Florence on $50, $130 or $400 a day

Duomo climb (€30 combo ticket covers the dome, campanile, baptistery, museum - buy online). Brunelleschi's dome at 8am: the frescoes of the Last Judgment from inside, then the view over the city from the lantern. The most rewarding climb in Italy.

Walk to the Uffizi Gallery (€20 - book weeks ahead in peak season). The Botticelli room (Birth of Venus, Primavera), the Leonardo room, the Michelangelo room. Allow 2-3 hours. Lunch on the Ponte Vecchio side: a lampredotto (tripe sandwich) at a street cart for €4 - the definitive Florentine street food.

Piazzale Michelangelo at sunset (bus 12 or 13 from Piazza San Marco, or 30-minute walk uphill). The view of the Duomo and city at golden hour is Florence at its most perfect. Wine at a San Niccolò enoteca (€5/glass). Dinner at a Oltrarno trattoria for €15-20.

Pitti Palace (€16 covers the Palatine Gallery - the most over-decorated palace interior in Italy, Raphael and Titian on every wall). The Boboli Gardens (€10 - the greatest Renaissance garden in Florence, terraces and fountains and a view of the city).

Walk Oltrarno: Piazza Santo Spirito for a €4 espresso and a browse. The Oltrarno craft workshops - bookbinders, goldsmiths, frame restorers, paper-marbling studios. San Miniato al Monte (free - the most beautiful Romanesque church in Tuscany, worth the 20-minute climb).

Aperitivo hour: Oltrarno bars offer free snacks with a €5 spritz from 6-8pm. Dinner at a Piazza Santo Spirito trattoria: ribollita (bread soup) and bistecca for €18. The piazza at 10pm is entirely Florentine.

Accademia Gallery (€20, book ahead - Michelangelo's David, the Prisoners series, the unfinished Giants for the Tomb of Julius II). The David is larger and more affecting than any photograph suggests. 45 minutes is enough.

Train to Siena (1h15, €9 each way). The Campo (the shell-shaped piazza, the finest medieval square in Europe - free). The Duomo (€8) - the most extravagant Gothic cathedral in Italy. Climb the Facciatone for the Siena skyline view.

Return to Florence for dinner: Mercato Centrale upper floor for a pasta dish at €10 or a lampredotto at a San Lorenzo stall. Florence train station neighborhood has the most authentic and affordable restaurants in the city.

Uffizi Gallery (€20 - book weeks ahead for a specific slot). The Botticelli rooms, then the Michelangelo Tondo Doni, then the Caravaggios downstairs. Allow 3 hours. Coffee at a Piazza della Signoria cafe (expensive but justified once).

Lunch at Buca Mario (the oldest restaurant in Florence, since 1886, €30-40). Medici Chapels (€9) - the New Sacristy with Michelangelo's tombs of Lorenzo and Giuliano. Bargello Museum (€8) for Donatello's David (the first life-size male nude since antiquity).

Dinner in Oltrarno: Buca dell'Orafo (€40-60, riverside, Florentine classics) or the simpler Trattoria da Ruggero for ribollita and roast pigeon at €25-35. San Niccolò wine bar for an after-dinner Chianti.

Rental car or organized tour to the Chianti Classico zone (45 minutes south): Greve in Chianti, the Verrazzano castle winery, and Panzano village (Dario Cecchini's famous butcher shop). Private tasting at a small winery.

Lunch at a Chianti agriturismo (€25-35 for a full meal with house wine included). Afternoon in San Gimignano or Volterra if time allows.

Return to Florence. Dinner at Enoteca Pinchiorri (3 Michelin stars - if budget allows; it's the finest restaurant in Florence, €200pp for the tasting menu with wine, reserve 6 weeks ahead). Or a more modest dinner at Il Latini (the great communal Florentine table, reserve ahead).

Bus to Fiesole (40 minutes, €1.50). The Roman amphitheater, Etruscan museum (€12 combined), and the hill town itself. The view from the main square over the Arno valley with Florence below is breathtaking.

Return to Florence for lunch. Santa Croce afternoon: the Basilica (€8 - tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli) and the leather school inside (free to watch, purchase optional). The Santa Croce neighborhood is authentic and affordable.

Farewell dinner near Piazza della Repubblica: Trattoria Mario (the legendary Florentine lunch spot, also open for dinner - bistecca and ribollita for €20 total) or a wine dinner at an Oltrarno enoteca.

Private early-access Uffizi tour with a curator before public opening - the Botticelli rooms in silence, the newly restored rooms, the complete story of the Medici as art patrons. Breakfast at the hotel (Four Seasons Firenze or Villa San Michele in Fiesole).

Lunch at Il Palagio (Four Seasons garden, Michelangelo-designed garden, €80-100pp). Private studio visit with a Florentine goldsmith or frame-gilder - the craft traditions that the Renaissance established still operate in Oltrarno.

Dinner at Enoteca Pinchiorri (3 Michelin stars - the wine cellar alone is worth the visit; 100,000 bottles, the sommelier is among the finest in Italy). Reserve 6-8 weeks ahead.

Chauffeured day to a private Chianti wine estate: a private tour of the cellars, barrel tasting with the winemaker, and a vineyard lunch at a long table in the estate garden. The kind of meal the phrase "Italian lunch" was invented for.

Return via San Gimignano for the medieval towers and a visit to Vernaccia di San Gimignano winery (the only white DOCG in Tuscany). Saffron gelato from a San Gimignano gelateria - the town grows its own saffron.

Return to Florence. Spa at the Villa San Michele (a converted Franciscan monastery with an Andrea della Robbia facade). Dinner at Buca Mario or a private chef's dinner in a Palazzo courtyard.

Private Accademia experience - the David with a classical scholar who can explain why Michelangelo placed the moment before the battle, not during it. Then a private leather workshop in Oltrarno for a bespoke commission.

Lunch at a Fiesole villa restaurant with the Arno valley below. Shopping: Salvatore Ferragamo flagship (born here), Gucci (born here), Emilio Pucci (still headquartered in his family palazzo here). The Florentine fashion industry at its source.

Farewell dinner at Borgo San Jacopo (1 Michelin star, Lungarno Hotel - the Arno terrace at night, with the Ponte Vecchio lit and the hills dark behind). One last Chianti Classico Riserva.