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THE QUEER RENAISSANCE: UNVEILING FLORENCE’S FORBIDDEN LOVES
Bronze bodies, illicit entanglements, and sculpted beauty
WHEN TO TRAVEL
ALL YEAR ROUND
FROM PRICE
£4,530 PP
IDEAL LENGTH
THREE NIGHTS
IN DISCUSSION WITH ART HISTORIANS ON DONATELLO’S ANDROGYNOUS DAVID
Raise the curtain on Renaissance Florence to reveal a clandestine chapter in the city’s history where same-sex relations convened with high art and intellectual discourse.
Over three days at the Four Seasons Hotel Firenze, explore the corridors of power at Palazzo Vecchio, wander secretive gardens where Platonic thinkers and lovers met, and uncover the homoerotic resonance of masterpieces by Donatello, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, and Botticelli. Guided by leading historians and experts, gain exclusive access to archives, restoration studios, and private collections, getting to the heart of how desire, politics, and creativity intertwined.
JOURNEY HIGHLIGHTS
POWER, POLITICS, AND PASSION
The Palazzo Vecchio stands as a testament to Florence's political and social complexities. Beyond its role as the seat of government, it was the site of the Office of the Night, which documented and prosecuted cases of sodomy. A guided tour illuminates how these legal proceedings shaped the lives of individuals and the city's moral landscape, offering a nuanced understanding of Renaissance power and passion.
IN PRAISE OF THE MALE FORM
In Renaissance Florence, the male form became both an artistic obsession and a philosophical ideal. During guided visits, admire Donatello’s groundbreaking David at the Bargello National Museum, a figure at once heroic and effeminate, as well as Caravaggio’s Bacchus at the Uffizi, painted with an intimacy that hints at personal desire. Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo and Rosso Fiorentino’s dynamic studies of the nude further reveal how artists explored the body as a vessel of both strength and sensuality.
GARDENS OF DESIRE
Visit gardens that hosted the Platonic Academy, where eminent thinkers like Marsilio Ficino and the poet Angelo Poliziano established a neoclassical justification of love between men as analogous to the highest form of religious love. These secluded corners also offered discreet spaces for romantic liaisons between male lovers, intertwining intellectual and personal passions. A private visit allows guests to wander the gardens, imagining the interplay of thought, beauty, and clandestine desire.
THE JOURNEY
A 4-day itinerary to uncover the secrets of Renaissance Florence.
DAY 1
Arrive at Florence Airport or Santa Maria Novella train station
Meet your driver for a private transfer to the Four Seasons Hotel Firenze
Overnight at the Four Seasons Hotel Firenze in a Superior Room
DAY 2
Guided by a local expert, visit the Palazzo Vecchio — once the nerve centre of the Florentine Republic, later home to the Medici
Step inside the Sala dell’Udienza, the Sala dei Gigli, and the intimate studiolo of Francesco I to trace the city’s power struggles
Walk to Teatro Verdi — built on the site of the Stinche prison, where Benvenuto Cellini, goldsmith and sculptor, was jailed on charges of sodomy in 1556. In a city where such accusations often carried the weight of death, Florence was a paradox: punishment tempered, yet reputations destroyed
Continue to Le Murate — a former Benedictine convent whose walls once enclosed the forbidden love of Abbess Benedetta Carlini and Bartolomea Crivelli, their affair scrutinised and condemned by the Church
Return to the hotel for the rest of the afternoon at leisure
In the evening, wander across the Ponte Vecchio and along the Arno’s embankments through Pellicceria and past forgotten river bathing spots, evoking Florence’s nocturnal world of illicit encounters, hidden banquets, and compromised magistrates
Overnight at the Four Seasons Hotel Firenze
DAY 3
Guided by a local expert, visit Florence’s galleries to gain a closer appreciation of how Renaissance artists celebrated the male form in both beauty and desire
At the Bargello, Donatello’s bronze David appears delicate and androgynous, his features thought to recall Antinous, Hadrian’s deified beloved. The museum itself, once the stern seat of civic authority and later the residence of Florence’s chief of police, provides a striking contrast to the sensuality of this radical sculpture
Continue to the Uffizi, where Michelangelo’s Doni Tondo, his only painting in Florence, is widely regarded as a masterpiece of Renaissance art. Nearby, Rosso Fiorentino’s Moses Defends the Daughters of Jethro becomes a study in male anatomy, filled with dynamic, youthful bodies that verge on the erotic. Caravaggio’s Bacchus and Sacrifice of Isaac carry a more intimate charge, their homoerotic undertones suggesting the artist’s personal desires and the indulgent tolerance of his patrons
Return to the hotel for an afternoon at leisure
In the late afternoon, private access is granted to the Orti Oricellari, where Florence’s Platonic Academy once gathered. Here, among shaded groves, philosophy and affection mingled in the company of Lorenzo the Magnificent, Marsilio Ficino, Angelo Poliziano, Pico della Mirandola, and Michelangelo — each leaving a legacy in which intellect and desire were inseparably bound
Overnight at the Four Seasons Hotel Firenze
DAY 4
Meet your driver for a private transfer to the airport or train station
THE JOURNEY
Price from £4,530 per person, based on two people sharing.
INCLUSIONS
2 nights at the Four Seasons Hotel Firenze in a Superior Room with breakfast
Expert guides
Entry to Palazzo Vecchio, Uffizi Gallery, and Bargello National Museum
Private visit to the Orti Oricellari
Private transfers throughout
WHEN TO GO
This journey can be enjoyed all year round
EXCLUSIONS
Flights
Food and beverages other than mentioned
ENHANCE YOUR EXPERIENCE
To deepen the experience, travel in the company of historian Dr Kevin Childs, who established the first Professorship in LGBTQ+ history at Oxford University and whose work has illuminated the hidden narratives of sexuality and power across the Renaissance. His erudition opens pathways far beyond what is available in guidebooks or archives online, offering a perspective that’s both intimate and authoritative.
At the storied Archivio di Stato, stand alongside curators to examine the elusive ‘Office of the Night’ documents, once used to prosecute cases of sodomy. Learn how same-sex relations were commonplace for young Florentine men, who typically did not marry until their thirties.
An exclusive visit to the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale unlocks the Collezione Savonaroliana, where letters and manuscripts of the austere friar Girolamo Savonarola are revealed under expert interpretation, their fragile pages connecting politics, faith, and repression.
And at the Bargello, a private encounter with the conservator who restored Donatello’s David grants not only technical insight but also an intimate dialogue with one of the Renaissance’s most radical works of art.
TRAVEL DESIGNER'S NOTES
Our travel designers have crafted this journey to reveal Renaissance Florence through a lesser-seen, sensual lens. By pairing private gallery tours, exclusive archival access, and academically charged strolls through secret gardens with expert insights into art, philosophy, and queer history, the city’s hidden passions and erotic undertones are brought to the fore. Designed for travellers with a deep interest in Renaissance history, art history, and LGBTQ+ heritage, the homoerotic beauty of sculptures, paintings, and manuscripts is intimately, and sensitively, revealed.
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