Welcome on Tuscan travel planner, your personal tour operator

Monday – Arrival, meeting with the staff and wine.

Arrival in Florence or Pisa Airport, transfer by private minibus and accommodation in Terre di Baccio in Greve in Chianti or Palazzo Squarcialupi in Castellina in Chianti or Castello di Meleto. Meeting with Michele Pero, professional photographer, your photo personal trainer during this program and with your guide Valentina, an expert chef and sommelier.

Guided wine tasting with the wines produced by the winery and welcome dinner.

Tuesday – Guided Wine and Photo Hiking in the Chianti Classico area.

h. 9:30 Departure from the Castle with your photo guide MicheleHiking and photos along a country track: tips and tricks to shoot nice images taking advantages of the beautiful landscape around.

h. 11:00 Visit to the winery Casaloste and wine tasting

h. 13:00 Open air picnic in an olives field

h. 14:30 Walking along vineyards: tips and tricks to shoot nice images taking advantages of the beautiful landscape around.

h. 19:00 Back to your location in Chianti and dinner.

Wednesday – Tuscan Cookery and Photo.

In the morning you can enjoy the fine swimming pool and the sauna in your location.

Portraiture photography under the Tuscan sun with Michele. You will take advantage of a location set up for taking portraits in open light. A special device is set up for softening the harsh and direct sun light in order to make a pleasant photo portrait. We can make a funny portraiture session of all participants, with the nice view on the Tuscan hills and vineyards, right before lunch.

At 17:00 you have a cooking lesson with dinner with Valentina. During the cookery work Michele will be with you for taking still life photos of the food preparation and of the dishes right before they will be eaten. Lighting and still life set up will be discussed briefly along with your cookery class.

You work for two hours and half, then you sit at the table and you have a dinner served with the products of your work and an appropriate wine.

After dinner, slide show with the portraits taken in the morning, just for fun, just for relax.

Thursday –Oil, cheese, wine and photo along the Tuscan hills.

h. 9:30 Departure by private minibus, with Michele and Valentina

h.11:00 Guided visit to oil farm Torre Rossa and guided oil tasting. Michele will suggest you tips and trick for shooting bottles of olive oil on a staged location, in order to render the beauty of the green oil color besides the olive trees and the amazing Tuscan farm landscape.

h.12:30 Short guided photo itinerary in Impruneta village and outside the Abbey.

h.13:30 Lunch at Osteria Antica Sosta

h.15:00 Guided visit to the cheese artisan laboratory of Corzano e Paterno and cheese guided tasting. Michele will suggest you to shoot a little photo reportage of the workshop with the artisans at work, to report and record a nice memory of your stay with the Tuscan cheese makers. You will be told how and why to take a picture instead of another. Photojournalism and cheese.

h. 16:00 Guided wine tasting at the winery Corzano e Paterno with tasting. Michele will suggest you to repeat your experience with photojournalism, with wine instead of cheese. We’ll tune our techniques for shooting on location and we’ll learn how to fix lighting problems for shooting indoor.

h.19:00 Back to your location in Chianti and dinner.

Friday – Art and Photo in Siena and S.Gimignano

h. 9:30 Departure by clients car to Siena, guided visit to the main monuments in town with your camera in the hands and the support of Michele to shoot the town of Siena, its historical center, the monuments and the suggestive sights this wonderful medieval town offers. You will be guided to tune your skills with architectural photography and to make a complete body of work on the town to report a nice Sienese portfolio.

h.12:30 Lunch at Osteria La Grotta di Santa Caterina in Siena

h.15:00 Visit to the winery San Donato and Vernaccia tasting

h.16:00 Guided visit to S.Gimignano, photo and prospective in front of the ancient architecture. San Gimignano is famous for its tall medieval towers. Which is the best way to fix them on a photograph? We’ll stroll around to find the classic point of view and then the creative one, to remake in a young and fresh style the look of this unique Tuscan town.

h.19:00 Back to your location in Chianti and dinner.

Saturday – A final revision of your work

In the morning you can enjoy the fine swimming pool and the sauna in your location. During the afternoon you will discuss the results of your work with Michele that will introduce you to the magics of raw files development and post production. Not Photoshop but a modern tool for adjusting your images and file your work: Apple Aperture, the revolutionary photo manager for the professional. During the review of the best shots taken by the participants we’ll organize a slide show with Keynote, comprehensive of all the best shots taken during all of our trips. All participants will contribute. At the end you will receive each a DVD with the slide show.

At. 20:00 Farewell dinner and consign of your participation diploma.

Sunday – Florence and departure

h. 9:00 Transfer to Florence by private minibus

h. 10:30 Guided walking tour to the Renaissance town center following the wine and food historical tracks

h. 12:30 Lunch in a Florentine ancient building with a special Tuscan menu.

Transfer by private minibus to Florence or Pisa Airport and departure.