Inspiration: discover the Blog

In 1968, a Tuscan nobleman released the first vintage of Sassicaia in the face of everything the Italian wine establishment believed. The result changed Italian wine permanently. We arrange the cellar visits that show you why.

In 1786, Goethe crossed the Brenner Pass and spent two years and ten months in Italy. When he returned, he described the journey as the most important experience of his life. The programme we design is the modern equivalent — private, unhurried, guided by genuine expertise and built around the specific encounters that produce transformation rather than merely satisfaction.

Western Tuscany offers two cities of a very different character from the wine-and-cypress landscapes of the south. Lucca is the most elegantly preserved walled city in Italy. Pisa contains, in a single piazza, three of the most important Romanesque buildings in the Western world.

The hills between Florence and Siena have been producing wine for three thousand years. The black rooster of the Gallo Nero marks the original Chianti territory — and the finest expression of Sangiovese in Tuscany. We know the producers, the vineyards and the tables that make this zone worth a dedicated journey.

The triangle of territory between Florence, the sea and the Apennines preserves a medieval landscape of completeness found nowhere else in Italy. Three cities in particular — Siena, San Gimignano and Volterra — represent the summit of what the Italian city-state achieved in stone, paint and civic organisation.

The Val d'Orcia is the landscape that defines the popular image of Tuscany. The three towns at its heart — Montalcino, Montepulciano and Pienza — produce between them two of Italy's greatest red wines and one of its finest cheeses. We design the itinerary that does justice to all three.

Florence contains more great art per square metre than any other city on earth. We take our guests there before most other visitors arrive, with the kind of guidance that transforms what you are looking at into what you will carry for the rest of your life.

Eastern Tuscany is quieter than the wine routes to the west and the art cities to the north. Arezzo contains one of the supreme achievements of Italian fresco painting. Cortona is one of the oldest cities on the peninsula. Together, they reward the traveller who has moved beyond the obvious programme.

From secret Chianti cellars to dawn flights over the Val d'Orcia — how to experience Tuscany the way it was meant to be seen, felt, and tasted.