Buon Appetito! Learn To Cook At Your Italian Villa
Experience true Italian cuisine with lessons in your own kitchen
By Heather Whipps

What makes Italian food so special are the ingredients that go into it – fresh, succulent produce combined with savory herbs, hearty grains and always plenty of care. Few people know, however, that there is no real Italian cuisine per se. Dishes and specialties really vary from region to region, as each makes use of the fresh products native to their area and throw in touches influenced by different heritages. Northern Italians, for example, love their hearty risottos, while Italians living in the warmer southern reaches prefer lamb over any other meat. Tuscan cuisine is a world on its own, relying on their renowned cattle farms for their secondi piatti (main course) and crostini bread with dips to start every meal.

If you’ve ever had the itch to serve a real Italian feast but don’t know how, learn in the most spectacular of fashions with a private cooking lesson by a real Italian chef at an authentic Italian farmhouse. Luxury Retreats can organize these once-in-a-lifetime experiences with ease: just pick a villa, pick an evening, and an instructor will come to your holiday kitchen and show you the ropes. Generally, the villa will be pre-stocked with the foods of your choice, but you can always take advanced suggestions from your chef on what to buy and where if you’d like to make a trip to the local produce market part of the fun. Cooking lessons are a particularly popular activity in Tuscany and Umbria where villa rentals full of country charm predominate, and there is no better way to experience the authentic cuisine of these regions.

 

Cooking lessons are a great experience to share with family or a group of friends and many beautiful villas are ideal for your foray into the world of Italian cuisine. Try your hand at real Italian cooking at Torre Palombara, a historic 15th-century estate with eight bedrooms located in Narni, Umbria. The kitchen of this very authentic farmhouse has plenty of countertop space for chopping eggplant and rolling out pasta dough. Also in Umbria, seven-bedroom Castellina, with its well-equipped kitchen and large outdoor dining area, is also ideal for lessons. Dorina is great if you want an authentic feel without the hassle: it’s stocked with modern appliances. Just along the border with Tuscany, Casella is a farmhouse restored in grand style, boasting a lovely dining room with fireplace and lots of outdoor living areas to enjoy your concoctions.

Don’t Wine, We Didn’t Forget... Not to be lost in the mix, wines are an obvious favorite part of the entire experience of an Italian meal. Villas in Tuscany and Umbrian are literally surrounded by vineyards; if you’d like, tours of wineries nearby can also be arranged during your stay.

For more information on cooking lessons at your villa in Italy, please contact us:

Call 1-877-993-0100 or E-mail.