MADE IN ITALY: FASHION HISTORY IN ROME, FLORENCE, MILAN

• Enjoy behind-the-scenes tours of storied fashion houses, including Pucci and Gucci in Florence

• Take guided tours of archives and little-visited historic collections, from Cinecittà to La Scala’s costume collections

• Discover ancient traditions revived, at a leather-making workshop in Florence and Prato’s Museo del Tessuto

• Relax with a day at leisure in Florence, discovering renowned museums, taking a workshop or enjoying some shopping

• Appreciate carefully chosen gastronomic experiences, including lunch at Prada in Milan and in a villa on Lake Como

• Benefit from an enriched perspective thanks to your tour leader, an Australian fashion historian

TUESDAY 20 APRIL 2027 – ARRIVAL (D)

Our tour begins in the lobby of our hotel at 5.00pm, as we meet tour leader Dr Anna Lebovic and take a short orientation stroll in the neighbourhood immediately around our stylish design hotel. Afterwards, we enjoy welcome drinks and dinner together. Overnight Rome. Please note that no arrival transfers from Rome Fiumicino airport have been included in the price of the tour; contact us if you require assistance with your travel arrangements. We strongly recommend spending some sightseeing time in Rome before our tour begins, as well as in Milan at its conclusion, as our program in each city is entirely focused on the tour themes.

WEDNESDAY 21 APRIL 2027 – THE VIA CONDOTTI & ROME’S FASHION HISTORY (B)

We begin the day with a talk in the hotel by tour leader Dr Anna Lebovic, an opportunity to begin to understand the extraordinary postwar rise of the Italian fashion industry. Afterwards, we visit a venue of the Museum of Rome to tour their fashion history collection with a guide. After time in central Rome for lunch at leisure, we take a guided walking tour of Rome’s historic fashion houses. The so-called “Tridente” fashion district of central Rome has long been associated with a bohemian scene, from the artists’ models and Romantic poets who hung about on the Spanish Steps in the eighteenth century, to the modernist artists who drank coffee in the nearby Caffé Greco. As we see, in the postwar period a number of prominent designers established groundbreaking ateliers and corporate headquarters in the streets around the Via Condotti, Via Borgognona and the Via Frattina: Valentino, Bulgari, Fendi, Brioni and others. This evening is at leisure. Overnight Rome.

THURSDAY 22 APRIL 2027 – CINECITTÀ & FENDI’S RHINOCEROS (B, L)

For those living outside Italy, the country’s postwar status as a centre of chic was cemented by the films produced at the Cinecittà studio in the 1950s and 1960s. From the style of Federico Fellini’s La dolce vita to the grit of Pasolini and international blockbusters like Ben-Hur, Cleopatra and Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet, Cinecittà hosted many fruitful collaborations between directors and production design, as we discover today on a guided tour of the Cinecittà costume museum. Afterwards, we continue to a new contemporary art precinct in the heart of Rome. Lying right alongside the Palatine Hill, Rhinoceros is an art project funded by members of the Fendi family. It hosts temporary exhibitions and, as we discover over lunch together, a panoramic restaurant run by the well-regarded Retrobottega. Returning to the hotel, the evening is at leisure. Overnight Rome.

FRIDAY 23 APRIL 2027 – TO FLORENCE (B, L)

We check out today and travel by private coach to Florence, calling in first at a stylish wine resort near Orvieto. The hills north of Rome were formed by ancient volcanic action, lending the region a distinctive geography of “tufa towns”, perched on eroding sandstone bluffs, and placid volcanic lakes. These also give the soil a distinctive terroir of well-draining and mineral-rich soils, and Orvieto is particularly appreciated for the quality of its white wines. We have a vineyard tour and cellar visit together, followed by lunch with the vineyard’s matching wines. Continuing to Florence, there is an orientation stroll in the area of our hotel and casual drinks before an evening at leisure; your tour leader will be able to help with dining suggestions. Overnight Florence.

SATURDAY 24 APRIL 2027 – FLORENCE’S LEFT BANK (B)

We start the day with a talk in the hotel, an opportunity for tour leader Dr Anna Lebovic to introduce us to the fascinating fashion history of Florence. While the city is generally celebrated for its masterpieces of Renaissance art, it has long been a centre for innovation in fashion and design. As we learn on our guided tour of the Museum of Costume and Fashion in the Pitti Palace this morning, from the time of the Medici dukes and duchesses, fashion has been a carefully curated language of Florentine power. It was also in Florence that Italy’s first fashion show was held, with a 1951 private event at a villa that – like the Pitti Palace – stands on Florence’s traditionally artisanal left bank, the Oltrarno. This event would in time become the much-loved Pitti Immagine Uomo, an annual fashion show that is known for its focus on men’s fashion. After lunch, we have a fashion-themedvisit to a private property before returning to our hotel. This evening, there is the option of joining your tour leader for a private screening in our hotel of Ridley Scott’s 2021 film House of Gucci, starring Lady Gaga, Al Pacino and Adam Driver. Overnight Florence.

SUNDAY 25 APRIL 2027 – PRATO & ITALIAN TEXTILES (B) – PUBLIC HOLIDAY

Tuscany’s fortunes took a huge turn for the better in the Middle Ages, when the towns along the Arno River combined the power of water with the raw commodity of wool brought from nearby mountain pastures. Perhaps more than anything else, it is the economic powerhouse of the wool industry and of luxury cloth finishing that is responsible for the wealth and innovation of the Italian Renaissance, and Prato, Florence’s close neighbour, was one of its most important centres. Today we take a short trip by train to Prato. This elegant, small town has a cathedral with outstanding frescoes by Filippo Lippi, and there is some time at leisure to explore before our guided tour of Prato’s modern Textile Museum. Housed in an old industrial complex, its large rooms are dedicated to the history of the Tuscan textile industry, but also to more recent innovations and to the contemporary reality of Prato, a town where Chinese and Bangladeshi immigrants are now a driving force of the industry. We return to Florence for an evening at leisure. Overnight Florence.

MONDAY 26 APRIL 2027 – GUCCI & ITALIAN ARTISANAL TRADITIONS (B, L)

A large-scale industry of animal husbandry also means, among other things, an excess of animal skins. The medieval towns of the Arno River Valley gave rise to expert tanners and dyers, and in the modern era the craft and quality of Italian leather accessories have remained as attractive as their design. We begin today with a visit to the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo, a small museum that is dedicated to the extraordinary rise of a humble shoemaker’s family business. The museum tracks Ferragamo’s career, making shoes for European princesses and Hollywood stars, but it is also committed to showcasing innovative contemporary art projects with a focus on textile art. Afterwards, we continue to the Gucci Galleria, a museum located in an imposing medieval palace on Florence’s Piazza della Signoria. We enjoy a tour of the Gucci Museum, with pieces from the brand’s earliest moments as a purveyor of fine leather luggage, down to its modern reputation as one of Italy’s most creative fashion houses. Lunch is in the Gucci Osteria, under the auspices of another great Italian creative, chef Massimo Bottura, before we continue to the historic leatherworkers’ district of Santa Croce. Here we have a guided tour of the Leather School, founded in 1950 in conjunction with the Franciscan friars of Santa Croce. In fact, the school is housed in the monastery buildings and still teaches artisanal leatherworking techniques. The evening is at leisure. Overnight Florence.

TUESDAY 27 APRIL 2027 – AT LEISURE & IN PALAZZO PUCCCI (B)

After a talk in the hotel, the day is at leisure. You might like to visit one of Florence’s outstanding galleries or museums – the Uffizi, Bargello Museum or Accademia, for example – or do a little shopping in its small boutiques. We meet in the early evening for a special visit, a private tour of Palazzo Pucci. The Pucci family have ancient Florentine origins, and the oldest parts of this residence date to 1480. In the modern era, it is associated with the iconic, colourful designs of Emilio Pucci, and today the palace contains the Emilio Pucci Heritage Hub. We enjoy a drink together as we learn more about the palace’s fascinating past from an archivist. Overnight Florence.

WEDNESDAY 28 APRIL 2027 – MAX MARA & REGGIO EMILIA (B, L, D)

We check out of our hotel this morning and travel north by private coach, stopping after we cross the Apennines to visit an important design centre in the Emilia-Romagna region. Reggio Emilia is an otherwise unnoteworthy town of the great Po River Valley but in 1951, Achille Maramotti founded a ready-to-wear brand here that would become one of the most important Italian luxury fashion houses. Max Mara is still a family company and has revolutionised the town: this large local employer even advocated for the high-speed train to stop here, at an extraordinary futuristic railway station designed by ‘starchitect’ Santiago Calatrava! We have a private guided tour of the Collezione Maramotti, Achille’s art collection, housed in the company’s former corporate headquarters. After a simple lunch together, we continue to Milan. There is a light dinner in our hotel tonight, after our day of travelling. Overnight Milan.

THURSDAY 29 APRIL 2027 – THE FASHION QUADRILATERAL (B)

Our hotel in Milan is conveniently located on the edge of the so-called “Quadrilatero della Moda”, the city’s premier fashion district. The streets here are lined with luxury boutiques and come alive with fashion models and high-profile international clients during Fashion Week. After a talk in our hotel, we have a guided tour of the La Scala costume workshops, a behind-the-scenes look at this extraordinary creative laboratory. Lunch is at leisure, with the option to join Anna later in the afternoon for a visit to an innovative Italian fashion house near our hotel, followed by coffee and pastries at the exquisite Caffé Marchesi. This Prada-owned (and designed!) historic shop sits above the family’s original leather shop in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. The evening is at leisure. Overnight Milan.

FRIDAY 30 APRIL 2027 – MODERN MASTERS OF FASHION & DESIGN (B, L)

The fashion scene in Milan is characterised by its diversity, and today we encounter two very different but equally important fashion houses. We begin at Armani/Silos, a beautiful private museum in an abandoned industrial site, designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando in sympathy with Giorgio Armani’s commitment to elegant minimalism. Along with temporary exhibitions, the collection includes an archive of approximately fifty years of Armani’s design work, from garments and accessories to drawings and designs. We then continue to the Fondazione Prada, where another contemporary ‘starchitect’, Rem Koolhaas, transformed an old distillery into a venue for part of Miuccia Prada’s art collection. At the centre of the complex lies its distinctive ‘Haunted House’, a tower covered entirely in 24-karat gold leaf. We have a simple lunch in the Wes Anderson-designed Bar Luce before visiting the temporary art exhibitions. Returning to the hotel, the evening is at leisure, although (schedules permitting) we hope to attend a performance at La Scala. Overnight Milan.

SATURDAY 01 MAY 2027 – ON LAKE COMO (B, L, APERITIVI) – PUBLIC HOLIDAY

While Tuscany was known for centuries for the quality of its wool production and cloth finishing, the north of Italy – thanks to Venice’s control of medieval maritime trade – was much more closely associated with silk textiles. Today we travel to Lake Como, where the Sforza dukes of Milan used the abundant lake water and alpine streams, together with plantations of mulberry trees, to create a fifteenth-century silk industry. We learn about the industry’s history and modern survival on a guided tour of Como’s Silk Museum. Afterwards, we enjoy a farewell lunch in one of the celebrated lakeside villas that dot the breathtaking landscape. Returning to Milan, we enjoy farewell drinks and nibbles together, discussing our experiences and farewelling this stylish city. Overnight Milan.

SUNDAY 02 MAY 2027 – DEPARTURE (B)

Tour arrangements conclude today after breakfast in our hotel. Please note that no departure transfers to the airport are included in the tour price; contact us if you require assistance with any aspect of your travel, from flights to comprehensive international insurance (a condition of travel). Again, we encourage you to extend your stay in Milan for sightseeing beyond the fashion-themed program of our tour.

The Hoxton Rome 4* Rome, 3 nights

https://thehoxton.com/italy/rome/

A stylish new boutique hotel in Rome, in a quiet district located near the Galleria Borghese. We have reserved rooms in the Roomy category (23sqm on average). The hotel has two in-house restaurants.

The Hoxton Florence 4* Florence, 5 nights

https://thehoxton.com/italy/florence/

A modern sister property to the boutique hotel in Rome, with a large courtyard garden, with an elegant in-house restaurant and open-air bar. Our rooms are again in the Roomy category (20-26sqm). The hotel is located in a quiet neighbourhood with a distinctly local feel.

Hotel Cavour 4* Milan, 4 nights

https://www.hotelcavour.it/en

A perfectly located and elegant property on the edge of the so-called Fashion Quadrilateral. There is an in-house restaurant and our rooms, in the Deluxe category, average 30sqm and have been refurbished in a modern style.

NB: hotels of a similar standard may be substituted.

• 12 nights’ accommodation at 4* hotels, including boutique properties in Rome and Florence

• All breakfasts, 8 lunches or dinners, and 1 aperitivo

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

• Please note that no arrival and departure transfers are included in the tour price

• Talks by and expertise of an Australian tour leader 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 21 December 2026.

We will invoice you for final payment for the tour, due on 04 February 2027.

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