Tour suggestions

Pani ToskAnia

I offer personalized tours for private individuals and customized sightseeing programs for groups. Below are a few suggestions from Pani ToskAnia®, all created with the intention: TUSCANY EXPERIENTIALLY – SEE, TOUCH, TASTE, AND FEEL!

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All-Day Outdoor Trips

WITH TUSCAN GOURMET FOODS TASTING

What would Tuscany be if it wasn’t for its picturesque hills, and meandering roads dotted with cypress trees? I wholeheartedly recommend this eco-culinary trip in an unforgettable setting that I call Tuscan SLOW. I will show you the most beautiful areas of the valley Vald’Orcia (a UNESCO site), Valdichiana, Chianti and Crete Senesi. These are picture perfect sites that aren’t known to tourists but worth visiting.

Expect to visit a car wash after one of our trips off the beaten path. For those of you who want to be one with the nature, trekking with guide (it. GAE) and mud baths a la “Shrek” in thermal pools are sure to satisfy that desire. All of this will be intertwined with food and wine tasting as we go.

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Sightseeing

Please join me on a walk across my beloved Cortona and learn about its medieval history and Etruscan roots. I will tell you about Cortona’s residents, their holidays and traditions, their patrons, cuisine, and dialect from a local perspective. We will finish our walk with an Italian aperitivo, and a dinner at a local trattoria or a winery.

Cortona churches and museums and other Tuscan cities of Siena, San Gimigano, Florence, Arezzo and Piza can be visited with tour guides, who I collaborate with. I would be happy to accompany you during your guided tour and recommend means of transportation, restaurants, viewpoints etc.

Tuscany is a labyrinth full of Etruscan tomb sites, archeological museums, castles, abbeys, and monasteries. I will be glad to show them to you, make reservations when needed.

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The Taste of Tuscany

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IN VINO VERITAS!

If you enjoy good wine, I invite you to join me on a local wine tour. During a walk along local wineries you’ll find out why the Tuscans believe they all have Sangiovese in their blood, what a winery looks like and how it is maintained, how wine is made, where it rests after the initial production, and finally, you’ll be able to join me on a wine tasting. The tours take place in Cortona, Montepulciano, Chianti where we have a lovely dinner with wine pairing. Imagine this… It’s a sunny day and you’re surrounded by grape vines (if it’s raining, you’re in a wine cellar full of wine bottles and barrels just waiting to be tasted), you’re enjoying a fresh, local cuisine, and as much local wine as you like. Sounds great, doesn’t it? In September, I invite you to participate in a group hand-harvest of grapes, so called vandemmia! For those of you who enjoy DOC and DOCG classified wines, we will have plenty of Syrah in Cortona, Vino Nobile in Montepulciano, Brunello in Montalcino and Chianti in Chianti.

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Olive Oil

If you like olive oil, you’re in for a treat! We will visit a mill (frantoio in Italian), where you’ll learn how olive oil is produced. Additionally, you’ll join me for a picnic in an olive grove, where among the olive trees, you’ll taste homemade extravirgine olive oil and find out why it’s called the “liquid gold”, and what goes into maintaining an olive grove. If you visit Tuscany in mid-October, you might be able to participate in an olive harvest! Either way, you’ll take home with you a traditional olive oil soap recipe from Cortona to enjoy all year-round.

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Cheese

How about a flock of sheep on a hill? Here, in Tuscany, you will visit Pienza and the valley Val d’Orcia – famous destinations for their sharp sheep cheese pecorino and delicious, creamy ricotta. We will visit a small, family-owned fattoria – a cheese factory, where you’ll learn the secrets of how their cheese is made. You’ll find out why pecorino has received the DOP certification, and why ricotta is not considered cheese. Of course, you’ll taste them all right here, in Tuscany.

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Truffles, anyone?

Perhaps you remember the movie “The Truffle Hunters.” Here in Tuscany, you’ll see it in real life with your own two eyes instead on a TV screen. You’ll smell and taste the truffles that will be hunted and found by specially trained dogs. Afterward, you’ll learn how to use these delicacies in your kitchen and create easy dishes with them, which we will all have an opportunity to taste.

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Culinary Workshops

If you enjoy cooking I’d love you to join me for a cooking class in Cortona and surrounding areas. I will carefully prepare and customize this offer just for you. Please contact me on my Facebook page Pani ToskAnia to learn more about this experience. I will accompany you during the workshop.

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A special dinner

At a Tuscan trattoria with traditional dishes is a must-have part of our program! If you’re a carnivore, I will take you to a “bracceria,” where you will witness a preparation of stake Florentine.

I hope to fill your time here with experiences of traditional Tuscan cuisine. Whether it is a fancy dinner at a trattoria with wine pairing, or simple and delicious Italian street food at a market in Cortona or Florence, you’ll carry these memories with you forever.

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Attractions

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Attractions for Kids and Adults

Etruscan underground labyrinth
Boat ride on lake Trasimeno
Visit at a farm with cheese tasting, or a visit at an alpaca farm

I will find interesting sagre and feste – local culinary festivals and holidays – for you to enjoy. For instance, you will be transported into the medieval times in Cortona when you visit at the beginning of May or June. Every year, Cortona gets transformed into its historic past self with medieval games and wedding traditions on display with street flag throwers, street musicians, artists and, of course, street food! All this to celebrate St Margherita, patrons of the city and Giostra del Archidado, medieval wedding party and crossbowmen’s festival! I will parade the streets of Cortona in a medieval dress myself to represent one of the five districts of Cortona. Would you like to join me?

Pani ToskAnia

Pani ToskAnia