
Food and the city: prepare your palate for Florence
Ideas for gourmet flavor chasers in Florence.
Fancy a bit of rare-as-can-be Florentine steak? How about a hearty Tuscan comfort soup like ribollita? Whether it’s your first trip to Florence or your fifteenth, diving headfirst into the city’s and region’s delicious food culture never disappoints. Here are some tours that will send your taste buds into overdrive.
Learning the ropes: Florentine Cuisine 101
There’s no better place to start than the basics, or shall we say the “bare bones”: bistecca alla fiorentina, or Florentine steak. This juicy specialty is perhaps Florence’s best-known dish; sourced from Tuscan cows, it’s best enjoyed with an atmospheric Tuscan backdrop, like the one you’ll find on the “Her Majesty the Florentine T-Bone Steak” tour. Rather than chowing down in a crowded city trattoria, this tour takes you into the hills of the Chianti wine region to a butcher that’s as local as they come.
Prefer to stay in the thick of Florence’s food culture? Have an expert local foodie escort you around to the city’s finest and freshest vendors in “Flavors of Florence: A Food & Wine Tour”. They’ll show you how to spot the highest quality seasonal ingredients, sharing history and anecdotes along the way.
Off-the-beaten food path
If your curiosity extends beyond cuisine, try out a Florence Street Art & Food tour—by exploring the city’s thriving contemporary street art scene, you’ll bear witness to a side of the Renaissance city few typical tourists ever see. It doesn’t take long to learn that in Florence, art and food pair together like tomatoes and mozzarella. You won’t just wander and wonder at urban murals, you’ll get to sample another, grittier side of the Florentine food scene: on-the-go food. Sampling traditional street foods like lampredotto and other delicacies is a firsthand way of living (and lunching) like a true Tuscan off-duty.
Looking for an elevated, more elegant dining experience? Don’t just have dinner: have a night at the opera! Enjoy classic works from the likes of Verdi and Rossini as you dine on scrumptious Florentine specialties in awe-inspiring surroundings. If you’re not quite up for the full opera storyboard, opt for a lower-key concert (no less elegant, but perhaps a better option if you’ve got an early morning.)