Taste Florence

The food tour was excellent. Alessandro was our tour guide an did an amazing job. I went back to two of the places we sampled food in and made purchases. If you are ever in Florence I would highly recommend this tour, just go hungry. You are eating from 9 – 2:30 and drinking wine. Everything was yummo.

awesome tour to sample the local foods of florence; you get taken to spots the locals go; very informative; hosts are outstanding

Wow! What a fantastic time we had with Taste Florence! The food and wine tastings were delicious, learning about their nuances and histories were enriching. We all agree this was the BEST day we spent in Italy. Glad we had several restaurant recommendation from Toni — she knows her food. Toni gave us many tips and inside advice on Florence — we felt like locals. Make time for this special adventure. We will take a TF tour next time we are lucky enough to be in Florence. Toni, thanks for the memories.

My girlfriend and I had been in Florence for two days before she convinced me to come on this tour. I was a little leery: at € 75/​person, it’s certainly not cheap. But we hadn’t done any tours since coming to Italy a week prior, and we didn’t have anything else pressing us during the day, so we made a last-​minute reservation by calling Toni on the phone and she signed us up.
Wow. I’m sad that we didn’t come on this tour for our first stop in Florence. Actually, no: I’m sorry that we didn’t come on this tour for our first stop in Italy. Toni is warm and engaging, and she knows her stuff. Though she was born in America — and it was particularly pleasant to be able to converse with someone without any language barriers — she’s spent fifteen years in Italy. She knows the language and the culture and was able to answer any questions that came up along the way. She came to Italy to study abroad in art and architecture, so if you have any questions about those she’d be happy to answer them as well.
Florence is a fantastic city for a tour like this: it’s small and centralized enough for it to be perfectly walkable, but large enough to have a diversity of venues. We spent about equal time of our nearly five-​hour-​long tour walking around the city and popping in to old, family-​owned shops; in the central food market, where Toni seems to know the majority of the vendors; and doing a combined wine and balsamic vinegar tasting. (Think you know what real, traditional balsamic vinegar tastes like? Think again. This is a great way to get a taste without spending upwards of € 70 on a small bottle.) We wrapped up the tour with a taste of some of the best gelato I’ve ever had, made freshly every morning.
At the very end of our time, Toni gave us some great restaurant recommendations for the next stop on our trip (Venice). She even offered to make dinner reservations for us for the evening. (We declined, but wound up heading to one of the places she suggested. Surprise! It was fantastic.) We left feeling well-​fed but not stuffed. And that € 75 fee seemed like a bargain, considering the quality of everything on the tour and the fact that we got nearly two meals out of it.

The Taste Florence Tour was by far the best tour my friend and I went on during our two week holiday. At first we were a little concerned by the price of the tour and nearly skipped it. That would have been a mistake.
Taste Florence is 75e and from 10:30 — 2:45. It is certainly a time commitment but just the most amazing way to get to know Florence. As a tourist I felt that it was easy to get into the trap of eating bad food because we didn’t know where to look — this made finding little bakeries and patisseries seem easy and ordering new foods accessible and approachable.
The tour included a Forno and Pasticceria, a tour of the Market, an Enotecca and a Gelateria. We tried so many different Italian treats — all with accompanied notes and tips on how to eat well in Florence. My favorite was the Balsamic and Olive Oil tasting — because it came with such an education.
Our tour guide Christina was a native of Florence and EXCEPTIONAL at her job. She did a fantastic job of introducing us to the food and telling us just enough information to keep us interested. Even my friend, who typically does not enjoy tours, had a great time on this one.
The tour was well paced, included a nice walk through the city, and was simply the best thing to do in Florence.
One recommendation in booking — book this tour as early in your holiday in Florence as you can. That way you can utilize the incredible recommendations and tips. We had our tour on the day before we left but still managed to get back to the little Forno and order our new favorite Italian treats — like Schiacciata and Coccoli.

If you’re looking to experience the food and flavors of Florence look to no other place but Taste Florence. I had an amazing colleague who told me about her trip she had taken and the most amazing tour she had experienced. I decided to heed her advise and take the tour myself while in Florence and I can tell you it did not disappoint. The morning started at a bakery where we sampled local patries and other goodies while being told how to incorporate them into our next dinner party. Then we were swept over to the oldest winery in all of Florence where we did a wine tasting built to our specific likes and dislikes. We ate our way through the local open market trying, and loving, everything from a pulled meat sandwich to a sit down basalmic and olive oil tasting. We ended our day with Gelato (A MUST HERE) and then topped it all off with chocolate. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Tony our guide and now friend, made the experience fun and interesting while avoiding the «tour» stigma. She was bright, energetic and funny. She even gave us great recommendation for other spots in the city for great steak, wine and appetizers. If I’m back in Florence, I will for sure be taking this tour again as I’m sure there is still a ton she is wanting to show of her city! Thanks Tony!