Mainland Italy 2026 is an irresistible journey into the very heart of Italian garden-making.

On this tour we’ll trace a sweeping arc from the storied gardens of Lazio and Umbria through Tuscany and up to the great northern lakes. We’ll stand where power-craving Cardinals once experimented with water, scale and forced perspective, and see how those ideas still shape gardens today. From the legendary romance of Ninfa and the classical calm of Villa Lante to Dan Pearson’s much-admired Torrecchia Vecchia and the work of contemporary designers and nurserymen, we’ll explore how centuries of observation and cultural evolution are converging in a thrilling new chapter of Italian horticulture.

We’d love you to join us to be inspired, to learn, and to savour the very best of la dolce vita, mainland-style.

Please note, the final itinerary is subject to change.

DAY 1 | Thursday 3rd September

The tour will start with pre-dinner drinks and a three course meal in Rome.

The relaxed gathering will allow participants to become acquainted, and Michael to set the scene for the tour to come.

Meals included: Dinner in Rome

Accommodation: Hotel Bernini Bristol, Rome

DAY 2 | Friday 4th September

Ninfa has often been described as the most romantic garden in the world. The magic is in the perception that the setting - a medieval ruined village - is being swallowed up in sprawling garden planting.  Running through its centre is a stream of such crystalline clarity you’ll rub your eyes in disbelief.

And then to Torrecchia Vecchia - an early project in the design life of Dan Pearson. Dan has recently been called back by the next generation of owners to expand this wild garden surrounding an ancient castle, and we can’t wait to see the results!

Gardens: Ninfa & Torrecchia Vecchia

Accommodation: Hotel Bernini Bristol, Rome

DAY 3 | Saturday 5th September

Villa Lante is the intriguingly scholarly work of Vignola for one Cardinal Gambara in the 16th Century, and follows the ‘taming’ of a stream from its wild roots through a range of wonderfully inventive stone features before coming to rest in broad, mirror-surfaced tanks. If you haven’t been, Sylvia Crowe’s captivating description in her seminal 1954 work ‘Garden Design’ will put it firmly on your bucket list.

Nothing you’ve ever seen in a garden will prepare you for Sacro Bosco, this afternoon. It’s a timeless horror-narrative of a garden. A wander through the woods reveals enormous stone statuary, carved in situ, of ghoulish masks and monsters tearing people apart; of life-sized stone elephants and drunkenly leaning towers. It’s something you can imagine emerging from the 20th Century, but not the 16th, in which it was created.

Gardens: Villa Lante & Sacro Bosco

Accommodation: Locanda Della Posta, Perugia

DAY 4 | Sunday 6th September

Perugia itself is a well-kept secret, with an ancient walled city behind Etruscan gates, punctured here and there with gardens. We’ll spend the morning exploring this lovely city with a guide, followed by free time for shopping and further exploration.

Accommodation: Locanda Della Posta, Perugia

DAY 5 | Monday 7th September

A slow morning will have us arriving at Vocabolo Moscatelli, an exclusive boutique resort with an extraordinarily inventive Mediterranean garden, in time for a garden wander, followed by a long lunch under the wisteria-laden pergola.

Then we’ll head to the Villa Oliveto, in the wonderfully charming but overlooked village of Castelmuzio, to check out the design work of emerging designer Francesco Pascucci. We’ll make sure we’ve timed it for a aperitivo beside the pool.

Gardens: Vocabolo Moscatelli & Villa Oliveto

Meals included: Lunch at Vocabolo Moscatelli

Accommodation: Tivoli Palazzo Gaddi, Florence

DAY 6 | Tuesday 8th September

Heading out into the hills around Florence today, to the much-celebrated Villa Medici. The villa dates back into Medici days, but its relevance to us is much more recent, primarily with the creation of the garden by Cecil Pinsent and Geoffrey Scott at a time when socialites of the level of Vita Sackville-West were regular guests.

Then in the afternoon we’ll head back into town to celebrate the ongoing legacy of the Corsini family - contemporaries of the Medici - in the garden of the Villa Corsini, home to the current prince. The continuity of its use by family sets it apart, the prince telling stories of using donkeys and carts to put the lemon trees into the magically rustic limonaia each winter up until relatively recently.

Gardens: Villa Medici & Villa Corsini

Meals included: Group dinner in Florence

Accommodation: Tivoli Palazzo Gaddi, Florence

DAY 7 | Wednesday 9th September

Back into the hills this morning to see the place Edith Wharton claimed was every Englishman’s idea of the perfect Italian Villa - Villa Gamberaia. It’s certainly my idea of the perfect Italian villa! The garden isn’t large, but is a masterclass in providing multiple vistas within a limited space.

Then we’ll be lunching at the eye-poppingly beautiful Castello del Trebbio. You’ll think you’ve arrived in Tuscan heaven.

Gardens: Villa Gamberaia

Meals included: Lunch at Castello del Trebbio

Accommodation: Tivoli Palazzo Gaddi, Florence

DAY 8 | Thursday 10th September

Heading north today, to visit Giardino Giusti on the outskirts of Verona. For many arriving on a Grand tour in the 17th or 18th Century, Giardino Giusti was the first Italian garden they ever saw, arriving, as they did, out of the mountains. Even to this day, it’s easy to imagine the impact it must have had on wide-eyed recent arrivals.

Then we’ll head into Verona itself for an optional guided tour on foot. You’ll soon see why Verona is many people’s favourite Italian city.

Garden: Giardino Giusti

Accommodation: Excelsior San Marco, Bergamo

DAY 9 | Friday 11th September

The old walled city of Bergamo becomes the home, each September, of I Maestri del Paesaggio - The Masters of Landscaping Conference. So every year the old town square - reportedly described by Le Corbusier as the most beautiful square in Europe - is planted out by a landscape designer of international repute. We’ll spend the day taking in the beauties of the town, and its surrounding landscape features.

Garden: The gardens of Bergamo

Meals included: Dinner in Bergamo

Accommodation: Excelsior San Marco, Bergamo

DAY 10 | Saturday 12th September

Valfredda Nursery is one of the biggest growers of perennials in Italy, and has a strong commitment to ecological values. Its owner, Mauro Crescini, is an unstoppable force of nature, determined to see Italian gardening thrive in a contemporary context. He’ll show us around this remarkable nursery, and speak to us of his vision.

Then we’ll head towards the lakes, dropping into Milan to see the amazing Bosco Verticale - an apartment block absolutely covered in trees.

Garden: Valfredda Nursery & Bosco Verticale

Accommodation: Regina Palace, Stresa

DAY 11 | Sunday 13th September

We’ll catch a ferry out onto Lake Maggiore this morning to take in the delights of the gardens of the Borromean Islands. Our first stop will be Isola Madre, on which an ‘English’ style botanic garden (which means little more to the Italians than that it’s not geometric, like all their early gardens were) floats like a jewel on the water.

And from there we’ll head to Isola Bella, which looks more like a floating wedding cake, and must be one of the most wonderfully extravagant, truly baroque gardens still in existence. It will recalibrate what you consider over-the-top, but manages to do this while also displaying exemplary horticulture. There’s nowhere on earth like it.

Gardens: Isola Madre & Isola Bella

Meals included: Lunch at Isola Bella

Accommodation: Regina Palace, Stresa

DAY 12 | Monday 14th September

We’ll start the day by bussing to Como, but much of our time will be spent out on the water with a chartered boat taking us past all the glamorous waterside villas to sparkling Bellagio. We’ll lunch there, and then wander through the captivating but gentle water-side gardens of Villa Melzi.

Then we’ll boat across to the dramatic peninsula-located gardens of Villa Balbianello, location of a couple of James Bond films and one of the Star Wars episodes. More relevant to us, however, is the exemplary tree pruning and shaping, on a gargantuan scale.

Then we’ll head back to Stresa for our farewell dinner, re-living the deep impact of these days of garden discovery, together.

Gardens: Villa Melzi & Villa Balbianello

Meals: Farewell celebration dinner in Stresa

Accommodation: Regina Palace, Stresa

DAY 13 | Tuesday 15th September

Heading home, or onwards! Check out of the hotel at your convenience.