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Great Discoveries audio tour of the Uffizi provides today’s tourist with the most entertaining and enlightening way to visit one of the world’s truly magnificent art galleries. This incomparable museum is home to a collection of Medieval and Renaissance paintings, by some of the most hallowed names in Italian and European art. The exhibition area is composed of over 45 rooms that contain 1,700 paintings, 300 sculptures, 46 tapestries, and 14 pieces of furniture and ceramics. Here you will find paintings by the early masters like Cimabue and Giotto and magnificent Renaissance works by Uccello, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Lippi, Botticelli, Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, and many others. Two of the world’s most famous paintings, Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” and “La Primavera” are displayed here. Our carefully researched tour guides you through the Uffizi’s many rooms, pointing out and describing the most significant artworks by the most prominent European artists of their time. This is track one of a multi-track tour, to download the complete tour, visit www.tourcaster.com. |
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Great Discoveries audio tour provides today’s tourist with the best way to visit the Basilica of Santa Croce, perhaps the most beautiful Gothic church in all of Italy. Contrary to the heavy and dark reputation of Gothic architecture, the Santa Croce is actually light and airy, a unique blend of styles and thought. The sun filters through the many stained glass windows, playing multi-hued rays along one of the worlds greatest repositories of Renaissance art and sculpture. The effect inspires peace and spiritual tranquility and an incredible awe for human accomplishment takes root. Indeed, the city of Florence Italy, sensing the perfect peace granted by the Basilica, has buried many of her most famous sons and daughters here. Santa Croce contains more skeletons of Renaissance celebrities than any other church in Italy. Here you will find the monumental tombs and mortal remains of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Gioacchino Rossini, Ugo Foscolo, and many others. This is track one of a multi-track tour, to download the complete tour, visit www.tourcaster.com. |
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In this stunning Artineraries™ Tour, you will learn about the artists and religious figures who made history as you make your way through both the Upper and Lower churches. You will even hear about all of Saint Francis’ brethren buried with him in the crypt and all of the legends that made him one of the most revered persons in Christianity. Over one hour of audio includes a broadcast of the Earthquake which shook the dome and many of St. Francis’ prayers. Follow the tour, and you will be intimately connected to this great man and the city which he called home. This is track one of a multi-track tour, to download the complete tour visit www.tourcaster.com. |
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Although the Palazzo Vecchio (Old Palace) today contains the offices of Florence’s Mayor and City Council, much of it is open to the public including the Hall of the 500, the little Study of Francesco I and two of its three spectacular apartments. The vast halls and state apartments are ornately decorated in the style of the late Renaissance. Major attractions inside Palazzo Vecchio include the Room of the Lilies, Eleanora di Toledo's apartments, the Courtyard of Honor with the Putto Fountain, and Michelangelo's statue the Victory. The Quarters of Pope Leo X are being used to house Florence’s City Council and as reception rooms for the mayor and are not open to the public. This is track one of a multi-track tour, to download the entire tour, visit www.tourcaster.com |
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Great Discoveries Audio Tours offer today’s tourist the most enjoyable and informative way to visit Florence’s Galleria dell’ Accademia. Famous sculptures by Michelangelo Buonarroti, including his Four Prisoners, the St. Matthew, the Pieta di Palestrina and his renowned statue of David are displayed here. The Galleria contains paintings by the great Florentine maestro’s of the early 16th century, Fra' Bartolommeo, Andrea del Sarto, Perugino and others. This eclectic collection also consists of works from the Byzantine era dated to around the 13th century, but overall it consists mostly of 14th and 15th century Renaissance art. This carefully researched tour guides you through the Galleria as a professional narrator, accompanied by historically appropriate background music, points out and describes its most significant works. Step back in history as you listen to enchanting tales of the Galleria and the great maestros who created this incomparable art. This is track one of a multi-track tour, to download the complete tour, visit www.tourcaster.com. |
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The Baptistery is a building that is beautiful to look at, both inside and out, a masterpiece of architecture whose beginnings date back to antiquity. Like many holy places in Europe, there is no way of telling exactly how long the Baptistery has been revered. The origins of the temple, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, are uncertain but according to local lore there has been some sort of shrine on this spot since ancient Roman times, a temple dedicated to Mars, the Roman god of war. This is track one of a multi-track tour, to download the complete tour visit www.tourcaster.com |
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Great Discoveries audio tour of Santa Maria Novella provides today’s tourists with the most entertaining and informative way to visit Florence’s third most important church after the Duomo and Santa Croce. Construction started on the sumptuous new headquarters of the powerful Dominican Order in 1278 and was not completed until 1360, almost one hundred years later. Its name Novella (new) stems from the fact that it was built on the site of an earlier church Santa Maria delle Vigne. The basilica’s interior is truly magnificent, with arches in two colors leading gracefully toward the high altar. It is vast, lofty, illuminated by ample sunlight and more Gothic in feel than any other church in Florence. Treasures aplenty fill the interior, a groundbreaking painting by Masaccio, a crucifix by Giotto and three major fresco cycles. This carefully researched tour guides you through the Basilica, while our professional narrator points out and describes the most significant works of art and other historic treasures. This is track one of a multi-track tour, to download the complete tour, visit www.tourcaster.com. |
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The Duomo is one of the largest buildings in all of Christendom, exceeded only by St. Peter’s in Rome, St. Paul’s in London, and the Duomo in Milan. A much smaller 7th century church, Santa Reparata once stood on this very spot, but by the 13th century Florence, one of the most prosperous and wealthiest cities in the entire civilized world, was one of the last medieval cities to plan a great cathedral. So in 1294, the Council elected to build a new cathedral and decreed: “It will be so magnificent in size and beauty as to surpass anything built by the Greeks and Romans. Considering that all the acts and works of a people who boast of an illustrious origin should bear the character of grandeur and wisdom, we order Arnolfo, director of the works of our commune, to make the model, or a design of the building, which shall replace the church of Santa Reparata. It shall display such magnificence that no industry, nor human power, shall surpass it”. This is track one of a multi-track tour, to download the complete tour, visit www.tourcaster.com. |
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Great Discoveries self-guided audio tour provides today’s tourist with the most enjoyable and informative way to visit the Piazza della Signoria. While the Piazza del Duomo has historically provided the focus for the city’s religious obsession, Piazza della Signoria has always been the civic heart of Florence. Facing directly on the square are the Loggia della Signoria, with its three arches, and the dominant Palazzo Vecchio (Old Palace), the seat of the city’s governments since 1302. Close by lies the entrance to the most exalted of Florence’s spectacular museums, the Uffizi Gallery. Piazza della Signoria houses several notable pieces of public sculpture and is a meeting place for the city’s thousands of annual visitors and Florentines alike. This magnificent square unfolds like an open-air gallery in which even the statues allude to episodes of the city’s civil history. Our carefully researched tour guides you along and identifies the Piazza’s most important buildings and statues, insuring that you will clearly understand each item’s historic and artistic significance. This is track one of a multi-track tour, to download the complete tour, visit www.tourcaster.com. |
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An italian podcast about Ireland, Marine Biology, literature and many other things...above all ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC! All podsafe e dowloadable for free! Check it out! |
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