Tuscany Pretreat Tour
Tuscany Pretreat Tour
October 14–16, 2025
The Tuscany retreat begins on October 17th, 2025. The pretreat starts on October 14. You’ll need lodging starting October 13 to begin the pretreat on October 14th.
If you haven’t already, please consider joining me for the optional pretreat personal tour through Florence, October 14–16. It’s such a highlight of the trip!
In this pretreat, we’ll see the Uffizi, the world’s largest collection of Renaissance art with masterpieces from Botticelli, da Vinci, Michelangelo, etc. We’ll climb to the top of Florence's iconic cathedral, the perfect embodiment of Renaissance innovation to gaze over all of Florence. We’ll also marvel at the marble masterpiece that is Michaelangelo’s The David. Not to mention driving vintage Fiats through the Chianti hills and stopping for a wine tasting in a farm house that was built centuries BEFORE the renaissance.
I’ll arrange all of the tickets and lead you through a personalized tour of this unbeatable city, with all the best trattorias and osterias (some overlooking the entire city), not to mention the BEST shopping and gelaterias.
You’ll arrange and pay for your own lodging (though I have some connections with some lovely apartments for rent I can recommend for you). You’ll also pay for your own food and tickets for all the events but I’ll arrange all the tickets for the events (strangely complicated). Plus, what I find to be a total delight is to tell you the history of this incredible place, from Roman Times to the present, while standing on the exact spots where history was made.
Since the villa hosting our retreat is so close to Florence, we figured it would be a real treat to show you around one of the world’s truly most beautiful, historic, and flavorful cities in the world and let you feel the beating heart of the Renaissance still very much alive today.
So, we have decided to offer a 3-day optional, personally guided “pre-treat” in Florence where we can see the actual The Birth of Venus by Botticelli, The David statue by Michelangelo (a perfect sculpture), Inventions by Leonardo Da Vinci and Galeleo, not to mention the famous Duomo, the breathtaking and inimitable dome of the Cathedral of Florence where you can climb to the top and get up close and personal to the art painted on the ceiling suspended 375 feet from the ground.
We’ve both been to Florence several times, and have acquired a few favorites: best gelato, best paper and book store, best leather store, best pizza, best restaurant, best Italian hot chocolate (or cocktails), best espresso. You’ll see the Uffizi (Italy’s Louvre), ogle Michelangelos and Botticellis and stroll along cobblestone streets of this must-see city.
The price for this optional pre-treat is $300. This covers our personally guided tours to show you the history and the hidden secrets of this beautiful city. Plus, and more importantly, it saves you the headaches of arranging the confusion of getting tickets to the museums and churches (strangely difficult).
You will be responsible to pay for your own food, museum passes, and lodging. We have connections in Florence where we can all stay in a series of apartments (availability pending) and share rooms to economize on lodging. You’re also welcome to book your own lodging. Plus, like I said, I’ll organize our tickets to museums and such so we can avoid that headache. In addition to the $300, I’ll arrange the costs for everything else and you can pay me back for all of that.
Again, this pre-treat is completely optional but please consider joining either just Scott or both of us and let me know ASAP so I can book our rooms and start planning right away.