Bologna and Tuscany, Italy - 6 nights
Available May - Sunday to Saturday

Imagine a fabulous week in two great culinary regions ~ Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany ~ the culinary heart and soul of Italy! You’ll cook with chefs in our palazzo in Bologna, the Gastronomic Capital of Italy. Then onto a countryside wine estate where you'll cook in the osteria restaurant with chefs teaching traditional Tuscan dishes handed down through the generations. 

Two regions, two kitchens, two delicious cuisines and four hands-on cooking classses - waht a wonderful, diverse repertorio you'll have, guaranteed to impress family and friends. We begin our captivating week in Bologna, tour through Tuscany and conclude in Florence ~ C’e perfetto!

(Bologna: Course begins Sunday afternoon in Bologna. Tuesday morning, we travel to the beautiful wine estate in Tuscany. Friday, we drive through wine country to Florence, where in the center of the city deluxe accommodations await near the Uffizi Gallery. Departure is from Florence anytime Saturday morning. For your convenience, all transfers are provided by private coach.)

* Al fresco dinner at Bologna’s best traditional restaurant.

* Shop in Bologna’s famous outdoor food market for ingredients for our class and in specialty stores for authentic regional products where you’ll find the best Italian cookware, utensils and lovely serving pieces for your table.

* In our modern, professional restaurant kitchen you cook side‐by‐side with Mary Beth and professional Italian chefs, learning authentic techniques while easily making great regional specialties. Just wait until you taste the delicious dishes we make together in class ~ you’ll love every bite you make! You will easily recreate these wonderful dishes in your own kitchen. Our professional preparation and cooking techniques are unique and easy, and are proven to make you an even better cook.

In Bologna, our classe is about 6 hours long so you enjoy a full culinary experience learning as much as possible. We prepare and cook a variety of dishes, taste specialty foods then enjoy our incredible luncheon expertly paired with excellent wines. Usually we finish about 3:30 p.m., just in time for museum hours and late afternoon shopping.

* Pasta fresca, or fresh pasta, is one of the essentials of Italian cooking. Real fresh Italian pasta is deliciously light and satisfying, and Bologna is famous for its golden pasta. Quite the extraordinary opportunity is the class with our professional sfoglina, pasta chef. You’ll make tender sfoglia, fresh pasta, by hand using a smooth wooden matterello.

* Great cooking includes knowing what ingredients to use, when, how and why they make a recipe special. How to select the best, store them to maintain quality and quick tips for emphasizing their unique flavors. You will taste a range of aged balsamic vinegars. What an amazing difference each one contributes to making a dish taste even better.

Andiamo...through Emilia‐Romagna for our visit with a culinary artisan followed by luncheon in Chianti.

* You’ll love our excursion day. World‐famous Parmigiano‐Reggiano is hand‐crafted, made only in Emilia‐Romagna. You’ll have an exclusive lesson with a renowned cheese master and see the entire process from huge copper cauldrons, called caldaia, of simmering milk to the salt water baths to the aging of golden wheels of this prized cheese. You’ll never forget the special treat of tasting on‐site.

* We’ll drive through the Apennine Mountains to northern Chianti for a hearty lunch of Tuscan classics served with Tuscan wines. This is a country lunch to remember!

Onto three days of Feasting under the Tuscan Sun...Near Sinalunga in the Crete Senese, we’ll stay at the hillside estate of one of Italy’s prominent winemakers. This extraordinary estate dates back to the 16th‐century with a famous villa, lovely accommodations for us, osteria restaurant, aging cellar for wines, olive groves and vineyards. Relax by the pools, play tennis, ride mountain bikes, sketch, read, dream...to your heart’s content.

* After a Walking Tour of the vineyards and olive groves, you’ll love the private cellar visit with exclusive Rosso di Montalcino and Brunello tasting at this award‐winning winery.

* Two exclusive hands‐on cooking classes with wonderful Tuscan chefs teaching traditional specialties. Each class is 2‐3 hours long. We’ll make antipasti, zuppa, gnocchi or fragrant risotto, seasonal main dishes, vegetable dishes, torta and more during our hands‐on classes. Our dinners are full‐menu feasts paired with award‐winning estate wines.

* Explore the extraordinary Tuscan hill town of Siena, medieval rival of Florence. In the Historic Center, a UNESCO World Heritage site, visit the Piazza del Campo, the Cloister of Santa Caterina, and the outstanding Il Duomo, a masterpiece of Italian Romanesque architecture and incredible bas‐reliefs and marble sculptures.

* Visit Greve in Chianti for a private wine tasting in a very special butcher’s shop. Owned by the same family for generations they specialize in great Tuscan salami, prosciutto...which accompany our wine tasting of course!

* Conclude in Florence, arriving mid‐afternoon, in this spectacular Renaissance city of art. You’ll stay in a beautiful deluxe hotel located in Florence’s Historic Center, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s a full week of delicious cooking in two regions, private travel through the Italian countryside, and many meals of great food and wine!

SAMPLE ITINERARY

Day One (Sunday)

Private Tour of Historic Bologna, Special Welcome Dinner

Transfer from either the airport or train station is made on your own, via taxi, to your hotel. It is a brief drive and every taxi driver knows both hotels’ locations. (These hotels are famous). 

Check into your hotel. Meeting in your hotel lobby between 3:45‐4:00 p.m., we’ll get acquainted during a late afternoon Insider’s Walking Tour (2 hours) and see what makes Bologna so special with its beautiful basilicas, palaces and museums adorned with Romanesque and Gothic art. Al fresco dinner at Bologna’s best restaurant. Specially prepared for us are many traditional signature dishes.

*If you prefer not to join us for the Walking Tour, or your arrival into the city is delayed, we understand. We will meet you later on Sunday in your hotel lobby at 7:45-7:55 p.m. then walk a few blocks to our 8 p.m. dinner arranged at one of Bologna’s best traditional restaurants.

Day Two (Monday)

Bologna's Famous Outdoor Market, Hands-On Cooking Class, Pasta Class, Balsamic Vinegar and Prosciutto Tastings, Multi-Course Luncheon!

We’ll shop in our colorful market with Mary Beth for fresh produce and visit the best stores for Italian cookware and tabletop accessories. Ready to cook great La Cucina Italiana? Onto our palazzo for cooking in our professional kitchen with Italian chefs...

Exclusive pasta class with our professional sfoglina, Italian pasta chef. Rolling out by hand is fun and easy. You’ll make delicate fresh pasta today for our luncheon. You'll cook scrumptious dishes for our full menu of  of l'antipasti, pasta, ragu bolognese, seasonal main dish with fresh vegetables and dessert, paired with exceptional wines. Evening free - enjoy Bolognese nightlife and jazz clubs.

Day Three (Tuesday)

Tuscany: Exclusive Parmigiano-Reggiano Visit, Travel through the Apennine Mountains and Lunch in Northern Chianti, Tuscan Cooking Class with Dinner

Depart Bologna, via private coach, for our exclusive private visit with the cheese master. Watch him transform hugecauldrons of boiling milk into golden wheels of Parmigiano‐Reggiano. We’ve arranged an on‐site tasting, too!

Traveling from Emilia‐Romagna through Tuscany is absolutely beautiful. The rolling mountains are so peaceful, and the terraced hills covered with olive groves and vineyards remind you of a movie. In the Chianti countryside is an excellent trattoria known to the locals, often we’re the only non‐Italians there ‐ perfect!

Late afternoon, we’ll arrive in Eastern Tuscany near the Umbrian border, at the estate of one of Italy’s prominent families and award‐winning winemakers. Imagine overlooking the Crete Senesi Hills while making dinner! That’s exactly what you’ll do with the Tuscan chef ‐ make a delicious dinner together. Each dish is expertly paired with the estate’s wines. Later, stroll under the stars.

Day Four (Wednesday)

Relax, Private Wine Tasting and Luncheon, Exclusive Cooking Class and Estate Dinner

Relax at pool side reading and swimming, play tennis, ride mountain bikes or whatever appeals to your fancy! Walk through the Vineyards and Olive Groves: Learn about the vines, the differences among Sangiovese, Merlot and other varieties, their cultivation and harvest. While strolling through the olive groves, learn the differences between the Moraiolo and Correggiolo varieties, their cultivation and harvest. Special Rosso di Montalcino and Brunello tasting arranged for us. Tuscan varietal extra‐virgin olive oil tasting, too, followed by a country luncheon.

Hands‐on cooking class with Chefs, making more Tuscan specialties including l’antipasto, a great primo piatto, main dish with wine sauce, seasonal vegetable dish and torta for our full dinner paired with award‐winning wines.

Day Five (Thursday)

Explore Siena and its Historic Center, Dinner at a Marvelous Tuscan Borgo

Relax as we drive through the Crete Senese ‐ some of the most dramatic and starkly beautiful scenery in Tuscany. Amidst undulating hills are small craters and tiny lakes, and we’ll see flocks of sheep at pasture, for this is pecorino country. A special cheese, called caciotta, is made in this zone, and of course we’ll enjoy this creamy cheese during our meals at the estate.

Siena remains a medieval city filled with amazing architecture, Piazza del Campo and Torre del Mangia, site of the famous Palio horse race. UNESCO selected Siena’s Historic Center as one of Italy’s precious treasures, and it is ‐ you will feel like you are back in XII to XV‐centuries as you stroll by all the historic palazzos ‐ it is incredible!

There are great little shops and restaurants just waiting for you...lunch on your own. We’ll return to the wine estate in late afternoon. (If you prefer a lazy day in the sun on the estate, we’ll meet you in time for dinner.) Especially in Tuscany, you find villages isolated in the middle of the countryside. These tiny villages, called borgo, were developed over decades and included a farm with sustainable land for large crops, a stable, a chapel, small individual family houses ‐ everything Italian families needed to be self‐sufficient while living together in a small area.

There is a very special borgo we’ll drive to, dating back to the XIV‐century which overlooks the Val di Chiana, and it has a truly outstanding restaurant for our Grand Finale Dinner.

DAY SIX (FRIDAY)

Visit Greve in Chianti for a special private wine tasting, then onto Florence, magical city of art

We’ll drive north through Chianti wine country ‐ the vista is spectacular ! This territory has a history dating back centuries to the Etruscan civilization, and has always been a rich agricultural area. Today it is famous for its production of Chianti, extra‐virgin olive oils and specialty meats including salumi made from the Cinta Senese pigs. In tiny Greve in Chianti, a principal town in this wine region, we visit with family owners of one of the oldest and most respected butcher shops in Italy. We will taste wines and sample their famous homemade prosciutto, salame and cured specialty meats for our lunch. Later, stroll around the charming main piazza, surrounded with medieval architecture, and meet the locals. We’ll arrive mid‐afternoon in Florence. Check into the beautiful deluxe hotel, ideally located in the city’s Historic Center near the Uffizi Gallery. The rest of the day is for exploring this fascinating symbol of the Renaissance!

Day Seven (Saturday)

Morning Free for Sight‐Seeing

Browse the Florentine outdoor markets, visit museums or stroll along the Arno. Noon check‐out. Buon Viaggio!

* For our meals, if you prefer a beverage other than wine, we are happy to accommodate your taste preference.

* If you wish to remain in the countryside and not join us for Friday (Florence), arrangements can be made through your travel agent to transfer to another city or for you to pick‐up a rental car. (Since we are not affiliated with a travel agency, we cannot arrange these services or make hotel reservations or extensions for you.) Please contact us a few weeks in advance of your schedule change so you are not charged for the Florence hotel.

* If you would like to extend your stay in Florence at the same hotel, please contact the hotel’s Reservation Department via telephone or fax, and they will be happy to assist you.

 BOOKING INFORMATION