Try your hand at Italian fare during this cooking course and market tour in Florence. Begin with a walking tour through the San Lorenzo Market, choosing fresh ingredients for your dishes. Then head back to the kitchen and learn how to prepare a 4-course Tuscan meal under the guidance of a chef. Sit to feast on your creations and take recipes home at the end of your class. The lesson is divided into two groups, with a maximum of 15 people per chef for a more personal experience.

Half-day Florence cooking class and market tour
Walking tour through San Lorenzo Market
Purchase cooking ingredients and experience local life in the market
Prepare and enjoy a Tuscan starter, two main courses and a dessert, with wine
Tuscan recipes to take home
Class is divided into two groups, with a maximum of 15 per chef, for a more intimate experience

Sample Menu

Starter

Croutons with black cabbage and beans

Main

Pappardelle with truffle

Main

Peposo beef stew

Dessert

Cantucci with vin santo

What's Included

Lunch with drinks
Recipes to take home
Cooking class with expert chef (maximum 15 people per chef)
Walking tour through local historic Market
Assistance at the Meeting Point

Gratuities
Hotel pickup and drop-off

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

Piazza di San Lorenzo
Piazza di San Lorenzo, 50123 Firenze FI, Italy
At 09:40 am - Piazza San Lorenzo (San Lorenzo Square), at the Statue located in the center of the square An Assistant waits for you wearing blue clothing with Caf Tour & Gray Line Florence logos

Start time

09:50 AM

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Your cooking class begins in central Florence, where you meet up with your small group. Follow your instructor through the historic central market of San Lorenzo as you shop for fresh, local ingredients for your meals. While traveling through the hub of activity, watch the animated exchanges between stall owners and Florentines.

Return to the distinguished cooking school with your guide and learn how to turn your ingredients into a traditional appetizer, two main courses and an Italian dessert. Afterward, reward your hard work in the kitchen by sitting with your fellow chefs to feast on your creations. Your instructor pours wine to complement the meal and toast to your success.

At the end of your Florence cooking experience, you are provided with Italian recipes to recreate at home.

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Kids younger than 8 not admitted
The cooking class will be operated by professional Chefs. The class might be divided in smaller groups, and each Chef will look after 15 participants
Not wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible

Near public transportation
All Cooking Class Team is vaccinated for Covid-19
It is mandatory to arrive at the meeting point at the mentioned check in time. In case of delay it will not be possible to join the group, nor to have a refund or reschedule the course.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 15 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.

Traveler Photos

Reviews

4.5

114 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

Showing 1-10 of 114 reviews

Fun, tasteful, great people

Trenton_C, Oct 2022

The experience was great, learning new cooking styles meeting new people I come from a cooking background but I still learned the new things.

A great day in Florence

Doug_H, Oct 2022

Francesco was lots of fun teaching us to cook some Italian dishes, which turned out great despite the fact that I helped. He has a great sense of humor and answered questions well. The market tour involved some tastings at a couple of the stalls, which made it all the more enjoyable. This was definitely one of the highlights of our vacation.

Cooking & shopping in Florence

Robert_T, Sep 2022

Francisco was incredible as a chef & entertaining the group! The market visit was very informative & making the 3 dishes was fun to make & were delicious. It was a great way to spend several hours in Florence!

How to have fun with chicken, chocolate, tomatoes and flour

Maria_W, May 2022

Our chef Catarina was terrific. We made bruschetta, gnocchi from scratch with a beautiful ragù, balsamic chicken and of course tiramisu. The market tour was informative with tasty treats! Great way to spend the day.

I enjoyed the market...

Jennifer_B, Oct 2021

I enjoyed the market tour. Amazing to be surrounded by so Many great and fresh foods. Many we do not have in our Markets. Our chef, Stephano, was very well prepared and able to handle the various personalities in our group. Our group was a mix of strangers (unfamiliar to each other) and we all enjoyed each other's company.

Response from Host, Oct 2021

Dear Jennifer_B, thank you so much for having shared your opinion with us and our common readers! We are happy to know that you have appreciated your Florence cooking class with local market visit! There's no better way to know a Country than by knowing its cuisine. And now we are sure that you will be able to surprise your friends with some typical Tuscan meals ;) Hope to see you again in the future! Our best regards

A great day for cooking

Curiosity56791061071, Oct 2019

We had a great day and learned a few helpful tricks on creating a wonderful italian meal. Highly recommend the tour

So much fun!

buttercupevr, Aug 2019

We absolutely enjoyed our cooking class. We have since recreated the recipes at home, so win win!!! The visit to the Marcato Centrale we just the BEST!!!! We took away so much from the tour. Coming back to Florence just for this!

Excellent cooking class!

laurenlafountain1, Jul 2019

My husband and I were fortunate to take a class with Chef Luca. Luca went above and beyond our expectations for the class. He brought us through the San Lorenzo market and we learned all about different oils, vinegars, meats and cheeses, etc. We then walked to the cooking school to begin our meal. We had so much fun cooking the delicious food, and learned so much as well! This class was the highlight of our trip to Florence and we have already told friends and family that it is a “must-do” during a visit.

Florence 2019

Sharon B, Jun 2019

We had a great time inspecting the Food Market. The cooking course was fun and the end results were delicious. Very worthwhile!

Tricks to making pasta

decroce, Sep 2018

We made a wonderful meal of bruschetta, meatloaf, pasta and sauce with chef Nicola. I had made pasta before and always produced a lot wasted dough while cutting with the pasta machine. Nicola showed a simple folding trick to producing event lengths and no waste. Perfecto!

My sister and I took this tour and...

Sharon C, Oct 2017

My sister and I took this tour and absolutely loved it. Our guide Jeanette probably not the Italian spelling, sorry, she was just gorgeous and so informative, not only about the produce sold in the market but also great tips on how the locals use the different ingredients to prepare meals etc. She had a wonderful passion for food and cooking. We had a tasting of truffles, oils, balsamic vinegars and biscotti. We had a small group of 7 from Australia and Canada and we all spoke English, so great fun. Our chef Tony made our class very enjoyable and we cant wait to get home and try all the new recipes we learnt. Sat with the group to enjoy the spoils of our labor together with a glass of wine. Would highly recommend this tour for something different.

This was a great class. We met some...

Elizabeth A, Oct 2017

This was a great class. We met some amazing people and really enjoyed the chef!

Thoroughly enjoyed the day...

AMANDA T, Aug 2017

Thoroughly enjoyed the day - wonderful and vibrant market to shop for all our ingredients and a fun and informative lesson. Were able to roll up our sleeves and do all the cooking ourselves - followed by a lovely time eating all our cooking with a great fun group of people...and a lot of red wine!!

This was a really fun experience. My...

Hannah N, Aug 2017

This was a really fun experience. My group's favorite part was the cooking class. Which was hands on, had a great instructor, and made delicious food that wasn't too easy. We had a small group of three so everyone was heavily involved. The tour of the market was so-so. The guide was nice but since we already visited the day before, it wasn't very special. We were under the impression from the description that we would buy the produce for the class during market tour. The guide bought the meat and basil, everything else was already at the cooking school. This was fine and made sense but I wish the description was more accurate. Can you advise if gratuity was expected? The instructor was awesome but my group wasn't sure about tipping. Would be great to let the next group know. Overall a really great experience!

My family and I had a wonderful time...

Jeffrey D, Jul 2017

My family and I had a wonderful time with our cooking course. We met at the marketplace where we were provided a tour. Then we walked to the cooking school and prepared our meal. The food was very, very good! We enjoyed the entire experience. The only change that I would make is that we probably spent a little longer in the marketplace than we really needed.

What fun! The visit to the local...

Barbara S, May 2017

What fun! The visit to the local market showed an amazing array of all different kinds of foods, and we did a tasting of balsamic vinegars and olive oils...wonderful! Then we walked to the cooking school, where Giacomo guided us in preparing a wonderful three course meal that consisted of bruschetta, pasta made by us with a large encrusted meatball, and some sort of delicious dessert! The group only had six people in it and the kitchen was a large professional one, so we all had a hands on experience. Great tour for those who like to cook - and eat!

We had a wonderful experience on...

Marcy H, Dec 2016

We had a wonderful experience on this tour. The time in the market was enjoyable, especially the special tasting we had at one of the shops. Our chef was with us and we purchased many of the ingredients that we used later in the cooking class. The class was lively and fun and everyone got to participate in creating the wonderful Tuscan meal that we prepared. We all then sat down in the lovely area downstairs and were served the meal, along with wine. It was definitely a highlight of our trip to Italy.

WOW, First of all we were met by our...

Robert C, Nov 2016

WOW, First of all we were met by our chef Alessandro who took us for a tour of the markets in Florence, we got to sample so many different things, fruits so fresh, biscuits, oils, balsamic vinegars truffles and so much more!! After that we walked to the kitchen were we all cooked up a 3 course meal, then sat down in a beautifully decorated room and were served our meal with a wine to accompany each course, what else could we ask for. Our chef was also amazing. I would highly recommend this tour and if ever I am lucky enough to go back to Florence I will definitely do it all over again, it was the best!!!

Our guide and chef was very helpful...

Patricia_S, Oct 2016

Our guide and chef was very helpful and great at running hthe coking experience. We had a friendly group, and enjoyed our meal that we had made.

Sad but true this course was a waste...

Sarah_M, Oct 2016

Sad but true this course was a waste of time and money. When booking for this class, it states a max of 12, there were 22, nothing against anyone I met- honestly this is the best part of the class! It took forever for the class to get up and rolling, like an hour and 15 minutes late. Alessandro was an entertaining teacher, though is counter part Theresa was a cranky as one could be. The class did not focus an any type recipes that would pertain to the Tuscany area, this would have been more ideal. The copies you take home with you are not really the same as you cover in the class. You learn a little but not a lot, maybe because the class is too big. Most of us save up our money and are even so fortunate to take these trips, this class was just not worth it.

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