day or overnight trips from florence, cooking class recommendations, wine tasting

Florence is almost at the centre of Italy, so a lot of day trips are possible and if you allow short overnighters, most of Italy is in the possible range. Lucca, Pisa, Siena, Bologna are obvious day trips. Ravenna is on a slow train line. Rome and Milan are under two hours, Venice and Verona a little more - these are also good overnighters. Perugia, Assisi, Parma, Ferrara are still possible. Naples is a possible overnighter.

For your weekend you might consider the Lakes, so different from the city life of Florence.

Arezzo is an interesting daytrip. Montepulciano is good, too. An overnight in Bologna would be good for a cooking class.

You can do a short overnight stay in Volterra. I was there a couple weeks ago and did a cooking class at Del Duca. I found that in Rick's book. Claudia and her mom did a great job and the food afterwards was amazing.

Hi Kim,

My first trip to Italy was in November, half of which was spent in Florence. In Italy, wine tasting is always a good idea! The company I used - and highly recommend - is called Tuscan Wine Tours; they operate wine tours out of both Florence and Siena. I believe they have one that includes pasta making, though I don't know if it is a cooking class or just a demonstration. The company is great, the staff incredibly knowledgeable, and the tours are small - max of 8 people. They have tours that are joinable (not private) as well as private tours. The tour I went on was joinable at the time, but is now only offered as a private tour. I still highly recommend it though! The one I'm referring to is their Montalcino tour. I enjoyed it so much that when I returned to Italy a year later, I took it again.

I have not yet been to Lucca or Ravenna, but Siena is a beautiful city, and in my opinion it is a must see.

Happy travels!

Hi, Kim

Have you thought of staying on a B&B working farm? http://www.agriturismo.it/en/farmhouse/tuscany/florence

I can't remember the ones we visited because it was on a guided tour but I remember the food! The pecorino cheese in the risotto was made by a nearby cheese maker using the sheep milk from the farm. So good.

We got cooking classes too. But in retrospect, the classes are not that useful. It is hard to reproduce back in the States because you can't get the same fresh, delicious ingredients. Personally, I would just go eat wonderful meals and skip the cooking classes.

We had a tour of Avigonesi winery. They make one of the better vin santo, aged 10 years.

Each mountain town has some distinguishing wine. For example, Montalcino is known for Brunello wine. Of course, there's Chianti. If no vineyards are available, you can sample wines in these towns in wine stores or restaurants.

Hi Kim,
San Gimignano is not so far and is very beautiful. Another gem would be Gubbio (Umbria) which is a little further, very small and not so far from Arezzo.
I also think early November could be a very interesting time for visiting vineyards as you will be arriving at a perfect time for wine making.
Also interesting in the same vein would be visiting olive oil holdings.
Another idea, if you find the weather a bit cold would be to visit Campania (Naples, Salerno - 2 hours from Florence) where it should be warmer.
Also visit http://www.meteo.it which gives weather forecast up to 15 days in advance.

Enjoy your stay in Florence. Are you going alone to Florence or with your family to visit your daughter? Do you have a place to stay?

Thank you for all the suggestions. I'm glad that it may not be too late in the season to enjoy wine tasting or touring olive groves. Thanks for offering your ideas for day trips or quick overnights from Florence. If you know of specific tours to vineyards or olive producing areas, please let me know. I'll be traveling on my own using public transportation as my daughter will have classes during the week, so a tour may be easier.