Four days will give you enough time to see all of the most iconic locations that made Tuscany so popular amongst photographers from all over the world.
Four days should also give you enough time to get some variety in terms of weather and lower the risk of getting some “non-optimal” conditions for the whole trip.
This workshop is probably the best option if you are embarking on a longer tour and you’d like to spend some time in Tuscany – but at the same time you also have several other locations on your itinerary – or maybe for a longer weekend getaway!
Truth is that we never run two identical workshops – due to the weather, due to the light, due to the length of the days at any given time of the year and a bazillion other variables that come into play when dealing with outdoor photography.
Take this general itinerary for what it is – and by any means don’t think that we’ll stick to it at all times!
Time to start our workshop together! On our first day, we will pick you up at the Florence (or Pisa) airport around mid-morning, so that we can start our drive to Pienza (our final destination, 1h45m drive from Florence) straight away.
Lunch: 12:30PM
As soon as we arrive in the beautiful Val d’Orcia, we’ll immerse ourselves into the rolling hills and we will have a lovely lunch in the countryside to set the right mood! You will have a first taste of Tuscany’s delicious cuisine.
Hotel Check-in & Afternoon Break: approx. 2:30/4:30PM
After our tasty lunch together, we’ll drive back to Pienza – the place where we’ll be staying for the whole workshop – to check in into your hotel and take a breath before hitting the road again.
Sunset Session: 5/8PM (depending on sunset time)
Our first official photography session together! Since it’s our first, we’ll have a longer session so that your workshop leader can assess your skills and give you the necessary notions to capture the golden light in the best possible way given the weather conditions of that day. The location we will probably visit is called “The Cipressi of San Quirico d’Orcia”, a classic of the area that we like to call “The Photographer’s Playground” because of the endless perspectives you can get there! See a few examples in the pictures below.
Dinner: 8:30PM
It’s been a long day: finally we will have the chance to sit down and have a warm meal with some fine wine to end it in the best way!
An early wake up call waits for us: we will go out when the twilight glow is just starting to appear, so that by the blue hour we will already be set up and ready to shoot! During our first sunrise session we’ll visit the iconic “Podere Belvedere”, one of the places that better represents the landscape of Tuscany: a country house, endless rolling hills and cypress trees all over the scene.
Breakfast & Morning Break: 8/10:30AM
By the time we’ll be back at the hotel, I’m sure that you will be very much looking forward to having a nice breakfast and a bit of a break to gain some energies back.
Visit and Lunch to Montepulciano: 10:30AM/2:30PM
Time to hit the road again and visit a different town out of all the marvelous ones in the area: today we’ll visit Montepulciano, famous for the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano (noble wine of Montepulciano) and obviously we won’t miss having a delicious meal in a winery!
Afternoon Break/Editing: 2:30/5:30PM
Depending on how tired we are, we might either take another break or do some post-production on the shots taken in the past couple sessions. Or maybe a mix of both!
Sunset Session: 5:30/8PM (depending on sunset time)
Another day, another sunset: at this “round” we will visit the infamous Podere Baccoleno, another popular house lost in the countryside a bit north from Pienza. This is actually one of the very few locations that it’s not in the Val d’Orcia but in a different area called Crete Senesi. That winding road is definitely an unmissable view of Tuscany!
Dinner: 8:30PM
Another long day has passed, nothing better than sitting down and having a delicious meal in the fabulous small city centre of Pienza to wrap things up.
Another day, another early wake up call! During our second sunrise session we’ll visit Poggio Covili, a lovely house on top of a hill with its characteristic straight cypress trees road: getting the low fog here with just the house peaking out is every photographer’s dream when visiting Tuscany.
Breakfast & Morning Break: 8/10:30AM
By the time we’ll be back at the hotel, I’m sure that you will be very much looking forward to having a nice breakfast and a bit of a break to gain some energies back.
Visit and Lunch to Montalcino: 10:30AM/2:30PM
Time to hit the road again and visit a different town out of all the marvelous ones in the area: today we’ll visit Montalcino, famous (yep, again) for the Brunello di Montalcino, another type of wine that they produce nearby.
Afternoon Break/Editing: 2:30/5:30PM
Depending on how tired we are, we might either take another break or do some post-production on the shots taken in the past couple sessions. Or maybe a mix of both!
Sunset Session: 5:30/8PM (depending on sunset time)
On our third sunset together, we’ll visit Leo’s favorite location of the entire valley: the so-called “Gladiator House”, due to the fact that the originally shot a scene of “The Gladiator” movie of Ridley Scott there.
Dinner: 8:30PM
Another long day has passed, nothing better than sitting down and having a delicious meal in the fabulous small city centre of Pienza to wrap things up.
We are mentioning one last sunrise in the itinerary, even in our very last day: since you’ll probably have to pack things up and get ready for your trip back home, you are 100% free to decide whether you’d like to go for it or maybe just sleep in and get ready a bit later. Our recommendation is to see how the weather looks like and then decide.
Breakfast & Check-out: 8:00/9:30AM
Time to pack everything up, get some “juice” for the trip back home and start our drive back towards the airport!
Drop-off: 11:00AM/12:00PM
After a 1h45m drive back to Florence (or a 2h40m drive if you leave from Pisa), it’s unfortunately time to say goodbye: your instructor will help you take the luggages into the building and wish you a safe flight back home!
– Scroll down, select the package that more fits your needs, fill in your details and follow the process to the check-out. You will be able to leave a refundable deposit (500€ x person most of the times) via credit/debit card, bank transfer or even Paypal.
– Scroll down to the very end of the page to find the contact form or visit the “Contact Us” page to, well.. Contact us! We will be more than happy to help you with any request you have and set up the ideal workshop you have in your mind – and ultimately give you all the details to complete the deposit and secure your spot on the tour.
Why? So that you to get your own room for yourself without having to share it with anyone else. The single supplement is something we add at cost price (if not less), and as annoying as it might be, that’s something that unfortunately we can’t avoid.
That’s also how we manage to guarantee every workshop departure, even if you are the only participant for that date.
Of course you can opt for the single supplement even if you are traveling with friends and you like to have your own personal space.
– Digital Camera (preferably a DSLR or mirrorless camera, APS-C, micro 4/3 and FF will be more than fine);
– An ultrawide lens (e.g. Nikon 14-24mm, Canon 16-35mm, Tamron 15-30mm, Tokina 16-28mm etc); we recommend a lens with a wide maximum aperture (like f/2.8) in case we might do some night photography.
– A standard zoom lens (e.g. Nikon/Canon/Sigma 24-70mm or 24-105mm);
– A telephoto zoom lens (e.g. various Nikon/Canon/Tamron/Sigma 70-200mm);
– A super telephoto zoom lens (e.g. Sigma/Tamron 150-600mm); this lens is not necessary but we recommend it anyway since it allows to capture the far away details of the landscapes;
– A sturdy tripod that permits to do some long exposure photos, specially at twilight;
– A set of ND filters; these are the only filters we feel to recommend, since they become useful when you need to stretch the exposure time a little bit during some difficult light conditions;
– A camera remote to avoid blurry shots.
To start a Whatsapp chat, simply click on Leo's name down here!
