Luxury painting holiday with lessons in Tuscany staying in Chianti
This 6-night fly-drive holiday begins in Pisa where you collect your hire car before heading to the Chianti region south of Florence. Your base for this holiday is Villa le Barone, a charming Tuscan villa within walking distance of the village of Panzano in Chianti. The hotel is situated in the countryside with views from the grounds of the inspiring local landscape, of fruit trees, olives, vines and wooded, rolling hills. The garden is a delight throughout the year with its abundant rose bushes, chestnut trees, hydrangeas, olive trees, lavender and cypress. Flower arrangements greet the guest in both the public rooms and the bedrooms. As the warmth of the high summer changes to the cooler Tuscan autumn, the hues of the ivy that clads the historic villa change from green to red. This scenery and landscape reflect the inspiration that your painting tutor finds too. Sabine Blomqvist, your painting teacher, has a passion for watercolours and will share her knowledge with you. Sabine, originally from Finland, studied in Helsinki and then lived in Florence. Her style is expressive and contemporary, and her paintings are colourful. She has participated in exhibitions in many countries and her paintings can be found in private and public collections in Europe, America and Asia. In this painting holiday of six nights, we include three 3-hourly painting sessions with Sabine. This gives you ample time to practise on your own, and to gain inspiration locally from walking in the surrounding countryside, visiting nearby Florence or Siena or relaxing in the fragrant gardens at Villa le Barone. Also, during the holiday you’ll be treated to the history of the villa and gardens from the owners. We don’t include dinner, but you can dine at the hotel or in restaurants nearby. At the end of the holiday, you return your hire-car to Pisa airport.
Highlights
Panzano • Chianti
It was an excellent holiday - due to excellent planning on your side. Super efficient, very professional.Mrs F, Holiday to Norway, Oct 2023
Holiday price guide Prices are per person based on two people sharing a double or twin room for 6 nights.
From about
£1,990 fly-drive
Holiday Code FHIT23
The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.
Call us on 01392 441245
Luxury painting holiday with lessons in Tuscany staying in Chianti
Start your holiday with a flight from the UK to Pisa. We include flights with British Airways from London Heathrow to Pisa. Collect your hire-car at the airport and then it’s a drive of about an hour and a half to your first hotel in the Chianti Classico region, south of Florence. The hotel’s restaurant is available for dinner (not included).
You have a total of five whole days in Chianti to take inspiration from your enchanting surroundings, both at the hotel, in the grounds and from the countryside that unfurls before you. In this time, you will have three separate 3-hour watercolour painting lessons with your tutor, Sabine Blomqvist. These will take place in consultation with Sabine and you will know the schedule before you arrive at the hotel. The rest of the time, two days and three half-days, is your own. There are activities and relaxation both close to base and further afield. At the hotel you have the colourful gardens to relax it, the swimming pool, a tennis court and bikes that can be rented. On your doorstep are several hikes into the olive groves, vineyards and fields that surround the hotel. Florence is about 40 minutes’ drive and holds countless artistic sights from the Uffizi to the Accademia. Siena with its clusters of palazzos, towers and churches is about 50 minutes’ drive away. In addition to these major attractions, there are villas and gardens to be visited, wineries and wine-tasting and off-the-beaten-track delights such as the Chianti sculpture park, the Museum of Sacred Art in San Casciano Val di Pesa, the Museo San Pietro in Colle Val d’Elsa and the Museum of Sacred Art in Greve in Chianti. Also, during your stay, you will hear the history of Villa le Barone and its garden, from the owners. Other optional activities at the hotel include wine-tasting and a cookery lesson. Your painting holiday at the Villa le Barone will delight, not just with the watercolour painting skills you should acquire, but as a means to enrichen your acquaintance with authentic Tuscany.
Today, depending on the time of your flight, check-out after breakfast and make your way to Pisa. Drop off your car at the airport before taking your flight back to the UK.
It was an excellent holiday - due to excellent planning on your side. Super efficient, very professional.Mrs F, Holiday to Norway, Oct 2023
Holiday price guide Prices are per person based on two people sharing a double or twin room for 6 nights.
From about
£1,990 fly-drive
Holiday Code FHIT23
The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.
Our prices include
● Scheduled return flights with British Airways from London to Pisa return
● Hire of a Group B car for the duration of the holiday
● 6 nights’ bed and breakfast in a classic room at Villa le Barone, Panzano in Chianti
● Three x 3-hourly watercolour painting lessons with watercolour paper, paints and brushes provided
● Hear the story of the villa and gardens from the owners
● Concierge service and Expressions Holidays regional helpful hints
Additional information
Dates
This holiday can be arranged throughout the year. Additional nights can be added at any point on this itinerary. Timings can vary depending on the month and day of the week.
Call us on 01392 441245
It was an excellent holiday - due to excellent planning on your side. Super efficient, very professional.Mrs F, Holiday to Norway, Oct 2023
Holiday price guide Prices are per person based on two people sharing a double or twin room for 6 nights.
From about
£1,990 fly-drive
Holiday Code FHIT23
The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.
Our prices include
• Scheduled return flights with British Airways from London to Pisa return
• Hire of a Group B car for the duration of the holiday
• 6 nights’ bed and breakfast in a classic room at Villa le Barone, Panzano in Chianti
• Three x 3-hourly watercolour painting lessons with watercolour paper, paints and brushes provided
• Hear the story of the villa and gardens from the owners
• Concierge service and Expressions Holidays regional helpful hints
The journey and how you get there There are flights from Heathrow and Gatwick to Pisa with British Airways several times a day. From Pisa it’s a drive of about 90 minutes to your first hotel.
Additional information
Dates
This holiday can be arranged throughout the year. Additional nights can be added at any point on this itinerary. Timings can vary depending on the month and day of the week.
Call us on 01392 441245
Luxury painting holiday with lessons in Tuscany staying in Chianti
Special offers
Call to make your booking and save an extra £50 per adult Call us instead of emailing us when you are thinking of booking a holiday and save an extra £50 per adult (in addition to any special offers that might be available). We want to talk to you to discuss your requirements and a phone call is usually the best way for you to define what you want enabling us to respond more accurately. We want to talk to you and you save an extra £50 per adult.
It was an excellent holiday - due to excellent planning on your side. Super efficient, very professional.Mrs F, Holiday to Norway, Oct 2023
Holiday price guide Prices are per person based on two people sharing a double or twin room for 6 nights.
From about
£1,990 fly-drive
Holiday Code FHIT23
The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.
Our prices include
• Scheduled return flights with British Airways from London to Pisa return
• Hire of a Group B car for the duration of the holiday
• 6 nights’ bed and breakfast in a classic room at Villa le Barone, Panzano in Chianti
• Three x 3-hourly watercolour painting lessons with watercolour paper, paints and brushes provided
• Hear the story of the villa and gardens from the owners
• Concierge service and Expressions Holidays regional helpful hints
The journey and how you get there There are flights from Heathrow and Gatwick to Pisa with British Airways several times a day. From Pisa it’s a drive of about 90 minutes to your first hotel.
Additional information
Dates
This holiday can be arranged throughout the year. Additional nights can be added at any point on this itinerary. Timings can vary depending on the month and day of the week.
Call us on 01392 441245
Luxury painting holiday with lessons in Tuscany staying in Chianti
About Tuscany
An Expressions tailor-made holiday in Tuscany allows you to appreciate its classical landscape of rolling hills and vineyards dotted with olive and cypress trees, its misty green-grey mountains that are never too far distant, and hill-top towns of rich brown and gold stone houses. This combines with the beauty of the works of art contained in the towns and villages throughout Tuscany to create an inspirational union of the spirit and the senses. There is an intrinsic comfort in the supposed contrast between the delicacy of a Botticelli and the heartiness of Ribollita soup, yet both are typical of this fascinating region. As birthplace of the Renaissance, the impact of Tuscan and particularly Florentine traditions and culture on European heritage is fundamental to our way of life. In addition to the obvious attractions of the scenery of Chianti and the art cities of Florence and Siena, there are the less well-known regions south of Siena with its moon-like landscape of hills, the patchwork vineyards of Montalcino, the coastal marshlands of the Maremma, the spas of Montecatini and Saturnia, the islands of Elba and Giglio, and the Casentino with the source of the Arno and abundant mushroom crops. Wherever you travel on holiday in Tuscany, you will be inspired by the beauty of your surroundings and the way of life, which is quintessentially that of Italy too.
Highlights of Tuscany
Famous vineyards producing wines of Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Alabaster is produced in Volterra. Gold and silver are worked in Florence and the Ponte Vecchio is lined with jewellery shops. Marbled paper and stationery is a speciality of Florence. Ceramics and hand-painted majolica from raw terracotta from Impruneta to the glazed pottery of Siena are to be found throughout Tuscany. Lucca has traditionally produced silk and hand-woven fabrics. Leather goods including shoes, handbags and belts are to be found from market stalls to designer shops such as Gucci and Ferragamo. Interesting markets include the Mercato dell' Antiquariato which sells furniture from antiques to bric-a-brac in Arezzo on the first weekend of every month, in Pisa on the second weekend and in Lucca on the third weekend. The 'wild' Maremma is known for its long-horned white cattle and cowboys (butteri) and natural springs including Saturnia.
Cultural highlights of Tuscany
As birthplace of the Renaissance, Tuscany contains a wealth of treasures: Giotto`s Campanile and Brunelleschi`s Dome in Florence, the Tombs of Galileo and Michelangelo in Florence`s Santa Croce, Botticelli`s `Birth of Venus` and `Primavera` and the portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino by Piero della Francesca in the Uffizi, Michelangelo`s `David` in the Accademia, the architecture of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, `The Tuscan Maremma` painting by Giovanni Fattori in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, the Piazza del Campo in Siena, `The Legend of the Cross` frescoes by Piero della Francesco in Arezzo, `The Creation` fresco by Bartolo di Fredi in the Collegiata in San Gimignano, Romanesque church of the Collegiata in San Quirico d`Orcia, 14th Century Fortezza of Montalcino, Renaissance masterpiece of the church of Madonna di San Biagio at Montepulciano, the abbey-church of Sant`Antimo, mediaeval Lucignano and the towers of San Gimignano, the Etruscan Museum in Cortona.
Festivals in Tuscany
Many of Tuscany`s festivals resound with the flamboyance of the Renaissance and keep Tuscans and visitors alike in touch with the region`s rich history. Others are linked to Tuscany`s hearty traditions of eating and drinking. The most famous is Siena`s Palio which takes place on 2 July and 16 August each year. Others include the Sagra del Tordo (Festival of the Thrush) in Montalcino on the last Sunday in October when there is an archery contest and charcoal-grilled thrush are a delicacy. In Florence, Calcio in Costume (a football match played in mediaeval costume) takes place in June. Pisa has the Giocco del Ponte (Game of the Bridge), a mock battle in Renaissance dress also held in June. Viareggio celebrates Carnival on Shrove Tuesday with a huge display of flamboyant floats. In May and August Massa Marittima holds the Falcon Contest.
Gastronomy in Tuscany
Simple country food is at the heart of Tuscan cooking. Regional dishes include Bruschetta (bread or ciabatta toasted and rubbed with garlic, olive oil and salt), Ribollita (bean, cabbage and bread soup), Pasta with hare or wild boar sauce, Porcini mushroom and truffle dishes, Bistecca all Fiorentina (thick cut of sirloin and fillet beef), Cantucci (almond and honey biscuits) served dipped in Vin Santo, Panforte (chocolate, nut and spice cake). Pecorino cheese made from sheep's milk. Local wines include the white Vernaccia di San Gimignano and the Bianco di Pitigliano. Famous reds include Chanti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino and the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Vin Santo made from semi-crushed grapes left for several months is an excellent dessert wine.
