More masterpieces per cobblestone than anywhere on earth — seen the way the Medici saw them, before the public arrives.
Florence rewards the patient and the well-introduced. The privilege here is access and timing: the Uffizi in silence, a Chianti villa as your anchor, the cellar door opened by the family that farms it.
What an advisor can open that an algorithm cannot. Each of these is staged on your terms — the access, the timing, the people.
The gallery opened before the public with a Renaissance scholar whose family donated three of the works inside — Botticelli's Spring under your sole gaze, unhurried.
A long-table dinner inside a private Montalcino cellar hosted by the family that has farmed those vines for six generations — the bottles poured are not on any wine list.
The Mugello truffle grounds with a hunter whose family has worked this Apennine oak forest since the 1920s — the dogs, the silence, the find, then lunch built around the morning.
Not a package — a starting point. Each is a journey we have designed and refined; your advisor reshapes it for the version only you would recognise.
A suite above the Arno, a private Uffizi dawn, a Chianti villa with a pool and a chef — and the Brunello cellar visit that turns one dinner into a memory both carry home.
Fresco workshops with a real restorer, a gelato-making session in an artisan dairy, the Uffizi with a scholar who explains the Medici as a family drama, and a villa with a pool for the afternoons.
The Uffizi and the Accademia after hours with leading scholars, then a villa among the vines.
Truffle hunts, Brunello cellars and the family kitchens that define Tuscan cooking.
The grape and olive harvest, golden hills and the city's galleries at their quietest.
Each a starting point — our advisors weave them into a single, seamless journey.
Late April to early June and September to October bring mild weather and the best light over the Arno, before and after the summer peak. July and August are hot, humid and crowded, and the city largely empties of locals in mid-August around Ferragosto. Winter is quiet and atmospheric, with shorter museum lines, though some Tuscan country properties nearby close seasonally.
Yes. Both the Uffizi and the Accademia, home of Michelangelo's David, can be visited before opening or after closing with a private art historian, away from the daytime crowds. Forest Travel also arranges privileged access to the Vasari Corridor linking the Uffizi to the Pitti Palace, and private viewings of frescoes and chapels not always open to the public.
The historic center near the Duomo and Piazza della Signoria is the most convenient base, while the Oltrarno, across the river around the Pitti Palace and San Niccolo, offers quieter, artisan-lined streets. Three nights is typical for the city itself; travelers wanting day trips into the Tuscan countryside often add a country estate stay nearby.
Florence is the natural gateway to Chianti's wine estates, the medieval towers of San Gimignano, and Siena, all within an easy drive. Many itineraries extend west to the spa and vineyards of the Bolgheri coast or south into the Val d'Orcia around Montalcino and Pienza, pairing the city with several nights in the countryside.
The historic center is a restricted traffic zone, known as the ZTL and monitored by cameras, so cars cannot drive freely through it; a private driver will drop you at the perimeter and the center is best explored on foot. Dinner reservations at the leading restaurants and tables at the historic cafes should be booked well ahead, and major museum tickets require timed entry that your advisor can secure in advance.
Largely not. Florence banned key boxes for holiday rentals in February 2025, so hosts must hand over keys in person, and it prohibited new short-term tourist rentals in the UNESCO historic centre. In May 2026 the ban was extended beyond the centre, covering more than 100,000 homes city-wide. Existing licensed properties continue, but new ones do not appear. This steers travellers toward hotels inside the walls and a Tuscan estate outside them.
Yes. Giotto's Campanile began its first comprehensive restoration on 9 March 2026, a project budgeted above €7 million and expected to run about four years, but the interior stays open and its 414 steps to the terrace remain climbable throughout. The scaffolding took some four months to erect, through mid-July. A wider programme worth more than €60 million also covers the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. Nothing closes; only the photograph changes.
Far less than before. From 2026 Florence banned outdoor dining structures outright in around fifty UNESCO streets, including Ponte Vecchio, Piazzale degli Uffizi, Via Roma and Via Maggio, and regulates them in five graded categories across another seventy-three. In March 2026 the city extended its UNESCO rules on new food and drink businesses to 2031. The terrace from an old photograph may be gone; the table inside remains, if it is requested in advance.
A Mugello truffle hunt begins at first light in an Apennine oak forest, with a hunter whose family has worked those grounds since the 1920s. The morning is the dogs, the silence and the find, followed by lunch built around it. Truffle hunts are part of the Tuscan Table & Cellar journey, 8 days and 7 nights, alongside Brunello cellars and the family kitchens that define Tuscan cooking.
The Montalcino cellar dinner is a long-table meal held underground inside a private cellar, hosted by the family that has farmed those vines for six generations, and the bottles poured are not on any wine list. The Brunello cellar visit features in A Florentine Honeymoon, 7 days and 6 nights, which pairs it with a suite above the Arno, a private Uffizi dawn and a Chianti villa with a pool and a chef.
A private trip to Florence is estimated from around US$1,200 per person per night, and three nights is typical for the city itself, so a stay starts from around US$3,600 per person. After-hours access to the Uffizi or the Accademia, a private driver into Chianti or Montalcino, a country estate added for the Tuscan countryside and the season move the figure. Forest Travel's planning fee is US$250 per itinerary.
Every journey here is a starting point a private advisor reshapes entirely around you — your pace, your people, the Florence only you would recognise.
A real person answers: an in-house luxury travel advisor, in English or Spanish. The first conversation is complimentary.
