the ALP tours Florentine Interlude - a 5 day mini break

My wonderful guide is a Florentine architecture historian. She knows the city inside out and stone by stone and is a foremost expert on the Jewish history of Florence and Tuscany.

Giovanna Bossi Rosenfeld, a native of Florentine and licensed tourist guide, will make Jewish history come alive through her knowledge, stories and by actually taking us to the places where Jewish history was made (and is still alive). She will show us an insider’s view of a Jewish Florence not found in the guidebooks.

Our itinerary is designed to mingle Jewish history with Renaissance and Medieval landmarks and museums of Florence, Siena, Pisa, Livorno and other Tuscan cities.

Many of you will know the area and many will be newcomers – but all will thoroughly enjoy this mini break in the company of our terrific guide Giovanna.

Please let me know
1.If you would like to join this long week-end.
2.If so which date(s) can you manage and which you prefer.
3.If you would like to join but can’t come on any particular date let me know too.
4.If you have a shul ‘group’ (and a date) I would love to arrange this for you.
5.I hope to be organising the first one for Ealing Shul, so if you are a member of Ealing Synagogue please be sure to answer questions 1, 2 and 3.

Possible dates:
7th - 12th May
21st – 26th May
11th – 16th June
18th - 23rd June
25th - 30th June
16th - 21st July

Your answers to the above questions will help me find the optimal dates which of course depend on Giovanna’s availability.

Draft Itinerary:

THURSDAY: Rendezvous at hotel. You can be met at whichever airport you choose to arrive at. (Pisa with British Airways or Ryan Air or Florence with Meridiana Airways) and escorted to our hotel. However it is very easy to get from either airport to Florence Central by train from either airport.

The tour will start officially in mid/late afternoon at the hotel with a short introductory talk on the history of Florence we will then visit the Academia Gallery (David by Michelangelo). Walking on to the city centre we will discover the unexpected presence of Jewish history from the 15th to the 20th centuries in some of the most famous landmarks - in the Duomo area with the famous Baptistery’s Golden Door and its Tanachic stories and the Piazza della Republica where the ghetto once stood.
In the evening we will go for supper to the kosher restaurant ‘Ruth’s’

FRIDAY: After breakfast (hotel breakfast buffet, supplemented with kosher items) we will walk to the beautiful Synagogue and the Jewish Museum; continuing to the Ponte Vecchio area, the Via dei Guidei (the Jews Street) where Jews first settled and the Piazza della Signoria. After a short lunch break we will visit the Uffizi Gallery - with masterpieces by Botticelli, Leonardo and Michelangelo. You will then have some free time to continue to explore the museum and/or stroll around Florence and prepare for Shabbat.

Shabbat commences at 7.08pm on the 8th May, our earliest possible date - 7.35pm on the 17th July our last possible date.

Shabbat services and Shabbat dinner will be at the Synagogue and we will have the opportunity to meet some of the community.

SHABBAT: 8:45 am at Synagogue – Shacharit – After the davening there is a Kiddush and we will have our lunch here before a leisurely walking tour to the S. Croce area and the city centre. You will then be at leisure until later when we will return to the Synagogue/Ruth’s restaurant for Seudat Shelishit – evening meal and the end of Shabbat. (8.17pm on 9th May, 8.44pm on the 17th July)

SUNDAY: A full day tour to Siena and Pitigliano. In Siena we visit the city highlights, such as Piazza del Campo and the Duomo, the wonderful synagogue (18th C.) and the former ghetto. We hope to meet members of local Jewish Community and will have our (packed) lunch in the synagogue’s dining room. In the afternoon we visit the fantastic Jewish site of Pitigliano. It is a lovely small walled city in southern Tuscany called “The Little Jerusalem”, because of its Jewish ghetto. It is a long drive, but worth it.
Dinner will again be at Ruth’s restaurant.

MONDAY: A day tour to Livorno (Leghorn) and Pisa. The grandiose famous synagogue, of Livorno was destroyed in WW2 but it has an incredible Jewish history and Livorno still has a lively Jewish Community. We will visit the Jewish Museum in the remains of the old synagogue and then visit the modern synagogue and (hopefully) meet the archivist Dr Bedarida. We will enjoy brunch at the local kosher eatery ‘Dr.KEBAB’ and continue to Pisa. Pisa is wonderful city and very few Jewish visitors know that that the Jewish Cemetery is adjacent to the Piazza dei Miracoli, unbelievably close to the Leaning Tower which we will visit but not climb. We hope also to visit the Synagogue but at time of writing it is under restoration and has restricted access. Here too we hope to meet members of the Jewish Community before returning to Florence.

TUESDAY: morning at leisure. A further visit to the town of Lucca may also be arranged but has so far not been included. .

Included in the price: (which will be around 1,100euro per person sharing):
Services of professional guide
Luxury coach for visits out of Florence
All meals - breakfast from hotel buffet supplemented with kosher items
All entry charges
4* Hotel accommodation in standard rooms
Gratuities at hotel and restaurant

Not included: International fares or transfers to/from hotel.
Prices of flights from London are below.
Transfers can be arranged if requested.

Flights from London:

British Airways
BA2602 from Gatwick leaves at 11.40am and arrives at Pisa at 2.50pm

Ryanair
FR582 leaves from Stansted at 11.20am and arrives at Pisa at 2.30pm

Meridiana Airways
IG3536 from Gatwick departs at 9.45am and arrives at Florence airport at 12.45pm

Flights to London

Meridiana flights from Florence airport are:
IG3531: departs 0755 arrives Gatwick at 0900
IG3535 departs 1810 and arrives Gatwick at 1915

Ryanair flights from Pisa
FR583 departs at 1455 and arrives at Stansted at:1615
FR589 departs at 2215 and arrives at Stansted at 23.30

British Airways flights depart from Pisa
BA2601 departs at 1205 and arrives at Gatwick at 1315
BA2603 departs at 1535 and arrives at Gatwick at 1645
(If we’re traveling in July there’s a 3rd flight in the evening.)

Flight costs (internet prices)
Meridiana flights cost approx £175
Ryanair flights cost (current offer for our dates): £63
British Airways flights cost from: £119

NOTES:
•Ryanair has a late night flight and if we are traveling in July BA does as well, so there is a possibility of returning on Monday night instead of Tuesday. NB one can now book single sector flights at no extra cost, so traveling out with one airline and returning with a different one is quite easy to do and can be cost effective too!

•However the cost of Monday night dinner and Monday night hotel accommodation is included in the quoted cost of the tour.

•I am also considering the option of staying in Pisa on Monday night.

•I will be booking standard rooms at a 4* Hotel within easy walking distance of all sights, the kosher restaurant and the Synagogue.

•Superior rooms and suites may be available.

•(If you want super super de luxe accommodation I can book you at the super de luxe Four Seasons hotel and you will have to get a taxi to join us each morning at 9.00am (or earlier). It is within easy walking distance from the synagogue and room rates start at 300euro per night excluding breakfast and excluding taxes.)

•Florence is very crowded in May, June and the beginning of July – school groups, I am told, abound and it is ‘peak season’. After the 15th July the schools have gone, but the weather may be hotter than in May.

Aviva Preston
ALP tours
avivapreston@hotmail.com
aviva@winnock.co.uk

25th February 2009