The Medici and Florence

Day 1 (Sun, March 2): Arrival

After a long day of travel to Florence, you will be free to relax and settle in until you have a casual group dinner and a short walking tour of the area around the hotel.

Day 2 (Mon, March 3): Villa Le Balze and Introduction to the Medici

After a short stop in Fiesole, you will visit and tour Villa Le Balze and its grounds, where Prof. Astarita will give an introductory lecture. This is followed by lunch at the Villa. We will then tour our host city of Florence – including a visit to the Duomo. We’ll end the day with a welcome dinner in Florence.

Day 3 (Tues, March 4): The Early Medici

The group will start the day touring the San Marco Monastery Museum, the favorite retreat of Cosimo the Elder, who ran the family and city in the fifteenth century. Next, we will tour the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, the palace that housed generations of the Medici family. After that, participants can enjoy a free evening in the center of Florence.

Day 4 (Wed, March 5): The Patrician Families of Florence

In the morning, we will do a walking tour of the palaces and chapels of other patrician Florentine families, including Santa Maria Novella, in order to place the Medici in the context of the oligarchic world from which they came and which they eventually dominated. In the afternoon we will visit Palazzo Vecchio, the government palace of the city’s republican government, and later of the Medici when the family first acquired the title of the Dukes of Florence. A group dinner in Florence will follow.

Day 5 (Thu, March 6): Medici Country Estates

We will travel by bus to explore two of the Medici’s many suburban and country villas. Poggio a Caiano came to the family under Lorenzo the Magnificent in the late fifteenth century and holds wonderful Renaissance frescoes from the age of the first Medici pope. Villa Petraia came into the family in the 1540s, and would eventually become a favorite residence of the Kings of Italy in the nineteenth century. Participants can relax after a day outside the city with a free evening on their own.

Day 6 (Fri, March 7): The Medici and the Renaissance

We return to the early Medici neighborhood and visit their parish church, San Lorenzo, which was designed by the famous Renaissance architect Filippo Brunelleschi. Then, we will visit the Medici Chapels, including Michelangelo’s “New Sacristy” and the Chapel of Princes, where the later Medici are buried in magnificent Baroque monuments. A group dinner in Florence will follow.

Day 7 (Sat. March 8): The Height of Princely Power

We conclude our program with sites where the Medici lived at the height of their princely glory. The family moved into Palazzo Pitti at the end of the sixteenth century. After touring the Palazzo, we will get lunch, and then tour some of the family’s expansion to the Palazzo, the impressive Boboli Gardens. A final group dinner will follow in Florence.

Day 8 (Sun. March 9): Depart Florence

This day is dedicated to travel as you make your way back home.

*Itinerary specifics may be subject to change due to weather or other unforeseen incidents.

Born in Naples, Italy, Dr. Tommaso Astarita came to the United States for graduate school in 1983, attending Johns Hopkins University where he received his Master’s degree and P.hD. He began teaching History at Georgetown in 1989, where he has been teaching ever since. During his time, he has become a very close friend of Villa Le Balze where he taught as the Faculty in Residence three times during semester programs and twice co-led the summer program: Florence – The City and its Image.

Dr. Astarita’s primary research focus is on the social and economic history of Early Modern Italy, specifically the South. He has taught courses on the Renaissance, art and power in pre-modern Europe, the history of the city of Rome, and the city of Florence itself.

Starhotels Michelangelo Firenze

You will be staying at the recently renovated Starhotels Michelangelo, a 4-star hotel located in the Porta al Prato neighborhood of Florence. The hotel is conveniently located near the Santa Maria Novella train station and the new Tramvia line. Hotel amenities include free internet, continental breakfast, bathrobe and slippers, and satellite television. Your accommodations are included in your program fee*, the price may vary depending on your requested accommodations.

*Standard Accommodation is a double occupancy room (queen bed or two twins). Participants may request a single occupancy room at an additional cost of $650.

Program Cost: $5,000 per person (double occupancy room)

Single Occupancy Program Cost: $5,650

The cost for the tour includes accommodations in double occupancy rooms, all guided tours and group excursions, continental breakfast at the hotel every day, all lunches, and most of your dinners. It also includes group transportation to and from excursions.

Airfare is NOT included in these costs or the program fee. All travelers will need to make their own travel arrangements to arrive and depart Florence.

In addition to their own airfare to and from Italy, participants are also responsible for the cost of meals that are not included (about 2 meals), free-time sightseeing expenses, personal souvenirs, and other purchased items.

Withdrawal Policy:

All participant cancellations or refund requests for any reason whatsoever will be subject to a $100 per person cancellation fee. Additionally, participant cancellation between January 6, 2025 and January 23, 2025 will result in forfeiture of 10% of the total trip cost per person; between January 24, 2025 and February 9, 2025 will result in forfeiture of 30% of the total trip cost per person; and between February 10, 2025 and February 23, 2025 will result in forfeiture of 50% of the total trip cost per person. Cancellation on or after February 24, 2025 will result in forfeiture of the entire cost of the trip. Georgetown University reserves the right to make exceptions at its sole discretion in the case of documented medical emergencies.

The tour costs do not include airfare, so your flight arrangements and transfers are completely up to you. However, we do recommend that you fly into Florence’s Amerigo Vespucci Airport (FLR) for the easiest route to the hotel.

You should book your airfare so that you arrive in Florence on Sunday, March 2, 2025, and you depart Florence on Sunday, March 9, 2025.

The University bears no responsibility whatsoever for any travel arrangements made by individual travelers that do not form part of the itinerary. Extensions of stay, hotel accommodations beyond those indicated in the program, early arrivals or departures, and all other arrangements undertaken at the initiative of individual participants are their sole responsibility, and no change can be made in group plans or schedules to accommodate such arrangements.

Before reserving your spot on the study tour please consider that moderate physical activity is required.

Tuscany is hilly, and can sometimes be very steep. During the tour you may be on your feet for up to an hour at a time, walking and standing, indoors and outdoors, in various weather conditions, and sometimes on uneven ground. We have done our best to limit these conditions but our study tour takes advantage of being in Florence and having access to its wealth of cultural patrimony.

If you are someone who needs to limit your physical activity or if you have concerns about the level of physicality, please consult the tour organizers before reserving your spot.