Dining on traditional local dishes is a reason to visit Italy in itself. But for foodies in Italy, it is the selecting of food items from the local vendors, just as the locals do, which truly presents one of the best things to do in Italy – besides, of course, the actual eating!

Wandering down narrow cobbled laneways through Florence, Italy, you visit first of all ‘il fruttivendolo’ – the friendly grocer offering a great range of fresh in-season fruits and vegetables. ‘Che si fa per cena sta sera?’, they ask. ‘What’s for dinner tonight?’ From the brightly coloured items before you, you’re tempted to say, ‘tutto’ – everything! But based on the grocer’s advice, you manage to narrow the selection down. The grocer carefully hand-selects each item you choose, suggesting a few other items, and throws in a handful of fresh herbs along the way.

The items are weighed on an old-fashioned scale and placed in a paper bag, the grocer standing on the stone steps of the little store to bid you friendly farewell as you wander off to the next destination.

Just a short distance away, you arrive to the bakery, ‘il forno’. This is a dangerous place to visit when you’re hungry as the great range of fragrant just-baked bread and other delicious treats are near impossible to resist! Your eyes dart from biscotti to colourful fruit flans, and a whole range of sweet baked treats. You select some traditional bread, Pane Toscano, and a few little cookies to nibble on for ‘merenda’ – Italian afternoon tea.

Meat is from the ‘macellaio’, where the cuts are prepared exactly as per the recipe you are planning on making and the number of people you are cooking for. Again, advice on how to prepare it is free with every selection, as is a handful of fresh herbs thrown into the parcel.

You’ve kept for last one of your favourite food stores in Florence – the Grana Market, selling a wide gamma of cheese, cured meats, big fat olives, and a range of other delicious typical food items. The store owner, a smiley local who talks often about his three small children as he carefully packages your purchases, offers tastings of just-arrived products as you make your selection.

This means of gathering delicious fresh foods in Italy is a cultural experience in itself, as much of a tradition as the recipes that are passed down through the generations.

It is a wonderful Italian food tradition to pass an afternoon collecting each item from the local specialty stores nestled throughout the cobbled streets of their local town. Wandering from store to store is also a social experience where locals stop to chat with the friends they pass on the street, out purchasing the ingredients for that day’s delicious family meal. The store owners become friends themselves as quick conversations accumulate over the years into friendship.

Arriving home with your carefully wrapped parcels, you spread them out on the kitchen bench and unwrap each item one by one. The scent of just-picked herbs wafts out from one bag, the sweet smell of ripe tomatoes from another, and that irresistible perfume of fresh-baked bread sees you glance at the clock to count down just how long you have to wait until you will be dining on this fabulous fare. Then you remember – joy of joys – the few biscotti you had (thankfully!) been unable to resist from the bakery, a sweet treat to tide you over as you turn these fresh local ingredients into a wonderful Italian meal!

To learn to make delicious, typical Italian recipes before indulging in a delicious meal made by you, we have hands-on cooking classes in Florence and Cooking Classes in a Tuscan Villa.

Out of the kitchen, we also have a great range of Tuscany tours, including our great small-group tour, Best of Tuscany.

Check out Artviva Walking Tours website for more tours in Florence, Rome, Venice, Cinque Terre, Umbria, Naples, Pompeii and more.

We also have private tours in Florence (and Tuscany), Rome, Venice, and to the Cinque Terre and beyond.

By artist in Florence, Helen Bayley.

2012 Florence, Italy: This year is the 500th anniversary of the death of Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512).

Amerigo Vespucci, the man after whom America was named, was born in Florence, Italy and was an explorer, navigator and cartographer.

To mark the 500^th anniversary of his death, a series of events and exhibitions around Florence are being held.

The festivities are being supported by the Comune di Firenze, the Florence Chamber of Commerce and American Consulate in Florence, the Amerigo & America committee and several American groups in Florence such as the American International League Onlus, Y.A.W.N. (Young AngloWomen’s Network), and AACUPI (Association of American College and University Programs in italy).

One great exhibition being held is the American Contemporary Art in Florence, open from 5^th-11^th May at the Palagio di Parte Guelfa (near Piazza Repubblica).

This exhibit in Florence will showcase the work of resident American artists from three women’s groups: Young Anglo Women’s Network, the American International League of Florence and the Women’s International Network, displaying paintings, drawings, photographs, sculpture and other mediums.

With the official support of the Comune di Firenze, this event will also include a display of a series of photos taken by local American photographers that will be donated to a hospital in New Orleans, and to a rehabilitation center in Florence through the Healing Photo Art Foundation headed by Elaine Poggi.

We at Artviva will be there with bells on, as several exhibiting artists are our expert art historian/artist guides for our small-group Florence tours!

To experience the highlights of Florence with an expert tour guide, we have our Original Florence Walk tour.

Experience the Uffizi Gallery with one of our great guides to see some of the most precious artworks in the world, as painted by some of the greatest artists in history.  And who could forget Michelangelo’s David – a must-see in Florence.

Artviva Walking Tours are offered in Florence, Rome, Venice, Cinque Terre, Umbria, Naples, Pompeii and more.

We also have a great range of fantastic private tours in Florence (and Tuscany), Rome, Venice, and to the Cinque Terre and beyond.

(Photo courtesy of The European Traveller)

If you dine out in Italy, you’ll likely be doing so in a Ristorante, a Trattoria or an Osteria.

But what exactly is the difference between a Ristorante, a Trattoria or an Osteria?

Traditionally, an Osteria was more like an inn where passers-through could stop for a meal and lodgings. Whilst now you won’t be allowed to sleep there – no matter how great the food is and how much you might want to stay as long as possible – but you can still go there for some great local food and wine in a relaxed setting.

On the other end of the spectrum, there is the Ristorante. Here, the service is more formal, the food is more gourmet, and of course the prices are also higher. A Ristorante is generally chosen for special occasions or for more formal dining experiences, complete with linen tablecloths and napkins

In between a Ristorante and an Osteria lies the Trattoria. This is like a casual version of a Ristorante – or perhaps a more formal Osteria, as you please. The prices are mid-range and the service more casual, often family-run.

Seeking out a Trattoria, particularly in Rome, is a great way to experience a typical and great-value Italian dining experience.

The European Traveller offers some wonderful advice for dining in Rome. ‘While Rome hotels tend to be expensive, Roman trattorias tend to be an excellent value! Rome is a lively, late-night trattoria town with wonderful neighborhood trattorias (small family-owned restaurants) serving classic Roman specialties and delicious regional wines. Rome is the best place in Italy for spaghetti with clams (topped with a traditional garlicky white sauce and loaded with clams cooked in the shell) and its wonderful seasonal artichokes are world-famous. Main courses are roasted meat or grilled fish dishes prepared with olive oil and fresh herbs, and for dessert, tiramisù and creamy homemade gelato (Italian ice-cream) top the list. The regional wines, such as Frascati, Castelli Romani and those from nearby Tuscany, are very good and reasonably priced. After dinner, try a local grappa or in summer, a refreshing limoncello (both very traditional Italian digestives that differ from place to place).’

This spring, for the first time in its nearly 18-year history, The European Traveller Report is offering the The European Traveller Rome Issue and The European Traveller Florence Issue to non-subscribers! These lovely issues present the few best small luxury boutique hotels, authentic trattorias and top historic attractions in one pocket-friendly edition.

And when in Rome…

To explore must-see sights in Rome’s amazing historical city centre such as The Coliseum, Arch of Constantine, Roman Forum, and the Trevi Fountain, we have small-group Rome guided tours with a great tour guide.

Our guided small-group, skip-the-line tour of the Vatican allows you to see some great collections of precious arts as you visit the Vatican Museum with a great tour guide – and skip the line to do so.

Check out Artviva Walking Tours website for more tours in Florence, Rome, Venice, Cinque Terre, Umbria, Naples, Pompeii and more. We also have private tours in Florence (and Tuscany), Rome, Venice, and to the Cinque Terre and beyond.

On April 27^th, the UNESCO First Annual International Jazz Day kicks off its series of events being held around the world.

The official launch is being held at the UNESCO Headquaters in Paris and will feature jazz legend and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock.

In Italy, Rome will be holding its UNESCO International Day of Jazz on April 30^th, 2012.

To celebrate, Danilo Rea will be on piano and Enzo Pietropaoli on bass, to the rhythm of Jeff Ballard on drums. Danilo’s Jazz CV reads like a who’s-who of Jazz, having been Italian pop legend Mina’s recordings keyboardist since 1989, and having also worked with the likes of Chet Baker, Lee Konitz, Steve Grossman, Phil Woods, Art Farmer, Curtis Fuller and Kenny Wheeler.

You can see Danilo Rea playing a beautiful ‘Tribute to Fabrizio De André’.

The UNESCO International Jazz Day is ‘intended to raise awareness in the international community of the virtues of jazz as an educational tool, and a force for peace, unity, dialogue and enhanced cooperation among people’.

According to UNESCO, the International Jazz Day ‘will bring together performers, educators, governments, experts, and fans alike, as they explore together the history, meaning, impact, and legacy of jazz music throughout the world. The Programme at UNESCO HQ includes open master classes by renowned international jazz musicians, scat improvisational classes for young students, musical performances, conferences, debates and a big evening concert.’

UNESCO explains why it has chosen Jazz as a medium for its Message for International Jazz Day by explaining:

• Jazz breaks down barriers and creates opportunities for mutual understanding and tolerance;
• Jazz is a vector of freedom of expression;
• Jazz is a symbol of unity and peace;
• Jazz reduces tensions between individuals, groups, and communities;
• Jazz fosters gender equality;
• Jazz reinforces the role youth play for social change;
• Jazz encourages artistic innovation, improvisation, new forms of expression, and inclusion of traditional music forms into new ones;
• Jazz stimulates intercultural dialogue and empowers young people from marginalized societies.

To attend the UNESCO International Day of Jazz event in Rome, Italy, simply collect a voucher free of charge from the Parco della Musica Infopoint. This great event in Rome is on Monday, April 30^th, 2012 at 8.30 pm at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, Sala Petrassi, Rome.

And when in Rome…

To explore must-see sights in Rome’s amazing historical city centre such as The Coliseum, Arch of Constantine, Roman Forum, and the Trevi Fountain, we have small-group Rome guided tours with a great tour guide.

Our guided small-group, skip-the-line tour of the Vatican allows you to see some great collections of precious arts as you visit the Vatican Museum with a great tour guide – and skip the line to do so.

Check out Artviva Walking Tours website for more tours in Florence, Rome, Venice, Cinque Terre, Umbria, Naples, Pompeii and more. We also have private tours in Florence (and Tuscany), Rome, Venice, and to the Cinque Terre and beyond.

25^th April is la Festa della Liberazione Italiana - Liberation Day in Italy.

It commemorates the anniversary of the 1945 end of the Italian Social Republic led by Mussolini, who was captured a few days later as he attempted to flee.

In Italy today, the 25^th April is a public holiday when many stores are closed.

Around Tuscany, there are some great events to commemorate the day such as:

Arezzo: Mostra Mercato dell’Artigianato della Valtiberina ad Anghiari

Castiglion Fiorentino: Corsa delle Micce!

Castiglion d’Orcia: Festa di Primavera (Spring Festival).

Certaldo: Sagra del Cinghiale (wild boar food fair).

Fucecchio: Fiera del Gusto (festival of tastes) focusing on wine, oil, cheese, sweets and more.

Grosseto: Festival Resistente and the Fiera del Madonnino – a classic spring event in Maremma

Lastra a Signa: “… e profumi d’Antico” – events, exhibits, markets and more.

Livorno: XXIX Trofeo Accademia Navale e città di Livorno regatta.

Mugello – Vicchio e Borgo San Lorenzo: sagra of Tortelli and steak

Monteloro: Sagra del Cinghiale (wild boar food fair).

Panzano in Chianti: Festa della Stagion Bona, medieval costume parade.

Parrana S.Martino: Festa di Primavera (Spring Festival) including walks in the hilly Tuscan countryside.

Pelago – BioFioricola di Primavera: festival of natural tastes, nature and music.

Pistoia: Festa di Primavera (Spring Festival) – traditional fair dedicated to agricultre, gardening, animals, plants and flowers.

Ponente di Viareggio: Festa di Primavera e delle Pisalanche – a great family event.

Villa La Pescigola di Fivizzano: explore a private Italian park in full bloom!

***

Artviva offers a great range of Tuscany tours, including our great small-group tour, Best of Tuscany.

Check out Artviva Walking Tours website for more tours in Florence, Rome, Venice, Cinque Terre, Umbria, Naples, Pompeii and more.

We also have private tours in Florence (and Tuscany), Rome, Venice, and to the Cinque Terre and beyond.

And we have no argument with that!*

Time magazine states, ‘The museums house Raphael’s The School of Athens, Leonardo da Vinci’s St. Jerome in the Wilderness and the Belvedere Torso as well as Michelangelo’s masterpiece, the Sistine Chapel. More than 4 million people visit each year.’

The full list of Time Magazine’s Most Influential Places in History is:

• Sequoia National Park
• Silicon Valley
• The Grand Canyon
• Sutter’s Mill
• Central Park
• Wall Street
• New York City
• Cape Canaveral
• Iguaçu National Park, Brazil
• Vatican Museums, Vatican City
• Stonehenge, Britain
• Dublin
• Mainz, Germany
• Waterloo
• The Galápagos Rift
• The Louvre
• The Bastille
• European Central Bank, Frankfurt
• Athens
• Western Wall, Jerusalem
• Calvary Hill, Jerusalem
• Istanbul
• Mecca
• Damascus
• Ethiopia
• Africa
• The Great Pyramid and Sphinx, Giza
• Timbuktu
• Simien National Park, Ethiopia
• Taj Mahal, India
• Mahabodhi Temple, India
• Angkor, Cambodia
• Great Barrier Reef, Australia
• Sydney Opera House
• Fukushima, Japan
• Koshima
• The North Pole
• The Moon

* Although we would have been even more in agreement should Florence, as the home of the Renaissance, have been listed too!

Our guided small-group, skip-the-line tour of the Vatican allows you to see some great collections of precious arts as you visit the Vatican Museum with a great tour guide – and skip the line to do so.

To explore must-see sights in Rome’s amazing historical city centre such as The Coliseum, Arch of Constantine, Roman Forum, and the Trevi Fountain, we have small-group Rome guided tours with a great tour guide.

Check out Artviva Walking Tours website for more tours in Florence, Rome, Venice, Cinque Terre, Umbria, Naples, Pompeii and more. We also have private tours in Florence (and Tuscany), Rome, Venice, and to the Cinque Terre and beyond.

Although she doesn’t look a day over 2000, today is in fact the 2765th birthday of Rome, Italy.

Rome’s birthday was calculated by Roman mathematician and astrologer Lucius Taruntius Firmanus who, in the 1st century BC worked out that the Eternal City was founded on 21st April, 753 BC.

Since around that time, Romans have celebrated their beloved city’s special day with festivals and celebrations. And no decent Italian festival is complete without an accompanying feast!

This day in Rome is known as the ‘Natale di Roma’ (Natale also being the Italian word for Christmas, which actually means Nativity or Birthday).

Roman mythology tells us that Romulus_and_Remus established Rome, with Remus having chosen the Aventine Hill on which to build the foundations of the city.

For this special event in Rome, the Aventine Hill will be lit up in lights whilst the Tiber, Rome’s river, will come to life with a fireworks display.

To celebrate, Rome is also putting on a spectacular evening featuring singers, musicians and actors on stage at ‘La stelle di Roma’ from 8.30pm on Via dei Fori Imperiali. The streets of Rome will be filled with parades featuring gladiators and other iconic Roman figures.

Some of the big names in attendance at this great event in Rome include Luca Barbarossa, Maurizio Battista, Mario Biondi, Elena Bonelli, Paolo Bonolis, Lorella Cuccarini, Lando Fiorini, Simona Marchini, Enrico Montesano, Andrea Morricone, Ennio Morricone and Andrea Perrozzi. A light show will also follow from 11.00pm to midnight. What’s more, museums in Rome and Rome parks are open free to the public to celebrate this most special day in Rome.

***

To explore must-see sights in Rome’s amazing historical city centre such as The Coliseum, Arch of Constantine, Roman Forum, and the Trevi Fountain, we have small-group Rome guided tours with a great tour guide.

Our guided small-group, skip-the-line tour of the Vatican allows you to see some great collections of precious arts as you visit the Vatican Museum with a great tour guide – and skip the line to do so.

Check out Artviva Walking Tours website for more tours in Florence, Rome, Venice, Cinque Terre, Umbria, Naples, Pompeii and more. We also have private tours in Florence (and Tuscany), Rome, Venice, and to the Cinque Terre and beyond.

Florence, the majestic capital of Tuscany, is known for being the capital of the Renaissance. Some of the history’s greatest artists produced some of the world’s best artworks here.

This artistic flair has also been applied to artisan crafts the local Florentines have come to specialise in – most prominently jewellery-making, leather crafts, gold leaf gilding, book binding, sartorial work and the like.

Carefully honed throughout the century in tiny artisan workshops known as ‘botteghe’, many of Florence’s best artisan crafts are produced in the Oltrarno area, Florence’s most charming quarter.

This month sees the Mostra Internazionale dell’Artigianato (The International Handicrafts Trade Fair) being held in Florence’s Fortezza da Basso from 21st-29th April, 2012.

The organisers state, ‘The International Handicrafts Trade Fair is the place where culture, arts, handicraft traditions and new creativities meet and shape up to become exclusive. Unique pieces, modelled by experienced hands, dedicated to people who want to stand out.

Classical, modern, ethnic, contemporary, feasible – any kind of style here finds its ideal dimension, along the new exhibiting itineraries inside the ”City of Beauty”.’

Various pavilions will be set up to house a range of instillations and settings. Themes include local crafts, tourism, food & wine, landscape identities and more, focusing on the beauty of differences at this great thing to do in Florence.

Aside from the fair, you can also find many artisans in their botteghe by crossing the Ponte Vecchio from Florence’s historic city centre to the Oltrarno area (which literally means something like ‘across the Arno’). The Ponte Vecchio itself is also lined with a bevvy of jewellery stores where all that glitters truly is gold (or silver)!

Our Original Evening Walk, includes a relaxing evening stroll around Florence’s most charming, fascinating and historic quarters, the Oltrarno. Along the way, our English-speaking tour guide reveals details of scandalous tales and murderous intrigues, a medieval hospice holding the dark secrets of Michelangelo’s murky past, bustling squares where Florentines have met and enjoyed their evenings for centuries, artisans workshops virtually out of the Renaissance, and Florence’s favourite medieval flagellation spot for those in the know! All this is followed by a fabulous wine tasting of top-notch Italian wines.

We also have a private guided tour of Florence’s artisan workshops where you can explore firsthand the magic that goes into the finely-crafted designs of exquisite jewellery made by master craftsmen with workshops classified as museums, Europe’s most famous antique tapestry dealer, magnificent Renaissance furniture replicas, painstaking exacting gilders going about the work of centuries past, descendants of the famous Medici family selling oggetti d’arte to Windsor palace, Italy’s most famous wood carvers, and if you want have a perfume made and designed just for you by the talented and fascinating Lorenzo Villoresi with an old family palazzo studio looking over the Ponte Vecchio.

Mostra Internazionale dell’Artigianato Program:

Spadolini Pavilion: Ground Floor: Italian Regions/Lower Floor: Countries divided according to continents

Cavaniglia Pavilion: Visions/Handicrafts between tradition and innovation

Rastriglia Pavilion: Baci 2012 (Balloon Arts Convention Italy)

Central Square: Botteghe D’Art (the International Handicrafts Trade Fair Shops) curated by the Florence Foundation for Artistic Handicraft.

International Handicrafts Trade Fair inauguration day: on 21st April at 11.30am

Press conference: on 19th April at 12.00

Website: http://www.mostraartigianato.it

One way to detect a good restaurant in Tuscany, and its capital of Florence, is by the size of the menu.

If there are only a few simple starters, a handful of entrees and a minimum number of main meals, it usually means that this is a place where they make a few things well – really well – and use only the freshest of fresh ingredients to do so.

Depending on the size of the eatery, most Italians would be almost suspicious of a place that offers too many things on the menu – a task that can be only managed by places with lots of tables and a high turnover of clientele.

Italian recipes are simple – usually featuring just a few select in-season ingredients prepared in such a way to exalt the natural flavours.

One example of keeping culinary things simple is at one of the most prized pizzerias in Florence, Caffè Italiano.

They have a tiny pizzeria with a few tables squeezed into the space around the pizza oven, and a few extra tables in a downstairs area. On the menu are just 3 pizzas, each of them absolutely delicious. Well, not that there even is a menu. If you aren’t a repeat visitor who has been salivating over just the thought of their delicious pizza, the waiter will just recite the types of pizzas on offer.

The Caffè Italiano boasts, ‘We just allow two variations in order to satisfy the most demanding pizza lovers: remove mozzarella or add anchovies. Margherita, Marinara and Napoli. These are the pizzas you will find in our menu.’

Caffè Italiano also has an Osteria next door to their pizzeria. This is a modest eatery where you can enjoy local food with casual recipes and local wine in a relaxed environment in the heart of Florence’s city centre, just a short walk from the Duomo and quite close to Piazza Santa Croce.

The newest Caffè Italiano offering is SUD – a restaurant featuring simple foods from the south of Italy.

Dining there this week, we savoured a mixed starter of southern Italian cheese, salami and other delicacies. Next we had a ‘frisella’ (round crunchy bagel-shaped bread) – cut in half and topped with spicy chicory, garlic and olive oil.

We also had a wonderful pasta dish with fava beans that was, apparently, too delicious to be photographed!

We’re not sure what was more special – the great food or watching the lovely woman in the open kitchen working her magic with a series of old-style pans with long handles in which she expertly prepared the simple and delicious meals. The pans then went into a wood-fired oven to be cooked!

***

To learn to make delicious, typical Italian recipes before indulging in a delicious meal made by you, we have hands-on cooking classes in Florence and Cooking Classes in a Tuscan Villa.

Out of the kitchen, we also have a great range of Tuscany tours, including our great small-group tour, Best of Tuscany.

Check out Artviva Walking Tours website for more tours in Florence, Rome, Venice, Cinque Terre, Umbria, Naples, Pompeii and more.

We also have private tours in Florence (and Tuscany), Rome, Venice, and to the Cinque Terre and beyond.

Caffè Italiano
Via dell’Isola delle Stinche 11/13r – Firenze
telefono 055 289368 – 055 289080

‘Stracciatella’, when referring to gelato, means choc-chip. It is also a type of creamy cheese from the south of Italy.

But when referring to a delicious traditional starter, it is a typical Roman recipe of home-made broth into which an egg mixture is added to make a ‘stripy’, hearty entrée.

Usually consumed around Easter time, it is one of the last times during the year to enjoy hot food before the warmer weather has us making delicious spring and summer starters like the refreshing cool pasta dishes or bread-based salad recipes such as Panzanella and Pappa al Pomodoro.

To make the simple Stracciatella soup recipe, make your stock by cutting and peeling a medium onion in half and in a non-stick pan, let it slightly burn on both sides. This brings out a great flavour in the broth you’ll be making.

Take a large pot and fill it with cold water. Into the pot, throw in a roughly chopped carrot, a few sticks of celery and the burnt onion. A handful of salt (rock salt is best), a bay leaf and some pepper corns go in there too (keep count of how many pepper corns you toss in there).

(Side note: If you cop and tail the carrots, peel the onion and clean up the celery, you can strain them out later on and puree them the throw back into any left-over broth for a delicious vegetable soup. Keeping count of the pepper corns means you can fish them all out and not get any peppery surprises in your soup!)

Bring the broth to the boil and let simmer for a good half an hour or more until you have a quite flavoursome stock. Pour the liquid through a strainer to clarify the broth.

In a bowl, whisk up one egg per person, with a grating of fresh parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and some nutmeg into the mix.

Bring the cleared broth to the boil and then turn off the heat and immediately pour in the egg mix into the broth, stirring constantly so you the egg cooks into thin white wisps that streak through the broth. Serve immediately, with some extra grated parmesan to taste, and of course, enjoy!

***

To learn to make delicious, typical Italian recipes before indulging in a delicious meal made by you, we have hands-on cooking classes in Florence and Cooking Classes in a Tuscan Villa.

To explore must-see sights in Rome’s amazing historical city centre such as The Coliseum, Arch of Constantine, Roman Forum, and the Trevi Fountain, we have small-group Rome guided tours with a great tour guide.

Our guided small-group, skip-the-line tour of the Vatican allows you to see some great collections of precious arts as you visit the Vatican Museum with a great tour guide – and skip the line to do so.

Check out Artviva Walking Tours website for more tours in Florence, Rome, Venice, Cinque Terre, Umbria, Naples, Pompeii and more. We also have private tours in Florence (and Tuscany), Rome, Venice, and to the Cinque Terre and beyond.