Tuscany Slow Cooking™

Join Fabrizio at his family estate for a week of cooking and touring in The Slow Cooking Tuscany 6 Day.  Check into the beautiful farmhouse villa located in the heart of the Tuscan countryside.  The Tuscan cooking classes are held in the villa’s private kitchen and feature traditional recipes from the region with our Chef Cati.  You will learn how to prepare Tuscan antipasti, pasta, main courses and desserts.

At the Villa, Fabrizio’s energetic personality along with Chef Cati’s talented cooking skills make this cooking program our best-seller for Tuscany. The entire staff, along with Fabrizio and his family, welcomes you for a fun-filled cooking experience in the heart of Chianti!

As featured in April 2011 – Click here to read more!

Tuscan Cooking Classes and Outdoor Market Tour

Experience the delights of the traditional Tuscan lifestyle while attending fun-filled cooking classes and discovering Tuscan towns and villages. You will learn to prepare Tuscan antipasto, pizza and breads, hearty soups, homemade pastas and sauces, meats, fish, vegetables and desserts.

On the menu – antipasti includes bruschetta, toasted Tuscan bread garnished with farm-fresh tomatoes, or black olives and garden-picked squash flowers stuffed with fresh ricotta and flash-fried to a perfect golden.  Fresh pasta is a must – think tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms and Florentine gnudi, hand-made gnocchi stuffed with spinach and ricotta.  Artichokes are delicious and are stuffed with herbs, bread and mozzarella.  Beans, farro and lentils are an important staple in Tuscan cuisine with recipes such as an Etruscan fagioli all’uccelletto, slow-cooked in white wine.  Desserts tempt with twice-baked cantucci, almond cookies, dipped in Vin Santo, blessed wine, tiramisù, and schiacciata con l’uva, Tuscan cake garnished with red grapes and rosemary.  This is a simple sample of Fabrizio’s family recipes.

You will learn the secrets of making gnocchetti verdi di patate con pomodorino fresco e basilico, green potato gnocchi with fresh tomatoes and basil, filetto d’orata al gratin di patate, fish with potato gratin or sea food risotto.  Chianina meat is a main staple in Tuscany, and if you like this one, we prepare it on the menu. Desserts are beautiful, and include semifreddo alle nocciole con cioccolato fondente, ice cream cake with dark chocolate and nuts, cantucci, and open-faced crostata, fruit pies made with the fruits from the garden.  Following each cooking class, everyone enjoys the foods that were prepared together with wine from the estate.  Each cooking class is hands-on and includes traditional Tuscan cuisine. The estate’s kitchen is located in the main villa, formerly the family’s wine cellars.

Experience a visit to the vibrant marketplace with our host as scents of just-baked bread, artisan cheese, and morning-picked produce from the nearby farms stir your senses.  Listen to the sounds of sellers calling out their daily catch – prime cuts and daily specials.  Shop along rows of passionate purveyors who have kept the Old World way of farm-to-table.

Family Tradition

Fabrizio and his family have a long history of wine-making and continue to pioneer their craft, producing organic bio-dynamic wine at the property.  This superior wine is made in the Chianti region under the warm summer sun with a harvest in the fall leaving beautiful grapes to be pressed.  Tradition and modern approaches merge with wine-making technologies yielding production of 30,000 bottles a year. The award-winning wine boasts the Silver Label, awarded at the Tuscan Gastronomic Show in New York City 2005 and 2006, and in the VIII edition of the Tuscan Wine Selection in 2008.

Tuscan Villa Accommodations

The private Villa has recently been restored, respecting its Old Word charm while adding modern comforts with traditional Tuscan furnishings.  Set on a working vineyard, the property is surrounded by rolling Tuscan hills in the heart of Chianti set in fields of olive groves.  An organic vegetable garden produces beautiful tomatoes, eggplants, zucchini and a bounty of seasonal fruit.  Guests are invited to pick the fruits and vegetables, which are then used in the cooking classes.

The Villa offers large apartments and spacious superior rooms, traditionally furnished and newly renovated with modern conveniences including air-conditioning.  Each room has comfortable bedding, Tuscan linens and a private ensuite bathroom, telephone, full kitchenette, refrigerator, satellite TV and wifi.  Accommodations offer either a private garden or spacious terrace.

Step outside your door and into a lush garden set with a caffé-style terrace for dining, reading or painting. There is an outdoor wood-burning brick oven for our pizza-making class, an over-sized swimming pool and terrace on the property. Majestic Murgesi horses are bred on the premises if you would like to ride with the horse trainer.

Breakfast is served daily in the farmhouse’s spacious dining room and outdoor terrace where you will enjoy your Tuscan breakfast featuring artisan breads, salumi, Prosciutto, artisan cheese, fruit, homemade jams, biscotti and cakes, along with espresso, cappuccino and tea each morning.  Traditional Tuscan lunch or dinner is also available.  E-bikes are available at the property for peddling through the Tuscan countryside.

Family-style suites and apartments are also available upon request.

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Siena

Surrounded by olive groves and vineyards is beautiful Siena with its bell towers beckoning from miles away.  In the center of town, there’s the Piazza del Camp, a beautiful square waiting filled with life.  Visit the Duomo, a great example of Italian Romanesque architecture originally built to be one of the grandest cathedrals in Europe.  Discover Palazzo Pubblico, home to Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s frescos, and walk the narrow walkways discovering the ancient city’s past. Caffés, wine bars, trattorias and gelaterias enchant  while La Dolce Vita sweeps you away.  And while in Siena, try Panforte, the ancient cake made with cinnamon, almonds and citrus.

San Gimignano

San Gimignano is the Medieval town of art, music and history.  It’s  known for its dazzling towers, quaint walkways brimming with enotecas, trattorias, artisan shops and art galleries. Although there are only 14 towers standing of the original 72, the remaining towers are a sign of wealth and power.  Stroll the piazza, enjoy a plate of taste San Gimignano’s famous salumi made with fennel seeds and Percorino with a glass of Sangiovese.  Take a seat in the piazza for dreamy views overlooking the two towers while sipping a Tuscan wine and writing a postcard.

Pisa

Pisa, the ancient maritime republic, is a quiet town that boasts one of the most iconic symbols of Italy – the Leaning Tower of Pisa. There’s also the town’s piazza, Campo Dei Miracoli, and the Duomo, Baptistery.  Take note because it is not only Pisa’s Tower that leans, but also the Baptistery and the Duomo.  Discover beautiful Pisa, enjoy a gelato in the square while learning about Pisa’s long historic past.

Organic Olive Oil and Wine Tasting Tour

During your culinary week, taste and learn about the superior wine and extra virgin first pressed olive oil. The products are genuine and certified and the sommelier will take you on a tour of the cantina, the vineyards and the cellar. At the end of the visit, you will have the chance to taste the products grown on the estate. The tasting is paired with a selection of typical Tuscan appetizers, served in the wine cellar or under their Loggia, along with insight on the food and wine that locals have been enjoying for centuries.

Itinerary: 6 Days, 5 Nights

Day 1: Welcome and Tuscan Dinner

• Check in, relax.  Enjoy your Cooking Vacations’ Welcome Bag with Prosecco, and introduction.
• In the evening, enjoy a Welcome Dinner with a full course Chef’s Tasting Menu of local fare with Chianti wines produced by the property.

Day 2: Vineyard and Cantina Tour with Wine Tasting, Olive Oil Tasting & Cooking Class 1

• Breakfast is served.
• In the morning meet the family along with Fabrizio and Chef. They will be your hosts for the week and take care of your every whim.  You will have an introduction and overview of your cooking week. Take a walk through the property, the vineyards, and the horse stables – horseback riding is also available on the estate and all levels are welcome.  Relax by the pool or take a swim, weather permitting, or walk to the small village at the entrance of the villa property and explore, or sip a cappuccino at the local caffé.
• Join Fabrizio for a Wine Tour Tasting and discussion.  Visit the vineyards and cellar, learn about bio-dynamic wine growing and production, then enjoy a wine tasting on the property.
• In the afternoon, Tuscan cooking class 1. This hands-on experience shares Fabrizio’s family recipes in making a full course traditional menu with Tuscan fare.  Dinner follows and includes the food that was prepared in the cooking class with wine included.  During the cooking class, learn about Tuscan olive oil, how it is produced, bottled and used in cooking.  The property produces first cold pressed virgin organic olive oil.

Day 3: Outdoor Farmer’s Market Tour and Cooking Class 2

• Breakfast is served.
• Following breakfast, you will visit the local outdoor Farmers’ Market.  Fabrizio takes you to the local outdoor farmer’s market, where producers and farmers display their vegetables, fruits, fish, artisan cheese, meat, fish, olive oil and artisan leather goods, linens, wooden cooking tools – to name a few. Piled high are baskets of the season’s freshest produce.  Select the ingredients that will be used in class while Fabrizio shares tips on how to pick out the freshest fruits and vegetables.
• Take time out for lunch on your own.
• Afternoon, cooking class 2.  Tie on your aprons for hands-on our hands-on cooking class preparing a full course Tuscan menu with antipasto, fresh pasta and sauce, main course and dessert.  Following the cooking class everyone enjoys the food that was made in the class with wine included.

Day 4:  Discover Florence, the Renaissance City of Art

• Breakfast is served.
• Following breakfast, meet your driver for a full day in Florence.  Florence, the city of Art and known as the Renaissance City, is world-famous for its museums including the Uffizi, with works by DaVinci, Caravaggio and Botticelli, and the Accademia featuring Michelangelo’s David.  Visit the Santa Croce, Duomo, and San Lorenzo Market or the ancient Ponte Vecchio.  Enjoy an aperitivo and dinner on your own.
• Following your day in Florence, return to the property with driver.

Day 5: Cooking Class 3 & Tuscan Dinner

• Breakfast is served.
• Tie on your aprons for Cooking Class 3. Create a full course menu including an antipasto, fresh pasta with season sauce, main course and dessert.  Lunch follows and includes the food prepared in the cooking class with wine.
• Afternoon free to relax by the pool, go horseback riding or sit in the outdoor terrace at the property and enjoy a wine with other guests.
• Enjoy a Tuscan Dinner at the Villa with Chianti wine, included.

Day 6: Departure

• Breakfast is served.
• Check out and departure.
• Arrivederci Firenze!

*Note: This schedule may vary due to inclement weather, saint days or festivals. All activities, in the event of rescheduling, are always included during the program.