While Tuscan wines thanks to the fame and quality of Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino and the Super Tuscans, are surely the main interests of many travellers, there are are many other fantastic food products for which Tuscany is famous, which deserve equivalent attention for any culinary tour in Tuscany. Culinary Tours can be arranged to concentrate specifically into some of the below interests or any of the individual below products can be blended into any other itinerary to enrich them. Having been active as Tour Guide in Tuscany for almost 20 years and being a lover of good food the founder of Driving Guide Tours, had endless opportunities to become expert on what Tuscany has to offer in terms of food and specialties and there is no doubt that having carried out hundreds of food tours, has given him the insight and knowledge f what best to visit, tour, taste and experience in the culinary world of Tuscany.

We pride ourselves in clarifying that our company is not a tour operator or travel agency, therefore it is NOT our economic interests to include in the cost of our tours what the charges that the different producers apply to give food tours or culinary tours of their estates, farms, workshops etc, we don't make a profit out of such bookings therefore we do prefer to limit our role to advicing our customers as to WHERE we should take them as part of the tour planing we provide, and then let them pay for their visits directly to the business or producer visited on the tours. Our know-how and expertize is what we feel we are entitled to make a profit on, that's why we cannot publish on the web site the endless list of the producers we tour. We have no vested interests in advicing a producer rather than another. We don't collect commissions off what our guests buy at the business we visit as part of our tours. We want to make it clear that our advice is not influenced on making more money on the side, our profit derives only from the passenger's satisfactions. We can surely put our expertize at disposal of all the agencies, and tour operators we work for to assist them in selecting the best resources for their customers.

Olive Oil – Not just a beloved product by locals. Most foreign visitors don’t have a grasp of how strongly felt Olive Oil is in our culture. Used at times of war as ultimate weapon, in medicine, in religious ceremonies or finally as a fancy ingredient in cuisine, few other products touch the heart of a populace such as Olive Oil touches that of Tuscans. An oil's quality is determined by the zone of cultivation and the variety of olives grown, the climate, the technology used in harvesting and crushing the olives. Also important is the ripeness of the fruit, the conditions of storage and preservation of the oil, combined with the hygiene treatments that the plants and the cellars receive. As part of a chianti tour, we may also swing by an extremely technological wine tasting center which is also equipped to provide excellent olive oil tastings with selection of the best Tuscan olive oils. Extra-virgin olive oils are only processed mechanically, no heat is used, no added chemical is introduced, so that the acidity must not exceed 1%. When you taste a high quality olive oil, you should taste it pure and you should take your time, doing it.

Chocolate - There is a part of Tuscany which over the last few years was named the “Chocolate Valley” due to the presence of various small firms specialized in the finest production of highest quality chocolate. This is the area located in between Pisa and Montecatini. Depending on your interest or “appetite”, we may just advice a quick chocolate tasting, or plan a full chocolate praline making lesson with a world famous “chocolatier” during which you will learn how the cacao fruit becomes a chocolate jewel, you will exhilarated by these aromas, flavours and finally get satisfied with a broad tasting of all the goodies.

Pasta – Visit a small traditional pasta factory, with its original production plant still located in mediaeval hill-town where on Tuesdays and Fridays you will see spaghetti being produced.

Pecorino Cheese – Pienza, located in the Val d'Orcia, a part of Tuscany with one of the most unique and attractive landscape is a wonderful small hill-town which was entirely redesigned in the XV century to become the “ideal town”, the myth that here and only here became reality, thanks to the Renaissance man dn Great Pope Pius the II who commissioned the project to the architect Rossellino. In the countryside surrounding the town, there are various dairy farms renowned for the finest pecorino cheese (sheep milk cheese) due to peculiar local environmental factors. We may include a visit to one of this farms to see how the production and the aging takes places. Naturally a lunch on the premises might also be included so as to enjoy also the locally produced cold cuts.

Coffee – Do like Espresso? Why is it so different fromo other types of coffee? Rather than stopping at just another nice bar, why not visiting a small coffee toasting house, in the outskirts of Florence, renowned for the best coffee in town, possibly in Italy? Discover and see the process that a coffee bean goes through from the harvest to the espresso, and understand why coffee is rightfully considered the most structured, complex and aromatically varied nutriment available to humans! And why Italian Espresso is so unique! The visit will be followed by a brunch at the nearby stylish coffee shop owned by the coffee company itself, one of these places in the outskirts of town where only locals go and you will taste 3 varieties of the best espresso you ever experienced.