del concerto
Sergei Prokofiev, Sinfonia n.1 in re maggiore 'Classica' op. 25Arnold Schoenberg, Verklärte Nacht, op. 4Francis Poulenc, Aubade per pianoforte, 18 strumenti e tre danzatori

Update


Barry Douglas' concert on July 23rd:

Tchaikovsky, May and June from Les Saisons Op.37b
Rachmaninov, Moment Musical No 5 in D flat
Schumann, Sonata No 1
Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition


For more Information and bookings :

INCONTRI IN TERRA DI SIENA

tel/fax +39 0578 69101

info@itslafoce.org


http://www.itslafoce.org/