For centuries the landscape of Tuscany has
enchanted both residents and visitors with its seductive contours, receding vistas, the subtle textures of its vegetation and its human scale. With the revival of Classical culture from the fourteenth century, this landscape has been incorporated architecturally into the villas and gardens that grew in the environs of the cities of Florence and Siena.

More than anywhere else, the topography here allowed magnificent use of tilting terrain and distant vistas. The Early Renaissance villas and gardens were designed as retreats from public life in the busy city. Moreover, they were the ideal place for philosophical debate, inspired by the spirit of Plato’s academy as promulgated by humanist learning.

Gardens of the late Renaissance and Baroque period became more elaborate status symbols, adorned with rare plants, sculpture and water works. Uniting natural and artificial beauty, they were designed to recreate Paradise on Earth, an achievable Utopia, an accessible Arcadia.

After a spell of landscape design in the English style in the nineteenth century, the Tuscan formal garden returned in its most glorious form in the early twentieth century, this time designed mostly for wealthy foreigners. A feature of this tour are the gardens by Cecil Pinsent, an Englishman and the leading garden designer of his time.
Some of the gardens and villas visited are opened only by special arrangement nearer the time. There may be substitutes for some places mentioned.

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