Florence & Countryside, the Way Locals See It
Every Gaido article about Florence & Countryside, written with the help of our local guides: where to eat, what to skip, and the tours worth your time.
Private Tour of Lucca: Walls & San Martino Cathedral
There is a moment on Lucca's city walls when the noise of the modern world falls away — and beside you a guide is placing tactile materials in your hands so you can feel the shape of the fortifications you are standing on. A 3-hour accessible tour with WanderAbility, walking and rolling the 17th-century ramparts and into the Cathedral of San Martino.
Private Tours in Florence Worth Booking: Local Guide Picks
Florence reveals itself slowly — through artisans, backroads, and centuries of secrets. Four private tours led by licensed locals that take you beyond the postcard: a culinary walk through San Lorenzo, a nine-hour slow-travel day through the Val d'Orcia backroads, the Oltrarno's hidden workshops and a private garden, and the Medici's Pitti Palace with Boboli Gardens.
5 Florence Spots Local Guides Actually Recommend
You've read fifteen blog posts and saved thirty Instagram spots. Here's what local guides in Florence actually tell their friends: five places that earn their spot through genuine local knowledge, not five-thousand reviews.
The Ruthless Edit: What Actually Matters in Florence When You're Short on Time
You cannot see all of Florence in two days. What you can do is see the right things, skip the time traps, and leave feeling like you understood something essential. Here's what delivers the highest return per hour when your hours are numbered.
5 Day Trips from Florence That Are Actually Worth the Journey
Free thermal pools in a fairy-tale forest, wine and towers in Chianti, a medieval town built inside elliptical walls, ancient Etruscan cities carved from volcanic tuff — five Tuscany day trips that go far beyond the usual guidebook suggestions.
Where to Eat and Drink in Florence: A Local's Honest Guide
Skip the tourist traps around the Duomo. A 16th-century osteria pouring wine from 5,000 bottles, a craft beer bar on Borgo la Croce, fried dough with prosciutto at a corner wine shop, seasonal Tuscan in Santo Spirito, and a dinner theater combining buffet with live jazz. Five spots locals actually eat.
Private Artisan Tour in Florence: Step Inside the Workshops of Master Craftsmen
The true heart of Florence beats in cramped workshops down narrow side streets, where artisans bend over their craft exactly as their predecessors did five hundred years ago. This is the Florence most visitors never see.