Cooking class in Italy?

My fiance and I will be in Italy at the end of June and are thinking about finding a cooking class, probably just a one day thing, not planning the whole trip around it. We will be in Capri, Rome, and Florence. Any suggestions? I just want it to be really authentic.

Laura--

Last October, my wife & I spent our 30th anniversary in Sicily, Florence & Rome. Took a wonderful 3-hour cooking class in Taormina, then in Florence I had a tip from some friends about Eugene Martinez, who has been an art & culinary guide for 30 years in Tuscany/Florence. He picked us up and took us to his associate's winery in Chianti, where we sipped some superTuscans while cooking a four-course Tuscan meal and touring the estate. About six hours start to finish. Not cheap, but Eugene's the best & the memories will last a lifetime. Check out his website:

http://www.tgiflorence.com/cooking-in-chianti--si-cucina-in-chianti.html

Many, many years ago, I took some cooking classes with Judy Witts Francini in Florence. I believe she has since gotten more well-known and the operation seems a little fancier from the look of the website, but I really enjoyed the classes.

You may like to take a look at The International Kitchen for ideas; I had a (full disclosure) business relationship with them and personal experience at and with some of the venues 5+ years ago, and have enjoyed seeing their updated content and chef profiles (particularly Fabio in Mazzano Romano and Claudio in Figline outside Florence). As I think I've posted elsewhere I first met Gaetano DiBenedetto through them; Gaetano could be another resource if you stop through Forest Park for a preparatory meal and ask him his thoughts. The IK gals have high standards and I think are LTH lurkers, so you can call them and possibly even visit them downtown to see pictures of some of the schools and chefs to see if that's what you're after.

Thanks, everyone! All of those ideas sound like what we are looking for. I'll keep you posted on what we decide to do.

Just an update as we prepare for our Italy trip... We decided to use Eugene Martinez from Cooking in Chianti, as recommended by jnm123. The great thing is that before we do the cooking part of the day, Eugene will be taking us on a driving tour through Tuscany to stop at a few markets in some small towns. I'm really looking forward to it! We're not leaving until the end of June and I'm having trouble waiting.

GREAT, Laura...

I don't want to overstate how much fun you're going to have with Eugene. This man is a wealth of knowledge about Florence, Tuscany & its environs. If you're doing the cooking class at Fattoria Montagliari at Greve-in-Chianti, you're in for a real treat. David Migliorini is the vintner & after we got back to Chicago last October, we ordered a case of his Chianti Classico D.O.C.G., Brunello & Rose. Just fabulous stuff.

We're hoping to get back to Florence next spring & are planning an art tour of the Uffizi gallery with Eugene.

We'll be waiting for a trip report!

A bit off-topic but if you are looking for an enjoyable, (relatively) cheap afternoon of wine tasting on another of your days in Florence, I suggest checking out Pitti Gola e Cantina, a little wine shop/wine bar in the Oltrarno directly across the street from the Pitti Palace. This past February, one of the proprietors led us through a 3 hour tasting/overview of Tuscan wine. He was charmingly enthusiastic and we had a great time.

Thanks for the suggestion, Fraggle. We are definitely hoping to do a lot of stuff like that. Did you just happen to walk in or make plans beforehand for the wine tasting?

I have a wonderful guide that I met on a trip to Tuscany about 6 years ago--we went back to her every year that we traveled there so I think she planned 3 or 4 different itineraries for us that were so much fun--I can't recommend her enough. Her name is Sylvia Cerone and her email is ceronesilvia1@gmail.com. She emailed me back in December that she was starting her own company so I don't have her current website but she's pretty fluent in English and should be able to provide you with info on her tours and fees via email. She can do a lot of different things and may even have cooking classes that she's worked with.

We ducked into Pitti Gola because it was raining when we left the Pitti Palace. We assumed it was a tourist trap because of its location but decided to have a glass of wine until the rain stopped. The staff was gracious and informative without being overbearing or pretentious. We were enjoying our wine and an appetizer when we heard someone asking about their wine tasting reservation. We'd been looking into day trips that were all around 50 Euros and involved an hour to 1.5 hours drive each way and then visiting only one vineyard. Turned out this was 30 Euros and we really liked the vibe and the owners so we made reservations for a couple days later. And loved it. It was our favorite part of the Florence leg of our trip. Have a a great time time!

LauraS - any update on how the cooking class with Eugene went? My wife and I are going to Italy in September and are considering this. If anyone else has Florence cooking class recommendations (or general Florence recs), I'd be grateful for them. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I'm excited to report back on our cooking class and tour with Eugene. We had a great time with him, but I have to say that it wasn't quite as amazing as I was expecting. Most importantly, though, Eugene was a wonderful person to spend time with for almost a full day, and he was very knowledgable. It turned out that his partner, Antonio, was our cooking class teacher, and we absolutely loved him, too. Here is how the day went...

Eugene picked us up in the morning from Florence and we went for a drive through the Chianti for a couple of wine tastings. First, we went to the winery Corte di Valle. It is an agroturismo and the grounds were beautiful. The wine was quite good and we ended up buying two bottles, including one of vin santo. They also have a small saffron garden and we ate delicious saffron cookies while tasting the wine. Next, we went to the winery Castello Vicchiomaggio. The wine here was also good, but it was clearly a well-known tourist destination. I guess I was hoping that having Eugene there would allow us to meet with some very small wineries that are not usually open to the public. Somehow I can't find my winery photos, but safe to say that wineries in Tuscany are gorgeous.
After the wineries, we had a little bit of time before the cooking class. Eugene took us to the town of Greve-in-Chianti. This was traditionally a market town, but now the main square is mostly tourists. We went into the heavenly store of Falorni. They have been making their own salami, prosciutto, etc. since 1729. There was also a cheese room in the basement.


Wild boar prosciutto. Note the hair and tail still attached

We tried some samples and bought too much meat (don't tell, anyone, since we brought some back in our suitcases ). But again, we heard more English in this store than we had in the few days prior. I was just expecting to see more hidden, non-touristy things with Eugene.

Next, we were ready for the cooking class. Because of what we had read on the website, and from what we had learned from jnm123, we were expecting to do the cooking class at some wine estate. We were initially very disappointed to learn that we would be doing the cooking class at Eugene's own home, with his partner Antonio as our teacher. Again, we were just expecting a little more, especially for the cost of the day.
However, we ended up having a really nice, long afternoon cooking and talking. Antonio is a native Tuscan and was a chef and caterer in New York City for awhile before returning to Italy. It was actually nice to see a true Italian home, and their garden was very pretty. Some photos of the house and what we cooked...


Kevin chopping onions for chicken cacciatore. Behind him is a wood or coal burning fireplace in the kitchen.


Antonio preparing the pasta with artichokes


Pasta with artichokes and pine nuts, and chicken cacciatore


Their backyard where we ate and talked for several hours

We also made what were basically savory beignets with cheese and an almond chocolate cake that is native to Capri. I do feel like I learned a little bit, besides having fun. We got to practice rolling out pasta dough by hand. I make fresh pasta at home, so I really wanted to see how it is supposed to be done. Everything was delicious. The couple was also very helpful in giving us ideas for the rest of our time in Florence. They found a map in their home and marked many different places that they would recommend.
Although I had hoped that we might see more interesting, off the beaten path places with Eugene, I still had a fabulous time.
Weinerjb, I hope this helps you decide what you would like to do when you are in Italy. I know Eugene specializes in art history and also does tours around Florence of the museums. Also, I will post soon on the rest of our Italy trip in another thread, for more ideas on Florence.

While I agree with virtually everything Laura & her now-husband experienced in Florence with Eugene Martinez and TGIFlorence in their enjoyment of the day, I will say that before my wife & I toured with Eugene last October, he was almost adamant in relaying to us via EMail to let HIM know what WE wanted to do, and he would adapt. I understand there always are time constraints and availability problems with certain sites, but I would hope in the future that anyone that tours with TGIFlorence will be very specific to Eugene about their desires. We hope to visit him next spring sometime, can't wait!