Florence still has her sweet spots, as any Florence UnTour guest knows well. Though the historic center can feel overrun with tourists and students on a busy day in June, there are plenty of back streets and hidden churches to lure you in. Here are a few of my favorite alternatives to the tried and…
As spring merges into summer, gardens in much of Europe are at their most vibrant and colorful. Whether you seek out gardens as a main sight for your day or duck into them as a respite from sightseeing in built environments, it is hard not to fall in love with these lovingly cultivated spaces. They…
…Shy David, submitted by Nancy and Paul Gongloff. The Gongloffs have taken many UnTours with us. Their most recent, of course, was a trip to Florence, where they encountered Michelangelo’s masterpiece David at the Galleria dell’Accademia. They have also joined us for UnTours in Barcelona, Holland, Paris, Salzburg, the German Rhine, Prague, Budapest, and Vienna…
Here at UnTours HQ, we live for this sort of thing. After all the work and planning, we love to know our guests are having fun. So our new UnTours Photo Contest has brought us pure joy. For much of spring and summer, we have received brilliant photos from Europe, each reflecting the joy, wit,…
Used for the Pantheon, Trajan’s Column, and Michelangelo’s David in Rome, Carrara marble was valued above all other stone. The mountains were first exploited by Julius Caesar with origins from the 2nd century BC. Located in the northernmost tip of modern-day Tuscany, this blue-grey or white high quality-marble is coveted by artisans and used worldwide. …
Helen Glave, on-site host of the Florence UnTour, is a whiz with logistics and hospitality. But she is also deeply knowledgeable about Florence’s sights. We recently ask her to name her favorite hidden gems of Florence. Here is her response. It is quite difficult to signal ‘hidden gems’ in Florence as most are so…
Never plan a vacation when you are hungry. If you do, you will surely end up in Tuscany. On second thought, let your stomach guide you. When you consider the region’s sublime natural beauty and Florence’s countless Renaissance masterpieces, it is easy to overlook the food. But Florence is a great place to connect…
Cities can be a lot of fun to share with kids, with their parks and museums and markets and rich histories. And now that UnTours has added the Italian cities to the Kids Stay Free program, you can tour young travelers though the ancient sites of Rome, the carfree alleys and canals of Venice, and…
Since its beginning more than 20 years ago, Harriet has run our Tuscany UnTour from her homebase outside of Florence. Countless guests sing her praises, as she binds the southern hospitality of her upbringing with the deep knowledge and love of a country and region she has lived in for more than five decades. Here…
Helen Graves has just joined our European team as the new UnTours host in Florence, Italy. Here she writes about her enduring love for the city she’s lived in for 30 years. You could say I’ve done my fair share of travelling. I was born in India, grew up in Scotland, and moved to…