Day 1:

Arrival day, with a friendly welcome of prosecco, cheese, tea and Tuscan cookies . . . all enjoyed under our shady pergola. Before dinner we'll start making limoncello so that it's ready to drink on our last evening. Dinner is prepared by our Tuscan chef and your introduction to our regional cooking that features fresh, seasonal and local ingredients.

Day 2:

Your first painting day is an "at home" day. At brunch Sandra will discuss the week's itinerary and outline the program objectives. She'll also do a short demonstration and allow time for discussion.

You may choose to paint around the farmhouse, in the olive groves, among the grapevines, at unrestored houses, or many other places on the estate. We'll have time for wine and snacks with our sharing session before dinner. The restaurant for this evening is a picture of its own so, if you wish, we will leave early so that you may enjoy some painting time there.

Day 3:

Today we board our mini-bus for the drive south to Chianti where we'll visit the region's classic hilltowns, originally set high above vineyards and olive groves for defensive purposes. We'll stop at an artisanal terra cotta maker's where you'll see everything from coin-size medallions to life-size animals all created from native clays. You can enjoy some shopping in Chianti, and no visit would be complete without a wine tasting. Lunch is at a hilltop restaurant with fabulous views on the patio under a warm September sun. Perhaps a nap is in order on the ride back to Selva where a light buffet dinner will be available.

Day 4:

After breakfast and a demonstration by Sandra, another "at home" day for intensive painting of Tuscan scenery. Perhaps your venue will be the parish church or the shepherd’s house, maybe a single cluster of grapes in the vineyard. Around 5:00 everyone gathers to begin a cooking lesson with our Tuscan chef. It's hands-on, up-to-your-elbows dinner preparation with Italian lessons thrown in. Hint: the word for garlic is aglio!

Day 5:

Today is your introduction to Lucca, with a guided tour of its famous walls and other "painterly" spots, among them churches, gardens, sections of the medieval walls, charming nooks and crannies. Lucca is home to perhaps the richest collection of Romanesque churches, with intricate pillars and imposing facades; its walls inspire awe; and several gardens inside the walls were designed by Renaissance and Baroque masters. After lunch on your own, you are free to wander Lucca to paint, shop, walk or bike the walls. At 4:00 we return to Selva and review the day's painting before dinner prepared by our chef.

Day 6:

After breakfast we make the short drive to the Devil's Bridge. Ponder the unique arched bridge built of massive stones during the 11th century and consider the perspective from which you want to paint this piece of Tuscan history. We'll have a picnic lunch at the bridge before returning home for a demonstration by Sandra, review and discussion of the day's work and dinner prepared by our chef.

Day 7:

Today we head to the sea and our favorite fishing village, Lerici. This charming town is located on the Gulf of Poets where you'll have expansive seascapes to paint, an imposing fortress and working fishing boats personalized by color and more. Or you may choose to wander around town for your own view of Lerici's life and rhythms. For lunch we highly recommend the local seafood, which likely came off one of the fishing boats that very morning.

Day 8:

Another "at home" day allows you to work on your paintings the better part of the day after Sandra's demonstration following breakfast. Perhaps today a study of unrestored houses where flowers still manage to grow in the walls, a cypress tree with a red rose bush growing through it, or one of the many other small vignettes on the property. Buffet lunch allows you to eat when it suits your painting schedule. Mid-afternoon we head back to Lucca and join the locals in a very Italian experience, the passeggiatta. It's a time to be out and about, to meet and greet friends and just enjoy the late afternoon. You can squeeze in a bit more shopping if you like, and then we attend a Puccini concert in a Medieval church built on Roman ruins. Dinner afterward is at one of our favorite Lucca restaurants where the chef has become a good friend. You'll enjoy the dinner he prepares just for our group and the wines he recommends.

Day 9: Your venue today is one of the Baroque villas and gardens in the Lucca area, with statuary, formal gardens, limonaia, grottoes, water tricks and towering trees. You’re invited to stay the whole day in order to paint as much as you like. Plan for lunch on your own to maximize painting time. You can wander into one of Lucca's charming bistros, enjoy a bite to eat in a shady piazza or bring something back to nibble as you paint. You return to Selva for a review of the day's work before dinner prepared by our chef.

Day 10:

It's our final full day, and we'll spend it painting "at home." Sandra's post-breakfast demonstration will allow time to discuss any outstanding issues or concerns you may have about your work. For your day's subject, is there one more memory of Selva you need to capture? One more color or texture, unique to your Tuscan experience, that you need to commit to paper? One more view or vignette? Or, perhaps, another look at or refinement of something that you did earlier in the workshop? A buffet lunch will be available to accommodate your painting schedule. Tonight is our exhibit of work done during the week. Eduardo, our local baker, joins us for pizza night. He'll be arriving early to set a fire in our wood-fired oven and thoroughly heat the interior bricks. You get to select the ingredients for your own pizza that bakes to crisp perfection directly on the bricks of the oven interior. And we'll finish off dinner sipping the limoncello we started on the first day.

Day 11:

After breakfast we wish everyone buon viaggio as you depart for the Pisa airport or the Lucca train station.