The charming, hill-covered region of Chianti is lush with food and wine. Join Chef Liza as she teaches fundamental cooking skills using ingredients from the best markets in town. This will be a hands-on experience. Liza encourages having fun in the kitchen while gaining a better understanding of ingredients and how to cook with them.

 

The tastes and skills learned will translate any time you are in the kitchen so you can take what you have learned in Italy and bring your trip back home.

 

For most days during our week in Chianti, Liza will lead us through markets and food stores as she finds the best local ingredients with which to fashion our meals; we will then return to the kitchen and, under the guidance of her skilled expertise, proceed to cook a few dishes. Then we will all break bread together, discuss the complexities of our creations, and enjoy each other’s company and shared passion: food.

 

Excursions will include a cheese and wine-tasting at a vineyard, perhaps a truffle hunt, and visits to Castle Montefioralle and the nearby towns of Greve, Panzano, Radda, and Monteriggioni. Your free day might find you in Florence or just hanging out at the villa with a book, good conversation, or painting the soft Chianti landscape.

 

We will sample local restaurants and compare their different perspectives on indigenous dishes. However, our main experience will be the four or five days we spend in the kitchen at the villa. Not only will we learn to cook, but we will also become masters and mistresses of clean up!

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We will stay in Corte di Valle, a beautiful Tuscan agriturismo.