This morning we will journey to Florence, the heart of the European Renaissance. Florence is an open-air exhibit of art and culture where beauty is a way of life. We will stroll across the romantic Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) to admire the Palazzo Vecchio (Old Palace) and Giotto’s bell tower. We will experience the gigantic Duomo housing a large painting of Dante’s Inferno that plays a key role in Dan Brown’s novel and movie Inferno.

We will take in the Uffizi Gallery, the world’s greatest museum of Italian Renaissance art. Professor Beaufort will reveal the secrets of beloved paintings like Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Primavera (Spring, seen on the left), Leonardo’s Annunciation and Adoration of the Magi, Titian’s Venus of Urbino, and many others.

(B, L & D)