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Cooking, Wine & Life Tour At A 13th Century Florentine Villa
Imagine waking up to birds singing in your room at a charming Tuscan country cottage on an estate with a magnificent 13th century villa among hills of olive trees, vineyards and forests…just 20 minutes from Florence. In the villa’s cooking school kitchen you chat, laugh, cook and eat typical Tuscan dishes with a locally born, English speaking chef who has worked in or owned restaurants.
Explore the Chianti hills to taste wines and visit an organic farm. Enjoy a historical guided tour in Florence and its central food market tasting food as you meet the merchants, visit a ceramics factory seldom open to tourists and more. Lots of free time to relax by the villa’s pool or walking paths or wander in Florence, Siena or beyond too. The perfect combination of Tuscan country and cities and structured time and free time!
Includes:
- 4 full menu cooking classes with dinner and wine
- 7 nights accommodation in the self-catering cottages on the villa’s estate with maid service every day except Sunday
- 4 lunches & 6 dinners
- Welcome basket: fruit, yoghurt, cereal, bread, prosciutto, cheeses, juice, coffee, tea, wine.
- Full day wine excursion with English speaking driver
- Florence and local excursions in the program outline with guide
- Cooking school apron and 150 page Tuscan recipe book in English
Not included:
- Transfers to/from the estate (about 10 Euros from central Florence in a minivan)
- Tips
- Personal items: rental cars, olive oil or wine bought at the estate, additional meals or maid service, phone calls.
- Internet keys are available for 15 Euros a week plus plug-in with hourly rates.
- Cell phone rentals can be arranged too.
Itinerary
Please note: The order of the days may change due to availability of service providers, the menus will change with the seasons, and activities may change depending on availability and time of year. This is an outline.
Day 1. Welcome! Benvenuti!
Arrive at the estate in the afternoon either on your own or with the villa’s driver. Get settled in your room and enjoy the goodies in your welcome basket.
Welcome dinner with the cooking tour organizers and the villa owners (who live on the property) in the villa’s main kitchen dining area. Other guests at the estate will join you. A fun way to get to know your guides, chefs and fellow guests!
Day 2. Full day excursion to the Chianti region
Every morning enjoy breakfast in your cottage or walk into town and have breakfast with the locals at a coffee bar. (about 10 minutes).
Visit a family’s farm that produces organic meats to see their special Sienese pigs, glimpse in their seasoning/curing room, and taste their prosciutto, salami, capocollo etc. Enjoy a four course lunch at a charming family run restaurant.
Visit a stunning castle, its gardens, some rooms and their wine cellar to taste their excellent Chianti, Chianti Riserva and Vin Santo.
Return to the villa. Dinner at a pizzeria in the nearby town, organized for you.
Day 3. Tuscan cooking class and free time
Cooking class at 10:00 to make a full menu meal with your Tuscan chef at the villa. Lunch of your creations with Tuscan wines ends at about 2:30.
Rest of the day free to relax after your long day yesterday. The villa manager can make dinner reservations for you in nearby town or in Florence. Their driver can take you there and back.
Day 4. Florence and Villa Caruso dinner
Breakfast at a local bakery for cappuccino and fresh pastries. Tour the famous Florence central food market with your local guide, sampling the foods as you meet a wide variety of merchants. Lunch at a typical osteria in Florence.
Guided walking tour of Florence to learn its history. Free time to shop or enjoy the museums in Florence.
Return back to the villa for a rest. Later, drive to “Villa Caruso” where opera singer Enrico Caurso lived, to enjoy the lovely gardens and dinner outside, weather permitting, or in the villa restaurant. You’ll feel you’ve gone back in time!
Day 5. Tuscan cooking class and free time
Free day until 5:00 p.m. so you have time for a trip to Florence, Lucca, Siena or even Cinque Terre. The villa staff can also arrange wine or other tours for you.
5:00 p.m. Cooking school class with your Tuscan chef to create a full menu meal. Congratulate yourself as you dine on your creations with good Tuscan wines.
Day 6. Tuscan cooking class and free time
Free day until 5:00 p.m. so you have time for a trip to Florence, Lucca, Siena or even Cinque Terre. The villa staff can also arrange wine or other tours for you.
5:00 p.m. Cooking class with your Tuscan chef to create a full menu meal. Congratulate yourself as you dine on your creations with good Tuscan wines.
Day 7. Local tours: medieval hamlet, Medici villa, ceramics factory
Leave at about 9:00 for breakfast at a local coffee bar. Visit a nearby ceramics factory, rarely open for tourists, to see how they paint and produce beautiful ceramics.
Drive through the countryside of Carmignano and tour a Medici villa, an architectural triumph in the 1400’s, built for Lorenzo The Magnificent. Lunch at a well known, top restaurant in a picturesque hamlet which overlooks a Medici hunting lodge.
5:00 p.m. Cooking class for your farewell dinner for your group, your villa staff hosts and the villa owners. Dine together with musical entertainment.
Day 8. A reluctant ‘arrivederci”
Check out after breakfast.
