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Tuscan Cooking, Wine & Life Tour At 13th Century Villa Near Florence
Explore Tuscany’s 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 school 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 Tuscan wine excursion with English speaking driver
- Florence: guided walk in central market & historic centre
- local excursions in the Tuscany cooking school tour itinerary with guide
- Cooking school apron and 150 page Tuscan recipe book in English
Not included:
- Transfers to/from the estate (please inquire about a private transfer)
- 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.
Tuscany Cooking School Tour 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 estate’s driver. Get settled in your room in your cottage and enjoy the goodies in your welcome basket.
Welcome dinner with the Italian cooking school 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 Southern Tuscany
Every morning enjoy breakfast in your cottage or walk into town and have breakfast with the locals at a coffee bar. (about 10 minutes).
Today you’ll discover the countryside, people, history and culture of the Chianti and Val D’Orcia in Tuscany. You’ll learn about local ingredients that are the soul of its cuisine.
Visit medieval villages and admire castles, as you drive through green Chianti valleys, the drier Sienese Crete area and the magnificent Val D’Orcia in the south.
Visit a charming wine estate owned by one of Tuscany’s renowned noble families where you savour their wines, olive oil, cheese and salami and enjoy a light lunch either at the vineyard’s restaurant or in one of the quaint village trattorias.
Explore typical Tuscan towns of San Quirico and Bagno Vignoni, famous for its natural hot springs. In Pienza, a picturesque, walled town famous for pecorino cheese, browse its craft and food shops and enjoy a walk on top of its medieval walls with spectacular views over Val D’Orcia.
Dinner at a local pizzeria. Return home.
Day 3. Tuscan cooking school 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 estate manager can make dinner reservations for you in nearby town or in Florence. Their driver can take you there and back for an extra charge. Or take the train on your own to Florence or elsewhere.
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 school class and free time
Cooking class at 10:00 to make a full menu Tuscan meal with your chef at the villa’s kitchen. 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 for an extra charge. Or take the train on your own to Florence and beyond.
Day 6. 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 for an extra charge. Or take the train on your own to Florence and beyond.
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 school class for your farewell Tuscan 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.
Contact us to reserve this Tuscany cooking school tour.
