We are landing in Rome on a Friday.
I have been to Italy without the family about 5 years ago, but with a friend who knew where and when and what to do.
Two teenage boys, plus us two. I have seen tripadvisor reviews on various food tours. I'd want to take one Saturday morning, start the trip off learning. I'm looking at ones that are a few hours, with a bit of a history/walking tour, as well as food stops.
Anyone have any recommendations? The ones I had seen that looked appealing were a bit pricey, but I feel that if it's a good tour, it's well worth the money.
Posted by
seattle
2148 posts
If you can't find a reasonable food tour, you could put a mini tour together yourself. For example, in the Testaccio neighborhood, you could visit the fresh food market, the Salumeria Volpetti store (the give lots of samples) and even Eataly. Then you could get have a pizza meal (we always go to Dar Poeta in Trastevere) and a gelato at Giolatti. All of these give you a sense of Italian foods.
Posted by
franktown, colorado
2252 posts
I would cheerfully recommend any of the eatingitaly food tours. I know from personal experience the one for the Testaccio neighborhood is excellent and have read (here on the forum) the others for Rome are equally as wonderful. Plenty of food, drink and informative walking tours. Well worth the money. They are also in Florence and (soon) Venice! I felt excellent value and a whole lot of fun!
http://www.eatingitalyfoodtours.com
Posted by
California
1625 posts
I second the Eating Italy food tours. Its like a walking tour with food, learning about the history of the neighborhood and the food. We went last visit and will be doing the same tour this time around, that is how good it is.
Posted by
4 posts
Hi Justine-
I’m not a huge fan of organized tours but I went on a food and wine tour with Rome Unveiled over the summer. It was a little pricey but it included wine so it was worth the extra money. A friend of mine did a food tour with Enjoy Rome who said it was nice but it was more of a walking tour that ended with a tasting. There’s a small company called Eden Walks (www.edenwalks.com) that does a Trastevere Food Tour at Sunset that I wanted to check out, but unfortunately I didn’t have time. It could be pricey for a family of four but there should be a discount depending on how old your kids are. And Trastevere is a cool neighborhood (a bit off the beaten path) that most generic tours don’t cover. Lots of young people walking around – especially at night, so it may be a neighborhood your teenagers would appreciate.
Hope this helps!
-LC
Posted by
Seattle, Washington
682 posts
Another "thumbs up" for Eating Italy's Taste of Testaccio tour. It included your history/walking tour and many food stops. Food tours tend to be pricey, but this one was well worth the money. We certainly had more than a meal's worth of food during the tour.
Posted by
12 posts
Me and my mom were just in Rome and we took a food tour with Walks of Italy. It was so much fun and highly recommend it. It starts at the market in Campo de Fiori, where we tasted olive oils from different regions in Italy. We also sampled different balsamic vinegars. Next we went to a butcher shop to try all kinds of salami, then a cheese shop trying multiple types of cheese. If that wasnt enough, we went to a nearby restaurant to make our own pizzas! There's also a sweet surprise at the end. The whole tour was great and a big highlight of our trip. The guide Melanie was amazing and very interactive, teaching us all about the food in Italy.
Posted by
Indiana
524 posts
Another thumbs up for EatingItaly. We did the Travestere Twilight Tour. Go hungry, you will be stuffed at the end.