Private Tour: Florence Highlights And David Timed Entry Tickets

Our guide Brian was great and knowledgeable. Very thorough and great. We had an amazing day in Florence and love to come back again another time and see more.

Everything was great definitely recommend of you are visting Florence

Barbara was fantastic. She met us in the lobby of our hotel and seemed like a friend meeting to show us around Florence. Barbara was informed and shared her experience enthusiastically. We appreciate how she tried to keep us out of the throng of people. We visited a flea market, many historic sites, and she pointed out craft stores, gelato, and restaurants. After the tour we visited many of the places she suggested. We feel full of knowledge after our tour.

The day of our tour was a national holiday in Italy, Liberation Day, and the crowds were even larger than usual, which made it even more important to have a savvy, experienced guide to lead our small group. And we were incredibly fortunate to have Francesca Messina. Beyond being incredibly knowledgable about the art and architecture featured on our tour, especially the highlight of the day -- Michaelangelo's David -- she had the know-how and confidence to negotiate our way through and around the crowds to help us have a truly memorable experience! Our walking tour took us to the Accademia museum, past the Duomo, Ufizi, the legendary Ponte Vecchia bridge and finished at the Piazza della Signoria. The only criticism I have is that I would like to have spent a little more time in the Accademia to explore the sculptures in the room beyond the David statue.

We were extremely lucky to have Giacomo Brunetti as our guide for this short & sweet tour. He navigated and narrated like a pro and knew the short cuts and side alleys to use to avoid the crowds. He also knows many local business owners and artisans, so we were able to pop in on them when people in our group had questions (e.g., can we see how gold jewelry is made?). Another great thing about this tour is skipping the line at the Accademia — totally worth it! Giacomo was also knowledgeable about artwork other than David; so well versed in everything Firenze.

Amazing guide! Brian was awesome.

It was wonderful. Our tour guide was amazing. Highly recommended it. you will not be disappointed with the tour

We had the absolute pleasure of spending a half day with Caterina, and it was the perfect way to kick off our first-ever guided tour in Florence. From the moment we met her, the experience felt incredibly personal—as if a knowledgeable friend was showing us around her city. Caterina is not only deeply knowledgeable about Florence’s rich history, art, and culture, but she also brings a fun, warm, and engaging energy that made every stop memorable. She tailored the tour to our interests, answered every question with enthusiasm, and guided us through so many amazing sites that we never would have discovered on our own. As we’re celebrating our 25th anniversary, this tour was truly special and set the tone for the rest of our trip. We can’t imagine a better guide or a better experience. If you’re visiting Florence, booking a tour with Caterina is a must!

Absolutely amazing! We loved it! 4 of us ladies did the walking tour with Valerie and cannot say enough good things about it. She was so knowledgeable, took us all over the city, and went above and beyond to make our tour special.

This 2.5 hour walking tour is an excellent way to see Florence. Our guide, Christina, was so knowledgable and shared just the right amount of information without overloading. She walked us through all the neighborhoods of Florence pointing out different architectural features of the time as well as major buildings and monuments of note.

Giacomo was an excellent tour guide of Florence He was Patient and richly knowledgeable about so much more than the basics. . .Thank you. Joyce Honea

Be careful with this overpriced company. They happily agreed to later start time during the cancelation period. But when our flight was delayed and we could not get there in time they just took our 800 usd for a 2 hour walking tour with 5 people! They did not even send us our tickets for the skip the line entrance until we asked them and by the time they sent it was the end of the day so we could not use them. They only refunded a measly 200 usd claiming they had 600 bucks in expenses jajajajj. Stay away!!

Fantastic tour guide. Very knowledgeable and flexible with our schedule. Trip up to Duomo was incredible and the guide took care of our health. Absolutely recommend again!!!

Brian was great, so much information, would love to learn more from him. Very easy to understand. I loved that it wasn’t too long, like some other tours, points were close by.

Our guide, Brian, was amazing! He was friendly, punctual, knowledgeable, open to all questions, and overall a delight! We were lucky enough to be in a small group of only 3 of us for the tour. He would point out shops, restaurants, gelaterias, and more along the way. He would let us stop to take a picture of these locations to come back to later. He also gave us lots of great advice on how to pick out real leather, how to keep safe from pickpockets, and how to pick out the tourist traps vs the good spots that locals go to. As well, Brian’s knowledge of art history and Florence history was outstanding. We learned a lot. I am so glad we did this tour especially on our first day of Florence - it gave us a lot to go back to and enjoy for the next few days! Highly recommend!

Francesca was a great tour guide! She was very informative while also keeping it interesting. She also made sure we stayed comfortable in a very hot day! Definitely recommend!

This tour was really fantastic! Our tour guide, Brian, did a great job of explaining the history of Florence through the sights and art we saw. He also helped all of us appreciate Michelangelo’s David more than we had before. A truly memorable experience!

Great small group trip with a local expert! Giacomo was an excellent guide and the company he was with Italian Vista provided a top notch experience!

Our guide Francesca was amazing! My husband joked that having her as our guide was like renting a best friend to show you around her hometown. She was extremely knowledgeable about everything from the history of Florence to the different buildings and art pieces, and our tweens had so much fun listening to her explanations and joking with her. I highly recommend the Florence Highlights tour!

Danielz F was an outstanding guide who provided insightful knowledge of Florence's history from the 1100's through WWll. My wife and I were able to get a vivid picture of exactly what happened in Florence over time and how it shows up in today's Florence. Danielz's knowledge of Michelangelo's life, his art and place in history was unbelievable. This tour was a great use of 4 hours when visiting Florence!

Our guide Brian was amazing! The tour was really good. You got a good overview of the art of the city with a good mix of history there (which I'm a fan of! 🤓)

Our guide Bryan was absolutely incredible! He was incredibly knowledgeable and seemed to really enjoy talking about the history of the city. Couldn’t recommend him enough.

Francesca was a superb guide. Very friendly and knowledgeable - a true Florentine. The tour was very interesting, great architecture, artwork, history - and we also enjoyed some gelato! Highly recommended. Thank you.

Marzia was absolutely fantastic. She showed us all of the key things in Accademia and took us to parts of the city we would have had trouble discovering on our own. Her knowledge of art and history is extensive, and she made everything interesting so my teenagers weren’t bored. I highly recommend this tour for anyone looking to see the highlights of Florence art and culture.

Daniela was very informative, punctual and went out of her way to make sure that we got to see all of the city sites we requested. She was kind enough to arrange to start our tour early in order to deal with the large crowds and we certainly appreciated her efforts. We would highly recommend this tour! For reference, total walking distance was approximately 2.7 miles.

Amazing “private tour” (just our two couples). Giacomo provided an outstanding brisk walking tour of Florence and the history behind the sights. He truly brought the old buildings and statues to life. It was a free-admission day (first Sunday of month) but Giacomo managed to weave through crowds and masses of people effortlessly. He made a conscious effort to not talk while moving, but rather gather our party in a quieter area (usually in shade) before he spoke. Finally, our guide customized the route to work around a foot race being conducted in the city streets and also provided recommendations for the rest of our day, including assisting with dinner reservations.

This was an amazing way to discovery Florence and its hidden gems. Barbara was the most brilliant of guides, very friendly and personable. Her enthusiasm really made the tour for us. Thank you!

Christina was excellent So knowledgeable and friendly We really enjoyed our time touring Florence with her.

Alisa was very friendly and knowledgeable, and took us to several very special places on our walking tour. I would highly recommend!

We had a wonderful walking tour with Scilla! She was funny, kind and knowledgeable. After taking us to see all of the gorgeous highlights of old Florence, we “skipped the line” and within minutes we were standing in front of David in the Accademia museum. What a treat. I would highly recommend booking with Italian Vista. If you can walk a few kilometres, a walking tour is the way to go. An excellent day!

Barbara was a great guide, knowledgable, witty and funny! She made it a great and relaxed experience.

Perfect morning tour of Florence. We chose this tour as it was light on museum time and gave the highlights without boring my 16 year old twins.

Our experience was so-so with our tour of Florence. We had a guide that was pleasant but not friendly. Our tour was supposed to last 3 hours however our guide ended it early without an explanation. I would probably look for another tour if you can find one.

Laura was a great tour guide. She picked us up at our hotel and then we walked all around Florence seeing different things. This tour is jammed packed with information. After the tour, we used our knowledge to spot different family crests or just understood why things were on the side of the building. Laura was very knowledgeable and she really understood art. When we got to see the David she was very enthusiastic and really showed us alot. Well worth the money. We also went to the place she suggested for lunch and it was delicious.

We missed receiving the e-mail (due to being international) that indicated our tour guide would meet us at the hotel. We were at our original meeting point right on time and due to the miscommunication started our tour 45 minutes late. Giacomo did a fine job for the time we had us, but we lost 45 minutes of our tour as he finished the tour as if he had started with us on time. We should be reimbursed for 1/3 of our tour fees due to the miscommunications and delay.

If you want to make the most of a short time in Florence this is the way to go. Tour was comprehensive and tailored to our interests and energy. Our guide Flavia was articulate and knowledgeable. We all learned and enjoyed the afternoon. Gratzie Mille!!

Caterina was our guide and was fantastic. Gave us the history of Florence and showed us the sites and was so knowledgeable about everything!

Very knowledgeable guide with excellent English. You could tell how much pride she has for Florence. We learned a lot and enjoyed visiting the Academy. She also helped us buy tickets for the Uffizi the next day so we could skip the line.

Our guide was excellent giving a nuanced understanding of history and sights. Well worth doing to get a better understanding

We had a great 3 hour private walking tour with Elisa who had previously taught history for the College of the Holy Cross exchange program in Florence. English was excellent as was her knowledge of many subjects ranging from Michelangelo to local gastronomy to the many and varied attractions of Florence.

excellent and very informative; also accommodated all requests. I believe I may have under-tipped her!

We wanted to do this tour mostly because we didn’t buy tickets to Academia in advance. We did like that the group was very small. We were not that impressed with the walking part of the tour before Academia, but we were SUPER impressed with the inside Academia piece. Our guide really put into context well the meaning of the renaissance and taught us a lot about the importance of the time (without being long and boring at all). I would definitely do it again, but it wasn’t on our top lists of tours ever.

Barbara met us at our hotel and provided a wonderful tour. Very knowledgeable and personable. She was able to cater the tour to our specific interests. Our only regret was not doing this tour as soon as we arrived in the city to be more knowledgeable during the remainder of our stay. Highly recommended.

Our guide was excellent, she knew exactly how to captivate all of us, from an 80 year old to a 16 year old, she was a fountain of knowledge and we highly recommend this tour. Thank you.

My partner and I had a great walk with an extremely experienced guide - Giuseppe. He was very knowledgeable and also entertaining and so the time seemed to fly past. The tour really put Florence in perspective for us as he informed us about the history of the region, while using the architecture and art to take us on a journey through Florence's past. Very happy.

I have traveled fairly extensively and enjoyed many great tours but this half day tour in Florence was my favorite. The reason for this highest compliment is because of our tour guide Paola. We were traveling in a group of nine and on 9/29 and Paola made this tour fun for everyone in our group. She was super personable, very knowledgeable, articulate, and she had a great sense of humor. We will be talking about this tour and Paola for some time. Thanks Paola.

We would have given this tour an "Excellent" if only it could have been extended to a full day. For the time allotted, it could not have been better. Our guide, Brenda, was knowledgeable, enthusiastic and delightful and she rates an "Excellent". At the start of the tour, we told her that we wanted her to take us to places that as a native of Florence, she wanted us to see. But we also told her about the things we wanted to do. Brenda blended it all perfectly. She was very knowledgeable about places off the proverbial beaten track. We wanted to go to a marketplace not overrun with tourists. Brenda knew exactly where to go. She also took us to a store/warehouse that buys up the contents of churches that close; a kind of theological flea market. I wasn't allowed to photograph, but it was a treat. We would never have found this place on our own. A tip: Time constraints didn't allow us to stay in certain places as long as we would have liked. If you take this tour, allow yourself an extra day to revisit some of the places that you see on the tour. We highly recommend the tour and if you go, ask for Brenda.

<p>This tour provided a great overview of Florence. Our tour guide was right on time, picking us up in the lobby of our hotel. Since it was a private tour just me and my husband, it was tailored to our interests. We walked around and had a conversation about the city, the sites, the culture, etc. We got great recommendations on where to shop for high quality leather and eat for dinner, too! Skip the line tickets for the Accademia was awesome. Overall, this is a good tour. I give it five stars instead of four, as we had tour guides in Italy who were more knowledgeable and higher energy.</p>

Our guide Barbara was knowledgeable, fun and passionate about all aspects of Florence’s history and art. We enjoyed checking out the less traveled sights and streets at the start of the tour as much as our visit to see David. In contrast to other reviews, our tour was a full 3 hours. Walking in silence or waiting in line were never an issue. As a same-sex couple, we appreciated her pointing out the many gay aspects of Florence and Italy’s history. Great start to our stay in Florence! Thanks, Barbara !