go to second tour – Netherlands
FIRST TOUR
Art, roses and peonies in the heart of Italy
The tour focuses on two of the most refined, sensual flowers, to admire and discover in depth. We share the passion of the Fineschi family and Helga Brichet for roses, and Carlo Confidati’s dedication to his peonies.
The journey also includes the Aboca garden, a modern take on the traditional herb garden, as well as Lady Fè d’Ostiani’s striking kitchen garden, combining vegetables, citrus, aromatic plants and flowers. Here, care, knowledge and love of discovery come together.
Like a garden painting of colour and form, this itinerary is also a chance to admire Piero della Francesca’s sublime art and his Legend of the True Cross frescoes in the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo.
Day 1, Wednesday 17 May (Cavriglia – Arezzo 44 Km; Arezzo – Terranuova Bracciolini 36 Km)
Departure by coach from Milan with pick-ups at main motorway exits.
Late-morning arrival a Cavriglia nei pressi di Arezzo, al Roseto Fineschi.
Lunch included at the rose garden.
Then, accompanied by Silvia Fineschi, we visit the rose garden “Carla Fineschi” which has collected rose species and hybrids from around the world since 1967. It is a unique private collection devoted solely to building a scientific living-plant collection. The Cavriglia Rose Garden began and grew year by year thanks to Prof. Gianfranco Fineschi of the Catholic University of Rome Faculty of Medicine. The project took shape through botanical acquisitions organised to precise taxonomic schemes, bringing the number of rose varieties to over 6,000.
Afterwards, transfer to Arezzo and meet our guide for a city tour.
We visit the Basilica of San Francesco to see the Legend of the True Cross fresco cycle in the main chapel. Begun by Bicci di Lorenzo and largely painted by Piero della Francesca between 1452 and 1466, it is a masterpiece of Renaissance art.
Stay at Resort Antica Tabaccaia **** in Terranuova Bracciolini.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 2, Thursday 18 May (Terranuova Bracciolini– Sansepolcro 74 Km)
Breakfast at the hotel then coach departure.
Departure for Sansepolcro, where we meet a specialist guide for a visit to the Aboca centre.
Sansepolcro is the administrative centre of the Tiber Valley, at the crossroads of Tuscany, Marche, Umbria and Emilia-Romagna — an important cultural meeting point.
We explore the large Aboca industrial complex, active since 1978 when still in Italy and Europe had no similar facilities or clear legal frameworks.
Today Aboca products (the name comes from Abiga, the old dialect name for verbena, a medicinal plant used since antiquity) are sold across Europe and expanding steadily.
The meticulously tended garden alternates terracotta pots with stone sculptures and is filled with medicinal plants.
The silence and the solitude of the place make strolling the paths even more evocative, admiring the lush Tuscan landscape and the unique Herbs Museum, which preserves the millennia-old relationship between people and plants.
The Herbs and Health Through the Ages museum trail at the prestigious Renaissance site in Sansepolcro, shares the ancient tradition of medicinal plants through historical sources: precious herbals, pharmaceutical botany books, old mortars, ceramics and glassware.
Transfer to Sansepolcro and time for a second free meal.
Guided walk in the historic centre of Sansepolcro to explore Piero della Francesca’s life and work, including his house recently opened to visitors and other landmarks of this distinctive town
Return to the hotel.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 3, Friday 19 May (Terranuova Bracciolini – Vitorchiano 166 Km; Vitorchiano – Todi 78 Km)
Breakfast at the hotel, then departure with luggage.
Departure for Vitorchiano where we meet il Dott. Antonio Pacifico agronomo e profondo conoscitore di botanica, for a visit to the Centro Botanico Moutan. The Moutan Botanical Centre brings together the world’s largest collection of Chinese tree and herbaceous peonies (over 200,000 specimens) on 15 hectares.
Highlights of the collection, including rare Delavay group specimens and mature Rockii mother plants, remarkable varieties growing wild on the Tibetan plateau above 2,000 m, surviving extreme cold below -20°C.
Second meal included at the Centre’s delightful restaurant.
In the afternoon we continue to Santa Maria in Portella, to visit Mrs Helga Brichet, home to the largest collection of Chinese roses in Europe. South African by birth and based in Umbria, a leading rose expert and traveller, she has sought out, identified and introduced old and new rose species throughout her life. A lifelong passion that led Mrs Brichet to serve as World President of the Rose Federation from 1997 to 2000. The refined, understated garden surprises visitors with roses reaching extraordinary heights, essere arrampicate su cipressi e ulivi. Un capitolo interessantissimo nel giardino Mrs Helga lo scrivono le rose H. di R. Gigantea. Rose incredibili,vigorose e scalatrici che raggiungono altezze notevoli, oltre i 10 metri, dai lunghi boccioli appuntiti e spine uncinate. Sane e vigorose, a fine inverno – inizio primavera, a Santa Maria in Portella meravigliano cosi tanto, da stravolgere l’idea che comunemente si ha di questo splendido fiore.
At the end of the visit, transfer to Todi and check-in at l’hotel Bramante****.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 4, Saturday 20 May (Todi – Sant’Arcangelo sul Trasimeno 75 Km; Sant’Arcangelo sul Trasimeno – San Feliciano 20 km; San Feliciano – Todi 65 Km)
Breakfast at the hotel.
Transfer to Sant’Arcangelo sul Trasimeno for a visit to Daniela Fè d’Ostiani’s decorative kitchen garden, with fine views of Lake Trasimeno.
The garden follows the English garden model of Robinson, Jekyll and the Arts and Crafts movement, which Daniela discovered through reading and trips to England from 1990 onwards, adapting it to her setting with climate-suited plants in a slightly wild but undeniably creative way. The owner draws on many references: not only the English garden but landscape and formal gardens, and the modern naturalism of Piet Oudolf and Beth Chatto — yet she overturns them all with relentless experimentation, favouring exuberant vitality in herself and in the plants that grow, develop and self-seed. Even the formal design of the kitchen garden, with squared bay hedges and ball-trimmed teucrium is overwhelmed by plant abundance inside and out.
Second meal included with the owner.
In the early afternoon, transfer to San Feliciano and boarding for Polvese Island with the naturalist guide who will comment on this unforgettable walk.
L’The island, in the south-eastern part of the lake, covers 70 hectares and is the largest of the three islands. The area is of particular natural interest for its tall holm-oak wood, a forty-hectare centuries-old olive grove and extensive reed beds — ideal resting and wintering grounds for many water birds. The island also preserves precious historic features, including a fine early medieval fortress. Do not miss Pietro Porcinai’s characteristic pool-garden work.
In the evening, return Todi.
Dinner at a typical local restaurant in the town centre.
Overnight stay in hotel.
Day 5, Sunday 21 May (Todi – San Casciano in Val di Pesa 198 km)
Breakfast at the hotel, then departure with luggage.
Transfer to San Casciano in Val di Pesa for a visit to Villa Antinori del Cigliano, dove i soci di Orticola saranno accolti dai proprietari.
Second meal included at the estate.
Edificata nella seconda metà del ‘400 su preesistenti edifici medievali, fu acquistata, sul finire del ‘400, da Alessandro di Niccolò Antinori ed appartiene tuttora ai discendenti di Eleonora Antinori, scomparsa nel 2001.
Nel cortile della Villa sono presenti due tondi in maiolica attribuiti a Giovanni Della Robbia, che rappresentano rispettivamente gli stemmi Antinori e Tornabuoni, commemorating the marriage of Alessandro Antinori and Giovanna Tornabuoni in 1513.
La Villa, i cui the rooms retain their Renaissance structure, ospita entro il muro di cinta un bellissimo giardino, le cui caratteristiche attuali risalgono alla seconda metà del ‘600, quando fu creata una grandissima vasca, in cui si riflettono sia la facciata barocca che l’imponente fontana del Nettuno decorata con sassi di fiume e conchiglie di mare ed ornata da grotteschi.
La Villa e il giardino still preserve the character of ancient Tuscany.
Start and end of services.
Quota a persona in camera doppia minimo 20 pax € 995,00
Extra camera doppia uso singola € 160,00
Price includes:
2 nights at Resort Antica Tabaccaia **** in Terranuova Bracciolini with half board;
2 nights at Hotel Bramante **** in Todi with half board on one night and bed & breakfast on one night;
1 dinner in a traditional restaurant in Todi;
1 tasting at Villa Antinori del Cigliano in San Casciano in Val di Pesa;
1 lunch at the Roseto Fineschi in Cavriglia;
1 afternoon tea at Mrs Fé D’Ostiani’s private garden in Perugia;
1 afternoon tea at the Moutan Botanical Centre restaurant in Vitorchiano;
Admission and guided visits at all sites and gardens in the programme;
Ferry to Polvese Island return;
Coach for the full duration of the tour;
Medical and baggage insurance;
PromoTuscia assistance.
Price does not include:
Porterage at hotels;
Drinks with half board;
Tourist tax at hotels, payable locally by each guest;
Tips, extras, personal expenses and anything not listed under “price includes”.
*Hotel notes
- Resort Antica Tabaccaia
Set in a historic tobacco factory, Hotel Antica Tabaccaia is a design hotel with elegant rooms and an outdoor pool. The property offers free parking and Wi-Fi throughout.
Each inspired by a different Tuscan artist, rooms have LCD satellite TV, parquet and, in some rooms, pool views.
At Antica Tabaccaia, a continental breakfast awaits you with sweet and savoury items, including homemade cakes. Open daily, the restaurant serves local meat specialities at dinner.
The hotel also has a bar for drinks and a garden with tables, chairs, sun loungers and parasols.
- Hotel Bramante
Located in Todi in a tastefully restored twelfth-century convent, Hotel Bramante retains its original stone walls and terracotta floors, and offers an outdoor pool, a wellness centre and a restaurant with panoramic views.
Furnished throughout with antique pieces, Hotel Bramante has rooms with TV, minibar, air conditioning and valley views, some with a terrace.
You can relax outdoors in the hotel garden or enjoy a beauty treatment at the wellness centre.
The Dutch Wave and the water gardens of Overijssel
A journey to discover the Dutch Wave: the contemporary Dutch approach to gardens based on colonies of perennial forbs and grasses. A different, unforgettable journey celebrating another form of naturalistic gardening, using what climate and landscape allow, combined with the deep botanical knowledge of contemporary Dutch plantsmen whose gardens we visit. Then the story of Overijssel province also called “the garden of the Netherlands”. Forests, hills, meadows, farmland, cattle, volpi, uccelli , oche e per finire, i meravigliosi giardini d’acqua
Itinerario
Day 1 30 June
Arrival at Amsterdam airport and meeting with guide Dr Rique Hemmes and the driver.
Free time for second lunch.
Transfer to Hummelo for a visit to the private garden of Piet Oudolf,
the father of New Perennialism, the evolution of the Dutch gardening movement with a naturalistic layout inspired by the spontaneous flowering of the meadow where grasses and perennials coexist in a variable but healthy balance.
Since the 1980s, Hummelo was Piet Oudolf’s trial ground, the place where, together with his wife Anja, he experimented with thousands of plants to select the most resilient and best suited to the style he had in mind. Apart from the classic Dutch hedge, Hummelo is a garden in constant evolution.
Stop at Leuvehoofd, a park designed by Piet Oudolf in Hummelo
At the end of the visit, transfer to AG Ellecom and check-in at Landgoed Avegoor****, a 4-star property within a large noble estate.
Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
Day 2 1° July
Breakfast at the hotel.
In the morning, visit to Palazzo Reale di Het Loo. We walk through the Baroque Garden donated by Queen Beatrix of Orange-Nassau to the Dutch State in 1980: spectacular baroque galleries, secret gardens with palms and citrus, fountains and water features, and orange plantings (orange-nassau).
Free time for second lunch at the palace restaurant.
In the early afternoon, visit to the splendid Middachten Castle, surrounded by canals and water lilies, with an elegant orchard and espalier, historic and modern roses, and gardens designed by Hugo Poortman in the early twentieth century.
Return to the hotel.
Dinner in the hotel’s refined restaurant and overnight stay.
Day 3 2 July
Breakfast at the hotel.
Early-morning transfer to Overijssel Province.
Landscapes rich in colour, countryside crossed by canals and swept by the wind, and picturesque towns made spectacular by typical historic Dutch houses: these are above all the hallmarks of Overijssel, a magnificent Dutch province ideal for travelling among landscapes and timeless views. As its name suggests, the region is shaped by the River IJssel and has an ancient history linked to Hanseatic cities and sea trade that could reach inland along the river route to urban markets. Today travellers come to enjoy these unspoilt river environments, protected by numerous wildlife and nature reserves.
Visit to the Mien Ruys Gardens, created by the Netherlands’ most famous and influential garden designer. Daughter of nurserymen, Mien Ruys began experimenting with her design skills in her twenties, developing a simple, light style that contrasted with the heaviness and rigidity of her time.
As early as the 1940s she understood the importance of allotments and community gardens as a source of renewal after the wars. She was undoubtedly influenced by Gertrude Jekyll’s work on perennial borders that characterise her style. A strong, courageous woman who, over an 80-year career, never stopped experimenting, devising styles and finding materials in step with the times. The site is a sequence of 30 gardens designed and arranged according to new and older ideas, with a very balanced plant combination.
Transfer to Priona Gardens at SM Schuinesloot and second lunch at the garden restaurant.
The Priona Gardens are the work of Henk Gerritsen. Gerritsen began as a painter, but after meeting Mien Ruys in 1977 he realised that garden design was the natural evolution of his talent combined with his passion for plants.
In 1979 he began creating, with his lifelong friend Anton Schlepers, a large garden where spontaneous plants from around the world and selected plants coexist peacefully in a low-maintenance garden with great aesthetic impact — entirely outside the conventions of the time. His basic concept for creating and maintaining this naturalistic garden accepts plant disease as the result of human error in plant choice or placement, and insects because the garden is part of an ecosystem to be valued through its full life cycle.
Together with Piet Oudolf he wrote several books on the perennials they trialled. The garden has been widely featured in major international magazines.
Return to the hotel.
Dinner in the hotel’s refined restaurant and overnight stay.
Day 4 3 July
Breakfast at the hotel, then departure with luggage.
Transfer for a visit to the remarkable Kröller-Müller Museum, within a lush nature reserve.
The museum holds a major collection of paintings by Vincent van Gogh (including Café Terrace at Night, Place du Forum, Arles), making it the world’s second-largest Van Gogh collection (after the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam). Besides Van Gogh, significant works include those by Piet Mondrian, Bart van der Leck, Georges Seurat, Odilon Redon and Pablo Picasso.
The museum is also renowned for its extensive sculpture garden, with works by Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore, Jean Dubuffet, Mark di Suvero, Lucio Fontana, Claes Oldenburg, Fritz Wotruba, Richard Serra, Ian Hamilton Finlay and Joep van Lieshout.
Second lunch at the museum.
In the afternoon, guided walk to admire the natural reserve within De Hoge Veluwe National Park, home to the museum.
De Hoge Veluwe is the Netherlands’ largest national park. Cycle along one of the scenic trails, which also pass the sculpture garden. Alternatively, take a guided walk across the Veluwe heathland accompanied by a shepherd.
At the end of the visit, transfer to Amsterdam and check-in at NH Schiller hotel ****.
Dinner is planned at De Kas non lontano dall’hotel , uno dei più singolari ristoranti di Amsterdam, l’unico in città ad avere un orto così grande da poter garantire una completa fornitura di verdura a chilometro zero. Ricavato dagli antichi vivai comunali, una grande struttura in vetro e ferro datata 1926, De Kas ha trasformato in sala una serra in vetro, alta otto metri, in the heart del parco Frankendael. All around, in the former nurseries, vegetables still grow, legumes and flowers – only edible ones – and spices. Quello che non producono in proprio come il pesce del Mare del Nord, carne e latticini, lo acquistano da piccoli produttori locali che lavorano con metodi biologici.
Overnight stay in hotel.
Day 5 4 July
Breakfast at the hotel, then departure with luggage.
Transfer for an exclusive circuit of private gardens and residences with Urban Home & Garden Tours, led by landscape architect Andrè Ancion. We discover exclusive gardens hidden behind private Amsterdam residences. We also admire some 17th-century private residences near the Golden Bend.
We also visit the Van Loon Museum, a refined treasure house and former residence of an Amsterdam notable family. This wealthy family bought the house in 1884, which was later converted into a living museum. “A house through time” helps visitors understand how the palace looked when it served as the Van Loon family residence. Period photographs, paintings, souvenirs and personal mementos tell the family story.
The Van Loons, among the co-founders of the Dutch East India Company, held various roles within the administration of the city of Amsterdam.
Second lunch.
Free time for a guided walk through the city.
Transfer to the airport and end of services.
Quota a persona in camera doppia minimo 15 persone € 1065,00
Extra camera singola € 198,00
La quota comprende
1 night at NH Schiller hotel in Amsterdam with overnight stay and breakfast;
3 nights at Landgoed Avegoor hotel in AG Ellecom with half board;
1 dinner in a traditional restaurant in Amsterdam;
Admission and visits within all sites and gardens included in the tour;
Private transfer service for the full duration of the tour;
Guide service for the full tour;
Medical and baggage insurance;
Driver and guide expenses;
PromoTuscia assistance.
Price does not include
Scheduled Alitalia return flight;
Tasse aeroportuali;
Drinks with half board;
I pranzi;
Eventuale tassa di soggiorno da pagare individualmente in loco;
Tips, extras, personal expenses and anything not listed under “price includes”.
*Note sugli hotel
- Hotel Nh Shiller Amsterdam
Located in a historic building enriched with fine paintings and Art Deco details, NH Schiller Amsterdam stands on central Rembrandtplein, a 10-minute walk from Dam Square, and offers free Wi-Fi.
This classic-style hotel has elegant rooms with flat-screen cable TV, minibar, tea and coffee making facilities and a desk.
- Hotel Landgoed Avegoor AG Ellecom
Created from a royal residence, this exclusive hotel features designer rooms, an indoor pool, a relaxing sauna, an elegant bar and refined restaurants. Set in a historic building surrounded by a large private garden, Landgoed Avegoor offers a luxurious stay in the heart of the beautiful Veluwe woodland.
*Flight notes
The arrival and departure airport for this tour is Amsterdam. Besides scheduled carriers Alitalia and KLM, many low-cost airlines operate this route.
We therefore suggest checking with PromoTuscia for the best travel option for your trip.
