Florence Food & Wine Tours
Florence is the capital of Tuscan eating as well as of Tuscan art: two great markets, a street-food tradition built on tripe and flatbread, wine windows in the palace walls, and Chianti 30 minutes up the road. This is our Florence hub. Below are the top-rated food and wine experiences in the city, then our three detailed pages: wine tours from Florence, cooking classes, and food tours, with notes on neighbourhoods, timing and how to choose.
Three ways in: a food tour on your first day to learn the city, a cooking class for the afternoon it rains, and a wine day in Chianti when you need to leave the crowds.
What to eat: lampredotto from a cart, schiacciata from a bakery, bistecca alla fiorentina by the kilo, crostini di fegatini, ribollita, and gelato from the shops that make it in the back.
Where: Sant’Ambrogio and the Mercato Centrale for markets, the Oltrarno for artisans and aperitivo, Santa Croce for the trattorie.
Food and wine in Florence: how the city eats
Florence eats in markets and trattorie, not restaurants with tablecloths. The Mercato Centrale at San Lorenzo has the tourists and a food hall upstairs; Sant’Ambrogio, ten minutes east, has the Florentines and the better vegetables. Between them are the lampredotto carts, the schiacciata bakeries with queues around the corner, and the wine windows, buchette del vino, cut into palace walls in the sixteenth century and pouring again since 2020. Every good food experience in the city starts from one of those places.
Food tours
Three-hour walks with six to ten tastings: Sant’Ambrogio in the morning, the Oltrarno at sunset, or a street-food route through the centre. They are the best first-day investment in Florence because they tell you where to eat for the rest of the week. See Florence food tours.
Cooking classes
Florence has more cooking schools than any city in Tuscany: pasta and tiramisù in three hours, pizza and gelato in the Oltrarno, market-to-table classes that shop first, and private lessons in Florentine homes. See Florence cooking classes and, for the most searched class of all, pasta making classes in Florence.
Wine: in the city and out of it
In the city, sommelier tastings and wine-window walks; out of it, Chianti half-days, Chianti with San Gimignano and Siena, and long days to Montalcino or Bolgheri. Florence is the departure point for most of Tuscany’s wine tours. See wine tours from Florence.
Neighbourhoods
Sant’Ambrogio for the market and the trattorie around it; San Lorenzo for the Mercato Centrale; the Oltrarno, across the river, for workshops, wine bars and the evening; Santa Croce for the old-school kitchens. The Duomo area is for looking, not eating.
When to come
April to June and September to October for the weather and the countryside tours; November for new olive oil and truffles; winter for empty cooking classes and the bistecca season. July and August are hot; book morning tours and evening classes.
Read next: 3 days in Florence for food & wine · What to eat in Florence · Florence cooking classes: pasta & gelato · Bistecca alla fiorentina explained · 5 days in Tuscany for food & wine
How we choose
We list only experiences with a strong rating over a meaningful number of reviews and free cancellation where available, and we favour small-group and family-run hosts. FindEatLocal earns a commission when you book through GetYourGuide or Viator links on this page; it doesn’t change the price you pay. More about how we choose.
FAQ about Florence Food & Wine Tours
Frequently asked questions
Why Florence for food and wine?
Because it has the most choice in Tuscany: dozens of cooking schools, a food tour for every neighbourhood, and every Chianti tour in the region starting at its door.
What is the difference between a food tour and a cooking class?
A food tour walks and tastes; a cooking class stands and makes. Do the tour first to learn the city, the class later to take something home.
What food is Florence known for?
Bistecca alla fiorentina, lampredotto, ribollita, pappa al pomodoro, crostini di fegatini, schiacciata and cantucci with Vin Santo.
Which Florence market is best?
Sant’Ambrogio for a local morning; the Mercato Centrale for variety and the upstairs food hall.
Can I do a wine tour from Florence in half a day?
Yes: Chianti half-day tours leave in the morning and afternoon and visit two estates in about five hours.
Do I need to book food experiences in advance?
Yes in high season; the best small-group tours and classes sell out one to three weeks ahead.