THE FOOD GAP
FLORENCE
Living in Firenze is like living inside of an open art gallery. Spend a week soaking up Italy's incredible cobblestone streets, the grand architecture, art museums, and amazing food. Eat gelato with new friends at midnight. Marvel at the Duomo. Try panini and bistecca. Learn to make authentic Italian foods and practice sketching statues in the street.
What's Included?
Hotel housing, lunches and dinners, activities, tours, and lessons as well as all train and cab fares. We provide all art materials and transportation to and from the Florence airport. Flights and travel insurance are not included.
Where We'll Be
Florence is situated in Tuscany, a short ride from Pisa and Siena. Firenze (Florence in Italian) is the birthplace of the Renaissance and once home to artists like Leonardo DaVinci and Raphael. The cobblestone streets and lined with panini shops, gelaterias, bakeries, and leather markets. Everything is within walking distance of our accommodation, including Mercato Centrale, the famous Ufizzi Gallery (home of The Birth of Venus) and the Academia Gallery (home of Michelangelo's statue of David).
What's A Typical Day Like?
We begin each day with an activity or class at 9:00 am which typically lasts for 2-3 hours. We'll be sketching statues in the street, exploring the city, taking authentic Italian cooking classes, or learning how to make our own ceramic bowls. You'll be able to see the Tuscan countryside by train and tour each neighborhood of Florence, including a food tour of Mercato Centrale and daily lunches and dinners at our favorite restaurants, trattorias, and panini places. We'll explore bakeries and learn about the histories behind local dishes. We'll also roam through the gorgeous and historic halls of art galleries and learn about art history. Florence is a special place and was the birthplace of the renaissance, so we will also walk around the city at night, stopping for wine and gelato. We'll explore the Duomo in the heart of the city and learn from locals how to make cocktails, marble paper, and take train trips to small towns (including our favorite, Certaldo). We'll eat many meals together, including one multi-course tasting menu, and spend the week learning about painting and photography.
Day 0 (Sunday)
Arrive in Florence! After your flight or train ride we'll pick you up and take a cab into the city, where we'll check into our accommodation. We'll have a welcome meal together at an authentic Tuscan restaurant and go over our plans for the week. The first night ends with a walk around the city, including a gelato break.
After our lunch we'll head outside to the Palazzo Vecchio, where we'll begin our art lessons. Evan will teach sketching techniques to build a good base for developing painting skills later in the week. We'll each pick a landmark to draw and then meet as a group to share our work. After our first art class, we'll have some free time to explore the city before meeting up at one of our favorite restaurants for a long leisurely dinner with wine, appetizers, and good conversation.
Day 1 (Monday)
We start our week off with a tour of Mercato Centrale, the food shopping destination in Florence. You'll have plenty of time to scour the market for unique products like squid ink pasta, Tuscan salsicca (sausages), fresh cheese, and produce. We'll conclude our tour with a cooking class at the market's cooking school on the second floor, where we'll learn how to make authentic Italian recipes and share lunch together.
Day 2 (Tuesday)
Today we meet at the Ufizzi Gallery for a historic tour of their paintings and sculptures. We learn about the renaissance and techniques behind some of the world's most remembered paintings, including The Birth of Venus and Primavera by Botticelli. We'll soak up so much inspiration and have time to explore our own interests before convening for lunch.
After lunch, we'll head to the train station. Our journey is to Montelupo, home of some of the best Tuscan potters and ceramicists. We'll meet our friend Matteo and his family who are famous for their pottery. We'll tour their warehouse and meet their production team who create and paint ornate pieces by hand and ship them around the world. Then we'll have a chance to learn pottery first hand by making our own bowls with Matteo's dad, the master potter himself. After our lesson we'll stop by a local bakery and gelato shop for an afternoon treat.
We return to Florence by train and have time to explore or relax before our next class. We'll convene at dinner time to meet our instructor for an Italian pizza-making class. We'll learn how to prepare pizza dough, what toppings belong to different regions, and how to cook a perfect pie. We finish the class by eating the fruits of our labor together in an Italian pizza feast with wine.
After dinner we'll have the chance to walk around Florence at night and explore more of the bars, late-night pizza shops, and cobblestone streets. Jake will lead us in a special photography workshop where we learn how to take photographs at night. We'll break into groups and explore the magical corners of Florence with the eyes of artists, capturing the beautiful of the historical city.
Day 3 (Wednesday)
We start the third day with a cooking class at the local Gelato University. We'll be able to study the Italian delicacy and learn how to make it from scratch as well as the science and technique that goes into our favorite ice creams. We'll have the chance to create our own unique flavor and take some home for later.
We continue the day with lunch at our favorite panini shops, I' Girone De' Ghiotti and Pino's where we'll taste their homemade schiacciata with custom fillings. Schiacciata is the Tuscan version of focaccia, which is flatter and crunchier on the outside with a soft inside, perfect for sandwiches. We'll take our sandwiches on the go and stop by Florence's hidden sparkling water fountain for refreshments.
Next we meet our friend Riccardo Luci at his shop on Via del Parione. Here we'll learn how Riccardo makes and sells leather goods and how he got into paper marbling. Then, we'll each have a chance to try paper marbling after a masterclass. You will choose your own colors, shapes, and techniques and learn how to transfer your design onto paper, which you will keep. If you want, Riccardo can also marble journals, notebooks, wallets, and more.
After our paper marbling class, we head to the city center to Manifattura, an artisanal cocktail bar with some of our favorite drinks. The artists there will lead us through a cocktail-making workshop where we'll learn about flavor matching, ratios, techniques, and their signature artistic flare. We'll have plenty of chances to taste our creations before heading to our next group dinner. We'll try Florence classics like Bistecca Alla Fiorentina, bruschetta, truffle pastas, and more.
Day 4 (Thursday)
Today we travel to Certaldo, our favorite Tuscan medieval village, a short train ride from Florence. Here we'll take the funicular train up the mountainside to Certaldo Alto, where all the magic happens. We'll explore the small castle town and its many food store, bakeries, and artisans. Jake will lead us through another photography class where we'll practice landscape photography with some of the most incredible sprawling views of Tuscany you can imagine. We'll have lunch at a quaint trattoria in Certaldo and share cheeses, breads, wines, and more.
After lunch we'll head back to Florence on the train. The afternoon begins with a tour of a local blacksmith shop who creates artisan chefs knives. You'll learn how some of the world's best culinary tools are made and how much love goes into creating them.
We spend the rest of the afternoon diving into Evan's painting lesson, building upon the skills we learned in our earlier drawing class. You'll learn how to shade, mix colors, and match hues for realistic looking landscapes. You'll have the choice to focus your painting project on something small (i.e. a Tuscan food) or something big (a statue, building, grand view). We'll finish the afternoon with beautiful paintings in our sketchbooks. Then, we'll head to dinner where we'll continue trying local delicacies like tiramisu. After dinner, students will have free time to explore, catch up on rest, or spend time developing their sketchbook by sketching and painting night scenes around Florence. We'll walk around under the moonlight and explore more of Florence's beautiful architecture, including Ponte Vecchio and Piazza della Repubblica.
Day 5 (Friday)
We start the last full day of the trip with a tour of the Academia Gallery, home to Michelangelo's David. We'll use our photography skills to capture breathtaking views of the world's most famous sculpture. We'll also have time to view the other art on display and explore the rest of the museum.
After our life-changing meeting with David, we'll head out to our last lunch at a local Trattoria where we'll take our time and try plenty of foods including Pappa al pomodoro and crostini Neri. After lunch we head to our last class of the week, a coffee roasting masterclass at the famous Ditta Artigianale. We'll learn how they source their coffee and what it really means to roast coffee beans and why they "pop" in the process. We'll then be able to taste freshly made espressos and cappuccino.
We'll also have a chance to try making latte art and crafting our own coffee drinks. Of course, we'll be able to taste our creations and share a coffee buzz together (fun fact, there's actually less caffeine in espresso than in a regular cup of American coffee). We'll also learn why Italians take their coffee so seriously and how to enjoy it like a local.
The rest of the afternoon is free to finish our souvenir shopping and exploring. We'll get more tastes of gelato shops and explore clothing stores and bakeries. Then, we gather for one last group dinner at IO Osteria Personale, a high-end tasting menu restaurant run by a former Vet in the San Frediano neighborhood. We'll enjoy a multi-course tasting menu created by an innovative chef, experiencing the peak of fine dining and there intersection of art and food. After dinner we'll have time to pack, explore, and say our goodbyes, as we head back home on Saturday.
A Week in Florence
Fall '24: November 3 - Nov 9, 2024 (6 days)
Spring '25: April 6 - April 12, 2025 (6 days)
$3,000 for a single room
$2,750 for a double room
$2,500 each for couple
Scholarships available
Deadline to Apply
September 15, 2024 (Fall '24)
Feb 1, 2025 (Spring '25)
$1,000 discount when
paired with Tuscany program