WOMEN IN ITALY: ART & HISTORY FROM MILAN TO ROME

• Encounter the life and works of great historic artists, from Artemisia Gentileschi in Florence to Lavinia Fontana in Bologna

• Understand what lies behind historic art, on walking tours exploring the lives of women in Milan, Florence and Rome

• Go behind the scenes at highly respected restoration workshops, at the Brera and in Rome’s historic centre

• Meet the women and collectors revitalising Florence’s artisanal arts and crafts scene

• Enjoy the independence of comfortable high-speed train travel between cities, with bags shipped separately in a same-day service

THURSDAY 05 NOVEMBER 2026 – ARRIVAL (D)

The tour commences in the lobby of our hotel in Milan at 2.00pm. Please note that while no arrival transfer from either of Milan’s airports is included in the tour price, our partners at Mary Rossi Travel would be happy to assist with this and any other arrangements to enable you to join and depart the tour.

After meeting Freya, we take a walking tour in central Milan, taking in the impressive medieval sites that were the result of successive generations of patronage by the Visconti and Sforza dynasties. We also ascend by elevator to the terraces of Milan cathedral, in order to gain a sense of the city’s size and strategic proximity to alpine passes to northern Europe. After a talk in the hotel, we walk to a nearby restaurant for a welcome dinner. Overnight Milan.

FRIDAY 06 NOVEMBER – PORTRAITS OF THE SFORZA COURT (B)

Most of Italy’s successful pre-modern women artists were sponsored by the courtly culture of the peninsula. Present-day cities such as Milan and Florence were the centre of ducal territories, with well-educated men and women at court vying to sponsor the most innovative and popular artists of the day. We commence with a visit to the painting gallery or pinacoteca of the Sforza Castle, which contains works by artists such as the Anguissola sisters and Fede Galizia, artists whose careers grew thanks to the local court. After lunch at leisure, we walk to nearby Santa Maria delle Grazie, site of the most famous manifestation of Renaissance courtly patronage: Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper. (Please note: demand is always high for Last Supper tickets, so today’s program may be reordered to accommodate our final booking.) Afterwards, we continue to the nearby convent church of San Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore, entirely covered in frescoes that show the direct patronage of aristocratic Sforza and Bentivoglio women. The later afternoon and evening are at leisure. Overnight Milan.

SATURDAY 07 NOVEMBER – ART & RESTORATION IN THE BRERA (B, D)

We check out of our hotel this morning and have our large suitcases shipped directly to our hotel in Bologna, where they will be waiting for us upon check-in. In the meantime, we commence our day at the Pinacoteca di Brera, which contains an outstanding collection of paintings from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. There is ample time to survey masterworks by Titian, Tintoretto, Sofonisba Anguissola, Raphael and Caravaggio with Freya, before lunch at leisure in the gallery café. Continuing to Milano Centrale railway station, we take the approx. 1-hour journey by high-speed train to Bologna Centrale railway station. After check-in, we enjoy dinner in a local restaurant. Overnight Bologna.

SUNDAY 08 NOVEMBER – BOLOGNA’S OVERLOOKED TREASURES (B)

Bologna is too often considered only as a gastronomic capital, but in the Middle Ages its university, lively political scene and wool processing industry ensured that it developed as a significant Italian centre. After a talk by Freya, we visit Bologna’s Civic Medieval Museum, often overlooked despite its important collection of sculpture and decorative arts. This includes a number of works by Properzia de’ Rossi, a Renaissance sculptor whose feisty life was chronicled by Giorgio Vasari in his legendary Vite and who excelled at small-scale works fashioned from such objects as peach pits! After lunch at leisure, we continue to the Pinacoteca Nazionale, one of central Italy’s best but least-visited collections of Italian painting. Amongst outstanding works by greats such as Giotto, the gallery also channels the rise of a new style of painting in seventeenth-century Italy. The so-called Bolognese School, developed by the Carracci family and giving us artists like Domenichino and Guido Reni, also sponsored the career of another local: Lavinia Fontana, well represented in this collection. The evening is at leisure. Overnight Bologna.

MONDAY 09 NOVEMBER – WOMEN IN BOLOGNA’S HISTORY (B)

After a talk by Freya, we meet a local guide for a walking tour of central Bologna. We pass through the narrow alleys of the Quadrilatero market to the small oratory of Santa Maria della Vita, where a stunning life-sized sculpture in terracotta dramatically reveals how women’s emotions were given a public form in the fifteenth century. After lunch at leisure, we visit the basilica of San Petronio – not Bologna’s cathedral but its most important church – to understand the context for Properzia de’ Rossi’s landmark relief of Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife. Afterwards, there is the option to continue with Freya to the church of San Giacomo Maggiore, with its astonishing frescoes of aristocratic women from the Bentivoglio family. The evening is at leisure. Overnight Bologna.

TUESDAY 10 NOVEMBER – THE WOMEN OF RENAISSANCE FLORENCE (B, D)

We check out this morning, our bags shipped by road to Florence, while we travel by high-speed train (ca 1-hour journey). Upon arrival at Santa Maria Novella railway station, there is time for lunch in central Florence before Freya leads us on a walking tour. At both Santa Maria Novella and Santa Trinita, we meet women of the Tornabuoni and Sassetti families who are vividly evoked in Domenico Ghirlandaio’s fifteenth-century frescoes. At Santa Maria Novella, too, we admire the so-called “First Last”, or first surviving Last Supper painted by a woman artist: Plautilla Nelli, a sixteenth-century nun who ran a successful painting workshop out of her Florentine convent. After we check in to our hotel, there is a talk by Freya and then dinner together in a local restaurant. Overnight Florence.

WEDNESDAY 11 NOVEMBER – WITH ARTEMISIA & GIOVANNA IN FLORENCE (B)

Two of Italy’s most important seventeenth-century women artists were Artemisia Gentileschi and Giovanna Garzoni. Working in different genres – Garzoni focused almost exclusively on the still life – and at different scales, both these women received a career boost thanks to their patronage by Medici women. As a result, the Palatine Gallery in the Pitti Palace contains a number of important works by them both, so we commence today with a visit led by Freya. There is time at leisure after our tour, before an optional post-lunch stroll through the artisanal Oltrarno district. A number of craftswomen, working across media as varied as leather, jewellery, fashion, ceramics and sculpture, have workshops or collaborative gallery spaces here. There is the opportunity to visit their botteghe with Freya, to learn more about their work and perhaps even to make a purchase! In the evening, we meet for an in-conversation event in our hotel, as Freya interviews a prominent art expert who has been involved in many of the recent restoration projects of historic works by women in Florence. Overnight Florence.

THURSDAY 12 NOVEMBER – HISTORIC COLLECTIONS OF ART BY WOMEN (B)

When he was a young man working as a curator in Germany, Eike Schmidt met some of the so-called Guerrilla Girls. These art activists told him that the Uffizi Gallery in Florence had the world’s largest collection of historic art by women – but almost none of it was on display. Years later, when he was appointed director of the Uffizi, Schmidt made the research, conservation and display of these works a core project of his tenure. We begin our day with a tour of the Uffizi Gallery with Freya, including the new galleries that now proudly display many of those historic works by women artists. There is time at leisure in the Uffizi to explore other aspects of the collection – the afternoon is free for this or for other independent explorations. In the evening, we join Freya for a private visit to the home of a local collector. Overnight Florence.

FRIDAY 13 NOVEMBER – WOMEN IN RENAISSANCE ROME (B, D)

After sending our large pieces of luggage by road this morning, we check out and travel with our carry-on luggage to Rome’s Termini station. The journey takes ca 90 mins, and on arrival we meet vans to take us and our carry-on bags safely on our afternoon program. After time for lunch at leisure, we visit the Galleria Spada. Housed close to Campo dei Fiori in a palace with a celebrated perspective arcade by Borromini, its art collection includes seventeenth-century works by Guido Reni, Guercino and Artemisia Gentileschi. We then cross the Tiber River via the Ponte Sisto to visit Villa Farnesina, a place that celebrates the beauty of Renaissance women thanks to outstanding sixteenth-century frescoes by Raphael and his workshop. Legend has it that Raphael was so bewitched by his lover, the Baker’s Daughter or “Fornarina”, that she had to be brought here while he worked in order for him to finish the commission! Afterwards, our vans take us to our hotel where we check in. There is dinner together in a local restaurant. Overnight Rome.

SATURDAY 14 NOVEMBER – WOMEN & THE CONTEMPORARY ART WORLD (B)

Year after year, the statistics show that while women dominate the professions of the art world – from artists to restorers, curators, gallery directors and guides – they do not occupy the majority of its positions of power. This morning we have a special private visit of a Rome art restoration studio, directed by women and often focusing on historic works by women artists. The afternoon and evening are at leisure, to allow for independent explorations and shopping in central Rome. Overnight Rome.

SUNDAY 15 NOVEMBER – THE GALLERIA BORGHESE & PALAZZO BARBERINI (B, D)

Particularly in the seventeenth century, the great male patrons of art in Italy developed a fascination with works by women. No collection was worth its salt if it didn’t have a signed work by Artemisia, Lavinia and others. Today we explore two different private collections that are now among the leading sites in Rome to admire art of the seventeenth century. Commencing at the Galleria Borghese, we see how the energy, taste and fortune of one patron, Scipione Borghese, could result in the commissioning and acquisition of outstanding works by Caravaggio, Bernini and many others. The collection is housed in one of Rome’s most delightful small suburban villas, the centre today of a vast public park. After lunch we continue to the Palazzo Barberini, another magnificent baroque palace with a collection that rivals that of the Borghese. Raphael’s Fornarina, Caravaggio’s dramatic Judith beheading Holofernes and a striking self-portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi are all housed here. Tonight we have a farewell dinner near our hotel, an excellent opportunity for us to discuss our impressions of the works we have seen and the women we have come to know over the course of our tour. Overnight Rome.

MONDAY 16 NOVEMBER – DEPARTURE (B)

The tour concludes after breakfast in our hotel. Given Rome’s central nature, no departure transfers are included in the price of the tour. Contact us if you require assistance with bookings of this nature, to allow you to depart the tour.

Hotel Cavour 4* Milan, 2 nights

https://www.hotelcavour.it/

A well-located hotel within walking distance of major sites. Our rooms are in the Premium category.

Hotel Tre Vecchi 4* Bologna, 3 nights

https://www.zanhotel.it/hotel-tre-vecchi-bologna

Few 4* hotels are located within the walls of Bologna. This one will be entirely renovated before our stay. Our rooms in the Classic category are an average size of 19sqm.

Gallery Art Hotel 4* Florence, 3 nights

https://www.lungarnocollection.com/gallery-hotel-art/

This stylish and perfectly located hotel is operated by the Ferragamo family. Our rooms in the Classic category are bright and modern but, at 22sqm, they are not large.

Kolbe Hotel 4* Rome, 3 nights

https://www.kolbehotelrome.com/

This hotel is in a central, quiet and green location. Our rooms are in the Classic category.

NB: hotels of a similar standard may be substituted.

• 11 nights’ accommodation at 4* hotels

• All breakfasts and 5 lunches or dinners

• All ground transport, guided tours and entrance fees to sites as mentioned in the itinerary, and tipping

• Executive class train travel between cities, with large suitcase shipped separately in a same-day road service

• Talks and guided visits by, as well as expertise of, an Australian tour leader and qualified guide throughout

A $1,500pp deposit is required at the time of booking to hold your place on tour.

A second deposit of $2,000pp is due on 08 July 2026.

We will invoice you for final payment for the tour, due on 22 August 2026.

When you book on one of tours, we ask you to accept our terms and conditions. You can read our terms and conditions here.