Of the three cities I experienced on my 2024 Italy trip, Florence was by far my favorite. I loved the food, culture, shopping, and entire experience of this city. We got extremely lucky with the reservations we made in advance and places we stumbled upon.
If you or anyone you know is going to Florence soon, you MUST include these 3 stops on your itinerary!!!
le volpi e l’uva wine tasting
I will shout from the rooftops for the rest of my life that you HAVE to go to this exact place to do your Florence wine tasting experience. I found Le volpi e ‘uva from a different travel blog and this was genuinely perfect in every way.
To book, call the number on their website in advance. For the excellent price of 35 Euro per person (2 person minimum), you get 4 generous wine tastings and a beautiful smattering of meats, cheeses, and accoutrement. If you are pleasant with the staff, they may even add on a slice on panettone to finish with 🙂
You’ll know this place is the real deal when you walk in and everyone gives you side-eye glares of American tourists. However, once you let them know you’re there for your pre-booked tasting, the vibe quickly turns warm and friendly. The staff are super knowledgeable, engaging, and love to chat!
I genuinely cannot reiterate enough that you will be missing out by doing a wine tasting anywhere else but here!
dinner at acqua al 2
Our best dinner on our entire Italy trip took place at Acqua Al 2, per the recommendation of my dear friend Tyler who studied abroad here. Make your reservation ahead of time, as it fills up quickly every night.
The ambience is beautiful with decorated plates covering the walls. Be forewarned, the menu is entirely in Italian and there is no wifi/service to use Google translate. We picked our entrees from the few words we recognized and hit gold with both meals.
They garnish each plate with their famous blueberry compote and just YUMMMM. I am dreaming of this meal as I write this.
drinks and bites at la menagere
This restaurant x cocktail bar x home good store x floral shop was a little gem we stumbled upon while looking for a happy hour bev to hold us over until dinner. La Menagere is great ambience for pretty much anything you are looking for any time of day.
We got aperol spritz’s and a little appetizer and it was perfect. It was busy but not packed at around the time we got there, so I’m not sure if you would 100% need a reservation. I would definitely come back here again for a full meal the next time I am in Florence!
I’m not surprised that my 3 favorite experiences in Florence surrounded food and drink LOL. Italy is just like that. I hope you’ll be able to make these stops on your trip and can agree with me on how awesome these places are.