Looking for airfare advice to Florence

You're most likely a bit early for snagging good airfares. Be patient, but keep an
eye out for Black Friday sales.

In any case, flying into Rome and taking the train up to Florence is an option, but
will of course incur additional hassles, while potentially saving you some $.

I have not seen any Spring airfare sales yet in my inbox.
But if you see a fare into Rome that you can stomach right now and don't want to wait seize it and just take the train.
For example Iceland air has Minneapolis to Rome listed at $744 with a connection in Iceland for those dates.

I was in the same boat yesterday trying to find a reasonable price airfare from Seattle to Venice for August. Peak season.
I was told too early as well.
After some searching. Yesterday i found lufthansa economy flex for 1175, which i am happy with.
Now i don't have to worry about airfare and really excited to plan my summer trip to Venice and the Dolomite.

I don't know but $1500 might be a decent price. So far this year we have found several of our trips with high, domestic airfares. Normally where we might pay for a $200 for a RT, we are finding it is closer to $400. I think demand is high and capacity is down. I would assume international is the same. I don't think you will see a sub $1000, maybe 1200 but waiting may not serve your interests.

This is a terrific tour and you’ll really enjoy yourself! I don’t know if your schedule would permit it, but if you could take the tour beginning on Wednesday April 8th, you might be able to get a savings by flying mid-week. Mid-week airfares are often less expensive than weekend flights.

Maybe I’m missing something but I just put your info in google flights and the first selection up is $808 with United.

I think you're right on time to begin your airfare search. A Saturday departure will most often be a pricier option; checking today for MSP-FLR rt flights on Friday April 10, the same Delta Main Classic seat is $1,272 compared to $1,515 on Saturday the 11th. Of course, that requires another night in the hotel but if choosing the tour hotel you'll at least get the RSE tour rate for the room. And a full day in Florence prior to tour start in my world is a very good thing. I started looking for flights for a late November trip to Florence this year in February and made my purchase early April. During my search, I saw plenty of $ fluctuation for the flights I was tracking including a huge price change within 6 hours. I was so bummed as I thought I had missed out on a great fare. I kept at it and ultimately about a month later, booked at a price lower than the one with the massive price increase. I have set alerts with airlines and booking engines in the past but don't like the volume of ems in my inbox and check the airlines I prefer on my own.

Seems a bit high for April, but I don't know the MSP market.

Using Google Flights or Kayak, try to play with the dates, sometimes even a day or two before or after the selected date makes a difference.

Flying to Rome FCO may make sense if you plan to visit Rome. That option might be a bit cheaper and maybe there is a non stop MSP-FCO. There are trains from the Rome FCO airport to Florence every 30 min (with a change at Roma Termini or Tiburtina station). Just be aware that the train from the FCO airport to Firenze SMN takes about 2.5 hours (including the change at Termini or Tiburtina stations) and costs about $75 at the current exchange rate, and you will need to spend at least one night in Rome before the flight home.

I've done a search on google flights and get a price of £356 ($475) for basic economy on AA via CLT

We are flying to Florence out of Minneapolis next week. We booked our fares in March, which was a bit early, but we didn't have flexibility, and I wanted to lock in. Our flights on Delta were around $1,200, which is typical. I did see lower fares pop up since then, but they didn't meet our criteria.
If I were you I would look a bit longer.

Buona fortuna!

You would probably get better fares at larger airports, such as Rome or Milan. The smaller airports usually are not as competitive- convenience costs. Set alerts on Google Flights, where you can also research price history. Good luck!