CARRARA
Amazing landscapes for an unforgettable day trip to the MARBLE QUARRIES – ½ day
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A spectacular trip with amazing views, driving through old tunnels initially dug out of the mountains for the railway and the chance to visit three important marble basins in the Apuan Alps: Colonnata, Fantiscritti, Ravaccione. Lunch in a restaurant in Colonnata to taste the local cuisine includine the famous DOP Lardo di Colonnata (pig fat seasoned in herbs in marble vats) and the award-winning wines from the Apuan hills: Candia red and white, Vermentini from Colli di Luni (the hills of Luni).
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LUCCA tour, winetasting and Puccini’s arias.
Traditional flavours for your heart and palate – 7 hours approx.
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Lucca is one of the prettiest fortified cities in Italy, one of the very few walled towns that is still intact today. After a guided tour or a “self-catering” bike tour with map of this fascinating town and a little shopping in the main streets, we will meet in the old cellars of an historical Palace of Lucca to taste some local specialities. Afterwards we will make our way to the beautiful Basilica di San
Giovanni where at seven o’clock well-known soprano and tenor voices will sing the most famous arias of the great master Puccini.
Services Available: Professional guide for town. tour or bicycle with map, Tasting of typical products in old cellars of Lucchese palace, Ticket for Puccini concert
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Art and history in PIETRASANTA
Visit the workshops and watch the artists at work - ½ day
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We will take you to Pietrasanta, a charming medieval town where Michelangelo once sculpted, much loved by many international artists since such as Henry Moore, Mitoraj and Botero. Today the town, also known as the “little Athens”, is the centre for contemporary art. You will visit the workshops and see the process involved in making a piece of sculpture in stone or a mosaic in marble. You will also see the various stages in making a piece of sculpture including clay modeling, the preparation of plaster and wax moulds and the final bronzemaking at the foundry. To finish we will sip on an aperitivo in the cathedral square.
Services Available: Guided tour of sculpture workshop and foundry Aperitivo
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FLORENCE
… never loses its charm – full day
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Via del Parione, corner via Tornabuoni for welcome coffee in one of the oldest and most exclusive bar-chocolate houses in Italy
Visit to the Roberto Capucci Museum set in the Villa Bardini with its magnificent gardens and views of the city. Roberto Capucci’s extraordinary collection of over 400 works of art of contemporary fashion have recently been moved to Florence from Rome and the museum was designed by Architect Michele De Lucchi.
Lunch at a typical restaurant with a long tradition in Fiorentine cuisine with a good selection of Tuscan and national wines
Shopping experience at the famous outlets “The Mall” outside Florence.
Meeting point at the Mall Caffè for drink and return journey (approx. 1 hour 15 mins)
Services Available: transport, professional guides, coffee, lunch, drink, entrance fees
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Lucca: noble villas
lunch or dinner – 6 hours approx.
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You will visit a few of the elegant noble villas around Lucca set in beautiful
olive groves and vineyards: the spectacular baroque style “Torrigiani Santini” with its original Italian gardens with playful fountains; the enormous park and original gardens of the Villa Reale, Princess Elisa Baciocchi Bonaparte’s favourite residence; the extraordinary eighteenth-century Villa Bernardini, whose interiors still house the original furniture and ornaments. At the end of the visit you will enjoy a buffet lunch/dinner with local products at Villa Bernardini.
Services Available : Transport, Entrance to 3 villas, Buffet lunch/dinner with local products and wines
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TREKKING on horseback in the Apuan Alps
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This trekking excursion is a magnificent opportunity to experience one of the most beautiful rides through the Apuan Alps in one of Italy’s most famous natural parks. Here you can be at one with nature high up in the fresh air! You will enjoy a warm welcome in the farmhouse with a drink and short briefing on riding in the Alps. Then you will be shown your horse and taught to saddle up. You will begin if necessary with a short riding lesson in the paddocks before you ride off over mountain paths to enjoy the breathtaking scenery. For lunch you will go back to the guide’s house, gather round the fire and enjoy some genuine Italian home cooking….
Services Available: Transport, Briefing & riding lesson, Horse & Trekking itinerary: Professional guide, drink + lunch
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WINES, VINES & OILS
TUSCANY and its wine and oil
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Tuscany is not just about important brand-name wines, there are also many
small winemakers with small estates who produce excellent, genuine wines
with full earthy flavours as well as tasty oils.
These winemakers often grow vines to produce their own organic wine
according to methods based on the natural potential of the plants, the soil
and the cycle of the moon, without the use of chemical fertilizers. The result is
“healthy”, “sturdy” wines that are a true expression of the land.
Your host will take you around the vineyards and the cellars and tell you all you
want to know about organic farming. To finish you will of course taste the wines,
oil and selected local products.
* One of the selected vineyards is on the way from Lucca down to the coast
and can be combined with a visit to this beautiful walled town.
Services Available: Transport, wine, oil and local products, tasting
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HOME COOKING
“Il tordello”
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To be precise: there are those who call them “tortelli” and those who call them
“ravioli” but traditionally in Versilia they have only one name “Tordelli”. Our
short, entertaining cookery lesson will teach you how to make the dough and
the stuffing for the real “tordelli”. Hands on, roll out the pastry, cut them out
and fill them up and they’re ready to cook..... This is of course a challenge, and
not without risks! However Giuseppina will always save the day and anyway
complete your full 3-course lunch or dinner for the evening with other local
specialities.If there’s any other speciality from Versilia you fancy learning, just say,
Giuseppina knows all the secret recipes.
Services Available: Ingredients for the menu, Dinner 3 courses incl., Recipe sheet, Chef’s hat + apron +notebook
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