Which port is best for a wine/olive oil tasting tour?

We will be in three Italian ports this Sept - Naples, Rome (Civitavecchia) and Florence (Livorno). Which of the three would you recommend for a wine/olive oil tour? Is there a specific tour you'd recommend?

How easy is it for us to do this on our own? Rent a car and drive (we will be 3 couples on this trip).

We will be in three Italian ports this Sept - Naples, Rome (Civitavecchia) and Florence (Livorno). Which of the three would you recommend for a wine/olive oil tour? Is there a specific tour you'd recommend?

 

How easy is it for us to do this on our own? Rent a car and drive (we will be 3 couples on this trip).

To answer this fairly we ought to know what you would like to do the other days and whether you have been to Italy before. That’s important because if you do a wine tour in one of them you are giving up the opportunity to see things generally associated with that port.

Italy has good local wines nearly everywhere, so you could pick a port that you’ve been to often enough to at least have seen the highlights. As far as olive oil goes, though, in September, you’re going to be about a month before the harvest, at least in most places. 11-month-old oil will be ok, but is never going to be as wonderful as oil right after it’s pressed.

To answer this fairly we ought to know what you would like to do the other days and whether you have been to Italy before. That’s important because if you do a wine tour in one of them you are giving up the opportunity to see things generally associated with that port.

I am in agreement with this. However we used Guido's Tours to see Tuscany from the port of Livorno. He gave us a great day which included sight seeing and wine tasting. He took us to San Gimignano, then a winery to taste wine and eat a wonderful lunch and then we called in to Pisa to go up the Tower (prebooked tickets for 4.30 pm I think) and he got us back to the ship in plenty of time.

Out of Livorno we always use Tuscany Taste Tours. Maurizio is a friend and has been great in setting up tours with wine tastings and local lunches. Check his website. We also use him for transfers to and from Rome port to city.

We(me and my husband) have been to Rome and Naples before. So, ideally we'd like to go sight seeing in Livorno (Florence and Pisa). But it does look like this port might be the best for a wine tour/tasting.

We were thinking of a tour of the Amalfi coast in Naples. Take things easy in Rome (stay close to Civitavecchia perhaps). Go sightseeing/wine tasting in Livorno.

We did a tour in Livorno by Papillion it was a truly great excursion had 8 people all from roll call, brief stop in Pisa then most of the day in Florence, we were given a choice of extra time in Florence which we loved or a wine tasting at a organic vineyard that produced its own wine and olive oil, great tour this in in heart of chianti classico country

Will take a look at the tour companies mentioned here - thanks. I did correspond with one company and they told me that we cannot do Florence, Pisa and a winery in one day :(

Will take a look at the tour companies mentioned here - thanks. I did correspond with one company and they told me that we cannot do Florence, Pisa and a winery in one day :(

I think that’s good advice. If you try to do too much, you won’t have the best tour experience as you rush around, and that company wants you to enjoy your day.

As a good compromise, you could do Pisa and Florence, and have some free time for a long-ish lunch in a good enoteca in Florence. You could eat great food and taste wines from several different vineyards. For example, Enoteca Pinchiorri gets a lot of good reviews.