Tie on your apron with Chef Maria in our Mare e Monti, sea and mountian cooking program on the Amalfi Coast. Learn how to make the lasagne, ravioli, fish and desserts with an Italian Nonna while immersing yourself with the family. Discover Amalfi Coast cooking classes, wine tasting, a delicious food lovers walk as you cook, sip and relax in Chef Maria’s palazzo.
As featured in 
August 2017 – Click here to read more!
Chef Maria prepares traditional recipes using farm-to-table produce from her garden. Shop with the Chef in the local village, and learn about artisan mozzarella, salumi, bread, and limoncello with tastings along the way.
Following your shopping experience, tie on your aprons and head to the kitchen. She starts with antipasto, then, fresh pasta and sauce, a main course and dessert. Experience the freshest sea food and clams, shrimp. You will also prepare grass fed meat and free range chicken. You will prepare Maria’s recipe for zeppole, lemon cake and walnut cake made from the nuts in her garden.
Maria’s husband Umberto grows his own organic vegetables – zucchini, fava beans, peas, eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, chilli peppers, basil and parsley. Visit the garden and help pick vegetables and fruits for the cooking class. The family also grows grapes in their vineyard, and makes homemade wine.
Amalfi Coast Accommodation
Check in to the villa palazzo and relax. Each bedroom has a terrace or balcony with views of the sea. Cool terracotta tiles line each large bedroom, and all guest rooms have a private bathroom with a shower and hair-dryer, wifi and a TV. Breakfast is served each morning and includes coffee, teas, fresh fruit, yogurt, bread, cakes made by Maria, farm-fresh eggs and jams. Enjoy your breakfast outdoors in the garden where the family grows chestnut and fig trees, jasmine and lavender. Maria’s herb garden – growing rosemary, mint, basil, and basil scent the air.
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Agerola
Known both as the Piccola Svizzera, little Switzerland, and the Grande Terrazza sul Mare, the great terrace overlooking the sea, the small town of Agerola is set between the Lattari Mountains above the Amalfi Coast. Approximately 600 meters above sea level, the small town offers lush green hills overlooking the Amalfi Coast.
Agerola is cherished by nature lovers who delight in hiking and exploring the countryside. This town is famous for the Walk of the Gods, hiking path. Sea meets sky from the Walk of the Gods paths boasting unbeatable views of terraces lined with lemon groves. Tranquility reigns along the pathways where you’ll find herds of goats or donkey’s carrying supplies.
From Agerola it is an easy driver to Amalfi, Ravello, Positano, Vietri, Praiano, Sorrento and Capri, and Pompeii, Herculaneum, Paestum and Naples.
Amalfi Coast Cooking Classes
Join Chef Maria in the kitchen where you will prepare full menus starting with antipasto, fresh pasta with seasonal sauce, main course and dessert. Maria guides you through each hands-on cooking class using her family recipes. Following each cooking class, everyone enjoys the food that was made in the class with local white or red wine.
Itinerary 8 days, 7 nights
Day 1: Benvenuto and Welcome Dinner
• Pick-up and transfer to property.
• Check into your room, meet your hosts, and review your program.
• Sit out on the terrace and enjoy your Prosecco.
• Later in the evening, enjoy your Welcome Dinner featuring a Chef’s Tasting Menu featuring local fare with local wine and caffe included.
Day 2: Explore Pompeii and Amalfi Cooking Class 1
• Breakfast is served.
• Following breakfast, meet your driver for an excursion to Pompeii. Walk the path and learn how Vesuvius erupted in 79AD, only to be rediscovered in 1748. Pompeii is a UNESCO World Heritage Site where every facet of ancient Roman life is revealed – the style of their houses, recreational habits, the city’s art and culture. Mosaics, frescoes, terracotta amphora, and casts of townspeople and animals caught in the eruption all make for an absolutely fascinating visit.
• Following your visit, return to Agerola.
• In the afternoon, join Chef Maria in the kitchen for your first hands-on cooking. Prepare traditional mare e monti, sea and land, antipasti, Neapolitan lasagne, caponata, a delicious bread and mozzarella salad and homemade babà with limoncello. Dinner follows and everyone enjoys the food that was prepared in the cooking class with red or white wine and caffe included.
Day 3: Visit to Artisan Mozzarella Producer & Amalfi Cooking Class 2
• Breakfast is served.
• After breakfast, enjoy a visit to an artisan mozzarella maker. Discover fior di latte and other artisan cheese with tastings included.
• Take time for lunch is on your own with suggestions provided
• In the afternoon, join Chef Maria for your second hands-on cooking class. Learn to prepare zeppole agerolesi, paccheri pasta with eggplant and provolone del monaco. Learn how to prepare chicken with Amalfi Coast lemon and potatoes. For dessert, mix and bake torta di noci, a delicate walnut cake made with nuts from her garden. Dinner follows and everyone enjoys the food that was prepared in the cooking class with local white or red wine and caffe included.
Day 4: Walk of the Gods and Amalfi, and Cooking Class 3
• Breakfast is served.
• Morning is free to explore Agerola. Discover the viewpoints and breathtaking panoramas over the Amalfi Coast overlooking Amalfi and Praiano. For the more adventurous, trek through the Path of the Gods. Leaving from Bomerano in Agerola, this trek leads you through some of Italy’s most stunning countryside, along paths and trails cut into the dramatic Amalfi landscape high above the Mediterranean. Remember to bring your camera, water, a hat and sunscreen, and wear comfortable walking or trekking shoes.
• In the afternoon, join Chef Maria in the kitchen for your third cooking class. Depending on the garden selection, you will make linguine with porcini mushrooms, veal scaloppine cooked in white wine and stuffed vegetables. Maria shares her recipe and technique for making her famous Amalfi Coast lemon cake. Dinner follows and everyone enjoys the food that was prepared in the cooking class with white or red wine and caffe included.
Day 5: Wine Tour, Tasting and Amalfi Cooking Class 4
• Breakfast is served.
• Following breakfast, meet your driver and visit an award-winning vineyard and winery. Visit the vineyard and cantina, and learn about the process and bottling. Tastings included.
• Following the tour, take time out for lunch on your own with suggestions provided.
• In the afternoon, join Chef Maria for your fourth cooking class. Mix and mold gnocchi alla sorrentina – with tomato sauce and mozzarella. Prepare a farm-raised pork loin in white wine. Following the main courses, prepare the traditional ricotta and pear tart. Dinner follows everyone enjoys the food that was prepared in the cooking class with white or red wine and caffe included.
Day 6: Ceramic Visit and Amalfi Cooking class 5
• Breakfast is served.
• Following breakfast, visit an artisan ceramic maker who creates beautiful hand-painted plates, soup bowls, vases, platters and more. Learn about the history of Amalfi Coast ceramics and shop too.
• Following the tour, take time out for lunch on your own with suggestions provided.
• In the afternoon, join Chef Maria for your fifth cooking lesson. You will learn to make cannelloni, stuffed pasta with ricotta and buffalo mozzarella, rabbit or chicken baked in lemon leaves and served with grilled vegetables, and torta Caprese. Dinner follows everyone enjoys the food that was prepared in the cooking class with white or red wine and caffe included.
Day 7: Free Day – Relax
• Breakfast is served.
• Today, is a free day to relax, sit by the pool, head to the beach or discover the Amalfi Coast on your own. From the property, you can take a bus or taxi and visit Amalfi or Positano.
Day 8: Arrivederci
• Breakfast is served.
• Check out and arrivederci!
Program Includes:
- 7 nights, 8 days accommodations in a villa palazzo property. Click to View!
- Daily breakfast and maid service.
- Welcome Dinner featuring a Chef’s Tasting with a full course menu of local fare with wine and caffe included.
- 5 Amalfi Coast Cooking classes, followed by lunch or dinner and including the food that was prepared in the cooking class with white or red wine, water, dessert and coffee included.
- Excursion to artisan mozzarella maker with English-speaking guide and tastings included.
- Excursion to to artisan limoncello maker with with English-speaking guide and tastings included.
- Excursion to an artisan ceramic maker with English-speaking guide.
- Excursion to Pompeii with driver. English-speaking tour guide and entrance tickets are not included and must be purchased online by guest.
- Excursion to a wine maker’s vineyard and cantina with tour and wine tasting included. Driver included.
- Cooking Vacations’ Welcome Bag with Chef’s apron, recipe booklet and Prosecco.
- Round trip transfers to and from Naples Airport or Train Station to the property.
- A copy of Lauren’s cookbook, “It’s A Dream Place – Stories & Recipes of Food, Love and the Amalfi Coast.”
Program Prices
$3,995 per person, based on 2 guests.
2024 Dates: You can check in and start your cooking program any day of the week. Rates are subject to change based on currency exchange. Call for updated rates. Airfare not included. Group transfers for any cooking tour or tours that include transfers, are for the group and are not private. Transfers before, after or to another destination outside of your cooking tour are not included in the program price. If you would like to add on a private transfer or transfers, let us know and we will send you pricing.
