Montalcino, Italy - 1 to 3 days
Available year round

Take hands-on cooking lessons in Montalcino from Teresa. Born in Rome, Teresa speaks fluent English and French and will share her knowledge of food preparation with you as well as giving you the tools you need to create simple dishes that are easily replicated once you get home.

Cooking is very creative but Teresa will also explain the technical facts of cooking such as the difference between cooking with or without a lid, adding red or white wine or vinegar, and similar examples of simple, easy-to-learn and practical cooking methods. Teresa lives in the tallest building of the village with a very special view. Being inside very old walls, it was presumably built in the Middle Ages, at least the ground floor, while the third was added three centuries ago.

Montalcino is a must see while in Tuscany and one of my favorite villages in Italy. It is one of the most picturesque hill-top villages, located 20 miles south of Siena. Inhabited since the Stone Age, it became famous in the Middle Ages for its fine cooking and leather works for knights and horses. Today it is famous for its wine: Brunello di Montalcino.

The name Montalcino means "monte dei lecci", "mons ilcinus", or "mountain of the oaks". From archeological artifacts, the hill was inhabited during the Paleolithic era. Its main development occurred in the Middle Ages around the year 1000. Its first wall dates back a century earlier. The main road in the Orcia Valley is the Cassia, that leads from Rome to Florence. It was laid out by the Romans. Another road was the Francigena, at times crossing, while at others is parallel to the Cassia, taking pilgrims through France to Rome for holy year celebrations.

Here you can find an attraction of undisputed interest, the Strada del Vino (the historic wine road) that passes through the fragrant homeland of the legendary vineyards of Brunello di Montalcino wine.

THE COURSES

Two Cooking Days in Montalcino

Teresa begins your first cooking class with a short talk on the origin of the basic ingredients. One of the more interesting things students will learn is that tomatoes, which have so much influence in our cooking, originated from the "new continent" and were first believed to be a poisonous plant. Tomatoes were first used in Italian cooking at the end of the 1600’s. Another interesting fact is that the chicken and eggplant originally came from Tibet!

In the Italian kitchen, everything starts with an onion. Add it diced to extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan, and this is the beginning of a tomato sauce or any other kind of sauce, a risotto and even a roast.

If you already know the basics Teresa will can concentrate on risottos or on the many, many different ways to make a pasta sauce. You can even make pasta by hand or invent new fillings for cannelloni or ravioli and make your own cakes. You will also be surprised on the many ways there are to make a good coffee!

The first dinner will be based on different tomato sauces (3 or 4 sauces and one risotto), and the addition of 2 or 3 vegetables (egg plant, bell peppers, fennel, artichokes, vegetables in season), 2 bruschette (1 classic with garlic, salt and oil, the other with fresh tomatoes)

Five Cooking Days in Montalcino (Classes 4-6 people)

During the five days of cooking classes you will learn to make sauces, risottos, gnocchi, hand made pastas, desserts, home made marmalades, as well as the use of seasonal vegetables like: peppers, eggplant, zucchini, in different preparations.

Over the five days you will prepare five wonderful dinners which you will enjoy with some wonderful Italian wines from the area.

Cooking Demonstrations

For larger groups of up to ten people cooking demonstrations can be arranged. The demonstration can be done as a single group over the whole day or the group can be split into two sessions, one for the morning and one for the afternoon. For the demonstration courses Teresa will be doing the cooking, having prepared the sauces and other ingredients in advance, and explaining as the course unfolds how and why everything was prepared and how each dish is put together.

*Wine is extra - 5€ per bottle of red

*Morning Cooking Classes are from 11:00am-2:00pm

*Evening Cooking Classes are from 5:00pm-8:00pm

*Please inquire about vegetarian and gluten free menus. Food allergies are also taken into consideration.

GROUP SIZE

A minimum of 1 participant is required to run this tour and the tour is limited to a maximum of 15 participants (if you have a villa/farmhouse Teresa can teach there; please inquire)

HOW TO ARRIVE

Closest Airports/Train Stations

Airports: Florence
You can also fly into Pisa or Rome
(Additional transportation is necessary to get directly to Montalcino. (Rental car, train, bus).

Trains
From Florence, take the train to Siena and from Siena to Buonconvento. From Buonconvento take a bus up to Montalcino, which is only 8 km. away.

From Pisa, take the train to Grosseto, where you can ask for the special train to Siena. Get off at Buonconvento and take the bus to Montalcino.

From Rome Termini Railway Station, take the train to Grosseto and three times a day there is a connection for Grosseto-Siena. You will get off at Buonconvento. From Buonconvento take a bus up to Montalcino.

*These details are provided as additional information. Please check below to see if transfers are included in this tour.

BOOKING INFORMATION

For further inquiries or to register, click here.

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CANCELLATION POLICY

Please contact us for cancellation policy information. Travel insurance is highly recommended.

CLIENT REMARKS

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MAP*

This exciting region is depicted below. You can also access Google MapsTM by clicking HERE. 

*In some cases mapping may give clients a general sense of location due to changes in venue. Please inquire about specific location.

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