Ten glorious days in Tuscany, including charming hill towns, Baroque gardens, Renaissance estates and villas, farmhouses, wineries, olive groves, balconies dripping with geraniums, painterly niches everywhere you look . . .

You’ll spend time at the farmhouse and on the estate with its wealth of nature, rose and iris gardens, lavender galore and rosemary, the rustic winery and olive mill, the estate chapel, unrestored ruins, chestnut groves and majestic cypress trees, awaiting your artistic interpretation.

In addition, excursions outside the estate have been chosen to provide further inspiration:

• Baroque gardens and villas surrounding Lucca, including Villa Reale, once owned by the Duchess Elise, the sister of Napoleon, are the venue for a full day of painting and a picnic, (perhaps a la Manet?)

• Enchanting hilltowns will charm you with their piazzas, colorful balcony gardens, markets for every need, incredible vistas and tiny restaurants, pleasing to the artist’s palette and palate.

• You’re invited to the estate where visual opportunities abound with the Renaissance villa, rustic winery and the antique frantoio (olive press). While visiting, you’ll have the opportunity to taste the estate wine, olive oil and grappa, honeys and vinegars.

• The jewel city of Lucca is open to you, its romantic byways, Romanesque churches, and its famous walls that were once a fortification and now offer a tree-lined boulevard for walking and biking. Several visits to Lucca will also allow for time to sip a cappuccino, enjoy a gelato in a shaded piazza and explore its art shops, kitchen stores and boutiques for Tuscan items.