Southern Tuscany and Umbria
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On Culture Discovery's 'Roads Less Traveled' vacation, participants learn Italian recipes in an eighteenth century villa. Central to the experience are four half-day cooking lessons where guests are 100 percent involved. Highlights include listening to Gregorian chants in an abbey and in-depth excursions throughout Southern Tuscany and Umbria's hill towns. There is also a tour during Italy's olive harvest season in November. Autumn palettes paint the countryside and the hum of the tourist season quiets. Visitors peacefully view the Sistine Chapel and walk the streets of Florence without bumping shoulders. Other activities include visiting Montepulcino, Montalcino and Pienza, Orvieto, Assisi and Deruta, as well as Rome and Castiglione in Teverina. Culture Discovery can arrange airfare. The classes are full immersions into Italian cooking and culture.
CultureDiscovery Vacations
6785 Arroyo Drive
Viera, FL 32940
321-441-3551
culturediscovery.com
Tuscany: Gaiole in Chianti and Florence
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According to Sara Morrow of "Budget Travel" magazine, a grounded cooking and travel experience are found at Toscana Mia, a cooking school in Florence and Gaiole in Chianti. Sisters Simonetta and Paola design programs for each traveler's interests. Their mother was a countess in Verona in the south, and their father was an army general out of Apulia, in the south. In a country where tastes and culinary traditions differ from region to region, the sisters fuse northern and southern flavors effortlessly into their taught menus. The five-day program in Gaiole at the villa includes lodging, meals, five classes, two guided tours, a visit to the market with wine and food tasting, the sisters' recipe book and an apron. There are also family classes, child-care and Italian language programs.
Toscana Mia
Podere Le Rose
Poggio S.Polo 2
Gaiole in Chianti (SI) 53013 Italia
+39-334-2476098
welcometuscany.com
From Sicily to Piedmont
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In 1995, "Mama" Margaret Cowan started organizing wine and food tours of Italy. Laughter, passion and authenticity are foremost in her tours. Today, Mama Margaret and Friends give regionally custom designed tours throughout Italy. On their Sicily tour, hiking and learning about the volcanoes Etna and Stromboli's influence on local life complement lessons in Sicilian cuisine. In northern Italy along the Italian Riviera and Piedmont regions, walk through vineyards, medieval wine cellars and the paths between the Cinque Terre, five small towns chiseled into sea cliffs. Participants work only with local chefs, local ingredients and local wines with Margaret's friends, making some of their own along the way. Extending a vacation is encouraged, and Margaret assists in all aspects of travel planning.
Mama Margaret & Friends Cooking Adventures In Italy
101-1184 Denman Street, Suite 310
Vancouver, BC Canada V6G 2M9
800-557-0370
italycookingschools.com
Lecce in Puglia: The Florence of the South
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Puglia is known for its straight-from-the-source seafood, a quieter tourist season and beautiful little towns flanked by the Adriatic Sea. With the Awaiting Table cooking school in Lecce, food enthusiasts will meet local farmers, tour markets, use fresh ingredients, study cooking in an eighteenth century palace and experience the soft-stone carved baroque architecture and art on guided tours of the area. The school has half and full day classes, as well as longer programs of study to fully dive into local cooking traditions.
The Awaiting Table
Lecce, Italy
awaitingtable.com
