What we’re about
Join AttleTravel on a Food & Wine Tour of Tuscany and Umbria!
From endless plains to elegant hilltop towns, Tuscany and Umbria have plenty in common—including a culinary tradition that would make your nonna proud. As you drive with your group across these regions, you’ll find fine wines and humble, time-honored bites at each stop. And don’t overlook those classic sights: Feast your eyes on Florence and Siena (and Rome on the extension) to truly savor this country’s big, bold culture.
THE ITINERARY
#### Day 1: Travel day
Board your overnight flight to Florence today.
### Florence - 3 nights
#### Day 2: Arrival in Florence
Included meal: Welcome dinner
Ciao! Touch down in Italy and transfer to your hotel. Tonight, you’ll get to know your Tour Director and fellow travelers—and set the tone for the coming days—over a three-course dinner at a local restaurant, served with beer or wine.
#### Day 3: Sightseeing tour of Florence
Included meals: Breakfast, Tasting, Dinner
Once the beating heart of the Renaissance, Florence still echoes the aesthetic of the time. Today, you’ll sync up with the rhythm of the city on a food-themed walking tour, seeing (and sampling) its richest highlights.
- Begin with a typical Italian breakfast—a steaming cappuccino paired with buttery brioche. Then, head into Florence’s UNESCO-listed historic center to view its exquisite 15th-century cathedral—the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, or Duomo.
- Pass Giotto’s Campanile. A masterpiece of Gothic architecture, this bell tower rises nearly 280 feet above the city and features the same red, white, and green marble found on the Duomo’s facade.
- Pause in the courtyard of the Palazzo Pazzi, a lavish brick-and-stucco residence built for one of Renaissance Florence’s leading families.
- End in the lively Mercato di Sant’Ambrogio. Smaller than its more famous counterpart, the Mercato Centrale, it has served locals for more than 100 years. Walk among its market stalls, tasting beloved finger foods like coccoli (fried dollops of dough stuffed with prosciutto and stracchino cheese).
If all that snacking piqued your appetite, you’re in luck: This evening, you’ll join a local chef for a Tuscan cooking class. Make pasta by hand, put together two types of bruschetta, and prepare a tiramisu—then enjoy it all for dinner, paired with Italian wines.
#### Day 4: Free day in Florence
Included meal: Breakfast
A pair of optional excursions await you on your first free day on tour: 1. a rustic lunch at an agriturismo, or farm stay, on the outskirts of Lucca, and 2. a refined dinner at Villa Machiavelli, home of the legendary diplomat himself. Add one or both—and if you choose to stay in Florence for some self-guided exploration, check out the Boboli Gardens. Located behind the grand Palazzo Pitti, this peaceful oasis’s pathways weave through a vast green space, leading past a collection of stunning sculptures.
### Siena - 2 nights
#### Day 5: Siena via San Gimignano & Chianti
Included meals: Breakfast, Tasting, Wine tasting
Bid farewell to Florence and roll farther into the golden hills of Tuscany. You’ll end the day in the enchanting city of Siena—but before then, you’ll make a pair of stops. Up first: San Gimignano, the Town of Fine Towers.
- Admire its UNESCO-recognized historic center, replete with medieval architecture, during your free time. Keep your eyes trained upward: Once home to some 72 towers, 14 remain, punctuating San Gimignano’s skyline as an enduring reminder of local rivalries.
- Indulge in a tasting at a gelateria before hitting the road. Made with less milk fat and churned more slowly than ice cream, silky-smooth gelato is a world-famous dessert. (One spoonful might leave you scrambling to buy a pint!)
Leave San Gimignano, then detour northeast to Chianti—a prized winegrowing region—for a vineyard tour. After learning about the grapes and techniques behind the area’s famous vintages, pop into an agriturismo to see that theory put into practice. You’ll get to taste three types of wine, paired with cold cuts and crostini; enjoy, then continue to Siena.
#### Day 6: Montalcino & Siena
Included meals: Breakfast, Wine tasting, Tasting
This morning, strike out from Siena to tour Montalcino, a hill town settled since Etruscan times. Its lower slopes are blanketed with vineyards and olive orchards; after wandering Montalcino’s centuries-old streets, stop at a winery for a tasting and light lunch. (The town specializes in Brunello di Montalcino, a protected appellation elaborated using Sangiovese grapes. You’ll get to try three of these revered reds at lunch!)
Bellies full, ride the bus back to Siena. History’s imbued in the fabric of this city, from its UNESCO-listed medieval center and Renaissance cathedral to the centuries-old landmarks that dot its streets. Follow along on a guided sightseeing tour—with a culinary twist—and see what Siena has to offer.
- Walk through the Piazza del Campo, the longtime heart of the town. Twice each summer, locals and travelers alike flock here for the Palio di Siena, a frantic three-lap horse race around the square.
- Enter Siena Cathedral. Hewn from black and white marble, this architectural masterpiece houses even more treasures within—major works of art by Donatello, Pisano, and other talents.
- Visit the adjacent Piccolomini Library, adorned with 16th-century frescoes by the Renaissance painter Pinturicchio, before ending at a bakery to snack on ricciarelli. Delightfully chewy, these almond cookies are synonymous with Siena, and no stay’s complete without trying some.
### Umbrian Countryside - 3 nights
#### Day 7: Umbria via Cortona & Lake Trasimeno
Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Tasting
Forge your way even deeper into Italy today, driving inland to the central regional of Umbria. En route, you’ll make a pit stop in Cortona, a hillside town overlooking the fertile plains of the Val di Chiana.
Explore and shop at your leisure, then head to nearby Lake Trasimeno. Now the heart of a regional park, this shallow lake was once a theater of the Second Punic War—the Carthaginian general Hannibal crushed a Roman army on its shores.
After a traditional Umbrian lunch (think: antipasto, lake-caught fish, and the like), continue to your final stop of the day, Perugia. A major city in Etruscan times, it now serves as Umbria’s capital, and has the landmarks to match. Check them out on a guided tour.
- Walk to the Palazzo dei Priori, a palace built over the course of 150 years, and enter the Collegio del Cambio Hall. Look around: Exemplary works of art by Perugino and Raffaello grace its walls and ceiling.
- Pass the imposing Gothic facade of Perugia Cathedral before descending into the passageways of the Rocca Paolina. All that remains of this 16th-century fortress is its basement, with underground tunnels that link four parts of the city center.
- Wrap up at a local cafe and learn about one of the city’s greatest exports: Baci Perugina. As you sample some, you’ll understand how these melt-in-your-mouth bites of hazelnuts, cocoa, and dark chocolate got so popular.
End your day by transferring to your countryside hotel and unwinding for the evening.
#### Day 8: Free day in the Umbrian Countryside
Included meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Want to spend your free day with us? Add our optional outing to Assisi—the birthplace of St. Francis himself—and cap it with lunch and a tour at an Umbrian farm. Or, sit back and let the tempo of countryside life revitalize you.
Whatever you choose, you’ll rejoin your groupmates in the evening for a three-course dinner at an agriturismo, served with beer or wine.
#### Day 9: Montefalco wine region
Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Wine tasting
Named after the lovely town perched atop its hills, the Montefalco wine region encompasses roughly 1,100 acres of vineyards spread between the village of Bevagna and its eponymous settlement. It produces some uniquely Italian vintages, and today, you’ll get to sample some.
Begin in Bevagna, a town with pre-Roman roots, and take some time to explore its medieval center. After, you’ll head out to one of the region’s vineyards, where you’ll taste four different wines—one for each course of your included lunch. Pay extra attention to the reds: These Montefalcos are partially made with Sagrantino grapes, a hyperlocal v
#### Day 10: Rome via Orvieto
Included meals: Breakfast, Farewell lunch, Wine tasting
You’ll end the day in Rome—but you’ll make one stop en route. Dominated by a monumental cathedral, the town of Orvieto stands on the summit of a flat, rocky hill, towering over its surroundings in stunning fashion. Enter its Gothic cathedral, the Duomo di Orvieto; marvel at the intricate frescoes of the Chapel of San Brizio; and enjoy some free time to explore before reconvening for a farewell lunch.
After dining on a three-course meal, paired with a sampling of Umbrian vintages and served with beer or wine, continue to Rome, where you’ll check into your hotel and prepare for tomorrow’s flight home.
### Rome extension (this trip includes the Rome extension)
Rome wasn’t built in a day—and, if you ask us, it wasn’t meant to be enjoyed in a day, either. Whether you play time traveler while hopping between historic sites or live out your best take on “Roman Holiday,” the choice is in your hands, and we’re here to help. Ask your Tour Director for their favorite ways to savor the city—like their secret spot for pasta carbonara—and get going.
### Rome - 2 nights
#### Day 11: Sightseeing tour of Rome
Included meals: Breakfast, Tasting
From the Forum to the Pantheon to the holy confines of Vatican City, Rome bursts with UNESCO-listed landmarks. Today, you’ll follow in the footsteps of the ancients as you explore the capital of modern-day Italy on a guided sightseeing tour.
- Soak up more than 2,000 years of history in Imperial Rome, viewing the fourth-century Arch of Constantine—the largest surviving Roman triumphal arch.
- Stop outside the iconic Colosseum, a nearly 2,000-year-old amphitheater that’s both a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the Seven New Wonders of the World.
- Pass the Imperial Fora, the ruins of a series of monumental public squares; the Piazza Venezia, one of Rome’s principal plazas; and the museum-lined Piazza del Campidoglio as you walk to the city’s Jewish Quarter.
- Step inside a bakery to sample kosher Roman Jewish delicacies, then end your walk at the Porticus Octaviae. Also known as the Portico di Ottavia, this ancient ruin marks the center of the medieval Roman ghetto and was used as a fish market until the 19th century.
The neighborhood of Trastevere is something of a hidden gem—an eccentric, mostly car-free district filled with narrow streets and delectable trattorias. If you choose to add our snack-filled walking tour this afternoon, you’ll explore this art-filled haven while eating your way through pasta, pastries, and gelato. Otherwise, enjoy some free time to yourself (and maybe scope out some landmarks you absolutely want to see).
Please note: On some departures, the Rome sightseeing tour may take place on day 12, and the Iconic Sights: Vatican City excursion may take place on day 11.
#### Day 12: Free day in Rome
Included meal: Breakfast
Some of the holiest places in the Catholic faith can be found in Rome—specifically in the sovereign Vatican City. Add today’s excursion to visit the blessed landmarks of the world’s smallest country (think: St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel) or stay in Rome and explore on your own. To try one last marvelous morsel, return to the Jewish Quarter and track down carciofi alla Giudia—simply seasoned, double-fried artichokes.
This evening, raise a farewell drink with your groupmates and celebrate a successful trip.
### Flight Home
#### Day 13: Departure
Included meal: Breakfast (excluding early morning departures)
Transfer to the airport for your flight home.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL:
800-438-7672
CONTACT INFO:
attletravelwithdoreen@gmail.com
https://groups.goaheadtours.com/tours/tuscanyumbriaattletravel
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