Day 1, Saturday:

Arrival Day: you are met at the airport or train station and transported to Selva where sparkling wine and Tuscan specialties welcome you. Then you may unpack, settle in and perhaps take a walk around your home for the next seven days, most probably take a photo or two! Before dinner you'll begin the homemade limoncello process; then, Pat and Emi will introduce to you to the workshop and the week’s activities and discuss goals and challenges. Dinner is prepared for you by the Abbondanza Toscana staff and served under the leafy pergola.

Throughout the week, Pat and Emi will be available for consultation, hints, suggestions and conversation. Toward the end of the week, you will be asked to choose your favorite photographs for a display shared with other workshop participants. Pat and Emi will also use these selections to publish a book of photographs for the group.

Day 2, Sunday:

Greet a beautiful Tuscan morning! We visit Barogue gardens and villas in the Lucca area, including Villa Reale, owned by the Duchess Elise, sister of Napoleon. The villa and its grounds offer a wealth of photographic vignettes with their grottoes and follies, limonaia and nymph fountains, exotic plants and statuary. Lunch at a restaurant in an old olive factory. In the afternoon, our chef leads you in preparation of the evening's dinner (cooking lesson).

Day 3, Monday:

After breakfast, you will have a review session with Pat and Emi. Then you'll have the opportunity to walk to the shepherd's house to watch his wife make pecorino cheese and exquisite ricotta. After lunch you leave for Lucca for a wine-tasting in caves underneath the city, a one-hour Puccini concert and dinner at one of our favorite restaurants.

Day 4, Tuesday:

From the seaside to the hilltop: today you will visit the small fishing town of Lerici on the Gulf of Poets and have lunch in a tiny hill town overlooking the bay, with enchanting nooks and doorways. In the late afternoon, you will return to Selva for dinner prepared by our chef.

Day 5, Wednesday:

An introduction to Lucca begins with the very best cappuccino in the world followed by a stroll down the most useful shopping street in the world, filled with stores chockfull of baskets and pans and brooms and seeds and all manner of things. You’ll meet Anna for a short cultural tour of Lucca, including its Romanesque churches, Roman amphitheater and medieval gates. Then you’re on your own to explore the city’s visual treasures, including a classic garden with limonaia and statuary. Back to Selva to review your work so far with Pat and Emi, and then enjoy dinner by our chef.

Day 6, Thursday:

West of Lucca is the Mediterranean and the famed Cinque Terre, the five towns perched on cliffs over the water. You can walk, train or boat among the villages and enjoy scenic views from the cliffs or the sea. Back to Selva for dinner.

Day 7, Friday:

After a morning review session, you go to the nearby enclosed hill town of Montecarlo, with its 12th century fortezza, winding streets and ancient gates. Lunch is at a winery where you will also enjoy a wine tour and be able to photograph the cellars and vineyards. Upon your return to Selva, we’ll have a pre-dinner gallery of the students' favorite photographs, then the highly-popular pizza night with Eduardo and sample the limoncello you made earlier in the week.

Day 8, Saturday:

After breakfast, we wish you arrivederci, until we meet again. The van transports you back to the train station or airport.