Marriage of Heaven and Earth
A Week of Poetry and Art
in Tuscany
With Joan Stone and Sam Hilt

You are invited to Tuscany...

To spend a week "learning how to read" American poetry and to experience an immersion in what makes Tuscany unique: the local culture, the wines of Tuscany, the food with its simple ingredients used to create masterpieces and the amazing landscapes, art and architecture.

Why go to Tuscany to read American poets?

During the time of the Renaissance, the enlightened ruler of Florence, Lorenzo di Medici, hosted a circle of philosophers, poets and painters known as the Florentine Academy. They spent their days discussing the many possible meanings of the paintings and art works of men of genius like Donatello and Botticelli. It seems as if the goal of their discussions and interpretations was not to establish definitive readings, but rather to enliven the imagination and heighten their receptivity to the power of art. We aim to provide you with a setting in Tuscany in which we will discuss the images in Renaissance paintings and the images in American poetry in much the same way. Be prepared for vivid dreams and conversations late into the night.

Joan Stone On Art and Poetry

All art, I think, is an attempt to touch a place where language or color or sound alone does not serve completely and that place has more to do with "faith" than it does with "meaning." We can never "get there" but we can get close if we give ourselves over to the experience that art offers. Metaphor and image both provide a suggested bridge between the physical world and the metaphysical. These two can never really meet in our world, but the better the metaphor or the image the closer we can get. A good metaphor can elevate the physical or ground the metaphysical. As long as the connection stands, there is the illusion of a bridge; in this way art sustains us in an unsteady world. As long as we are willing to dance on the bridge between the two, to believe, for however long, that love really IS a rose (so suggests Robert Burns) and possesses all the attributes of a rose, we are dancing with "faith" and what a dance it can be.

Have you ever had the experience of listening to a wonderful singer when suddenly a particular note hangs in the air, a thing disembodied: a thing separated from the singer, a thing in itself? The few times I have, I felt transported up to it and hung, myself connected with the note, outside my own shell. Better than anything. Anyway, that is what I am aiming at when I teach poetry. Art is there. It is a thing of human making. It is a thing that remains in the physical while leaning hard toward the metaphysical. Our experience with art is one of our own making. We take what we can to it and bring what we feel from it.

Take a look at James Wright's very small poem "Saint Judas." In the last line he manages to wrap up all you ever need to know and feel of betrayal, guilt, shame, empathy, forgiveness and redemption. And by way of the poem Wright takes upon himself the Christ-like power of granting forgiveness by elevating Judas to Sainthood. The saving grace for us all, Wright suggests, is compassion for fellow sufferers. We are all fallen and are all in it together; all this held steady by the sonnet form.

Workshop Format

Reading poetry is a learnable skill that can serve us well in a complex world. Besides all that, it is fun.

This seminar will be limited to fourteen participants. During the course of the week we'll meet each day to read and discuss the poems chosen for that day. We'll also have workshops with slide presentations where we will learn about the art that we'll be seeing each day. Please see the itinerary below for examples of when the workshops will be held.

In Florence we will start with a group of poems from different poets, places and times. Some of them may already be familiar and some new to you. We'll see how we can begin to find meaning in them and to move from meaning to experience. We will be using what we find there as a set of tools by which we can begin to broaden our experience with all poetry.

When we move to our villa in the Tuscan countryside, the poetry workshops will focus on the poetry of one of America's most influential poets, Elizabeth Bishop, who wrote a large portion of her best work while living in Brazil where the poetry she wrote was laced with the influence of Brazil's history, myths, politics as well as the lush and terrifying beauty of the land itself. AND we will be doing all that in the context of another one of the most richly beautiful places on earth: Tuscany.

August 9 Florence Workshop 5 PM

We will begin our week at the beautiful Tornabuoni Beacci in Florence. http://www.tornabuonihotels.com Francis Mayes recommends this hotel in her book, Bringing Tuscany Home and Barbara Bush has stayed here. Tuscany Tours has used this charming Renaissance Palazzo as home base and haven in the bustle of the city for ten years.

You will settle into your room and then, over a glass of wine and salty Tuscan cheese, we'll meet each other and begin our week together.

Tonight we'll talk about Tuscan wine, Tuscan culture and "The Marriage of Heaven and Earth" in Renaissance art. We will look at slides of some of the paintings in the Uffizi and talk about how the process of "reading" paintings and reading poetry can be alike.

We'll see some slides of the art we'll visit the next day and hear about Donatello, "Shakespeare of Sculptors". And we'll begin practicing "the art" of reading poetry. Then we'll have dinner in the roof-top garden of our hotel.

August 10  Florence

We'll meet for a workshop with Joan this morning before heading off to:

The Bargello is Florence's main sculpture museum and contains one of the finest collections of sculpture in Italy. We'll spend the morning looking at works by Cellini and Donatello, as well as the two famous trail reliefs for the second set of baptistery doors, by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi.

We will have lunch in a wine bar where we'll taste the estate wine of our host's family. Then we'll visit the Museum of the Cathedral, where we will see Donatello's amazing statue of Mary Magdalene and Michelangelo's Pieta that he intended for his own tomb.

We'll meet at 6:30 for a workshop on the Art of the Uffizi.

Tonight dinner on your own.

August 11 Florence

After our morning workshop with Joan we will visit one of the best museums in the world, the Uffizi (and if you like Renaissance art - it is the supreme museum). We'll have a reservation so that we don't have to wait in line! Sam and Pam will be available for questions but otherwise you are free to explore at your own pace and stay as long as you like.

Lunch is on your own and the afternoon is free for shopping. Today you may want to visit the gold shops on Ponte Vecchio or the leather school near Santa Croce.

Dinner will be in a little trattoria just around the corner from our hotel. It's been featured in Bon Appétit and, yes, it's in the guide books, but this has not changed this small family run place a bit. They still serve amazing food and the local Florentines still stand in line to get in (we'll have a reservation!)

August 12 Transfer to Villa in the Tuscan Countryside

Today we will transfer from the city to the countryside. Here you will find tranquility and the timeless beauty of Tuscany.

We'll check into the villa and then have a light lunch outside under the trees. Then it's time for a rest or a swim before our afternoon workshop with Joan.

Just before dinner Pam and Sam will give an introduction to Siena's culture and history, including the famous and amazing horserace, "The Palio". Dinner tonight under the stars at the villa.

   

August 13 Siena

Well have a morning workshop with Joan. Then we will travel to Siena where we'll visit Siena's splendid cathedral and museum. The cathedral is definitely one of the wonders of the known world: the entire floor is composed of etchings done in marble; there's a gallery of masks of the Popes going all the way back to St. Peter; the interior is all done in alternating stripes of black and white marble—in short, it's breathtaking. Next-door is the cathedral museum that contains an astonishingly beautiful altarpiece by Siena's great 13th century artist, Duccio. The museum also provides access to the high ramparts from which you can look over the sea of red-tiled roofs that is the city of Siena. We'll have lunch at Pam and Sam's favorite Siena restaurant and then we have a special surprise for you before we travel back to the villa for dinner. There will also be some time for shopping!

August 14 Medieval Village Hopping

Morning workshop with Joan.

We'll have a picnic and then we'll be driving through the unique landscapes of the crete region on our way to medieval town of Asciano. We'll explore the town and its wonderful museum of sacred art. Then we'll visit one or two other small hill towns before our last stop at a tiny Tuscan hill town of about 200 inhabitants, a medieval jewel still undiscovered by the tour guidebooks. From its ramparts it offers one of the most beautiful panoramic views in all of Tuscany. After a stroll in the town we'll have wine tasting with Remo, a small local producer of Chianti Classico.

Remo's wine is quintessentially Chianti; his grapes are harvested by hand. When making his wine, he does not use the strict measurements of the enologist but uses intuition and his knowledge of what the weather was like during the season the grapes were on the vines. He is known throughout Tuscany and delivers wine to many of the American and British ex-pats here. The Italians come from as far away as Milan to purchase their wine from Remo. Others drive down from Germany and France.

Following the wine-tasting we'll have dinner together in a wonderful restaurant in the same tiny village. Inside the restaurant is a stone well that's been there since the twelfth century!

August 15  Cortona

" Floating high above the Valdichiana plain on terraced slopes of olives and vines, Cortona figures among the crown jewels of Tuscan hilltowns. Ragged Etruscan stonework can still be seen in the foundations of its walls." (Cadogan Guide)

This morning we will travel to Cortona where we will begin with a visit to the city's Diocesan Museum that hosts a Fra Angelo Annunciation that is certainly one of the loveliest paintings ever created.

Lunch is on your own and, afterwards, you'll have a couple of hours of free time. Depending on your interests, you may want to visit the Etruscan Museum, hike up the Via Crucis, shop, or explore Cortona's picturesque side streets.

Later in the afternoon we'll head back to our Villa to rest before dinner. Our final dinner together will be at one of the finest restaurants in Tuscany, located in a marvelously scenic location on a thousand-acre estate that is run by a Greek Princess!

August 16  Buon Viaggio

At 11:00 AM we'll be taking everyone to Siena for departure or connections to further travel.

About the Seminar Leaders

Joan Stone

Joan Stone retired English Professor from Colorado College where she taught for 30 years. She now lives on a cattle ranch on the on the Olympic Penninsula in Washington State. She was educated at the University of Washington. Among her published works is "A Letter to Myself to Water".

Sam Hilt

Sam Hilt grew up in Newark, New Jersey and was educated at Brandeis University and the University of Toronto. He holds a Masters in Comparative Literature, a Masters in Psychology, and a doctorate in Renaissance Studies. He speaks Russian and Hebrew badly, understands very little Spanish, but is fortunately quite fluent in Italian (and French). He loves Renaissance art and is the author of A Morning at the Uffizi, a guide to Florence's greatest museum.

      

Pamela Mercer

Pamela Mercer is originally from Oklahoma, attended Colorado College in Colorado Springs, and Sonoma State University. She has a degree in psychology and marine biology but says "all she ever needed to know she learned in her drama classes." She and Sam have been leading tours in Tuscany for ten years.

Tour Specifics:

Dates: August 09, 2007 to August 16, 2007

Cost: The land cost of the tour is $2407, based on double occupancy. A limited number of single rooms are available for a supplementary charge of $450. (Airfare is not included.)

Note: The minimum requirement of participants for this tour is 8.

Registration deposit: A non-refundable deposit of $250 is required to secure your place. The balance of the tour is due 90 days before the tour start date.

Accommodations: 7 nights lodging in carefully restored, historic properties; (3 nights in a Florence hotel, 4 nights at a villa in the Chianti region). All rooms have private baths.

Meals: All breakfasts, one full-course meal daily, additional meals as scheduled. All meals-after breakfast!—include regional wines. We carefully choose the restaurants based on ambiance and quality of cuisine.

Transfers: All ground transportation during the tour.

Wine tastings of various Tuscan varieties (including small local producers and famous well known producers)

Workshops and Presentations: As well as the workshops with Joan, we include slideshows and presentations that provide essential background information to enhance your visits to the sites.

Admissions: Entrance fees for all planned visits to monuments, galleries and museums are included.

Small, Intimate Group: We will be limiting the number of participants to a maximum of 14.

Early Arrival/ Late Stay Options: Depending on hotel availability you may be able to arrive early or stay after the end of the tour. We'll be happy to help you make these arrangements.

Pick Up and Drop Off: The tour begins at our hotel in Florence and we can help you with the logistics of getting there; we take you back to Siena on the final morning of the tour. Pick-ups or drop-offs at other locations can be arranged through our travel partners for an additional fee.

Experienced Tour Leaders: Joan Stone, retired from Colorado College; Pam Mercer Hilt and Sam Hilt of Tuscany Tours have been leading tours in Tuscany since 1997.

Registration:

To reserve your place and register for this tour, please click the button below to jump to the Registration Page:

Please feel free to contact us via email or call us (in California) at (800 634 3460) with any questions you may have about the tour or about traveling to Tuscany.

*Note: This itinerary is subject to change based on availability and opening hours of restaurants, hotels and venues.