Tuscany Tours from Florence with Viator

The Tuscany Tour with Viator and Walkabout Florence

It has been 3 days since I left Tuscany and returned to pre-Christmas London.

We took a day trip on the famous Tuscany tours from Florence. I’ve been deeply moved by the beauty of the region, the glorious amount of tasty local food, and one of the most famous vineyard countries in the world.

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November was the perfect time to visit Tuscany. It’s not because of the weather, quite contrary, as November is marked by harvest and you might not see the glorious days of summer being displayed on the vines.

Instead, you get a different perspective of Tuscany, one that is more subtle and away from the crowds. The tourist numbers drop dramatically in November and all of a sudden you find Tuscany the way it was before it landed on the hot spots recommendations across every major publication.

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You can not visit Tuscany and avoid the mention of the beautiful countryside. So I attended a day safari tour of the various vineyards of Tuscany with Viator, the tour guide platform now owned by Tripadvisor.

On the morning of the tour, we met our gracious host Lavinia from Walkabout Florence, the local tour company in partnership with Viator. In a cosy small tour bus, we started to drive out from the centre of Florence into the countryside.

Tuscany Tours Highlight – The Wine

We had a fantastic wine tutorial on how to understand the various varieties of wine in Italy as well as how to gauge the values of various labels. Lavinia explained to us that Chianti has actually 8 different areas within itself and Chianti Classico is the one that is most well-known.

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We also tasted three different aged versions of wine, all of which had specific pairings with three different types of cheese and honey. Yes, cheese and honey is a thing here and I must say a great revelation to try that more myself!

Tuscany Tours Famous Mystery Restaurant

This little gem filled with locals is called Cantinetta Di Rignana. With a full greenhouse and a view to the distant hills of Tuscany, this is the best seat in the region for a tasty daytime lunch. It was so good that George Clooney came back twice last year in the same week with his wife Amal.

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We were welcomed in by the lovely owner and his pet cat Gino circling around my feet. The first course began with a selection of bruschetta with 5 different toppings, porcini mushroom, chicken pate, truffle, tomatoes, prosciutto.

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We then tucked into the simple but elegant dish of pecorino cheese tomato sauce with spaghetti. The chef was very generous with the pecorino cheese as you can clearly taste the flavours emanating from the dish.

Lastly, we finished off with the main selection of the day, a grilled platter of local fresh chicken, guinea fowl, and ribs. At this point, there was no room for any dessert!

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Tuscany Tours Mini-Stop – Greve in Chianti

We stopped by a small town centre in Greve. Apparently, the gelato here is amazing, not just because of the creation but because of the interesting flavours.

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We tried the chestnut gelato topped with wild boar salami and vanilla gelato served with pecorino cheese (stay with me here). Both tasted surprisingly good and worked really well with each other. Their flavours change seasonally, and I’ve been told that the melon gelato served with freshly cut prosciutto is one to try in the Summer!

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We had a wonderful day of packed 8 hours with Walkabout Florence through Viator. The tour guide Lavinia was full of local knowledge and stories, and we left the trip with a complete wine education of the Chianti region of Tuscany. I’m not yet an expert, but as Lavinia nicely put it, wine should be for everyone and anyone!

If you want to check out the exact Tuscany tour that I was on with Viator and Walkabout Florence, you can book here.

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