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Cooking
& Wine Lovers' Adventure Tour
in Tuscany's Brunello &
Vino Nobile Wine Country
Idyllic Tuscan countryside at Sant'Antimo church near Montalcino
Italian Cooking Lessons
Wine Cellars
Cooking
Tour Itinerary
Italian Cooking Tour Dates
Prices for Tours
Accommodations
To Reserve
Terms & Conditions
Rental car information
Cooking
Tour at a Glance: Brief Description
Where?
About one hour south of Siena, you'll explore the lovely hill
towns of Montalcino, Pienza and Montepulciano. As you stroll
along narrow streets or quiet country roads, the vast, dramatic
vistas of rolling hills--velvety green, gold or brown fields,
with olive trees, hay and vineyards--will make you feel peaceful.
Walks are optional, up to you.
You'll
enjoy getting to know a long list of Tuscans
in their kitchens, on their farms, in their wine cellars--people
you'd never meet otherwise in places you'd never have found
on your own. You'll feel Italian for a week, immersed in genuine
local life.
Lovely
Countryside and Medieval Walled Hill Towns
You'll
also visit an idyllic Tuscan valley and Sant'Antimo,
one of Italy's most beautiful Romanesque churches, that turns
gold inside and out when the sun hits. It stands on flat land
where two hillsides meet in a classic Tuscan landscape--a
patchwork quilt of olive groves, combed fields in rich brown
or gold, vineyards and dark green forests, with cypresses
zigzagging up country roads. Sit down on the grass, immerse
yourself in all the beauty and get really peaceful inside. You'll
also explore Siena for day on a guided visit
of art and architecture treasures and a free afternoon to
shop and or just sit in a piazza watching local life.
In
the medieval hilltown of Montalcino, Italy, famous
for Brunello wine, you can stroll the narrow streets, stop
at Italian wine, honey and gastronomy stores, or outdoor cafes,
or sip some Brunello at the medieval fortress, now an enoteca.
Fabulous 360 degree views! Pictures of Montalcino
Pienza,
Italy sits on a hill with sweeping views over the vast
Val d'Orcia with undulating fields dotted with olive groves
and farmhouses leading up to Monte Amiata. A sunny walkway
with marvellous panoramas takes you along one side of town
past the Street of Fortune, Street of Kisses. Pienza is famous
for its pecorino cheese. Pictures of Pienza
The larger hilltown of Montepulciano, Italy is renowned for its Vino Nobile di Montepulciano wine. Its narrow streets and beautiful piazzas are lined with distinguished Italian Renaissance palazzos, wine cellars with 13th century grottoes, gastronomy shops, cafes and wine stores. From several lookout points, you can admire fantastic panoramas all around. Pictures of Montepulciano
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Montepulciano from a
country road on our walk |
Cooking
lessons with restaurant chefs and great home cooks in their
kitchens: learn lots of cooking secrets and experience a variety
of cooking styles and kitchens
In your four cooking lessons, you'll learn four Italian chefs' secrets cooking right beside them in their restaurant kitchens or country homes. Cook with our two friendly, creative, hospitable restaurant chefs who own a well known restaurant in a mountain hamlet, and an elegant restaurant featuring Tuscan dishes with a creative flair in the heart of medieval Montepulciano.
Cook with very knowledgeable, creative, charming Chef Roberto, born in the mountains nearby and owns a restaurant famous for mushroom dishes in a mountain hamlet. Roberto is passionate about bringing back traditional Tuscan dishes with little modern touches--porcini mushroom soup, local pici pasta with ragu, slices of grilled beef with arugola, wild boar with olives or chocolate (!), pears stuffed with lemon custard with chocolate sauce on top. Mmmm...! A feast for your tastebuds!
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Cooking lesson at Chef Roberto's restaurant on Tuscan mushroom dishes |
Cook
easy, tasty Tuscan dishes from the past with friendly
Alberto, a former restaurant owner, at his organic
farm where he also makes olive oil the traditional way using
a granite wheel. Enjoy lunch in his olive oil production room
as he tells you everything you ever wanted to know about making
and buying olive oil.
Cook
with exuberant Sandra on heer family's farm
on a beautiful ridge between two valleys, where she and husband,
Ulisses make pecorino cheese with their five children, raise
animals, including a special striped pig, and export their
pasta. Local school groups come to visit them to see how their
ancestors made pecorino cheese.
In
the medieval heart of Montepulciano cook with the
chef in an elegant restaurant where beautifully presented
dishes have a creative flair, and enjoy the friendly hospitality
of the owner, Massimo.
You dine later on your creations accompanied by fine Tuscan
wines in restaurants and good table wines in homes. What a
variety of people, kitchens, homes, restaurants, cooking methods,
food and wine to experience! You'll feel Italian with your
new friends!
Taste
Brunello and Vino Nobile wines at wineries and wine cellars...with
the owners
In
the Brunello wine country in Montalcino, you visit a wine
bar in a medieval fortress for a private introduction to Brunello
and tour a Brunello winery in the country with the very hospitable
owner who lives with his family there. He tastes his Brunello
and rosso di Montalcino with you.
Wine tasting with winery owner, Vittorio Innocenti in his cellars in Montefollonico
In the Vino Nobile wine country in Montepulciano, with the
owner you visit a wine cellar in a 14th century palazzo with
panoramic terrace in a pristine, pretty hill town of Montefollonico
and a wine cellar grotto and shop in the medieval heart of
Montepulciano. Taste his great Vino Nobile, rosso di Montepulciano,
Vin Santo.
Accommodations:
two
very nice hotel choices
In
the heart of medieval Montalcino, you'll love the spacious,
beautifully decorated B & B with antiques in a Renaissance
palazzo and the very hospitable owners.
In
Pienza the new, modern, air conditioned, three star hotel
has 16 pretty rooms. From the garden patio, you can admire
fabulous country views across the valley. The hotel is just
steps from the medieval walls of the town. accommodation pictures
Itinerary
25th wedding anniversary celebration in
a Tuscan restaurant on the cooking tour
Sunday
Drive
to your hotel in Montalcino or Pienza, Italy. Dinner
in a nearby restaurant (not included).
Monday
Walk through medieval Pienza. Stroll along scenic ramparts of city walls, into the Italian Renaissance piazza and along quaint side streets. Lots of pecorino cheese for sale.
Optional walk on incredibly scenic country roads outside Pienza up to walled hilltown of Monticchiello. (about 2 hours) Light lunch on your own in trattoria there (not included).
Drive to the countryside nearby to a family farm where they make pecorino cheese the artisan way. Cooking lesson there with Sandra and Ulisses who export their pasta and are excellent cooks.
Drive to pristine, medieval Montefollonico, Italy to a winery for a visit and tasting of very good Vino Nobile wine on the panoramic terrace with views to Montepulciano.
Dinner of your creations back at Sandra and Ulisses farm.
Tuesday
10:00 a.m. Cooking lesson with exuberant Alberto on his organic farm with lots of gardens, fruit, vegetables, olive trees and exotic plants. Beautiful countryside 10 minutes south of Montalcino. Alberto once owned a restaurant and loves bringing back traditional, forgotten Tuscan dishes. He also makes olive oil artisan style, using a traditional granite wheel. Lunch of your creations in his olive oil production room. Discussion on everything you want to know how to make olive oil and olives.
Visit a Brunello winery near Alberto's owned by a very hospitable family for tour and tasting.
Visit lovely, 1000 year old Romanesque Sant'Antimo church in an absolutely idyllic Tuscan valley with cypresses zigzagging up hills, olive trees, vineyards and fields.
Walk in Montalcino. Introduction tasting and discussion on Brunello wines at the wine shop in medieval fortress in Montalcino.
Dinner in a restaurant in Montalcino (not included).
Wednesday
Drive to Siena, Italy. Stroll the historic centre with a local guide to see frescoes, sculpture, architecture and Italian gastronomy shops. Light lunch on your own in Siena (not included).
Afternoon free to shop or just wander and hang out drinking cappuccino in a piazza.
Return to hotel for siesta. Dinner in a good restaurant close to your hotel (not included).
Thursday
Morning cooking lesson up in a mountain hamlet with charming, very hospitable Chef Roberto in his restaurant famous for mushroom dishes. Roberto is shooting for a Michelin star. People drive for miles to eat there. Olive oil tasting with Roberto. Lunch of your creations with wines specially selected by Roberto.
Walk in Montepulciano. Visit beautiful Renaissance church of San Biagio. Admire splendid views over vast countryside from piazza. Browse in shops--best shopping in the area for prices and variety of table cloths, ceramics and more.
Wine tasting at Crociani family's wine cellar. With a member of the gregarious family, you descend into the 13th century grotto, where wines sit aging in big wood barrels and that lovely Italian wine perfume permeates everywhere. Upstairs in their shop, enjoy a great tasting of their Rosso di Montepulciano, Vino Nobile, Vin Santo and more.
Free time for an optional country walk in the vast, magnificent valley of olive trees, fields and vineyards, or just hang out.
Light dinner in Montepulciano (not included).
Friday
Hike or optional walk part way from Montepulciano to pristine, little hill town of Montefollonico across the valley from Montepulciano.
Lunch on your own. (not included)
Afternoon free to explore and relax as you wish.
4:00 p.m. Cooking lesson at a fantastic restaurant which adds creative touches and wonderful combinations of flavours to Tuscan dishes in the heart of medieval Montepulciano.
8:00 p.m. Gala farewell dinner of your creations there.
Saturday
Breakfast and departure.
Group
Size: 2 to 7
2007
Dates
you organize your own group. Dates by request.
2007 Prices:
Prices are in Euros and are subject
to currency exchange fluctuations.
For
group of 2-7 people:
1600
Euros per person (approx $2048 US; $2352 CAD), double
occupancy, land only. Single supplement 315 Euros.
Includes: hotel, 4 cooking lessons with full menu meals after,
excursions, interpreter when necessary, fat tour information
booklet with lots of local maps, addresses and phone numbers
of all people and places you visit, wine information, local
contact number in case of need and more.
Not included: 3 lunches and 5 dinners. All wine and Brunello and Vino
Nobile wines in meals, guide, rental car and airfare.
Rental car information
Want
different activities in your itinerary? Want another price
range or type of accommodation? Just let us know so we can
custom design this itinerary for you!
To
Reserve: Contact Margaret Cowan at margaret@italycookingschools.com
or call 1-800-557-0370 within North America or 604-681-4074or
fax 604-681-4909.
One
stop shopping for your whole Italy vacation
Our travel agent colleagues at Aquarius Travel Inc. are experts on Italy, and can assist you with any arrangements you require to make your Italy vacation a memorable experience.
Ask
her about villa, apartment or B & B accommodation throughout
Italy--3000 in Tuscany alone! She can also arrange your car
rentals, sightseeing tours, Italian language classes, and airfare.
It's one stop shopping with an Italy
expert, so it's easy for you!
VISA
and Mastercard accepted
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