What you see here is the brainchild of Coral Sisk (pictured above!) an Italian-American writer, certified sommelier and blogger. After years of working in food, wine and travel- the concept to create (high quality) bespoke, cultural gourmet walking tours and activities was born. These activities are travel experiences, not touristic packages.

The benefits of taking a food tour with a local food expert are endless! Food and drink tours are the best way to get orientated with the local food & drink scene of the brand new city you are visiting. A food tour will also help you get your bearings to the city's main attractions, best eateries, local products and thus eliminating hours of research.

All our gourmet tasting tours are half-day tasting walks (ranging from 2.5-3.5 hours) and the distances are walkable in between each stop. The wine tours are fully escorted in/out Florence. Cooking classes are at one location which you are responsible for arriving to on-time.

We send a confirmation voucher including the addresses, meeting points, all information regarding inclusions once you've booked and completed payment. It is your responsibility to provide an accurate e-mail address and contact info as all automated letters with the experience details will be there. If you do not receive a confirmation letter of your purchased activity within 24 hours, please contact us and we can re-issue or look into the contact details you provided and update if need be. It is your responsibility to include a working phone number which where our assistance team can reach you in case our hosts can’t find you at the scheduled meeting time and place.

A cornerstone of our experience design is that select drinks elevate food and vice versa. All tasting experiences include samplings of various foods and drinks, depending on the theme you have selected. Our expertise is in the culinary arts, we do not offer historical art, architecture or museum tours. We can however refer world-class professional guides who specialize in art and museum tours!

Due to the nature of some of our experiences including alcohol beverages, we kindly ask you to be mindful of your limits and to communicate on the tour if they'd like something light if you have a low tolerance. We reserve the right to ask someone to leave a tour if they are clearly intoxicated upon arrival or are disruptive to a tour due to intoxication, or if any of the bar staff feel you are too intoxicated to serve. If you have to be excused from a tour because you show up to a tour already intoxicated or did not communicate or respect your limits in a way in which it began to negatively impact the tour, our venues, our guide staff and other guest’s experience- you will be asked to leave and receive ZERO refund.

We request payment to secure your spot via PayPal or via our ticketing system for select group activities. We detail this process/instructions during your booking. If you request a custom experience for an event or activity not available to book yourself online, usually this requires payment via PayPal or one of our representatives to hand-process payment, as a result your total amount will include a small service fee (6-9%) as to cover the extra admin labor and merchant fees incurred for this convenience, as we quote the best possible rates privy of fees. If you'd like to avoid online convenience fees when pursuing a custom experience not bookable online, please let us know how we can work with you for a mutually beneficial solution.

Anyone ill will NOT be allowed to participate in any booked activity or if you are COVID-19 positive. In such event, you must let us know ASAP as to avoid being excused from the activity the day-of if you are demonstrating any symptoms of illness.
If you provide us ample notice during working days and business hours, we may be able to re-schedule your booking at a later date w/o penalty (may be able to give a partial refund + credit combo depending on how much notice you provide) or give you options on how to use your credit. If you do not provide ample notice during working days and business hours and/or show up to any activity visibly ill or showing any symptoms associated with COVID-19, you will be excused and cancelled from the tour with no refund and no recourse for credit. Please refer to your booking voucher for contact details

Currently there are no requirements except for select facilities but in any case you agree to follow local guidelines as instructed by your host or venue such as wearing a protective facial covering, hand sanitizing, social distancing, etc should they be mandated. Failure to respect these guidelines will result in being excused from the activity with no refund- NO EXCEPTIONS.

Things happen! Please contact us if you are running late and we'll do our best to accommodate you, or let you know where to meet us if we have to start the tour without you. Walking tours are a little easier to accommodate as well as private escorted tours, however group escorted wine tours have a pretty strict meeting time policy (see Q on meeting point for wine tours).

If a guest is late because of a travel delay, for example, and are communicating with us, we will do our best to provide the experience with the remaining allotted time, but we are not obliged to allow any activity to go overtime as we have fixed timed costs with our collaborators. And it will be up to the guide what can be provided in the remaining time and there will be no reimbursements for time lost or tastings missed.

If a guest is late to a group tour or a private tour of more than 15 minutes, the tour will either start without the guest and they will have to catch up with the guide and accept the loss of time. In the event of a private tour, tardiness in excess of 20 minutes is subject to cancellation without refund nor any recuperation of the tour, we do our best to consider exceptions on a case by case basis. If you booked a group tour and it happened to be you were the only guests on the tour and you are a no-show, the guide will leave after 20 minutes and the tour will be cancelled. There are no refunds nor tour time provided to no-show guests who do not show up to the meeting points on time and who do not provide communication or are unreachable by the phone number provided. It is the guests responsibility to read and retain all booking confirmation/reminder letters, and follow instructions in the booking reminder letters which are sent automatically a few days before each event. If you did not provide an accurate e-mail or contact number, this responsibility falls on the guest who compiled the booking form.

What we consider a no-show: In the event the you/guest is late and has not provided any communication and we are unable to reach via the telephone number/email provided, after 20 minutes of attempting to contact you with no success/reply from guest will be considered a no-show and your tour will be cancelled without refund. Please make sure you provide a working phone number during your travels or alert us via e-mail if you discover your phone is not working while traveling. We will contact guests who are not showing up at the schedule time, but we will end our attempts to contact and coordinate after 20 minutes of tour start time.

If you provided a deposit for a private experience, that deposit is non-refundable unless an unforeseen/extreme circumstance has been presented. No-shows and cancellations with less than 48 hours are not entitled to any reimbursement.

If you have chosen to sign up for an activity the day you arrive relying on train or air transport, it is the risk you take in case you are late and/or cannot attend. We put in labor in planning the activity and the activity host has made their schedule according to your booking. Their time needs to be compensated for or the activity time missed is non-refundable in case we have other activities planned after your allotted time. If we are able to reschedule, we will do our best but by no means can we promise anything.

Depending on the delay (more than 15-20 minutes) you will be subject to pay your activity host overtime, pay a rescheduling fee (depending on how much notice you give us of a transport delay) or your activity duration will be affected w/o possibility for refund. We will instruct you on this amount if a last-minute delay happens.

We reserve the right to cancel tours or re-schedule them either for lack of sign-ups or in extreme cases and circumstances. I.e. natural disasters, strikes, shutdowns, world events, accidents or severe illness. But we will notify you right away for these rare occurrences (hasn't happened yet) and you will be offered the option to be re-scheduled, given a travel credit or refunded depending on the timeline in which such extreme cases/circumstances occur.

YES! Our 3rd party software/ticketing system accepts credit cards and if you have any problems, we can arrange a call to take payment over the phone or over e-mail with a credit card authorization form.

YES!

While we cannot accept any liability or responsibility for food-related illness or allergic reactions on the tours, we can do our best to ask our stops to provide alternatives.

We are very understanding and welcome every eating traveler! We can even do a gluten-free food tour, vegan or vegetarian food tour for clients willing/interested in private food tours in Florence.

Please note we are limited to dietary modifications for small group tours as we follow a standard menu.

If you have severe allergies, such as nuts, and cross-contamination is an issue, we cannot guarantee you can participate in tastings to the full capacity as we do not visit allergen-free facilities.

By finalizing any activity booking, you assume all risks involved with participating on a food tour if you have any food allergies.

All allergies must be declared at time of inquiry or on your booking request form. Any dietary restriction and/or allergy declared after finalized bookings may be subject to additional supplement fees to accommodate alternative arrangements and/or cancellation without refund if we find the activity is not feasible due to allergy/restriction type.

On wine tours, we can easy work with any diet since wine tasting is the focus. We expect you understand the food culture here and are flexible to work around it with the substitutions we can provide.

If someone doesn’t eat or drink a particular food, we cannot lower the cost of the experience since this disrupts various fixed overhead, logistics and planning.

If you’d like a tour that is less food-focused but is still a curated Curious Appetite experience, we recommend considering our Hidden Artisans Tour

Depends on the activity! Use your best judgement, clearly a cocktail tour or an evening dinner crawl may not be suitable for teens and children. Our hosts are welcoming, fun and engaging to all. Many of our activities are family-friendly (i.e. gelato crawl, pasta, pizza and gelato making lessons, food lover's tour, etc). If you are traveling with teens or children (under 18 years of age), we suggest to request a private experience or the listed experiences above.

If you plan to bring children to our experiences, they are 110% welcome- we believe our experiences would be extremely enriching to your young ones and our expert guides are accommodating & engaging. However you bear the full responsibility of looking after them, are responsible for any damages/losses incurred and release us from any liability. We offer reduced tickets for children which are detailed in individual experience descriptions. Contact us if you have any questions!

Walking food tours in Florence run anywhere from 2.5-4 hours, including at least 2-3 gourmet pit-stops. Start times vary depending on the theme type and our clients request (group vs private, etc). Many of our experiences can be private and customized. To see what's included, review each set of "highlights" listed in each experience.

For walking half-day food tours in Florence, visit our Gourmet Tasting section. Pick an experience and request to book a spot. For full-day wine tours, visit our wine adventures section and so on. Select the tour experience of you liking and click "request group or private experience." Select the dates of travel, including the # in your group and we will confirm within 24 hours.

If you are looking for a small group tour, just send a booking request including the tours you are most interested in and your travel dates. We'll let you know what options are available during your travel period. Private experiences are available any day and upon request.

If a group tour, you will meet your culinary guide in an easy to find location in the central of Florence. Private clients have the option to be met at their residence or at a central meeting point. Details are sent only after you have booked and paid.

All group wine tours (NOT private wine tours) will meet/depart/return near Piazza Tasso in Florence, Italy. If you request a private tour, we'll pick you up at your doorstep UNLESS there is an extenuating circumstance (road work, restricted zone, etc) and in which case we will for sure let you know the alternative solution!

PLEASE NOTE: No-shows and extreme tardiness to a group tour will not be refunded unless in extreme situations.

Since we offer bespoke, boutique experiences- pricing varies. We provide rates according to the needs of our unique clientele. The best way to get an immediate quote is to visit any individual listing or contact us- we reply fast.

We do not offer these additional services nor travel packages at this time. However, we are happy to provide referrals for hotels which you can book yourself or to travel planners who can handle those details for you. We also manage a travel tips section to give free advice on topics such as train travel in Italy. We highly advise you purchase travel insurance for every journey outside your home country.

A tour is opened once 2 tickets are sold, but in order to honor the group rate and keep our prices fair and cover overhead, we require 3 participants for every join-in group walking food tour in Florence and Bologna. Join-in group cooking lessons require 2 participants. If this minimum has not been met by 72hrs before the tour’s scheduled date, we will reach out and provide various options to guarantee the tour. These scenarios are a rare occurrence since our minimum group sizes are typically met and sell-out. The chances are especially rare if you book in advance. We just have to provide the disclaimer!

Yes! Please consult the following links:

FLORENCE

https://www.eater.com/maps/best-restaurants-florence-italy

https://thecuriousappetite.com/2017/02/23/best-food-restaurants-in-florence-italy/

BOLOGNA

https://thecuriousappetite.com/2023/10/10/best-food-in-bologna-italy/

We hope our unique clientele will appreciate the strain world events like the COVID-19 pandemic has put on the travel sector and independent businesses. The following cancellation policy has been established to protect our small enterprise.

Generally speaking, we have a moderate/strict no-refund policy and depending on the reason/timing we will determine a % if any.

We reserve the right to not refund activity purchases based on our cancellation policy but we reserve the right to make exceptions- which are not guaranteed. Please be sure you understand and have read our policies before booking. When you book via our 3rd party ticketing software Xola, you be prompted to tick a box which states you have read and understood the terms & conditions outlined in this page. If you ticked this box, you have agreed to and understand the terms below.

Non-refundable regardless of reason, in extreme circumstances we may offer a partial credit (not refund) depending on the situation minus admin fees.

For cancellations with less than 48hrs notice, you must provide in writing via WhatsApp/Text (phone number provided in your confirmation letters) AND e-mail to bookings(at)curiousappetitetravel(dot)com and thecuriousappetite(at)gmail(dot)com

A minimum 25% of all purchases is non-refundable/non-transferable. This 25% covers our administrative costs and clerical labor necessary. The final amount will be calculated based on if its a group or private experience, amount of notice and reasoning. Please read full policy below for additional specifications.

The remaining 75% will be recognized as a credit or refund depending on activity type, reason for cancellation and with ample notice (details on cut-offs in next FAQS).

Private tours are under a strict no-refund cancellation policy. For specifics and exceptions, read the full policy below. You’re also 100% responsible to agreeing to our T&Cs/cancellation policy listed here and/or on activity page before booking.

All cancellations with more than 48hrs notice must be provided in writing via e-mail to: bookings(at)curiousappetitetravel(dot)com

Cancellations or requests for any changes to your original booking with less than 48hrs/2 business days notice is 0% refund plus rescheduling/penalty fees unless there is an extreme, extenuating circumstance and will be determined on a case by case basis as well as % amount.

Cancellation/refund policy for group walking tour experiences in Florence and Bologna: We’ll provide 75% refund of original booking value with 30 days notice. Cancellations with less notice will be offered a partial credit (depending on reason and lead time) and the remaining value amount (min. 50%) will be non-refundable.

Cut-off times mean the business day of when the tour is scheduled- NOT 48hrs from the start time of your scheduled activity. I.e. if your tour is scheduled on a Wednesday afternoon- we consider the cut-off 9am 2 business days before regardless of start-time of activity.

Cancellation/refund policy for group cooking classes in Florence and Bologna: 75% refund of original booking value with 30 days notice. Cancellations with less notice will be offered a partial credit (depending on reason and lead time) and the remaining value amount (min. 50%) will be non-refundable. Cancellations with less than 48hrs/2 business days notice is 0% refund unless there is an extreme, extenuating circumstance and will be determined on a case by case basis as well as % amount.

GROUP Wine tours are subject to the cancellation policy and T&Cs of our partnering service provider.

All payments from private experiences (culinary activities and escorted wine cellar excursions) are final/non-refundable (regardless of circumstance) unless with at least 30 days notice and in which case, only a partial credit or possible refund (depending on reason) will be offered and a min. 25% of the value will be retained to cover clerical and admin costs.

Mistaken departure days, missed connections, cancelled trips, news headlines, if you made an incorrect booking and did not contact us within 24 hours of booking, changed plans outside our refund policy cut-off times, or because you decided to do a different activity with a different provider.

If you missed a flight or are late because of a delayed flight, we will do our best to reschedule you ONLY for already scheduled activities but these are not grounds for a full-refund nor waiving the rescheduling fee, check with your travel insurance to see if they cover these losses.

We will offer activity credits towards a future booking (good for 2 years) or cancellation requests based on select, unavoidable circumstances (i.e. border closures, etc).

We reserve the right to abide by a non-refundable policy (credits and reschedules could be provided, however) unless we determine just cause due to extenuating circumstances and even then, we reserve the right to retain the deposit amount (25% of paid booking value minus fees) to protect our labor and resources.

Testing positive for COVID-19 or becoming ill before your scheduled travel plans or an inability to travel or participate due to illness or injury is not grounds for refund. However, based on notice and circumstance we will most likely be able to provide activity credits or rescheduling assistance.

If you had a cancelled flight or train and are unable to be re-scheduled, we may offer a credit for when you can travel and participate. Depending on the circumstance, we may ask you to pay a re-booking fee or the difference of activity cost.

Refunds are not provided if your flight or transit method for arriving is cancelled or delayed, but we may be able to provide a partial credit or reschedule (possible re-scheduling fees) based on how much notice you provide and for what type of activity you were scheduled on.

Depending if your reasoning for cancelling is truly due to an extenuating/prohibitory circumstance, 25% of any booking could be subject to be non-refundable (to protect clerical and overhead costs, as well any pre-paid arrangements) and the remaining 75% will be recognized as a credit towards a future activity, reschedule or towards any offerings good for up to 2 years. If you’d like an extension, please contact us.

Ticketing & processing fees at time of payment/booking are non-refundable and cannot be counted toward your credit

World event-related disruptions resulting in cancellation is NOT because of a news article or a fear of traveling. A world event disruption is because borders have closed and lockdowns are in place preventing us from conducting and consulting activities.

If you do not provide at least 2 weeks notice for a determined illness/injury/extenuating circumstance related cancellation, we reserve the right to retain up to 100% of the original booking amount as non-refundable regardless of circumstance.

Depending on the case-by-case situation, we do make exceptions but we reserve the right to retain at least 25% of the entire booking amount in order to protect our resources. The remaining amount may be recognized as a credit. Please contact for further clarification.

In the event a cancellation needs to be made, we will review your case and communicate the reasoning behind any decision reached and reserve the right to adhere to our policies

Worst case scenario is depending on reason and lead time of notice is that 25% of your booking is non-refundable or will be asked to pay a rescheduling fee. For all non-illness/injury related cancelations, please consult our full cancellation/refund policy depending on type of activity booked.

If you are forced to cancel your travel plans due to COVID-19, we will acknowledge 100% of the amount paid as a credit good for any activity in the future.

After purchasing tickets to any of our activities, please be sure to check your e-mail for an automatic confirmation letter which our ticketing software ”Xola” sends out when we accept your booking request. Please review all the details of your booking confirmation for accuracy. If for some reason there is a mistake (activity type, time and/or date), please inform us within 24 hours of booking if your tour is not of last-minute nature (meaning, less than a week away).

If you do not alert us of a discrepancy within 24 hours of booking, you may be subject to a booking change fee should you want to change the activity for any reason. If your booking is far enough in advance and you notice a discrepancy within a few days and communicate to us, this should not be a problem to fix. However, all last-minute ticket sales are final (minus extreme circumstances which we will evaluate on a case-by-case basis) And last-minute refers to activities scheduled to occur in less than 7 business days from time of booking. Extreme circumstances mean we are unable to conduct the tour.

We have a strict cancellation policy since we put in labor and pre-pay for services- so even if you missed a flight or had a cancelled trip, we cannot fully refund but we’ll do our best to provide an activity credit which you can use in the future depending on when you communicated the cancellation. As a business, we have the right to establish our unique set of policies and are not obliged to refund your booking if your cancellation does not meet our cut-off times listed on this page and according to type (private, join-in, cooking class, walking tour, etc). We reserve the flexibility to make exceptions if we deem the circumstances fair or extreme enough. We are typically inflexible to refund any % of cancellations with less than 48 hours notice.

25% of all activity purchases (either done via Xola, PayPal or VenMo) are considered the "deposit amount" is non-refundable regardless of circumstance. For the remaining 75% refunds of activity purchase, small refunds and/or credits based on extreme, unavoidable or extenuating circumstances and will need to be communicated with at least 48hrs notice- in business hour time.

All requests for cancellation/rescheduling must be communicated via e-mail, our contact page or by phone (message or speaking with someone- a missed call does not count) within Italian business hours of 9am-5pm and any notice past that will be considered for the following business day in terms of cut-off.

If you'd like to reschedule a group activity with less than 14 days notice which does not have sufficient reasoning (illness, missed flights, etc) you will be asked to pay a rescheduling fee, our booking team will determine this amount on a case by case basis. If you'd like to make-up for time lost due to being late, you can pay overtime which can be arranged directly with our booking team and your host, but this depends if the guide has time but we are not obligated to provide any remainder of a tour if there is excessive tardiness.

Rescheduling requests for private activities will come at a fee regardless of notice and regardless of most reasoning due to logistics around scheduling, staffing as these activities are highly planned in advance and with bespoke customizations which require additional planning labor. Exceptions will made on a case by case basis, please contact us for more details.

We are a small business and put in a lot of service & labor to schedule events, which is why we have a moderate/strict refund policy. We encourage you to purchase travel insurance if you'd like to be protected from potential losses incurred from changes in your plans. Refunds not covered in our cancellation policy are considered on a case by case basis but we reserve the right to deny requests for cancellations.

Any cancellation, whether for private or join-in group activities, with less than 48 hours notice is entitled to no refund under virtually no circumstances, this applies especially to private activities. We will consider each situation, but if your cancellation is with less than 48 hours or 2 business days by 9am, we rarely provide a 100% credit