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"Great tour to see David”

Our guide was very knowledgeable, interesting and enthuasiastic. Her brief history of Michelangelo's life and the description of the unfinished sculptures made the experience of seeing the David all the richer. Excellent tour - just the perfect amount of background and detail.

travis89
Montana
USA
November 22,2009

“Very personal tour”

Christine was a wonderful guide - you could tell she had a true passion for her subject! Loved the tour, very informative. Ended up being a private tour - even though we didn't ask. Very good!

catherine_rems 
Santa Fe
Nov 21, 2009

“Articulate, intelligent and interesting - Artviva will not disappoint”

These guys are the best. It may be a little more information than you wanted, but you will leave with an interesting, informative and enjoyable experience in your pocket.

coldlite
Louisiana
USA
November 21,2009

“All round quality tour”

As a travel agent I will recommend these tours to my clients. Booking was easy. Service friendly and efficient. But best of all the guide was fabulous, knowledgeable and gracious! This tour operator provides great access to what at times can be a challenging country!

jridoff
Sacramento, California
USA
November 21,2009

"Artviva Tour of the Uffizi Galleries”

Heather was lively, informative and well educated on the Uffizi Tour. She made the  tour interesting, fun, and had some great comments that made us smile. She invited our questions and knew the answers, she welcomed our participation. At the end of the tour, she told us about San Miniato, and Piazzale Michelangelo, and urged us to
hear the monks chant before vespers. We took her advice and had an unforgettable experience! She was one of the best guides I have ever had.

Brava, Heather! I will recommend Artviva to anyone going to Italy in the future.

LeighFarrell
Minneapolis
USA
November 20,2009

“Certainly The Best Experience We Had in Europe”

A big big thanks to the wonderful staff at Artviva for making our stay so enjoyable.  The genuine warmth and good service set them well above our other experiences in the big European cities we visited. Our guides Sylvia and Paula were fantastic, energetic and knowledgeable.We loved our walking tour with Paul as well. They all made it lots of fun and our kids really enjoyed it as well – very worthwhile. The church of San Miniato al Monte was incredible. We will tell all our friends.

The Russo Family
russotrav
Minneapolis
USA
November 19, 2009

"A super way to get to know Florence with a great team”

Just come back from a long weekend in Florence where we had two tours with Artviva. Both were good although the city tour was by far the best (thanks to Sara). Knowledgeable and helpful team and the use of headsets made sure we could all hear the guides however busy it was around us and without disturbing others.I would suggest if it is your first time to the city  ensure you take the city tour first which will give you a great basis for  your further exploration.

Highly recomended

KerryE Ripon
North Yorkshire
United Kingdom
October 12,2009

“Florence 3 Hr Walking tour should be first thing you do”

Paola gave an exceptional tour. I would highly recommend the 3 Hr Original Florence Walk Tour to anyone. It gives a great foundation when first arriving at the city. Also, it was a great way to meet people and share the experience.

HolyLuke  
Birmingham, Alabama
USA
November 10,2009

“Fabulous Bike Tour - Stefan was great”

We did the Tuscan Bike Tour with Artviva: The Original and Best Walking Tours after several other companies didn't respond or bailed out on us. We were so glad we did. The bike tour was thoroughly enjoyable. Stefan was a great guide. He provided insight and great information. The villa was beautiful. The wine and olive oil were great. We enjoyed our fellow bike tourists and would definitely recommend this.

GoletaMom  
Santa Barbara, California
USA
November 9, 2009

"Well worth it"

Both the Original Florence Walk and Uffizi tours were outstanding.

NorCalTraveler02  
Northern California
Nov 5, 2009

 “Great tour of the Uffizi museum”

My wife and I enjoyed the Uffizi tour very much. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable on the artwork there and gave a fascinating tour. I would certainly take another tour in the future with ArtViva.

KRFarrell
Boston
USA
November 4 2009

“Tour guides that appear to really love their job”

We took 5 tours with this company during our stay in Italy. We started with their Tuscany Wine tour and based on how me we enjoyed that we signed up for the Florence Walk, Uffizi Gallery, David Tour, The Original Rome Walk, and Masterpieces of the Vatican.

The guides were without exception knowledgeable and passionate about their subject matter. This company appears to hire/contract with highly educated  and experienced experts. Our tours were usually in small groups, even so we often finished late as the guides took time to make sure we weren't rushed and all questions were answered. They all went out of their way to engage with those of us on the tour.

Although the tours aren't cheap; given the total cost of our trip, we felt the tours were probably contributed the most to what was a very enjoyable and memorable trip.

dandj58
Chicago
USA
October 31, 2009

“Three tours in three days: revealing, enlightening and lively!”

My wife and I took three of the Artviva Florence tours in three days, the Uffizi, the morning walking tour and the evening walking tour and tasting. Our first guide at the Uffizi was Heather and we decided  to come back the next day for the walking tour. Again we had Heather as our  guide. We like both of them so much we signed up for the evening walk and, as luck would have it, Heather was our guide. She was a wonderful guide, entertaining and informative. Her knowledge and friendliness was evident throughout the time we spent toghter. And, the small groups were very conducive  to exploring and learning the secrets of the city and its history.

1995miata
Buffalo, New York
USA
October 30, 2009

I signed up for "Florence in One Glorious Day (or two)", choosing to spread the three tours over two days. I started with the tour of the Accademia Gallery to see Michelangelo's David. It is hard to describe the beauty of this sculpture, and the late afternoon timing of the tour was the perfect way to see the sculpture, giving us a bit of peace to admire the masterpiece.

The following day was the walking tour, taking in a lot of the major sights such as the Ponte Vecchio, Piazza della Signora, a number of churches and the city’s famous cathedral, the Duomo. Both tours were great and the guides offered some fascinating details that most tourists would miss. The guides were engaging and very knowledgeable.

However, the highlight was definitely The Uffizi ... one of the most amazing galleries I’ve visited. Taking a guided tour was worthwhile, both to avoid the queues and for the insights the guide gave us into how art progressed through the centuries (the Uffizi is set out in chronological order). It was sort of like Art History 101!

The guide was able to take us on a journey into the age of the Renaissance and explain the progression of art as she took as to masterpiece after masterpiece. She also had a great sense of humour, keeping everyone smiling as we  navigated the massive gallery. The tour gave me a new found appetite for the subject.

filmfanatic
London, United Kingdom
Oct 20, 2009

"ArtViva: Florence in One Glorious Day (or two)”

We took the Florence in One Glorious Day in one day which included "The Original Florence Walk", "Masterpieces of the Uffizi Gallery Tour" and "The Original David Tour". All the tour guides were excellent and spoke very good English. Headsets were used in all tours. It was a long day but OK even for us who are 60+.

aalane
Indiana
Oct 19, 2009


Wanting to avoid the huge lines at the Accademia we took Rick Steves advice and booked a walking tour of the museum with  Art Viva (www.italy.artviva.com). The tour we took was the Original David Tour, which concentrates on the statue of David  within the Academia.

Our guide was excellent and it was obvious to us that she was very passionate about art in general, and Florentine art and Michelangelo's David in particular. She provided some very unique insights into Michelangelo's style and the approaches he used to create this breathtaking statue. I highly recommend Art Viva. They provide exceptional service and are professional in every way.

TravellerNanaimoB_C_
Nanaimo B.C.
Oct 9, 2009

“Great way to get introduced to Florence”

All of the Florence in One Day tours were excellent! Good length and full of interesting information. Christine's sense of  humor enhanced the Florence Walking Tour, Sarah brought Michelangelo to life when we visited the Accademia, and Paul made Renaissance art fascinating at the Uffizi. His passion for and knowledge of art was very evident.

CarolVol
Nashville, TN
Oct 9, 2009

“Excellent walking tours of Florence”

My wife and I were in Florence for two days in September 2009 prior to our cruise. We decided to make the most of our time by taking three tours in one day with Artviva.

Both guides were excellent for our Florence in One Day tours. Elisabetta was informative. friendly and a 'healthy cynic' about some of the subject matter. Paul too was informative and friendly and we particularly enjoyed his experienced sculptor's perspective when talking about the work of Michelangelo.

ELandJL
Winnipeg, Canada
Oct 8, 2009

“Tours in Florence”

The Original Florence Walk tour was a wonderful way to get a real feel for the history of the city of Florence and we all really enjoyed it. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and good natured.

The tours of the Uffizi and Accademia were a dream for someone who was started out as an art history major but even my friends enjoyed it because of Elizabetta's slightly inconoclastic style and dry sense of humor.

gsdc
Alexandria, Virginia
Oct 8, 2009

“Something to remember”

Please note that we have done other tours with different companies but weren’t satisfied from the way they have handled their tours.

Therefore, we would like to pinpoint the main ingredients that made Artviva tours a success, and are as follows:

They form small groups with no radios and earpieces so the interaction between guide and group is guaranteed.

The guides were very experienced, informative and knowledgeable. However, we would like to stress on the excellent work done by Elizabeth. She was of a very high caliber, explained deeply every building, statues and paintings as well as the history of the art in Florence and how it evolved till it reached the Renaissance era. We want to add to that the style she used in her explanations was easy, thrilling and had a twist of humor. We felt that she really loved what she was doing and that made our tours with her something to remember.

GeorgeLb
Lebanon
Oct 7, 2009

“Excellent Walking Tour”

We really enjoyed our Original Florence Walk tour and I would highly recommend it to anyone planning a trip to Florence. Having done a number of walking tours in other cities, what really impressed me was our guide’s knowledge of the history of the city and her genuine interest. She did not deliver a prepared script and it was obvious that she had an academic background. I was also very impressed with the fact that the group was split in two and the company kept to its promise of a “small group”. I would have no hesitation
in recommending this tour to anyone.


Dublin009
Dublin
Oct 6, 2009

“What a wonderful Original Walking tour in Florence!”

The Original Florence Walk tour was great! It was wonderful to have our visit to Florence given such interesting context. The story about the young woman in the Middle Ages & the Plague; the one about the attempted coup on the Medici brothers that took place in the Duomo.

I loved how carefully the guide pointed out to us the "redone" Piazza Republic (done over in the 19th century to be more "modern"), and the comments about the Strozzi Palace (where Strozzi ran out of money to complete it, and the purpose of the bench at the front), and all the other general architectural details on the buildings throughout the city (i.e., what those tiny windows were used for, or the hooks, or how the buildings tended to expand outwards, so bars were run through to strengthen them), comments about the Ponte Vecchio and Orsanmichele were great too.

 Tidbits about Donatello and other sculptors and artists were woven in nicely as well. All in all, a lovely tour which helped us contextualize our visit to Florence. It was an especially good choice for my 16 year-old, whose patience with looking at just one painting and church after another had worn a touch thin at this
point in the trip. Just a great tour, I'd recommend it highly. The guide did an excellent job.

traveller7Michigan
Michigan
Sep 20, 2009

“MUST DO!”

I recently visited Florence and took a Uffizi Gallery tour with the company Artviva. The guides are qualified art historians, therefore they are passionate, so the tour is not only informative,  but interesting and personable. I was so impressed I booked for the Original David Tour later that day ( as did most of the morning group). Having the knowledge and story behind the artworks you are looking at makes such a difference.There are many tour companies in Florence so ensure you  get the correct company - Artiviva. You can look them up on the internet prior to arriving in Florence. www.italy.artviva.com. There any numerous other tours you can take with Artiva and they will bend over backwards to ensure your Florence experience is a memorable one. I would highly reccommend you take at least one of the tours of Florence offered by Artviva. The highlight of my Florence visit!

Gina - Australia - September 2009
gandvadventure
Italy, France, Greek Islands
Sep 18, 2009

I really enjoyed the Original Florence Walk. Well paced tour with a little bit of everything, from food,to sculpture, to paintings, to architectures, to religions and of course to history. Paul's passion about what he does really adds a layer to the already flavorful tour. I would highly recommend it to others.

Lingzi
Toronto
Sep 16, 2009

 

“Fabulous tour!”

We did a full-day tour: first a three hour walking tour, then an Uffizi tour, and last an Accademia tour. We had three guides, all of which were very good. Freya did the walking tour, and she was a blast! Energetic,  knowledgeable, friendly and really showed us what Florence is all about. She pointed out architecture, art, and even told us stories about the historical events in Florence. Heather took us through the Uffizi and really opened our eyes to the art there. She pointed out some details in painting we never would have seen, and also shared stories of the art and artists. Paul took us to Accademia, and is incredibly knowledgeable about sculpture and Michelangelo. It was a long day, for sure, but a really fun one. We completed the day feeling like we really knew all that Florence had to offer.

gonetothedogz8
Phoenix, az
Sep 7, 2009

“Absolutely fabulous tour”

Took the 3 hour private "My Exclusive Original Florence Walk" with Tania. Cannot recommend it enough. We are a family with 2 adults and our "kids" are 18 and 20. We saw and learned so much and even managed to stop for coffee. Tania was so interesting but then you could expect that from someone with a Masters in Renaissance Art. We saw the difference between medieval and renaissance buildings, went inside a fascinating medieval building being renovated, went to The Rialto Bridge, visited a great market and also a food market. We also walked round most of the main sights of Florence and got our bearings for subsequent days.

Lupinfairy
Comox, Canada
Sep 1, 2009

“Great tours that will be the highlight of your trip”

I took a few tours with Artviva during my summer vacation to Florence - the Florence in One Day tours and the Best of Tuscany full day tour. I would highly recommend them to anyone. You would never be able to experience the city on your own like you can with one of Artviva's guides. We took the three Florence in One Day tours over two different days and felt like we were experts in the city's history and art after, but without listening to dry facts, the guides were great at giving us an overview of the city through stories and keeping us laughing. We saw  all the highlights of the Uffizi gallery and didn't wait in any lines.

The Best of Tuscany tour went to Monteriggioni, Siena and San Gimignano as well as a stop at a beautiful winery for a delicious lunch. There were only a few people in our group and our guide gave us information on the way, giving us some free time in each town. It was the perfect mix without making the day too long. It's a great tour  to take if you only have a day to see Tuscany, or want to see it with the help of an excellent entertaining guide and not worry about all the driving!

redphone2
Boston, MA
Aug 31, 2009

“This was so worth my time and money, that 3 years later, I came back for another!” 

This event, I'll refrain from using the phrase "tour" because it did not feel like one, was extraordinary to say the least. Sylvia, our tour guide, was not only extremely knowledgeable, energetic, punctual, personable, highly talented, and communicative about the various architectural and historical wonders of the city, but she was also  helpful to lead us in the right directions (various local points of interest) for the remainder of our 3 day stay in Florence. With the large number of tourist trap boutiques that my group was definitely not interested in, we surely would have been lost amongst the crowds without Sylvia's expertise. Thank you again, Sylvia and "The Original and Best Walking Tours" for this wonderful experience and tradition that we look forward to on our return to Italy.

JonathanHinkle
Florida, US
Aug 19, 2009

“The best way to see Florence”

I spent two days in Florence this summer and thanks to Walking Tours of Florence I really feel I got to know the city and enjoyed my stay there more than any other place in Italy. I did the Florence in One Day package  over two days and while I'm usually not big on tours the young lady who led our tours was able to show us details about the city that we never would have noticed on our own. She had a Masters in Art History and knew all the best shops and restaurants. She recommended an authentic  trattoria for lunch that had some of the best food I had in our whole trip.

JimMiami
Miami, Florida
Aug 18, 2009

“Uffizi Tour and Best of Tuscany- Both Excellent -Money well spent”

I spent a few days in Florence on my first visit (not my last!) and took two Artviva tours. I usually hate tours, but I had so little time, I thought I would start off with a museum walking  tour in order to get a good background and orient myself. My guide was Sylvia for the Uffizi gallery tour, and she was just really fantastic. I felt that she was so enthusiastic, warm, and especially intelligent and knowledgeable, she gave no ordinary tour. Her personal attention and interest in every member of the small group was very appreciated. Usually you see tourists herded around blankly, like cattle, until they don't seem to care at all about what the guide is droning  on about. I was really thrilled with the experience. It was just the right length, and I left feeling I had gained something unique, while making me want to see and learn more about Florence  and Tuscany.

So, I decided to chance another day with Artviva and do the "Best of Tuscany" tour and had another  memorable time with a small group-eight of us . Stefan was our guide. He is an absolute gem. His spirit, passion, sense of humor, and knowledge (not to mention his funny trivia games). really made it for me.The day was spent in lighthearted conversation, everyone felt taken care of, as if we were already all old friends (instead of the strangers we really were), learning a great a deal, laughing a lot, having a glorious time. Stefan gave the absolute best restaurant recommendation, and it made my last evening in Florence one I won't soon forget ( I ended up going out with some folks I had met that day on the tour itself).

Both of the guides I had genuinely loved what they were doing, and you have to commend a company who employs and allows these good people to flourish. Please keep up the excellent work Artviva. I will be recommending this company to friends and family.

miranda76
Aug 18, 2009

“Really the best!”

Of the numerous tours that we took in the course of a two weeks trip, these were by far the
 best. The guides were interesting, enthusiastic, and very well prepared. They knew how to
pace the tour and what to focus compared to simply brushing over.

The walking tours showed enough of the main sites but also included out-of-the way experiences that we would never have stumbled on ourselves.

The Uffizi Gallery tour, which could easily have been overwhelming, was a model of efficiency.
We have recommended these tours to everyone we have talked to since our return.

Peterandfamily
Zurich
Aug 16, 2009

"A Great tour of the Uffizi Gallery with Artviva"

I had a really interesting and fun tour of the Uffizi gallery in Florence with a company called Artviva. We were escorted to the gallery by a young guide who is a native speaker of English and were able to gain entry without the usual interminable wait in the queue.

Having visited the gallery before, I know it is a vaste repository of wonderful paintings and sculture. But you can wear out an awful lot of shoe leather trying to find the really good stuff and even then you might not realise what you are looking at.

Our guide on the other hand knew just where to take us and was full of entertaining stories about the artists and their work. There were some children in our group who were kept interested with questions to answer with a treasure hunt style quiz. They seemed to really enjoy the tour as much as the adults. After our tour we were free to keep exploring the gallery for as long as we wished, but I must admit my friend and I headed straight for the coffee shop.

Susieq056
Port Douglas
10 ago 2009

“Great experience!”

We truly enjoyed both the Original Florence Walk and Uffizi tours. We booked via internet from home and everything went well. Good information was provided regarding the tours and meeting place which was easy to find. Both guides were so passionate about Florence and able to share both their love of the city and their tremendous knowledge. We had fun, we learned a lot from them and our tours contributed to make our stay in Florence a very memorable experience. During the walking tour, you really get a good sense of the city: its history, influent families, religion, politics, arts and so on. The Uffizi museum is a "must see" but can be quite overwhelming on your own. Our guide was really good at selecting the best art pieces and information was so interesting! I would strongly recommend Artviva!

Johanne, Canada
ArwenQc
Québec
Aug 5, 2009

“Florence wouldn't have been the same without this tour”

We did the Original Walking Tour of Florence and it was the best of 5 good walking tours that we did during our trip to Europe. Our guide was an American graduate in art history who has been living in Florence for 6 years. She really knows her stuff! She explained so much about the art, the history, the buildings, the people, and more. I think of all the interesting and essential knowledge we learned about Florence and I realize how less interesting our visit  would have been if we hadn't done this tour. Highly recommended.

BobHEugene
Eugene, Oregon
Aug 4, 2009

 

 

"Great tour of the Uffizi museum”

My wife and I enjoyed the Uffizi tour very much. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable on the artwork there and gave a fascinating tour. I would certainly take another tour in the future with ArtViva.

KRFarrell  
Boston
Nov 4, 2009


"The ideal introduction to the Renaissance”