Cooking, Wine, Walks in Piedmont, Riviera & Tuscany
Highlight
Explore three beautiful and very different regions of Italy with a cast of local people. Discover three distinct cuisines in five cooking lessons with five different chefs, enjoy private winery visits, drink Italy’s top red wine.
Minimum Duration
5 days
Maximum Duration
8 days
Price Range
$1765 - $3765 (EUR)
Season
January - December
Starting Point / Finishing Point
Turin / Chiusi
Itinerary
Sunday
Meet your group at Turin airport or railway station, leave for Verduno about a one hour drive away. Stay at a picturesque, country style hotel, Real Castello, the summer home of Italian King Carlo Alberto in the 1840s.
After settling in, dine in the hotel's frescoed dining room, gazing out open shutters to a peaceful garden, drinking the robust, red spicy Pelaverga wine and eating authentic regional dishes.
Monday
Explore the La Morra area, driving along its winding country roads, gazing in awe at the spectacular views of the verdant Barolo wine valley below. Walk down through vineyards to the Ratti family winery. Their wine museum in the Abbey of the Annunziata dates back to 1162.
Enjoy a personal tour and tasting with one of the winery’s effervescent owners (also a local celebrity!) who will teach you about what makes Barolos so exquisite and the rich history behind these wines.
Eat lunch and sip local wines like the aromatic white Arneis or robust red Barbera in the picturesque hill town, Santa Vittoria d’Alba with an amazing panorama of the Tanaro River far below and the rolling hills of vineyards.
Return to Real Castello for your early evening cooking lesson on typical Piemonte dishes like onion tart, risotto with Barolo and guinea hen with rosemary and bunet, a Piedmontese cocoa pudding cooked in a caramelized mould.
Before dinner, visit the Real Casello wine cellars where your host tours you through the cellars and gives you tastings of the acclaimed wines including Pelaverga, that resembles a spicy Barolo and is made only in Verduno.
As you savor your exquisite dishes in their frescoed dining room, you’ll understand why the Real Castello restaurant is known internationally for its fine cuisine.
Tuesday
Drive through the wine country hills, taking in the marvelous views, to Barolo and visit the historic Marchesi di Barolo winery with 200 year old cellars.
Travel to the hill town of Serralunga to visit a unique medieval castle, renovated in 1340. With the castle's entertaining guide, discover ingenious architectural features that kept invaders. On the top floor, marvel at the 360 degree views of the medieval town walls and the vine covered hills all around you.
On an isolated ridge, visit a family farm where a delightful couple, Giovanni and Francesca, blessed with six now grown children, share a slice of their everyday life with you. On their farm they produce their own cheeses and meat and most of what they eat. Sit at their long, wooden dining table in their kitchen and slowly enjoy plate after plate of Francesca’s specialties.
After lunch Giovanni takes you to visit the goats, other animals and birds, his cheese making room and the gardens. Their rhythms reflect the seasons, a call back to a simpler, agrarian life you will experience for yourself.
Drive to Barbaresco for your cooking lesson with warm, hospitable Chef Ester at her well-known restaurant. Like a true Piedmontese, you roll out and cut the thin delicate tajarin pasta noodles and preparing typical appetizers like rolls of roasted peppers with tuna stuffing topped with a parsley sauce and mains like rabbit with Barbaresco sauce.
Take a break on the terrace outside with views of vineyards, enjoying the peace and quiet with a glass of fine local wine in hand. Later dine on your creations in the restaurant.
Wednesday
Drive to Portovenere on the Italian Riviera south of Cinque Terre, stopping along the way in the pretty seaside Riviera town of Camogli. For lunch, enjoy fresh focaccia and vegetable torts on the beach or in an outdoor cafe – weather permitting. Afterwards, stroll through Camogli’s picturesque old centre, port and beach for a real slice of small town Italian life.
After a one hour drive, reach the port of Portovenere with beautiful coastal views, medieval walls, a castle and colorful, small port. Check into the pretty, three star Hotel Paradiso facing the sea. Walk along the sea, up to the castle, or along narrow streets filled with gelato shops and coffee bars or simply sit at an outdoor seafront cafe and watch life go by.
Dine on stellar fish and seafood back at your hotel’s terrace, with stunning views of the Bay of Poets below.
Thursday
Explore the food and culture of the nearby Cinque Terre - five villages that hug the dramatic cliffs of the northern Italian coastline. Towns are connected by an oceanside pathway so you can explore them on foot or arrive by boat or train.
In the beautiful Vernazza, walk past terraces of multicolored houses before lounging in a restaurant on the piazza by the sea for your midday meal of pasta with fresh basil pesto and local seafood.
In late afternoon return to Portovenere by boat, arriving back at your hotel at around 7 pm. Dine at another wonderful restaurant and on sumptuous pasta, seafood and vegetable dishes.
Friday
Leave for Southern Tuscany, with its country scenery that's inspired many a painter, poet and writer through the ages.
After a three or four hour drive, arrive in the walled hill town of Montalcino, famous for Brunello, one of Italy’s top red wines. In the medieval fortress, now a wine bar, a knowledgeable staff member tells you what makes Brunello such a fine wine. Along with Rosso di Montalcino and Brunello wines, savor fresh pecorino cheeses, salamis, and freshly baked bread.
Stroll through the town with your guide and browse the many small shops that line the streets.
From Montalcino we drive past vineyards and olive groves and up into higher hills in the mountains. In a small hamlet, the charming, hospitable, fun loving Chef Roberto welcomes you to his pretty, little three star hotel and restaurant, praised in many guidebooks.
At his restaurant, renowned for its mushroom dishes, learn to prepare divine Tuscan cuisine with a creative flair before enjoying dinner with wines Roberto has selected specially for you. After dinner amble upstairs to your quiet room.
Saturday
After breakfast with Roberto, drive down to Pienza to check in to a three star, modern hotel with 16 attractive rooms, half with amazing panoramas of the Val D’Orcia with its vast rolling hills. On the way we stop at a winery to tour its cellars and taste its Brunello wine, Rosso di Montalcino and Vin Santo right with the producer.
Enjoy a light lunch in Pienza, a little medieval jewel with walkways along its walls with vast views over the Orcia valley and its exquisite Renaissance main piazza. It’s also famous for pecorino cheese offered many shops.
Visit the picturesque hill town of Montepulciano, home to the famous Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, one of the top Italian red wines. With your guide tour the town and its distinguished palaces, wine shops and amazing array of unique stores.
Savor a light lunch in Montepulciano with free time to walk on country paths, shop or hang out in the main piazza watching local life.
Drive across the valley to a lovely little hill town, Montefollonico. In a winery in a 14th century palazzo the hospitable winery owner takes you on a personal tour of the cellars. Enjoy tasting his Rosso di Montepulciano, Vino Nobile and Vin Santo and chatting about life on his garden terrace with fabulous views across the valley to Montepulciano.
Dine in a little restaurant in Montefollonico whose pici pasta with tomato and garlic sauce and roast lamb with rosemary and garlic, all washed down with good Tuscan red, are to die for.
Sunday
From Pienza drive about 40 minutes to visit an artisan olive oil maker, charming Alberto on his organic farm filled with exotic trees and plants. He shows you his age old techniques for making olive oil with the traditional granite wheel. In your cooking lesson with Alberto, who's a fabulous cook, discover how to cook traditional Tuscan dishes that were vanishing. Dine around a long wooden table in his olive oil production room.
On the way home, stop at Sant’Antimo, one of Tuscany’s most beautiful Romanesque churches, dating back over 1000 years set in an idyllic valley of cypresses, olive groves, vineyards and fields.
Before dinner, stroll around Pienza with your guide.
Enjoy a light farewell dinner at a local trattoria in town. Good food, wine and conversation are the perfect way to round off your last evening of this magical wine and cooking adventure.
Monday
After a final breakfast, you’ll depart for Chiusi station.
Meet your group at Turin airport or railway station, leave for Verduno about a one hour drive away. Stay at a picturesque, country style hotel, Real Castello, the summer home of Italian King Carlo Alberto in the 1840s.
After settling in, dine in the hotel's frescoed dining room, gazing out open shutters to a peaceful garden, drinking the robust, red spicy Pelaverga wine and eating authentic regional dishes.
Monday
Explore the La Morra area, driving along its winding country roads, gazing in awe at the spectacular views of the verdant Barolo wine valley below. Walk down through vineyards to the Ratti family winery. Their wine museum in the Abbey of the Annunziata dates back to 1162.
Enjoy a personal tour and tasting with one of the winery’s effervescent owners (also a local celebrity!) who will teach you about what makes Barolos so exquisite and the rich history behind these wines.
Eat lunch and sip local wines like the aromatic white Arneis or robust red Barbera in the picturesque hill town, Santa Vittoria d’Alba with an amazing panorama of the Tanaro River far below and the rolling hills of vineyards.
Return to Real Castello for your early evening cooking lesson on typical Piemonte dishes like onion tart, risotto with Barolo and guinea hen with rosemary and bunet, a Piedmontese cocoa pudding cooked in a caramelized mould.
Before dinner, visit the Real Casello wine cellars where your host tours you through the cellars and gives you tastings of the acclaimed wines including Pelaverga, that resembles a spicy Barolo and is made only in Verduno.
As you savor your exquisite dishes in their frescoed dining room, you’ll understand why the Real Castello restaurant is known internationally for its fine cuisine.
Tuesday
Drive through the wine country hills, taking in the marvelous views, to Barolo and visit the historic Marchesi di Barolo winery with 200 year old cellars.
Travel to the hill town of Serralunga to visit a unique medieval castle, renovated in 1340. With the castle's entertaining guide, discover ingenious architectural features that kept invaders. On the top floor, marvel at the 360 degree views of the medieval town walls and the vine covered hills all around you.
On an isolated ridge, visit a family farm where a delightful couple, Giovanni and Francesca, blessed with six now grown children, share a slice of their everyday life with you. On their farm they produce their own cheeses and meat and most of what they eat. Sit at their long, wooden dining table in their kitchen and slowly enjoy plate after plate of Francesca’s specialties.
After lunch Giovanni takes you to visit the goats, other animals and birds, his cheese making room and the gardens. Their rhythms reflect the seasons, a call back to a simpler, agrarian life you will experience for yourself.
Drive to Barbaresco for your cooking lesson with warm, hospitable Chef Ester at her well-known restaurant. Like a true Piedmontese, you roll out and cut the thin delicate tajarin pasta noodles and preparing typical appetizers like rolls of roasted peppers with tuna stuffing topped with a parsley sauce and mains like rabbit with Barbaresco sauce.
Take a break on the terrace outside with views of vineyards, enjoying the peace and quiet with a glass of fine local wine in hand. Later dine on your creations in the restaurant.
Wednesday
Drive to Portovenere on the Italian Riviera south of Cinque Terre, stopping along the way in the pretty seaside Riviera town of Camogli. For lunch, enjoy fresh focaccia and vegetable torts on the beach or in an outdoor cafe – weather permitting. Afterwards, stroll through Camogli’s picturesque old centre, port and beach for a real slice of small town Italian life.
After a one hour drive, reach the port of Portovenere with beautiful coastal views, medieval walls, a castle and colorful, small port. Check into the pretty, three star Hotel Paradiso facing the sea. Walk along the sea, up to the castle, or along narrow streets filled with gelato shops and coffee bars or simply sit at an outdoor seafront cafe and watch life go by.
Dine on stellar fish and seafood back at your hotel’s terrace, with stunning views of the Bay of Poets below.
Thursday
Explore the food and culture of the nearby Cinque Terre - five villages that hug the dramatic cliffs of the northern Italian coastline. Towns are connected by an oceanside pathway so you can explore them on foot or arrive by boat or train.
In the beautiful Vernazza, walk past terraces of multicolored houses before lounging in a restaurant on the piazza by the sea for your midday meal of pasta with fresh basil pesto and local seafood.
In late afternoon return to Portovenere by boat, arriving back at your hotel at around 7 pm. Dine at another wonderful restaurant and on sumptuous pasta, seafood and vegetable dishes.
Friday
Leave for Southern Tuscany, with its country scenery that's inspired many a painter, poet and writer through the ages.
After a three or four hour drive, arrive in the walled hill town of Montalcino, famous for Brunello, one of Italy’s top red wines. In the medieval fortress, now a wine bar, a knowledgeable staff member tells you what makes Brunello such a fine wine. Along with Rosso di Montalcino and Brunello wines, savor fresh pecorino cheeses, salamis, and freshly baked bread.
Stroll through the town with your guide and browse the many small shops that line the streets.
From Montalcino we drive past vineyards and olive groves and up into higher hills in the mountains. In a small hamlet, the charming, hospitable, fun loving Chef Roberto welcomes you to his pretty, little three star hotel and restaurant, praised in many guidebooks.
At his restaurant, renowned for its mushroom dishes, learn to prepare divine Tuscan cuisine with a creative flair before enjoying dinner with wines Roberto has selected specially for you. After dinner amble upstairs to your quiet room.
Saturday
After breakfast with Roberto, drive down to Pienza to check in to a three star, modern hotel with 16 attractive rooms, half with amazing panoramas of the Val D’Orcia with its vast rolling hills. On the way we stop at a winery to tour its cellars and taste its Brunello wine, Rosso di Montalcino and Vin Santo right with the producer.
Enjoy a light lunch in Pienza, a little medieval jewel with walkways along its walls with vast views over the Orcia valley and its exquisite Renaissance main piazza. It’s also famous for pecorino cheese offered many shops.
Visit the picturesque hill town of Montepulciano, home to the famous Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, one of the top Italian red wines. With your guide tour the town and its distinguished palaces, wine shops and amazing array of unique stores.
Savor a light lunch in Montepulciano with free time to walk on country paths, shop or hang out in the main piazza watching local life.
Drive across the valley to a lovely little hill town, Montefollonico. In a winery in a 14th century palazzo the hospitable winery owner takes you on a personal tour of the cellars. Enjoy tasting his Rosso di Montepulciano, Vino Nobile and Vin Santo and chatting about life on his garden terrace with fabulous views across the valley to Montepulciano.
Dine in a little restaurant in Montefollonico whose pici pasta with tomato and garlic sauce and roast lamb with rosemary and garlic, all washed down with good Tuscan red, are to die for.
Sunday
From Pienza drive about 40 minutes to visit an artisan olive oil maker, charming Alberto on his organic farm filled with exotic trees and plants. He shows you his age old techniques for making olive oil with the traditional granite wheel. In your cooking lesson with Alberto, who's a fabulous cook, discover how to cook traditional Tuscan dishes that were vanishing. Dine around a long wooden table in his olive oil production room.
On the way home, stop at Sant’Antimo, one of Tuscany’s most beautiful Romanesque churches, dating back over 1000 years set in an idyllic valley of cypresses, olive groves, vineyards and fields.
Before dinner, stroll around Pienza with your guide.
Enjoy a light farewell dinner at a local trattoria in town. Good food, wine and conversation are the perfect way to round off your last evening of this magical wine and cooking adventure.
Monday
After a final breakfast, you’ll depart for Chiusi station.
Inclusions
8 nights hotel with breakfast
all meals
cooking lessons
all excursions in itinerary
transport in private minivan
transfers from Turin, to Chiusi
attentive guide throughout.
all meals
cooking lessons
all excursions in itinerary
transport in private minivan
transfers from Turin, to Chiusi
attentive guide throughout.
Exclusions
wine with meals
airfare
airfare
Contact Phone
1-800-557-0370, 604-681-4074
Visit Website: www.italycookingschools.com
