Tour Plan
We meet you at Rome Fiumicino airport in the morning. If you arrive a day before we will pick you up at the hotel before we head to the airport to meet the rest of the participants. When everyone has met at the airport, we will take you to a restaurant to have lunch on Lungomare di Salute. This seafront street is home to the most famous seafood restaurants. There are no tourists at all, and it is a favourite dining place for Rome residents. The staff do not speak English and the prices are reasonable. After lunch we will go to Tuscany and settle in our house that requires a separate note. This is an old estate of Poggio Covilli, one of the most famous and beautiful places in Tuscany. We will photograph the estate in the sunset so you could have an opportunity to have a good rest after your journey.
To photograph the sunrise, we will go to a panoramic point of Pienza town; the most beautiful place in Tuscany and the quintessence of the most picturesque views of Val D’orcia. In case of good light conditions, and especially if we are lucky with the fog, you will come back with a dozen of stunning photos. You will need a lens up to 400mm. After the photography session we will have cappuccino with dolce in a cafe in the old town square, and then you will have time to explore Pienza, lovingly designed and built by Pope Pius II on the site of his native village. In addition, Pienza is home of the most delicious sheep cheese Pecorino and famous for it in the world. After this we will go home. Our sunset photography session will take place near Torrenieri village. We will photograph Tuscany’s famous cypresses in the smooth folds of the fields.
On the third day of our photography workshop we will meet the sunrise in Podere Belvedere, perhaps, the most photographed spot of the Tuscan countryside. This truly iconic point looks equally beautiful at sunrise and at sunset. After our photography session we will have a morning coffee in old town of San Quirico d’orcia. We will spend a lunch siesta at our estate. In the evening to photograph the sunset we will go Vitaleta Chapel, the most famous small Church in the Tuscan fields. If we are quick enough, we photograph it from 2-3 completely different angles on the wide-angle lens as well as telezoom lens. We will have dinner in the famous craft brewery Brasseria della Fonte, the owners of which are our friends. In addition to excellent American pale ale they offer delicious Tuscan food.
We will get up earlier than usual because of a longer drive, about 1.5 hours, but it will be worth it. We will photograph the rising sun with a view of San Gimignano, so called the medieval New York City, with its 13 tall beautiful towers built by the most notable people. Then we will have a morning coffee at Marcella’s chocolate shop with her delicious dolce. We will leisurely walk through the streets of this gorgeous historic town, visit Duomo where we will see a fresco by Ghirlandaio, and climb Torre Municipal, the highest town’s tower. For lunch we will go to Siena, one of the most beautiful cities in Tuscany, and eat at Taverna San Giuseppe, the ancient and most famous restaurant of the city. After lunch we will explore all the labyrinth of the streets and visit the most beautiful medieval Duomo of Italy. When Richard Wagner, famous German composer, saw it for the first time, he cried, that much was he impressed with the ornament of the facade. We will also go up to the panoramic viewpoint of the city and photograph Siena from high up. Lastly, we will lie on the legendary Il Campo square where Il Paglio horse race takes place, the most famous competition of contrade in Tuscany. In the evening we will enjoy dinner at a restaurant near our house.
Our sunrise is planned in a valley near Macciano. Beautiful smooth fields, lightening up by the first rays of the rising sun, lonely estates and creeping fog altogether form a charm of warm autumn Tuscany. We will also take pictures from a few other spots nearby, including the famous La Foce frame, and then go for a morning coffee in small non-touristic Cetona town with streets made of snow-white stone. After a morning walk, we will visit the gallery of famous contemporary Tuscan artists – Tazio Angelini and Fausta Ottolini, who have regularly represented Italy at various exhibitions of modern art including New York City. Their gallery and apartments are situated in the old cantina of ** century. We will have a glass of cold Prosecco with them, see how they live and if you would like you can practice your portrait photography skills, the artists are incredibly photogenic. Then we will have lunch in the best restaurant of Merlot town. We will photograph the sunset in already familiar Podere Belvedere.
This day will be dedicated to Tuscan wines. We start our sunrise session by photographing the incredible views of Val d’orcia, opening up from the top of the hill, which is located in Montalcino town, home of delicious Tuscan Brunello di Montalcino, the king of red wines from the autochthonous Tuscan Sangiovese grapes. After our morning photography tour and walk in this pretty town, we will go for lunch and a tasting of best Brunello wine by the Association of winemakers in the legendary and ancient Montalcino fortress La Fortezza. Then we will visit the old Abbey founded by the King Charlemagne himself, and the main temple dated to the 8th century. In the afternoon another wine tasting experience will be waiting for us. The fields in the area belong to our great friends-winemakers Col d’orcia Marquis Cinzano, and we will go to their winery to taste their Brunello and supertoscana wines. We will finish the day by photographing the sunset in the fields of Torrenieri.
We leave a little earlier than usual again and start the day in a very cozy and ancient Pitigliano town. It is so harmoniously built into a huge tuff rock and seems to be rather a product of nature than a man. After our morning photography tour and workshop, we will enjoy our traditional leisurely walk. This town, like no other else, offers countless beautiful locations for the street photography. We will visit the historical Duomo and then go to see the catacombs, there are so many of them that they create a separate underground town of Pitigliano. Almost every local here has his own cellar. Our friends, who produce the most delicious cheese salsa dip, will gladly take us to their cellars that were dug thousands of years back by the Etruscans who were the first inhabitants of Tuscany. At noon we will go to Cascade Saturnia hot springs famous for their naturally formed multi-level white baths. There we will relax and recharge our energy for the rest of our photography tour. We will spend our evening photographing the sunset in another medieval miracle of Tuscany – Sorano town. It resembles Pitigliano a bit, yet it has a different character. Sorano is a more brutal and unusual town hanging over a real abyss. We will dine near our estate in San Quirico d’orcia ‘Al vecchio forno’, the best restaurant in the area which is repeatedly mentioned in the Michelin Guide.
We will photograph the sunrise near the town of Mucigliano, surrounded by classic Tuscan landscapes, yet not very famous among tourists and photographers. Then we will drive along Crete Senese, one of the most beautiful roads of Tuscany. We will make numerous stops to photograph these scenic views. We will enjoy a good long siesta at home to recover fully from the previous busy day. Our sunset photography session will take place at Podere Boccoleno, famous for its quaint winding cypress road.
We will meet the sunrise in a small village with the oldest hot springs of Bagno Vignoni. This town was favorite for Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian filmmaker who shot here the final scene of his “Nostalghia” movie. We will have our traditional morning cappuccino with a view of the main thermal pool, and then go on a guided tour to the two ancient and non-tourist towns – Sarteano and Radicofani, where in one of the temples we will see the original majolica by Andrea della Robbia. During the day we will visit beautiful San Fillippo Bagni hot springs. And if there is still some energy left, we will go to the Abbey of San Galagano to photograph it in the first evening lights. This unique monastery with its roofless walls houses a sword in a rock, the prototype of the Excalibur. In the evening we will have our farewell dinner; we ensure to choose the best restaurant for it.
In the morning we leave for Rome and around 12.00pm we will be at Fiumicino airport. Your return flight should be in the afternoon. Those, who wish to have an additional walk in Rome, we can take you to the city.
Gallery
Tips
In our free time, in a cozy atmosphere with a glass of wine by the fireplace, we can discuss the photos taken and talk about the composition. Our award-winning photo guide will give photography workshops on digital photo editing workflow. He will also guide you and give practical advice during the photography sessions on the spots and teach you how to photograph and glue panoramic shots. You will leave this photo tour with your best landscape photographs!
Clothes
Autumn in Tuscany is the most beautiful time, rich in colors and flavours. The temperature is mild and normally varies from 10°C in the morning to 20°C in the afternoon. It is the season of the olive harvest, and as a part of our photography tour we will visit the old Fattoria to see the whole process of olive oil production and try the freshly pressed oil, the taste of which is simply divine. It is also a season of white mushrooms and truffles, and it is the hunting time. The restaurants offer their best seasonal dishes of game and mushrooms. You will return from this photography tour inspired and thoroughly enriched by beautiful Tuscany!
Since the temperature is mild we recommend taking some warm clothes and waterproof shoes, for example, hiking boots would be very useful in the mornings to protect you from dew. During the day we will swim in hot springs, so, please, take swimming suits/swimming trunks and crocs or flipflops. We find sneakers the most comfortable for our daily walks. And dear ladies, mini photo sessions are included into our photography tour for you, so please, take a couple of beautiful dresses.
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Accommodation and logistics
Photo workshops
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Food
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