Food and Wine
- Visit the first Italian oleoteca (olive oil factory), located in the Mugello Valley, 20 minutes north of Florence, tasting olive oil on typical unsalted Tuscan bread, touring the franoio(mill) and perhaps participating in a cooking class on how to use healthy olive oil in cooking.
- Hold a “vertical” wine tasting – by which you can taste the same wine for over 20 different vintage years. This is an amazing experience best suited to true wine connoisseurs. This tasting is offered by one of the most famous wine producers of Umbria, located in a beautiful and picturesque hamlet.
- Conduct wine tastings of famous Montepulciano, Brunello di Montalchino and Super Tuscan wines made famous by Marchese Antinori.
- Visit off-the-beaten-path wine cellars where the clients will be able to taste wines with the owner of the cellars, not someone from their marketing or sales staff. Clients will revel in the different owners’ passion for winemaking.
- Tour a Mozzarella factory to learn how this popular Italian cheese is made from milking the cow to the final product, learning about Mozzarella di bufala (made from the milk of a domesticated water buffalo, not the ones that used to roam the American Plains), and more. This is a great tour for children.
- Taste the best cheese in Tuscany! This lovely, little dairy has been producing cheese for 15 years and they sell to the best restaurants in Florence (for example, Enoteca Pinchiorri, a 3 star Michelin restaurant). Clients will see how the cheese is made, understand the process of flavoring the cheeses and will be able to taste samples.
- Join a trifulao and his dog for truffle hunting in the woods near Siena or Val Tiberina, north of Perugia in Umbria. Enjoy a lunch with truffle specialties.
- Visit one of the rare balsamic vinegar cellars in Tuscany. Most of the high quality balsamic comes from Emilia Romagna, near the city of Modena, but this balsamic is just as delicious!
- See how pasta is made by visiting a delicious pasta maker in Tuscany.
- Though Italy is the third largest wine producer in the world, it also produces great beer. Visit an artisanal beer maker in Tuscany.
- Parma may have its ham, but Tuscany has its “banded pig,” the Cinta Senese. Visit a breeding farm near Siena and a butcher shop to taste some of these flavorful cured pork products, regarded by many as the tastiest meat in Tuscany!
- Venture on a guided visit to saffron fields (the world’s most expensive spice) near Citta della Pieve in Umbria, and enjoy lunch with a saffron menu.
- Chocolate:
– Visit the famous “Chocolate Valley” between Prato and Pistoia, home to the best chocolate makers in Italy.
– Visit the world famous Perugina chocolate factory in Umbria.
