A Culinary Journey Through Tuscany*

Day 1 – Depart USA – Board your overnight flight to Europe.

Day 2 – Arrival Florence – Chianti – Arrive in Florence, meet your Tour Director and transfer to your Tuscan hotel for a seven-night stay. The Chianti region is filled with wonderful vineyards and charming hilltop towns. This evening, enjoy a Welcome Dinner of Tuscan favorites and locally produced wine with your fellow travelers. Overnight Chianti.

Day 3 – Truffle Hunt Experience & Florence Sightseeing – After an included breakfast, travel through the surrounding hilly landscape, dotted with olive groves, cypresses, vineyards, and palaces. Arrive at a lovely Tuscan Estate, where you will be greeted with a welcome drink. Next, enjoy a truffle hunt with access to a protected area on the property. Following this truffle hunt, enjoy delicious tastings of oil and truffle butter bruschetta, salami, pecorino, and wines from the estate. Later this afternoon, we travel to Florence. Visit the Academia Gallery & Museum to see Michelangelo’s magnificent Statue of David, an awesome sight. See the Cathedral to see Giotto’s Belltower and Baptistry with its impressive “Gates of Paradise.” These buildings demonstrate the traditions of Florentine art and architecture from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Also see the open-air museum houses the tombs of Michelangelo and Galileo. The insightful walking tour includes a stroll across the famous Ponte Vecchio Bridge. Dinner is included tonight at a local restaurant in Florence. Return to your hotel in Chianti. Overnight Chianti.

Day 4 – Greve – Organic Cooking Class – Winery Tour & Tasting – After an included breakfast, enjoy an Organic Cooking & Pasta Making Class and lunch at Castello di Vicchiomaggi, located at the top of a hill overlooking the valley of Greve in Chianti. You will be greeted with a welcome drink to enjoy while the chef discusses the class and food to be made, along with his recipes. The restaurant staff will assist you with putting on your aprons & chef hats and let the cooking fun begin! At the end of the cooking class, you will get to enjoy what you have prepared for lunch. Later this afternoon, continue to Volpaia Castle for a Wine Tour and Tasting. The winery is organically farmed for producing extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, and Chianti Classico Wine. Enjoy tastings of Vin Santo (holy wine) and Cantucci (Biscotti). Dinner is included this evening. Overnight Chianti.

Day 5 – Val D’Orcia – Pienza Montalcino & Siena – After an included breakfast, travel to the incredibly picturesque Val d’Orcia Region filled with ancient villages, gorgeous farmhouses, isolated homesteads, roads lined with cypress trees, fabulous vineyards, and olive groves. Stop in Pienza, a lovely medieval town overlooking the Tuscan hills to visit a local cheese producer for a delicious typical Pecorino Cheese tasting. Continue to a traditional farmhouse in Montalcino, where you will enjoy a multi-sensory experience of music and wine. Four wines will be matched with music tracks selected by a local sommelier. You will have time for lunch on your own in Montalcino before continuing to beautiful Siena, where a local guide awaits you for a walking tour in the Old Town. The highlight is the Piazza del Campo, the seashell-shaped square on which the famous horse race, the Palio, takes place each year. Later, just outside Siena, we will visit a local Tuscan farmhouse with an opportunity to meet the owner and enjoy an included dinner featuring typical Tuscany dishes paired with their local wines. Overnight Chianti.

Day 6 – San Gimignano & Volterra – After an included breakfast, we travel to San Gimignano, the epitome of a Tuscan hill town, where nobles built more splendid towers to outdo one another and indulge in their need for status. The medieval structures of this city have largely remained intact and San Gimignano, with its large number of art treasures, is truly considered an open-air museum. Next, enjoy a delicious gelato ice cream in one of the oldest gelateria in Italy that produces unique flavors of gelato, which are famous world-wide. Taste the saffron & pine nuts flavored gelato, a registered trademark. Continue to Volterra, another ancient and beautiful hilltop Italian city. Enjoy free time in Volterra and an included lunch at a familyrun farmhouse that specializes in saffron production. Dinner is included at the hotel this evening. Overnight Chianti.

Day 7 – Day at Leisure in Chianti or Optional Excursion – After an included breakfast, today is at your leisure to relax at the hotel, enjoy the spa or explore on your own. An optional tour will be available today. Dinner is included at a local restaurant this evening. Overnight Chianti.

Day 8 – Lake Trasimeno Boat Excursion & Lunch – Begin your morning with a hearty included breakfast, and journey to Lake Trasimeno located in the Umbria Region of Tuscany. The heart-shaped Lake Trasimeno is surrounded by rolling hills, olive groves, wood of oak and cypress trees, vineyards, and sunflower fields that frame castle-topped medieval towns and villages. Free time to explore and walk around the medieval town of Tuoro, considered one of the most beautiful villages in Italy. Next enjoy a boat cruise to the Island Maggiore, where we will have an included lunch at a traditional restaurant located on the lake. Tonight, a special Farewell Dinner is planned. Overnight Chianti.

Day 9 – Chianti – Florence – Home – After an included breakfast, transfer to Florence for your flight home with wonderful memories of your culinary journey through Tuscany.