Glorious Florence™

Walk in the footsteps of Catherine de Medici in Florence and celebrate the glorious Renaissance ~ an explosion of food, art & culture!   This Cooking Vacations program features the best of Florence’s food, art, and music.  Scribe in your Renaissance journal as you discover Florence – it is our gift to you. This immersive Florence tour for groups brings to life the culinary legacy of Catherine de Medici, one of history’s most fascinating queens—best known for her influence on French cuisine, fashion, and fine dining.

In 1519, Catherine De Medici was born in Florence, and the Medici Family, a banking dynasty, commissioned the greatest masters to paint, create, and build Florence.  When she married King Henry II of France, she didn’t just bring wealth and status—she brought chefs, spices, table customs, and the refined Catherine de Medici food culture that would revolutionize the French court. With Florence pioneering itself as the center of art, culinary trends, and cultural traditions, it became the most important city in Europe and the richest in the world.  The trends that were made during the Renaissance era are the traditions that are carried on today.  Today, the food, wine, art, and lifestyle of Florence have remained a must-see for any traveler throughout history.

Join us in Florence and discover the roots of this city, which started in the glorious Renaissance era.  We’ll stroll through the Piazza della Repubblica and to Santa Croce; visit the School of Florentine leather makers; tour the Sant’Ambrogio Market and cross the Ponte Vecchio, while sipping, shopping, and conversing in the City of Art.  This food and wine Florence tour also offers a Brunello wine tasting – if you would like to add this on.  

When we are not exploring Florence, we’ll cook with Chef Barbara.  The day begins with a visit to her organic garden (weather permitting), growing beautiful fruits and vegetables of the season.  Start with a cappuccino or tea and cantucci, Tuscan biscotti, while everyone gets acquainted in Chef Barbara’s kitchen set in her home. Together, you’ll recreate traditional Tuscan dishes alongside Renaissance favorites that reflect Catherine de Medici’s culinary legacy

Travel with us through the Renaissance era when Italy was blossoming with new ideas, while Catherine de Medici was marrying King Henry II of France, and the Duomo was being constructed.  Discover how Catherine introduced her Italian cooking style, chefs, and ingredients to the French Court.  We will even create one of Catherine’s menus, making Florentine crepes and sorbetto.  Our Florence Medici tour is brimming with Florentine food, art, wine, and music!

Discover la vita di tavola, a time of liberation in cooking, art, dress, and table art, thanks to Queen Catherine.  The Queen pioneered new cooking trends and expressed her passion for Italian hospitality with lavish dinner parties, table decorating, and brought sorbetto, orange duck, and onion soup to the French Court.

Walk in the footsteps of Queen Catherine and the de Medici’s from October 14 to 18, 2021.

The Italian Renaissance 

The Renaissance intellectual and artistic movement started in the Quattrocento in Italy, and Florence was its birthplace. A magical time with an artistic explosion of new food trends, thanks to the sea traders who were coming from the East, bringing back exotic spices and coffee, as well as velvety and silk fabrics.  Thanks to Catherine de Medici and other Italian women who turned the page on freedom for their female compatriots, today we have these traditions. Food, art, music, and literature soared during the Renaissance.  It was a time of expression that followed the Dark Ages.  Italian artists such as Sandro Botticelli, Giorgio Vasari, Raphael Sanzio and Leonardo Da Vinci were dedicating their lives to creating works of art such as the statue of David, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and La Primavera, Giorgio Vasari’s Last Judgement; Titan’s Venus of Urbino; Brunelleschi’s Dome, Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise; and Fra Angelico’s San Marco frescoes.

 

The Wine Windows of Florence

Join us on the Wine Window of Florence Tour! Discover Florence and enjoy wine breaks where you’ll sip and swirl through tiny buchette del vino, these are small doors just large enough to pass a single glass through. These charming wine windows date back to the 1600s, when Florentine families served wine directly to locals during times of plague and prosperity. Sip local wines, taste traditional bites, and uncover the hidden history behind these charming little windows!

 

Florence, Italy ~ Boutique Hotel Accommodations

Glorious Florence – 4 Nights, 5 Days  

 

3 Star Boutique Property with View of the Arno River – Renaissance, Stylish & Historical

Check into our boutique hotel in the heart of Florence overlooking the Arno River.  Conveniently located with a cafe terrace garden overlooking the city, you are welcomed by the professional staff, Signor Massimo and Signora Laura.

Elegant bedrooms with private en suite baths, modern amenities including comfortable beds, security boxes, air conditioner, wifi, and TV in the room.  Traditional décor is subtly blended with a touch of modern color. A professional concierge is at your service, and daily breakfast is included with Wi-Fi.  Step out of your hotel and onto the Arno River and find everything from designer shops, artisan boutiques, bookstores, restaurants, and of course, the Uffizi, Accademia, and all Florentine museums and landmarks in Florence.

or 

4 Star Deluxe on the Arno River – Sophisticated, Elegant & Stylish

The 4-Star property is set in the heart of Florence overlooking the Arno River.  Elegant and luxurious is the vibe.  Stylish, comfortable bedding, Italian linens, ensuite private tiled bathrooms, Italian design furniture, drapery, and sophisticated décor dominated by warm tones of wood and bronze set the mood in every room.  Amenities include towels, slippers, and bathrobes of the utmost quality.  Additional amenities include air-conditioning and heating, feather or hypoallergenic pillows upon request, and wifi.  A Florentine bar and bistro accented with comfortable armchairs and tables is open daily for your convenience.  The bistro and bar serve wine, Prosecco, cocktails, and light antipasto, pasta, pizza, sandwiches, and soups made by the chef using high-quality Tuscan products.  Daily breakfast is included – you will enjoy Tuscan farm fresh eggs, artisan bread and cakes and jams, cheese, salumi and ham, assorted fruits, yogurt, cereals, and Nutella along with tea, coffee, espresso, and cappuccino.  A kind professional staff is at your service for your every request.  Superior rooms offer balconies and spectacular views overlooking the Arno River and the rooftops of Florence.

Click for Property Photo Gallery

Florentine Food Lover’s Experience

Enjoy a traditional Chef’s Welcome Dinner with Tuscan wine!  Enjoy antipasti, pasta, a main course, and dessert at our favorite trattoria.  Our week will include a Food Lover’s Walk with our English-speaking guide visiting the grand piazzas and the quarters of the Sant’Ambrogio market. 

At the market, learn about local products from the farmers and vendors, and learn how to select the freshest produce.  Endless rows of fruits, vegetables, kiosks with artisan cheese, Tuscan wine, salumi, bread, and dessert, along with Vin Santo – the blessed Tuscan wine.  During the week, we’ll also prepare a delicious Tuscan lunch in hands-on cooking classes.  Learn cooking techniques while making Florentine favorites and even Renaissance recipes, too.  Taste your way through the City of Art while discovering, sampling, and visiting historic shops and landmarks with us.

Florence Visits and Excursions

As part of our Medici Masters of Florence Tour, you will discover the amazing Galleria degli Uffizi with our English-speaking guide.  In your free time,  visit Palazzo Vecchio, Pitti Palazzo, and Villa Castello (today known as the premises of the Accademia della Crusca – a literary academy established in Florence in the 16th century to preserve the Italian language). 

Discover the Oltrarno – the Left Bank of the Arno River– home to food artisans, leather craftsmen, and Tuscan wine shops and artists.

Itinerary

Day 1 – Welcome to Renaissance Florence!

• Group transfer from Florence airport to your hotel. Check in.  
• Welcome aperitivo.  Enjoy your Cooking Vacations’ Welcome Bag and Prosecco.
• Welcome Dinner featuring a Chef’s Tasting Dinner with antipasto, fresh pasta and sauce, a main course, and dessert with a toast of local red or white wine included.

Day 2 – Food Lover & Market Tour with Tastings, and Famous Caffè Aperitivo

• Breakfast.  Following breakfast, meet your English-speaking guide for your Food Lover’s Tour of Florence to the Sant’ Ambrogio market.  Discover the rich history and culture of the city while tasting your way through the marketplace.  Learn farm-to-table ingredients and ancient recipes using the ingredients from the market.  We will visit the purveyors of local products, sample their products, and learn how to shop like a local. Taste artisan cheese, salumi, and sip wine while strolling through the stalls of this ancient market.  Following the market tour, everyone can take time to purchase cheese, wine, and local products.
• Prosecco apertivo with Florentine traditional bites to accompany – at Florence’s most famous caffè. 
• Late afternoon, take time out on your own to shop or sip a vino or cappuccino in the piazza.
• Later in the evening, enjoy dinner at any of our favorite suggested trattorias with suggestions provided.  Dinner not included.

Day 3 – Cooking Class & Wine Windows of Florence Walking Tour

• Breakfast.  Following breakfast, we will tie on your apron and get cooking with Chef Barbara!  Get ready to prepare a Renaissance menu including antipasto, pasta, and main course.  During the cooking class, you’ll learn techniques and cooking tips from Chef Barbara while also soaking up food notes on the history of Florentine cuisine.  Following the cooking class, everyone enjoys the foods that were prepared in the cooking class.  Delicious wine is included.  Dessert and cafe follow.     

• Later in the afternoon, meet your English-speaking guide for a tour along the Wine Windows of Florence Secret Walking Tour. Discover Florence and enjoy wine breaks where you’ll sip and swirl through tiny buchette del vino, these are small doors just large enough to pass a single glass through. Sip local wines, taste traditional bites, and uncover the hidden history behind these charming little windows!
• Dinner is on your own, with suggestions provided.

Day 4 –

Boboli Gardens or Uffizi Museum 

• Breakfast.  Following breakfast, select one of the following tours:
• Giardino di Boboli, the Boboli Gardens an historical garden which opened to the public in 1766. Originally designed for the Medici Family, this garden is the first and most important of its kind, which was and still is today, an Italian Garden.  The large green area is an open-air museum with beautiful statues of various styles and periods, ancient and Renaissance.  There are fountains and grottos, among them the splendid Buontalenti grotto built by the artist, architect, and sculptor Bernardo Buontalenti, between 1536 and 1608.  The garden offers a carefully curated rose garden along with Mediterranean citrus trees.
•  Or Select –
• Galleria Degli Uffizi.  This is one of the most important Italian museums and one of the largest and best known in the world, holding a collection of priceless works from the Italian Renaissance.  Galleria Degli Uffizi tour with museum tickets included.
  

  Day 5 – Arriverderci Florence – Until Next Time!!!

• Breakfast served.  Group transfer to Florence Train Station or Airport.  Ciao – a presto!