Curated Experiences in Florence & Tuscany
Private and small-group tours, hands-on workshops and carefully chosen experiences — selected personally, recommended with confidence.
Shutterstock Image.
By Ana Ka · Ana's Secret Guide to Italy
Published March 22, 2026 · Last updated June 22, 2026
As an independent media guide, I don't run mass-market tours. Instead, I curate a small circle of experiences I genuinely trust — art history walks, artisan visits, wine tours, cooking classes and hands-on workshops led by people whose knowledge and passion I can personally vouch for. Start here to find what fits you, then click through for full details or reader-only perks.
Wine Tours & Countryside Experiences
Reader offer inside — see below
Some of the most memorable days in Tuscany happen when you leave the city behind. Join a small group or go privately to visit family-run wineries in Chianti or Montalcino... the kind of places that don't advertise, where the owner pours the wine, takes you down into his cellar and tells you the story of his life. Stop at a local cheese farm. Or make a detour to one of Tuscany's most legendary butchers for a bistecca alla Fiorentina that will ruin all future steaks for you.
These are unhurried, genuinely local days... far from the coach tour circuit and much closer to how Tuscans actually live. All of them depart straight from Florence, as half-day or full-day trips, so there's no need to arrange transport or stay overnight.
The company behind these tours was founded by Rebecca and Pierre... a wine guide and a French winemaker who met on one of her tours and fell in love. Today they run their own small vineyard and cheese cellar in the Tuscan countryside, and that firsthand knowledge shapes how every guide on their team leads a tasting... real detail from people who've done the harvest, not facts read off a card.
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Chianti Wine Tour — family wineries, tastings and a long lunch in the hills, available privately or in a small group
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Montalcino & Brunello — Italy's most age-worthy wine, tasted at source in the hilltop town that gave it its name
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Carmignano & the Medici — a historic DOCG region where Cabernet has been grown since the Renaissance, on estates dating back to the Medici family
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Olive Oil & Wine — an acclaimed olive press, exceptional extra-virgin oils, local wines and a farm-to-table Tuscan lunch
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Super Chianti — organic wineries, cheese and olive oil tastings, and a grand finale lunch at Dario Cecchini's legendary butcher's table in Panzano
This link is an affiliate link. If you book through it I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Grape Tours Image.
Grape Tours Image.
Cooking Classes
Reader offer inside — see below
Food is at the heart of Italian culture — and one of the most rewarding ways to truly immerse yourself in it is to learn how to cook it. Imagine going home and making fresh pasta from scratch, a fragrant pesto, a tiramisu that actually tastes like the one you had in Florence. There is no better place to learn than during your trip to Italy.
Some of these experiences start at the market — shop alongside a local chef, meet the producers, choose what is fresh that morning, then head back to the kitchen and learn to turn it into a meal. Others focus on a single technique or dish, done properly and without rush.
Small Group and Private Cooking Classes in Florence
Tucked into a quiet, tree-lined street near Porta Romana, in the artisan neighborhood of San Frediano, Mama Florence occupies what used to be a humble neighborhood bottega before it was lovingly restored in 2014. Each class follows a set menu, but the menus themselves are built around what the season actually offers... spring classes lean into peas and artichokes, autumn ones shift toward porcini and squash, so what you cook changes through the year even when the class title doesn't. A few of their experiences add a guided visit to the market beforehand, if you want to see where the ingredients come from before you start cooking. Every class ends the way a real Tuscan meal should... seated together at one table, sharing what you made. A wonderful place, and one of the few cooking schools in Florence that actually pays attention to what's in season rather than running the same menu year-round.
Mama Florence Image.
This link is an affiliate link. If you book through it I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Netta's Kitchen in Cortona — Antonietta opens her home and her heart to teach you the recipes of her grandmother, passed down through generations of Tuscan cooking. Warm, personal and entirely unlike a standard cooking class. If you are visiting Cortona — or would like to — she can also arrange a guided tour of this beautiful hilltop town. Learn more and book your cooking class with Netta →
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Netta's Kitchen in Cortona.
Food Tours & Market Experiences
Florence's markets and food culture tell a story that no restaurant menu can fully capture. Join a local foodie guide for a morning at the market — taste cured meats, aged cheeses, fresh bread and street food, meet the vendors who have been here for generations, and learn the history and tradition behind what you are eating. The best way to understand a city is through what it feeds you.
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Florence Market Food Tour — a guided tasting walk through the city's best markets and food stops, with a knowledgeable local guide who knows every vendor by name
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Street Food & Hidden Tastings — lampredotto, schiacciata, ribollita and the foods that define everyday Florentine life, eaten where locals eat them
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Sant'Ambrogio Market Experience — the city's most authentic food market, explored with a guide who can tell you exactly what to buy and why
These experiences are personally arranged through Ana's Secret Guide — we match you with the right guide and handle the booking directly.
These experiences are personally arranged through Ana's Secret Guide — interested? Fill out the online form and we'll arrange it for you.
Ana's Secret Guide Image.
Art History Tours
Walk past the spot in Palazzo Vecchio where Leonardo and Michelangelo were once assigned opposite walls for the greatest artistic duel Florence ever staged, and you'd never guess what happened next. Neither man finished. One painting started melting off the wall almost immediately.
Michelangelo's cartoon, according to Vasari, was destroyed by a jealous rival who forged the keys to the room. Florence is full of details like that... a fresco hiding a family portrait, a "peasant" face in a holy scene that's actually a political enemy, a half-mile secret passage built so a duke could cross the city without ever being seen. None of it shows up in a guidebook, and most tour guides don't know it either.
The private tours I recommend are led by real art historians, not scripted guides... people who've spent years inside Medici archives and Renaissance workshops, who can stand in front of a fresco and tell you exactly which assassination, scandal, or rivalry it was painted to cover up. Small groups, no fixed script, shaped around what you actually want to know.
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Renaissance Unleashed: The Uffizi's Greatest Story — Botticelli, Leonardo, and Michelangelo, and the Medici fortune that bankrolled all three
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The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance — the Pazzi conspiracy, a murder during Sunday Mass at the Duomo, and the conspirators who ended up painted as hanged traitors on the walls of the Palazzo della Signoria
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Inside the Sculptor's Studio: Where Marble Comes Alive — a working studio where you try carving yourself and watch the full process from clay model to bronze cast, guided by a sculptor and art history professor
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Private Historic Centre Walk — the dome Brunelleschi refused to explain until he'd won the contract (legend says he proved his genius with an egg and a marble table), and the stories behind Florence's most photographed monuments
Interested? Click through to your preferred tour for full details and to send a booking request.
Horne Museum. Horne Museum Image.
Sculptor's studio in Florence.
Workshops, Masterclasses & Artist Studios
Florence has always been a city of makers, and a handful of its finest are willing to open their doors. These are private experiences — just you and the artist, in a real working studio or palazzo. A university professor and practicing artist will guide you through fresco painting from the very first brushstroke. A drawing class here is simply different from a drawing class anywhere else.
No prior experience is needed for any of these. Just curiosity.
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Private Artisans Tour in Florence
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Private Fresco Painting Masterclass
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Private Drawing Class in Florence
For a different way into Florence's artisan world, start the morning at Mercato Centrale instead — tasting your way through the market's iconic flavours before stepping inside three family workshops where Renaissance techniques still thrive today: goldsmiths hammering Medici-era coins, stone artisans "painting" with precious minerals, and papermakers crafting the marble-patterned paper still used for restoring Vatican manuscripts.
If you are venturing into the Chianti countryside, we also offer a coat of arms masterclass — a uniquely Tuscan experience rooted in the region's Renaissance heraldic tradition.
These experiences are personally arranged through Ana's Secret Guide — interested? Fill out the online form and we'll arrange it for you.
See all private workshops & masterclasses →
See all private artisan tours →
Fresco painting masterclass in Florence.
Audio Guides
For those who prefer to explore independently, I have created a series of audio guides in collaboration with some of the world's leading experts — art historians, scholars and specialists whose voices bring the city's art and history to life.
Designed to give you the depth of a private tour at a fraction of the price, at your own pace.
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David & the Accademia — the story behind the sculpture before you arrive
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The Uffizi Essentials — context for the works that matter most
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Piazza della Signoria — the political theatre of Florence's greatest public space
AppyGuide audio guide.
How These Bookings Actually Work — Quick Answers
How do I book a private art history tour, food tour or workshop through Ana's Secret Guide?
Art history tours, food tours and workshops are personally arranged. Click through to the relevant tour page and fill out the online form with your dates, and Ana will match you with a trusted historian, guide or artisan and handle the booking.
Are the tours and experiences mass-market or private?
Private and small-group only. As an independent media guide, Ana does not run mass-market tours, and instead curates a small circle of experiences led by people whose knowledge and passion she can personally vouch for.
Who runs the wine tours recommended by Ana's Secret Guide?
Grape Tours, founded by Rebecca, a wine guide, and Pierre, a French winemaker, who met on one of her tours. They run their own small vineyard and cheese cellar in the Tuscan countryside, and every guide on their team brings firsthand knowledge of the harvest.
How do I get access to Ana's Florence Shopping and Restaurant Maps through Grape Tours?
Use code GRAPEANA at checkout when booking a wine tour with Grape Tours. This does not change the price of the tour — it unlocks access to Ana's Florence Shopping and Restaurant Maps.
Is there a discount code for Mama Florence cooking classes?
Yes. Use code ANASSECRET at checkout for an exclusive reader discount on Mama Florence cooking classes in San Frediano, Florence.
Not Sure Which Experience Is Right for You?
Join our Facebook community — Ana's Secret Guide to Florence and Tuscany — where 100,000 fellow travellers share recommendations, answer questions and help each other plan the perfect trip. It is the best place to ask, and someone will almost always have been there.
About the author
Ana Ka is the founder of Ana's Secret Guide to Italy, a Florence-focused travel publication and 100,000-member community, writing from years of firsthand experience in Florence and Tuscany.