Tuscany Cooking Classes

Taking a cooking class in Tuscany is a fun way to experience the region’s food and culture. Courses range from one day classes to longer programs. Cooking classes combine instruction with hands-on experience so you learn about Tuscan food and get to experience making it yourself. Lunch or dinner, made with the dishes you’ve helped prepare, is served after the class, usually including wine.

Tuscan Women Cook

The week long program with Tuscan Women Cook includes 4 different cooking experiences with local women ranging from a self-taught chef in a Michelin starred restaurant to cooking on a farm. Students have hands-on experiences that include making pici, the local pasta, as well as other types of pasta and traditional Tuscan dishes. Students stay in luxurious accommodations in the center of Montefollonico, a small medieval Tuscan hill town that’s not on the usual tourist itinerary. Also included in the program are visits to local wine and food producers, excursions to other towns in Tuscany, and wonderful meals.

• Read my review of Tuscan Women Cook or visit their website

Gourmet Cooking Vacation Near Lucca

This 8-day hands-on cooking vacation is held in a restaurant kitchen in northern Tuscany, a 5 minute drive from Lucca. Participants stay in apartments above the restaurant. Included in the cooking vacation are daily cooking classes, visits to local markets and a winery, and field trips to nearby villages and towns.

• Details and booking: 8 Day Gourmet Cooking Vacation

Food Artisans

Cookbook author Pamela Sheldon Johns, a former cooking school director, has lived in Italy for many years and is the author of 16 cookbooks. She teaches cooking classes in her gourmet kitchen on her agriturismo, Poggio Etrusco, near Montepulciano. Pamela is an excellent teacher and really gets the students involved in the class with a good combination of fun and learning. Poggio Etrusco is a beautiful setting and of course the food is delicious!

Pamela offers morning classes followed by lunch, week long culinary workshops, culinary vacations with cooking classes in other parts of Italy such as Piemonte (with truffle hunting) and Cinque Terre, and an opportunity to join the olive harvest.

• Websites: Food Artisans Culinary Workshops and Agriturismo Poggio Etrusco

Gourmet Cooking Course in Barga

This 5-day hands-on cooking course is held in a cooking school 4 kilometers from the village of Barga, one of Italy’s most beautiful villages, in the Garfagnana region near Lucca. Participants stay in apartments or rooms at the cooking school. Included in the cooking vacation are 4 days of cooking classes, visits to local markets, wine tasting, meals, and field trips to Barga, Lucca, and Pisa.

• Details and booking: 5 Days Gourmet Cooking Course

Pasta and Gelato Cooking Class in Florence

Take a hands-on pasta making class with a local chef and observe a gelato making demonstration in Florence. Afterwards enjoy a meal with wine or soft drinks. In this 3 hour experience you’ll make 2 seasonal pasta dishes, get culinary tips from the chef, and receive a digital recipe booklet.

• Details and booking: Pasta and Gelato Class

---

This post may contain affiliate links to sites I believe are of benefit to travelers. There is no cost to you but the small amount of revenue helps defer the cost of bringing you this free information.