Arrive in Milan and check in at four star hotel in Milan.

Time off to visit Milan: we suggest you to taste some typical dishes of the Milan cuisine (risotto alla milanese, risotto with saffron, polenta, typical local sausages…) and to experience the gay life of the city, especially in its gay area around Porta Venezia and Corso Buenos Aires, in bars such as the Leccomilano, the Mono, the Rainbow. If you want to dance all nigth, don’t miss Borgo and Plastic clubs.

Free morning.

Spend the afternoon in Milan visiting the shopping area: stylish and glamorous. You will find the most famous and trendiest shops and boutiques in Via Montenapoleone, Via della Spiga and in Via Manzoni like Tiffany, D&G, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Bulgari.

Evening off.

Half day tour with private gay guide on the footsteps of Leonardo da Vinci.

Your guide is going to show you that Leonardo was secretly in love with one of his disciples, Salaì, with whom he probably had lived an anguishing love story, that Leonardo painted in the portrait of St. John the Baptist, using his beloved Salaì as a model.

You are going to visit the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana that holds an important collection of artworks belonging to Leonardo’s disciples, among which Salaì. In the ancient Ambrosiana Library the original Leonardo’s Atlantic Codex is the greatest Leonardo’s collection of drawings and notes.

The tour will continue visiting the Ancient Art Museum inside the Sforza Castle, where Leonardo worked as an architect, painter and event creator; there you will find the “Sala delle Asse” painted by Leonardo in 1498 and the Art Gallery of the Castle, with splendid paintings made by Leonardo’s disciples.

The last stop will be the Last Supper, the mysterious fresco Dan Brown took as the main subject of his best seller.

The tour will end with an unusual dinner in typical Leonardian clothes in Vaprio, town that hosts the last dwelling of the artist, with the recipes Leonardo wrote and prepared himself! Overnight stay.

Private transfer to the station and high speed train to Florence.

Arrive at the station in Florence and private transfer to a 4* gay friendly hotel, check in.

Time off, to experience the gay life in Florence, in some of the most popular gay bars and clubs of the city: the Yag Bar, the Crisco Bar, the Fabrik, the Tabasco DiscoGay or the Butterfly Kiss.

Florence has also typical dishes to taste: the T-Bone steak called Fiorentina, known worldwide for its amazing quality that comes from the cows of the valleys around Florence

Meet the guide at the hotel and spend 6 hours in a private tour at the Uffizi Gallery and the Bargello Museum.

At the Uffizi Gallery – one of the most beautiful and biggest art galleries in the world- you will see the femininity of the Botticelli illustrations, the perfection of Leonardo da Vinci’s paintings and more. At the Bargello Museum you will be astonished at the Cellini’s statues (Apollo and Giacinto – Narcissus). He was the favorite artist of the Medici family, and was often convicted for sodomy.

During the tour your guide will unveil several hidden stories of Italian artists and their secret loves.

Time off.

Transfer from Florence to Rome with High Speed Train.

Check in at the hotel in Rome.

If you have time for lunch, Rome has so much to offer in terms of typcal food. In the afternoon you will visit the Hendrik Christian Andersen’s House, the Norwegian sculptor who chose Rome as the city to live in and with whom the American writer Henry James had a love sto- ry. Read a quote from his frequent letters to the sculptor:
“Would to God that I could come to Rome and put my hands on you (oh, how lovingly I put them!) But this, alas, is hideously impossible.” February 9, 1902
In the evening, you can experience the Roman gay life in the gay street just next to the Colosseum, with many gay bars such as the Coming Out, where to meet the gay and lesbian locals and have a pleasant night. Overnight stay in Rome.

In the morning, you will meet our gay friendly local guides and delve into the core of the ancient city: you will see the Forum, the Palatine Hill that housed the imperial residences, and the Colosseum, famous for its ghastly gladiatorial combats.

While exploring the archaeological sites, you will learn about Romans’ sexual mores (in which same-sex love played an important role) and listen to the lurid tales of the emperors’ sex lives.

After a lunch of traditional Roman specialties, you will cross the river and visit the Vatican. Here is the irony of a superb collection of homoerotic art being housed by an institution having a long history of homophobia. You are going to see the sculptures that recall the homosexual iconography, such as the Apollo del Belvedere, with a ‘twink’ face and a ‘bear’ body; then the magnificent Sistine Chapel painted by Michelangelo, gay and Catholic, who expressed this inner struggle through the “chiar- oscuro” in his paintings and several homosexual characters, as the angels kissing one another or two men kissing to celebrate their assumption.

Evening off.

Our day begins with a drive into the countryside to Tivoli, where we visit two great villas: Villa Adriana, Emperor Hadrian’s country retreat (where he built a temple to his lover Antinous, who was worshipped as a god after his death in the Nile), and Villa d’Este, with its splendid Renaissance gardens and fountains.

In the afternoon time to relish thermal baths at the Terme Albule, a beautiful and modern building with wellness and healthy treatment in a completely renovated environment.

Overnight stay in Tivoli Hotel.

Breakfast in hotel.

Private transfer to station or airport.

End of services.