The food, where to begin.
Well, first of all, we had a few Adventurers who follow a Kosher diet and a few Adventurers who follow a vegetarian diet - and it seemed their needs were always met. The literature does say they will do their best, but cannot guarantee food acommodations - but our group seemed well pleased.
Our first evening, dinner was included. It was in the restaurant Aurelia in the hotel in Rome. Dinner was preceeded by a welcome reception. The food was very well prepared and delicious - and glory be - included wine. Well now, I hadn't seen this in the literature, but all the better for us.
A side note, I hope you enjoy wine if you go on the Tuscany tour. If you don't, you might by the time you leave. We had some hard-core, "never touch a red" people that couldn't get enough Chianti Classico Reserve by the time we left. If you aren't a wine person - there were always other options (soda, water (still or frizzy), etc) included as well.
Day two (Roma) included breakfast at the hotel which had a wide variety of choices and was delicious! Lunch was also included at a pizzeria in Roma as well as gelato as a late afternoon snack. As they really like it if you enjoy the afternoon tour, they don't provide wine with lunch - soda and water are included. The pizza was delicious and served family style - a whole bunch of pizzas brought out hot and steamy right to our tables.
Evening (and dinner) in Rome was on your own.
Day 3 again breakfast at the hotel before departure for Tuscany. Lunch in Orvieto was on your own during free time.
Dinner was the welcome dinner at the villa in the wine cellar - a long, delightful, wonderful meal - with yes! wine. Villa Belvedere is a vineyard and winery - so we enjoyed their Chianti with the meals there. Dinners are typically 4 or 5 courses, not rushed and a wonderful way to vacation.
Day 4 Breakfast at the Villa included - again a wide choice of freshly made breakfast foods. Lunch at the Villa (included) was preceded by a pasta making class and a cooking demonstration where we watched them making our dinner which was then served to us on the lawn of the villa....sigh..it was wonderful. Dinner was included at a great restaurant in San Gimigiano - wine wasn't included, but we were welcome to purchase our own - and we did!
Day 5 Breakfast at the Villa. Lunch was on our own in Florence - which due to a rain and hail storm - was spent with another couple from the tour having WONDERFUL lunch 5 course lunch with....yup...wine. Dinner was back at the villa - a Tuscan BBQ - it was delicious. the meat course was 3 types of bbq'd meat - so delicious! More chianti - included and plentiful.
Day 6 Breakfast at the Villa. Lunch was on our own in Siena. Dinner was back at the villa. Our farewell dinner. 4 courses...we were in the wine cellar again as our poolside dinner under the stars was moved indoors because of rain.
Day 7 - breakfast and then farewell.
Typically, courses would be:
*some kind of antepasta - usually a selection of meats, sometimes cheeses
*pasta - almost always meatless, at our welcome to the villa dinner we had the most amazing lasagne which had meat, but typically, it was a big delicious bowl of pasta
*meat - sometimes pork, sometimes beef, it was an amazing sea bass at the hotel in Rome- always prepared freshly. Sometimes served with a side dish of potatoes or other vegetable.
*dessert - all type of freshly made desserts, sometimes blueberry, sometimes gelato, sometimes almond, sometimes lemon, sometimes I don't remember.
Certainly to us, the food was part of the experience. We were able to taste authentic flavors of Tuscany.