Food Market Tour Florence: 10+ Tastings & Local Wines

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1/21

Duration3h

GroupUp to 12

LanguagesEN

Mobile ticketAccepted

You taste your way through Florence's markets, not its tourist restaurants

You walk through Florence's Sant Ambrogio or San Lorenzo markets with a local guide, stopping for over ten tastings: cured meats, Tuscan cheeses, olive oil, hot dishes like ribollita and lampredotto, local wines, and gelato. The itinerary shifts based on what vendors have that day. Plan for a couple of hours on your feet, and let the guide know about any dietary restrictions when you book.

Step-by-step itinerary

Florence food and market tour

Visit local market
Taste local olive oil
Sample traditional salamis and cheeses
Pair cheeses with local wines
Explore San Lorenzo neighborhood
Savor homemade pasta
Learn about Florence culture and history

The Experience

You want to know what Florentines actually eat, not what the guidebook tells you to order. That's the pull of this food tour — it's not about standing in line at the Uffizi or another crowded piazza. Instead, you're walking into Sant Ambrogio market early, where vendors are still arranging their stalls, and your guide is pointing out which salami has been hanging for three years, which cheese comes from a farm outside the city that doesn't sell anywhere else. The market is loud and real, and you're tasting things as you go — olive oil first, then a slice of cured sausage, then a wedge of Tuscan cheese that tastes nothing like what you'd buy at home.

The walking is steady but not rushed. You'll move through the neighborhoods where locals live, stopping for a bowl of ribollita or peposo (a beef stew that's been simmered for hours), then later for lampredotto — which sounds intimidating until you taste it and realize it's just tender offal in broth, the kind of thing that used to be poor food and now tastes like history. Somewhere in there you're sampling wines, not in a tasting room but standing in a small shop or a corner of the market, learning the difference between what grows on one hillside and another. By the time you reach gelato at the end, you've eaten more than you expected and understood something about how Florentines think about food — it's not precious, it's not Instagram-ready, it's just good and it matters.

The tour runs in two versions: the main Secret Food Tour through Sant Ambrogio, or a Sunday option in San Lorenzo if you're there on the weekend. Both include over ten tastings, a mix of hot dishes and cold cuts, cheeses, seasonal vegetables, and wines. The menu shifts depending on what's available that day and what the vendors have, so you're never quite sure what you'll get — which is part of it. Comfortable shoes are non-negotiable; you're on your feet for a couple of hours, moving between stalls and small stops. If you have dietary needs, you'll want to mention them when you book, so the guide can plan ahead.

This isn't a cooking class or a wine masterclass. It's a market tour where the food is the teacher, and the guide is someone who knows which stall to trust and why. You leave with a full stomach, a sense of which neighborhoods to come back to on your own, and the kind of knowledge that only comes from tasting things in the place where they're made.

What’s included

Your tour includes over ten tastings: a selection of traditional Tuscan salamis, cured hams, and sausages.
local cheeses.
olive oil.
hot dishes such as ribollita, peposo, or ragù.
lampredotto.
coccoli.
seasonal vegetables.
bread.
authentic gelato.
and a secret dish chosen by your guide. You'll visit Sant Ambrogio market or San Lorenzo (depending on the day), taste wines paired with the food, and gain insight into Florence's food culture and history.

Good to know

Easy physical level

Operated by Secret Food Tours

Is this one for you?Right for travelers who want to taste how Florentines actually eat, not what tourists order. Expect a couple of hours of steady walking through markets and neighborhoods — that's what puts you where the food is real and the crowds are local.