Florence Oltrarno Artisan Workshops Walking Tour with Gelato Tasting and Wine Window

Explore Florence's Oltrarno artisan district on a guided walking tour with hands-on workshop visits and local tastings.

Getting started

Join your expert guide in Florence's historic Oltrarno district and set off on a guided walking tour through its artisan streets. After a brief introduction to the route and pace, you start visiting selected Florentine artisan workshops. The experience unfolds entirely on foot, so you move between each stop through the neighborhood's narrow lanes.

What to expect

Oltrarno artisan district

Oltrarno is Florence's historic artisan quarter, known for its active workshops and everyday Florentine lifestyle away from the busiest central streets.

Features

• Your guided walking tour of Oltrarno focuses on its vibrant artisan culture, with your expert guide explaining how traditional crafts shaped this neighborhood over centuries.
• Visits to Florentine artisan workshops let you step inside active spaces where craftspeople still work, so you can see tools, materials, and finished pieces up close.
• As part of a shared group guided tour or a private guided tour, depending on the option selected, group size and pace are tailored to your chosen format.

Decorative paper workshop

This stop centers on a decorative paper workshop that preserves traditional techniques still used in Florence today.

Features

• A paper marbling, printmaking and engraving, and leather workshop focus lets you see how different crafts coexist in Oltrarno, with each space dedicated to a specific skill.
• In the decorative paper workshop, a paper marbling demonstration shows how pigments float and are manipulated on water before being transferred to sheets, creating unique patterns you can observe at close range.

Printmaking and engraving studio

You then continue to a family-run printmaking and engraving studio, where images are created and reproduced with manual techniques.

Features

• The visit to a family-run printmaking and engraving studio highlights how plates are prepared, inked, and pressed, giving you a clear view of each step in the process.
• Your expert guide helps interpret the printmaking and engraving techniques you see, explaining how different lines, textures, and pressures affect the final image.

Leather workshop

A stop in a leather workshop connects Florence's reputation for leather goods with the realities of small-scale production.

Features

• The leather workshop visit offers insights into authentic Florentine leather craftsmanship, from pattern cutting to stitching and finishing.
• While you watch artisans work, your guide points out how material selection and hand-finishing distinguish traditional Florentine leather from mass-produced items.

Local gelateria

Toward the end of the walk, you pause at a neighborhood gelateria for a taste of one of Italy's most famous sweet specialties.

Features

• An Italian gelato tasting at a local gelateria is included, so you can sample authentic gelato as it is enjoyed in Florence.
• This stop connects the tasting to local food culture, with your guide explaining why gelato is considered a Florentine specialty that has been refined over centuries.

Historic wine window

The experience concludes at one of Florence's historic wine windows, known locally as buchette del vino.

Features

• Local tastings at a historic wine window are part of your tour, served directly through the small opening as was customary in earlier periods.
• At the buchette del vino, your guide explains the role these wine windows played in Florence's past, so you understand their significance while you enjoy your tasting.