Neapolitan Food, Cooking and Culture at Camilla's Family B & B in Sorrento

Tour # CMA

Capri, Italy

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Region: Amalfi Coast

Setting:

Sorrento lies about one hour south of Naples and overlooks the beautiful Bay of Naples dominated by Mount Vesuvius. A busy tourist town famous for its glorious coast of cliffs, sea, villas and gardens, it's a good base for exploring the Amalfi Coast and Capri. Sorrento has a great choice of restaurants and shops, including ones where they make "limoncino", the famous lemon liqueur.

I had the great pleasure of staying at Camilla's family B & B in one of their rooms surrounded by idyllic gardens on their property just 15 minute walk from the downtown Sorrento and a five minute walk to the beach. Warm, welcoming Biagio, Camilla, son Giuseppe and two daughters live on the property too, so you'll feel like part of the family. When I visited, the gardens were full of lemons, apricots, cherries, tomatoes, artichokes, basil, sage, rosemary, other herbs, lavendar, beans and more!

I took a cooking class with Chef Biagio and shared fantastic dinners with fellow cooks and B & B guests from Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Norway and the USA at their communal dinner table set for 15 to 30 guests every night. So many fun and interesting people to exchange travel and life experiences with! If you're travelling single like me, you'll feel part of the community right away and have a wonderful, social time.

Everything Biagio cooked was excellent. Some of my favourites were roasted pepper rolls stuffed with tomatoes, olives, capers, smoked mozzarella, bread cubes, basil and oregano, a pie with spinach, peas, raisins and pinenuts, pasta with mussels and clams, fish with mint, white wine and tomatoes, a cake with molten chocolate inside, and a wonderful almond semifreddo with toasted, caramelized almonds. One American couple told me they'd gone into Sorrento for dinner for a change, but Biagio's food was so much better!

In our two to three hour hands on cooking class, in the big kitchen with Biagio and his assistant, we cooked a full menu and made pasta by hand. In addition to some of the yummy dishes above, we made pasta alla Norma with tomatoes, eggplant, capers, olives, mozzarella and cream and a pork roll braised in white wine. Biagio is friendly, patient, fun and makes sure you work hands-on and understand the lesson. We ran out of time so part of the lesson became a demonstration. As one rather happy person in my class remarked, "This is as close as you can get to feeling like part of an Italian family when you're a tourist."

Groups of rooms are located on different parts of the property. The Vita Bella (the good life) Cottage has one double and one single room, each with private bathroom, and a mini apartment with a double and a single room and one private bathroom. The Amore Mio (my love) Cottage has four double rooms each with private bathroom and a terrace surrounded by walnut, orange, lemon and olive trees. Some new, very nice rooms are now open in the 16th century country house near the lemon trees on another part of the property. The simple, informal rooms have lots of sun light, a desk, small sofa, a tiled bathroom with shower and hair dryer and garden access.

Chef Biagio & Camilla & Giuseppe Chef Biagio, the school's lead chef, discovered his passion for cooking in his mother's kitchen in Puglia in south east Italy, cooking ancient family recipes passed down. He trained under master chefs at the culinary school in Sorrento and the Hotels City School. He cooked in leading hotels and restaurants in Italy, Europe and South America. He opened three restaurants from 1981-1991. He's been a culinary consultant for a many exhibitions and companies. Mother Camilla worked in her family's bar in Sorrento but her love of cooking was really born when she fell in love with and married her chef husband. Out of love, she began helping him in his new restaurant and discovered she loved cooking too. Son Giuseppe is responsible for bookings and administration and loves welcoming guests and running the business. He was in the food business and then spent one year living in San Francisco before he and his family opened their B & B and cooking school.

Dishes You Could Create: chicken cacciatore seafood risotto many types of fresh pasta large baked calamari with seafood filling and cherry tomatoes lemon tarts Group Size: 1-12 Type of Class: hands-on

2008 Dates		2008 Prices Per Person
By request all year. You choose the dates you want or join a group already booked. Subject to rooms being available Sept 7-13 Sept 14-20		For 1-12 people: 1355 Euros, about $2005 CAD, about $1990 U.S. double occupancy Single supplement: 0 (if one person books the tour then there is no single supplement. If one person in a group would like a single room then please add 300 Euros to the tour price.) Includes: 4 cooking lessons 6 dinners at home 6 nights accommodation & breakfast 5 excursions Transfer to/from Naples airport or train station Not Included: 4 lunches, ferry tickets to Capri.

To Reserve:

Reservation policy: In order to confirm your space the booking form and deposit must be faxed to us 7 days from when you received it. Otherwise we may cancel your space on the cooking tour. We will only re-confirm your space once we receive your booking form and deposit.

Deposit: 30% of the price at the time of booking. Deposit is non refundable.

Balance due: balance due no later than 60 days before the start date. If you are booking 60 days or less from the start date, you must pay the full amount when you book. If payment is not received by the due date, your confirmed reservation is subject to cancellation.

Cancellations and Refunds: Deposits and final payments are non-refundable. Cancellation insurance is strongly recommended.

Prices may be affected by international exchange rates fluctuations.

Do you have questions? Just e-mail or call "Mama" Margaret Cowan

E-mail: margaret@italycookingschools.com
Phone: 1-800-557-0370 or 604-681-4074 (Pacific Time)

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