Tuscan Table & Cellar

Truffle hunts, Brunello cellars and the family kitchens that define Tuscan cooking. A private, tailored journey of 8 Days · 7 Nights in Florence, Italy, designed end to end by a Forest Travel advisor — with Virtuoso privileges at the finest luxury hotels, from US$12,500 per traveler.

Few countries reward the discerning traveler as generously as Italy, where art, coastline and the pleasures of the table meet at every turn.

When to go

May through June and September into October, when the light is golden, the crowds thin and the tables at the finest establishments open to those who know to ask. Your advisor times it to the light, the crowds and your own calendar.

The experiences

A sense of what this journey can hold — each one arranged privately and shaped to you:

• A private truffle hunt in the San Miniato hills with a trifolao and his dogs, followed by a lunch built entirely around that morning's find.
• An after-hours tasting in a Montalcino cellar where the winemaker walks you through library vintages of Brunello that never reach retail shelves.
• A half-day in the kitchen of a Florentine family whose recipes for ribollita and bistecca alla Fiorentina have been handed down across four generations.
• A guided walk through the Mercato Centrale with a sommelier who pairs every stall — aged pecorino, wild boar salumi, saffron from San Gimignano — with a Tuscan varietal on the spot.

A sense of the rhythm

Mornings belong to producers — a vineyard, a curing room, a truffle ground — and afternoons slow into long lunches that dissolve into Chianti Classico and unhurried conversation. Evenings alternate between reservations at Florence's most serious tables and quiet suppers in a private villa courtyard. The pace is deliberate: two or three encounters a day, each one arranged so you are a guest rather than a tourist.

Whether to base entirely in Florence or split nights between the city and the Sienese countryside

Florence gives you the Uffizi morning and the Oltrarno wine bars at night, and it is the right anchor if culture matters as much as the cellar. Splitting your stay — four nights in the city, three in a farmhouse between Montalcino and Pienza — puts you inside the landscapes you are tasting and cuts the drive time to the southern appellations considerably. The countryside option rewards guests who want sunrise over vineyards and the silence of the crete senesi; the city option suits those who prefer to return each evening to a concierge, a spa and a rooftop. We design the itinerary either way, and most clients who ask the question end up choosing the split.

How to do it well

The counsel our advisors give travelers planning this journey:

• White truffle season in San Miniato runs from mid-October through December; book your hunt and cellar visits at least three months ahead, as the best trifolaos take only a handful of private clients per season.
• The Brunello di Montalcino estate tastings that include vertical flights of riserva require a direct introduction — plan for us to arrange access six to eight weeks in advance, earlier if your visit falls during Benvenuto Brunello in February.
• Reservations at the two or three Florentine restaurants worth the detour from any itinerary routinely book out six weeks ahead; we hold standing relationships that allow us to secure tables that are otherwise unavailable online.
• If your travel falls in July or August, shift the Chianti Classico and Montalcino days to the cooler morning hours and schedule the city sightseeing for late afternoon — the light over the Arno after five o'clock is reason enough, and the cellars are dramatically cooler than street level.

What only your advisor can open

The difference between a good trip and an unrepeatable one is access — and access is a relationship, not a booking. Every guide, room and moment is chosen and sequenced for you.

Who it's for

Travelers who value privacy, time and doing it once — beautifully — and who would rather have one trusted advisor orchestrate every detail than assemble it themselves.

Estimated investment

From US$12,500 per traveler, based on double occupancy — scaled to your dates, party size and level of privacy. A starting point, not a final quote; confirmed once your advisor tailors the itinerary.

Designed entirely around you

Nothing here is a package. A Forest Travel advisor shapes the whole journey and stays one message away before and throughout your trip.

Your Virtuoso privileges

As a Virtuoso member, Forest Travel includes benefits reserved for Virtuoso guests at the finest luxury hotels, at no added cost: a room upgrade on arrival when available, daily breakfast for two, a property credit toward dining or spa, and early check-in with late check-out when the hotel allows.

Continue exploring Florence

Part of our Florence travel guide. Related private journeys:

• A Florentine Honeymoon
• Florence for the Family
• The Renaissance, Privately
• Florence in Harvest

Begin the conversation

Tell a Forest Travel advisor how you like to travel and they will design Tuscan Table & Cellar around you — privately, every Virtuoso privilege included. Request your private consultation →