Tuscany and Cinque Terre Experiences: Culture, Wine, Food and Adventure
Between the Apuan Alps and the Ligurian Sea, between the marble quarries of Carrara and the terraced vineyards above the Cinque Terre, there is a stretch of northwestern Italy that most travellers pass through on the way to somewhere else.
The ones who stop — who go inland from the coast, who climb into the quarries, who sit at a winemaker’s table in Montecarlo di Lucca or learn to make pesto in a 16th-century tower house in Riomaggiore — tend not to forget it.
Viaggi di Mare designs and delivers land-based experiences across Versilia, the Cinque Terre, the Apuan coast and inland Tuscany for international guests who want more than a sightseeing itinerary. Every experience is curated, every guide is qualified, and every transfer is private — because the journey between places is part of the experience, not a gap between them.
The Marble Quarries of Carrara: A World Unlike Any Other
The Carrara marble quarries are one of the most viscerally impressive landscapes in Italy — and one of the least visited by international travellers who do not know they exist. The Apuan Alps above Carrara contain the same stone that Michelangelo selected for the David, the Pietà and the unfinished works that still lie in the quarry walls waiting to be freed.
Seen from inside, at the scale of the mountains themselves, the effect is difficult to prepare for: white rock, blue sky, the sound of the extraction work echoing across a landscape that has been producing the world’s finest sculpture marble for more than two thousand years.
Tours are available in multiple formats — by 4×4 Jeep, by private Mercedes minivan, shared or fully private — with durations ranging from 3.5 to 5 hours and local product tastings included. Whether you choose the shared introductory tour or the full immersion private experience, the quarries are a guaranteed highlight of any stay on the Apuan and Ligurian coast.
Wine Experiences: From Versilia to Montecarlo di Lucca to the Cinque Terre
The wines produced in this corner of Italy are among the most distinctive and least-exported in the country — made in small quantities, on terrain that is genuinely heroic in places, by producers who have been working the same land for generations. Viaggi di Mare offers wine experiences across three distinct wine territories:
- Versilia — tastings in an 18th-century villa cellar with sea views, available in exclusive private or shared formats
- Montecarlo di Lucca — the Buonamico Estate, 100 hectares of Tuscan vineyard southwest of Montecarlo, with wine and olive oil tastings and optional light lunch; available in shared, exclusive and private formats
- Cinque Terre — heroic viticulture among the terraced vineyards of Manarola and Corniglia, white wine tasting in the landscape that produces it, and an exclusive tour celebrating the human effort behind one of Italy’s most labour-intensive wine regions
Cooking and Food Experiences: Learning the Flavours of the Territory
Food in this part of Italy is not a backdrop to the experience — it is the experience. Ligurian cuisine and Tuscan cooking are two distinct and equally serious traditions, and the best way to understand either is to make them by hand with people who grew up eating them.
Available culinary experiences include a Cinque Terre pesto-making class using a traditional marble mortar and pestle, a full cooking class in a 16th-century tower house in Riomaggiore covering pasta, pesto and tiramisù, and a traditional Tuscan pasta class in the Riviera Apuana — hands-on, unhurried, and served at the end of the lesson.
Private City Tours: Florence, Pisa, Lucca and the Ligurian Coast
All city tours depart by private luxury Mercedes van with driver, from Versilia or La Spezia, at 9:30 a.m. or 2:30 p.m. Licensed guides accompany every tour. The programme covers the region’s most significant urban destinations:
- Florence — the cradle of the Renaissance, a full-day private tour taking in the Duomo, Piazza della Signoria, the Uffizi quarter and the city’s unmatched concentration of art and architecture
- Pisa — the Campo dei Miracoli and the city beyond the Leaning Tower, in a half-day or combined full-day format with Lucca
- Lucca — the intact medieval walls, the hidden piazzas and the food culture of one of Tuscany’s most genuinely lived-in cities, in half-day or full-day format with optional winery lunch
- Villa Reale di Marlia — a private half-day tour of one of Tuscany’s most extraordinary historic villas, from medieval fortress to Napoleonic residence, with its celebrated Italian gardens
- Cinque Terre & Portovenere — a full-day private guided tour of the five villages and the medieval waterfront of Portovenere by luxury van, for guests who prefer a land-based approach to the coast
Active Experiences: Cycling the Coast and the Natural Parks
For guests who prefer to experience the landscape in motion, three cycling itineraries explore the coastal terrain between Viareggio and the Apuan hinterland — through pine forests, along the seafront, into the San Rossore Natural Park and around Lake Massaciuccoli. Suitable for groups and families, these tours combine physical activity with some of the most scenic and ecologically intact environments on the Tyrrhenian coast.
All land experiences can be combined with boat tours to create a complete multi-day programme across the sea and the interior. To discuss your group’s interests and receive a personalised itinerary proposal, contact the team via WhatsApp at +39 393 8460930 or email booking@viaggidimare.it.
