Botticelli exhibition in Florence

Day 1 - Arrival
Arrival indepentently in Genoa (private transfer from aiports/stations could be arranged on request) and settlement at your 4*** charming hotel in the historical centre.
Welcome drink. Enjoy a gourmet dinner at a selected restaurant in the historical centre. The food is inspired by the regional tradition, revisited according to dictates of Italian high cuisine, and based on carefully selected ingredients of excellent quality. The specialities are: fresh home-made pasta ("mandilli" with pesto), savoury pies, fish (stockfish, "cappon magro" - a fish and vegetable salad) and its famous chocolate cake. A chance to taste also the outstanding Ligurian D.O.C. wines.

Day 2 - Genoa, guided visit
After a rich breakfast, a selected professional guide will let you discover the beauties of this charming city: Piazza De Ferrari, the beautifully restored San Lorenzo cathedral, the Church of San Matteo, the medieval historical centre, Via Garibaldi with its numerous 16th-century Palazzi, among them the Palazzo Rosso (inside visit), housing many paintings (including works by Caravaggio).
Your guide will leave you at a wine bar, where you will have the chance to taste the outstanding Ligurian wines, such as Cinque Terre and Sciacchetrà. Tasting will be accompanied by a little snack.
Afternoon at disposal for you to spend as you wish. See our suggestions below. For dinner we will be glad to suggest you some good restaurants.  

Day 3 - Genoa, 
Your stay in Genoa is free to spend as you wish. Explore on your own the largest medieval quarter in Europe and visit the extraordinary historical Palazzi of this enchanting city. Or simply go for a walk in the Old Port area, where also the famous Aquarium is situated. In the summer you can also spend a day on excursion by boat to the world-famous Portofino, or we can help with car rental.

With your "Genova Card" you will be able to enter one of the 11 exhibitions, all the museums, the Aquarium and use all the public means of transport within the city.

Events Genoa
* "The Age of Rubens"  at Palazzo Ducale. A breathtaking experience, a unique opportunity to see the collections that once decorated the great seventeenth-century Genoese residences reunited, and to cross the thresholds of the most beautiful rooms of these palazzi. Over a hundred or so works, including painting, tapestries and extraordinary silverware, have been gathered in Genova from museums around the world, to evoke the personalities of some of the greatest Genoese collectors and patrons. Exhibition includes works by Rubens, Van Dyck, Tintoretto, Brueghel, Caravaggio, Strozzi, Titian, Veronese and others.

* Mandylion. Around the Sacred Face  at Museo Diocesano. With the Sacro Volto or Mandylion, housed and venerated for over six centuries in the church of San Bartolomeo degli Armeni, Genova not only possesses one of the most ancient images which have come down to us from the Byzantine world, but also an object undeniably tied to the historic events of the city from the late Middle Ages to the modern era.

* Transatlantic Ocean Liners  at the Sea and Navigation Museums. A journey back in time to explore the life of an adventurer or an emigrant. A particularly emotional trip, which presents itself with a direct and efficient approach, with films and images of steamship departures at the end of the nineteenth century.

Should you be interested in receving the complete calendar of events or theatre programme (operas and concerts) do not hesitate to ask us.

Day 4 - Departure
Breakfast and check-out. Should you have enough time before leaving, we will be pleased to suggest you further visits. Transfer to the airport/station to be arranged on request. Arrivederci!    

Day 1 - Wednesday
Arrival in Castelrotto in the Siusi Alp area. Transfer from the airport/station is not included but can be arranged on request. Theoretical conference on the herbs theme held by   a herbs expert - about 2 hours in the late afternoon.
Welcome fine dinner at the hotel.

Day 2 - Thursday
After a rich breakfast possibility of joining an optional guided excursion  to the medieval Presule Castle, a typical fortress of the time of Emperor Maximilian and one of the most important and evocative buildings of the whole Tyrol. Among the attractions of the castle, the collection of historical 19th century weapons from all over the world, which even includes a samurai armour. On the way back stop in Fiè allo Sciliar and short visit to this enchanting village. Light lunch at the castle or along the way back.
In the late afternoon your herb course goes on: study of the herbs preparation for following uses about 2 hours 
* preparation of a herb oil
* preparation of a herb ointment
* preparation of a herb tea
Dinner at the hotel.

Day 3 - Friday
Morning at leisure to relax or possibility to join an easy walking excursion . Programme to be decided once at the hotel.
Use of the herbs in the kitchen - about 1 hour in the late afternoon. Dinner at the hotel.

Day 4 - Saturday
The teacher will personally give to the participants the Herb Academy attendance certificate.
Day at leisure to relax or to explore this enchanting region by taking part of the optional excursion to Novacella Abbey, the widest monastery of the whole Tyrol founded in the XII century (1142) as a home for pilgrims travelling to Rome trough Brennero valley. Visit to the Abbey cellars, where wine has been made from local grapes for at least nine centuries and wine tasting with snack (local cheese and speck with bread). The abbey produces all the wines included in the DOC area Valle Isarco and is particularly famous for its Sylvaner. On the way back stop in Bressanone for a short visit to Alto Adige's oldest town and main art centre with its living pedestrian centre.
Gourmet farewell dinner at the hotel.

Day 5 - Sunday
Buffet breakfast and check-out. Transfer to the airport/station is not included but can be arranged on request. Arrivederci!