There is a version of Tuscany that most travellers never quite reach. The one where the landscape doesn't rush past a car window, where the wine isn't hurried and where the journey itself is as extraordinary as the destination.
The Core Events La Dolce Vita Tastes of Tuscan Vineyards experience, is exactly that version. A refined, deeply considered journey through the heart of Italy's most celebrated wine region experienced aboard one of the world's most iconic luxury trains.
This is not a vineyard tour. This is Tuscany at its most elegant, most unhurried and most unforgettable.
The Train That Changes Everything: La Dolce Vita Orient-Express
To understand what makes this experience exceptional, you first need to understand the train.
The La Dolce Vita Orient-Express is a modern icon of Italian rail luxury, a train whose very name translates as "the sweet life" and one that lives up to that promise at every turn. Its beautifully restored carriages are a love letter to classic Italian elegance: warm interiors, considered design and a pace of travel that feels deliberate rather than rushed.
As the train moves through the Tuscan countryside, vineyard-covered hills, olive groves and medieval hilltop villages unfold continuously beyond the carriage windows, a view that no motorway or busy tourist bus could ever replicate.
The La Dolce Vita Orient-Express traces its heritage back to George Nagelmackers' original Orient Express, designed 150 years ago to carry passengers across Europe in a style that matched the grandeur of the destinations themselves. Onboard this train, that spirit lives on. The journey is the destination. The carriage is the restaurant, the lounge and the viewing platform. And the experience of travelling through Tuscany this way, slowly, stylishly, with intention, is something that stays with you long after you've returned home.
This is not simply a way of getting from one place to another. It is the defining feature of the entire experience.
Dining Onboard: A Three-Michelin-Starred Lunch with Heinz Beck
At the heart of the onboard experience sits one of its most remarkable inclusions: a gourmet lunch prepared by three-Michelin-starred Chef Heinz Beck.
Heinz Beck is one of the most celebrated chefs working in Italy today. His cooking is rooted in a deep respect for Italian ingredients and culinary tradition, elevated through extraordinary technique and a genuine passion for the relationship between food and wellbeing. To sit down to a lunch prepared by his kitchen as the Tuscan hills roll past the window is the kind of moment that simply cannot be manufactured or replicated.
The evening continues in the same spirit, with dinner onboard the La Dolce Vita Orient-Express, followed by live music and entertainment. Italian breakfast is served daily. Every meal is an event in itself and every meal feels entirely at home in this setting.
For those who love food as much as they love wine, this train delivers something extraordinary: world-class dining in motion, through one of the world's most beautiful landscapes.
The Destination: Montalcino and the Brunello di Montalcino
The La Dolce Vita departs on a one-night round-trip to Montalcino, a hilltop town in the province of Siena, sitting at the heart of one of Tuscany's most revered wine-producing regions.
Montalcino is famous above all for Brunello di Montalcino, made from 100% Sangiovese Grosso grapes and widely regarded as one of Italy's greatest wines. A visit to one of the local estates for a winery tour and tasting is an experience that any serious wine lover will treasure. The wines here are not just exceptional in the glass; they are the product of a landscape, a climate and a tradition that stretches back centuries.
Beyond wine, Montalcino rewards exploration. The town's medieval fortress, the Abbey of Sant'Antimo, the Palazzo dei Priori and the surrounding Val d'Orcia countryside all offer a depth of culture and history that makes every hour here feel well spent.
Located just 42km from Siena, 110km from Florence and 150km from Pisa, Montalcino is positioned at the geographical and cultural heart of Tuscany and arriving by the La Dolce Vita Orient-Express is without question the finest way to approach it.
What's Included in the Core Events Experience
Every element of the Tastes of Tuscan Vineyards experience has been arranged so that from the moment you leave home, there is nothing to organise and nothing to worry about. The full package includes:
- Return flights from London to Rome Airport
- Two nights at the 5* Orient Express La Minerva Hotel in Rome (before and after the onboard experience)
- Return transfers from Rome Airport to the La Minerva Hotel
- Return transfers from the hotel to the La Dolce Vita Orient-Express
- One-night round-trip onboard the La Dolce Vita Orient-Express to Montalcino
- Italian breakfast served daily onboard
- Gourmet lunch by three-Michelin-starred Chef Heinz Beck onboard the La Dolce Vita
- Dinner onboard with live music and entertainment
- Time to explore Montalcino, including winery visits and tastings
- Core Events staff assistance available throughout
Where You'll Stay: Orient Express La Minerva Hotel, Rome
Before and after your time aboard the La Dolce Vita, two nights are spent at the 5* Orient Express La Minerva Hotel in Rome, a property that sets the tone for everything that follows.
Elegant, considered and rooted in the Orient Express tradition of understated luxury, the La Minerva provides a seamless beginning and end to the journey. Rome itself is a destination worthy of time, having two nights here with transfers handled and nothing to arrange means you can explore the city at your own pace before the train departs.
What to Wear
The atmosphere aboard the La Dolce Vita Orient-Express is relaxed yet refined, very much in keeping with the quiet confidence of Italian style. Smart casual works beautifully throughout: tailored daywear, relaxed evening attire and comfortable footwear are all well-suited to the journey.
Light layers are recommended, particularly for evening travel, as temperatures can vary. The overall tone is polished without being formal and Tuscany, with its unhurried elegance, inspires exactly that approach.
Why Book Through Core Events
Planning a journey like this independently is possible, in theory. In practice, an experience of this calibre where the train, the hotel, the dining, the transfers and the destination all need to work in perfect harmony requires a level of expertise and relationship that very few can bring.
Core Events has built its reputation across some of the world's most demanding events: Royal Ascot, Formula 1 and Premier League hospitality. The same standards, the same attention to detail and the same commitment to getting everything right are applied to every travel experience the team curates.
When you book the Tastes of Tuscan Vineyards experience through Core Events, you gain more than a well-organised itinerary. You gain a team that understands what makes a moment memorable and that genuinely cares about delivering it.
Core Events staff are present throughout the journey, meaning any question is answered and any detail is handled quietly and immediately, so you can focus entirely on the experience itself.
A Journey Designed to Be Savoured
The La Dolce Vita Tastes of Tuscan Vineyards is not the kind of experience you stumble upon. It is the kind you choose deliberately, because you want Tuscany done properly through its landscapes, its wines, its food and its enduring sense of beauty.
Dates are to be confirmed. Availability will be limited.
To find out more or to enquire about securing your place, speak with the Core Events team directly.
Call: 0116 309 0000 Visit: coreeventsgroup.co.uk/
Tuscany is waiting. There is only one way to arrive.