Flavors of Florence - Food and Wine Tour

Extended Description

There’s beauty everywhere you look in Florence—but did you notice that it’s on your plate and in your wine bottle, too? Just as it’s one thing to simply look at a Donatello sculpture or Brunelleschi building and another to experience it, though, it’s the same with food and wine. And there’s no better way to really delve into the tastes of Tuscany than with a local connoisseur of the culinary arts.

After meeting your guide at Piazza della Signoria, you’ll start off your exploration of Tuscan cuisine at one of Florence’s most authentic eateries. A tiny restaurant serving up handmade specialties like pork-liver buns and mortadella, it’s no wonder that this place is always crammed with locals. But keep it secret… the guidebooks don’t know about it yet!

As you’ll learn, Tuscan food really started to take shape in the Middle Ages. And so, with your appetite—and excitement to discover more!—whetted, you’ll visit the Casa Dante, the house where the great Florentine poet was born. Turns out, cuisine wasn’t the only important part of Tuscan culture “born” in the Middle Ages… so was the Italian language!

Perhaps the most picturesque icon of medieval Florence, though, is the Ponte Vecchio: a bridge built in 1345 that, thanks to the goldsmiths’ shops lining it, still retains its medieval character today. Long before this was a jewelry mecca, the bridge served another purpose. Discover why this butcher’s market had to disband… and what it had to do with the Vasari Corridor, the dramatic gallery built on the order of Cosimo de’ Medici to connect the Palazzo Vecchio and Palazzo Pitti. The Medici proved key to cuisine, too: Closely tied to France (in fact, except for the Napoleons, every single French monarch from the 17^th century had Medici blood!), so you can thank the family for that little hint of France in Florence’s food today.

Over the centuries, of course, Tuscans have perfected not just their cuisine, but their wine. At one of Florence’s top wine bars, enjoy a wine presentation with a professional sommelier. And, since it’s just you, your guide, and the sommelier, now’s the chance to get all your big wine questions answered, from whether you should take home a Brunello or a Super-Tuscan, to whether you really have to shell out $100 for a great bottle.

Thirsty now? Good. With your more in-depth appreciation of wine, you’ll get to taste some of the region’s top wines, as well as meats and cheeses, at a top enoteca. This wine bar, which imports its wine directly and follows the strict Slow Food movement principles, has been classified as one of the top 10 wine bars in Europe. If you can’t bear to say goodbye to Tuscan cuisine after your tasting (and we wouldn’t blame you), don’t worry: The enoteca also charges very, very fair prices for its products, so treat yourself: Take some of that delicious olive oil, wild-boar sausage, or Chianti home with you.

Finally full-bellied, get any last questions answered. And don’t worry. Before you part ways with your guide, you’ll get a list of recommendations for where to eat and drink the rest of your time in Florence.

After enjoying your food, wine and art parade, we promise: You’ll never taste Italian food, or take a swig of wine, in the same way again.