Wine tours from Florence

I haven't taken the tours you asked for, but I have toured with "Tours by Roberto" - he was just amazing. He did an incredible tour of what it truly means to be Chianti, out of Siena, but also does tours through Florence. Cannot recommend him enough, such a highlight of our trip. Good deal for the money too! (and no, I don't work for him!)

Thank you Scott, I sent an email to Roberto but haven't heard from him. Maybe I should resend as other posts mentioned he's very responsive.

Scott, can you put a link up here?

Faye,
Have you called? His website says that he has problems with email so if you haven't heard within 48 hours, call him. ("even the children in the house speak English") The number is on www.toursbyroberto.com

We took the Slow Days wine tour from Florence and had one of the best days of our Italy trip. They go to a vineyard in the Chianti Classico region between Florence and Siena where you get to see how they make the wine and meet the owner for the wine tasting. During the day we visited two hilltop towns and a castle dating for the medieval period. Our group was four people (including myself and my husband) so it was sort of like a private tour without being so expensive. I would highly recommend taking this tour if you want to see the countryside of Tuscany but without the crowds. Their website is - http://www.slow-days.com We didn't make it to Venice but did a walking tour around Florence on our first day with Artviva which was good value for money. The guide was a masters student and very knowledgeable on Italian art and history.

Although she does wine tours (in Tuscany), I think you have confused Paola Migliorini's area of operation. Her company, Florence tours, and is based in.....well, Florence of course (http://www.florencetour.com). In March 2011, we took a full-day (10 hr), private tour into Tuscany with Paola's husband, Giuseppe Aulisa. Their 8-pasenger mini-van was very comfortable and Giuseppe (a native of Florence) is a font of knowledge and very passionate about whatever he's describing. We worked out all of the arrangements with Paola by e-mail months before we left and Giuseppe was very punctual in meeting us at our hotel in Florence on the arranged day. The way it worked was that Giuseppe dropped us off at the center of several towns, and then we arranged for a time to meet him to go on to the next town. In order, we visited San Gimignano, Volterra, Monteriggioni, and Siena. We were always a few minutes late getting back to the van, but Giuseppe was very patient about it. I highly recommend Florence Tour if you are considering a day trip into Tuscany from Florence! Can't help you with Venice.

Robert, Thank you for pointing out my error. I did mean in Florence. We are also going to Venice. Thanks for the input.