FIRST WEEK: While both weeks will include time spent touring the area as well as painting in the field, the first week will be more oriented towards tourism and will be ideal for artists who would like to bring a spouse or partner along. We will spend a day visiting Florence and another day visiting Siena. We will spend a morning or afternoon in nearby Montepulciano, an Etruscan hilltown with world famous wine and many shops -- including one wine store that lets you go down to its cellars, once used as prisons and torture chambers. We will have opportunities to visit other locations in Tuscany and Umbria. From Assissi, home of St. Francis, to San Gimignano, home of the "Torture Museum," there's a little for everyone. For more information visit our excursions page. On many of these days a morning or afternoon can be spent painting while the rest of the day is spent touring. Or you will have the option to stay behind to work. While at the tourist locations there will be time to sketch, do small on site works and many photo-ops. SECOND WEEK: On Sunday the 7th we will head to Arezzo, the location of the film "Life is Beautiful." Arezzo hosts two great events that day, its monthly Antiques Fair, which fills the city streets and is the largest in Europe, and their special yearly event -- the joust of the Saracenes. This is a famous folklore event in which the various sections of the city dress in medieval costume and perform a joust in the town square. The second week will also be a wonderful opportunity to visit tourist locations, including Florence and Siena. But we will be spending more of our time on location painting, sketching, photographing, etc. Sinalunga rests on the last of a chain of hills stretching through most of Tuscany. It over looks the Val di Chiana, the largest valley in Tuscany, which is flanked on the east side by Lake Trasimeno. The result is a wealth of material. Whether the charm of the many hilltowns, a grove of cypress trees, a lakeside scene, open expanses of wheat fields, rolling hills (both rugged and serene) or the many details of Italian life, you will find plenty of material. The group can all go to one location, or the van can drop artists off at various locations for an hour or two of work. Shawn Rossiter spent six weeks in the area last year and will have many locations to suggest depending on what you are looking for. And don't worry -- if you need to put some finishing touches on your piece, or we get a little moisture, you can always return to the villa's large studio to work. EXHIBITION: If all goes well, when we return to Utah, we will have the opportunity for an exhibition of our work done in Italy. A couple of locations are possibilities.