I handle marketing and sales so it's easy to get all the information you need and book your Italian cooking tour. I work with Elio and Marcello and Raffaella in designing the tours and checking out places and people in Italy so your tour reflects your tastes and gives you some genuine experiences that only locals know.

Elio, Raffaella and Marcello look after all the hotel, restaurant, excursion and transport arrangements in Italy so your cooking tour runs well with local people they all know.

Elio and his guides and Marcello and his guides lead the tours. I come along to visit on some tours. Two great teams putting together all their talents and hearts to give you a fun cooking holiday in Italy where you eat and drink well!

I've been a regular client on three cooking tours and have visited about 35 other cooking schools so I understand your expectations and tailor your tours to meet them. I act as your cultural bridge in working with my dear friends Elio and Marcello and Raffaella so you save time and deal with one English speaking expert from your culture, just a toll free phone call away.

I've been travelling to Italy since 1972 and lived there three years so I know the ropes and can help you travel smoothly in my "second country" before or after your tour.

Elio Sabena

Elio, Margaret (top right) & friends

My long time friend, Elio Sabena heads Associazione Trekking in Langa and has been a tour operator in Piedmont’s Barolo wine country in Italy since 1994. He designs and runs gourmet walking tours with lots of stops at fine Italian wineries and great restaurants, cooking tours, special corporate food and outdoor trips, and cultural and outdoor events for musicians and children.

He was born right in the area so he takes you to his favourite places to meet a long list of wonderful local characters. He's also become well known for his incredibly detailed Barolo and Barbaresco wine country walking path maps. He's walked and labelled every path so he knows a lot of people and places to take you to.

My "Italian brother" Elio and I have designed and led cooking, wine and walking tours in Piedmont since 1995 and expanded to Cinque Terre and Southern Tuscany in 1999.

We've explored these favourite Italy regions of ours extensively over the years,consulting with locals so we know these areas well. Elio and his fun, professional guides Carmen and others, bend over backwards to take care of you and entertain you. Cooking tour clients tell me they feel like new local friends in Italy!

Marcello Tori & Raffaella Raspadori

My dear friends and colleagues, Marcello Tori and Raffaella Raspadori, born in Imola, Italy, grew up in Emilia Romagna and live in Bologna.

As a little boy, the effervescent, full of life, down-to-earth Marcello used to go cycling with his dad along all kinds of country roads where they'd stop to chat and get invited in for a glass of wine. He knows a lot of off the beaten path places to show you and lots of wonderful people for you to meet in Italy. He's been a great traveller in Asia and Europe so he understands your travelling needs and does thoughtful little things for you.

Raffaella learned to cook with her grandmother and brings her passion for Italian cooking and fine food to the selection of restaurants and menus, so you sample an incredible variety of dishes in a wide range of wonderful places. Marcello and Raffaella have been married for 20 years and have three children.

Since 1987 they’ve owned Le Torri Viaggi S.R.L., a Bologna travel agency with a wide range of international clients. For four years through Bluone Tour Operator, they’ve specialized in customized, enogastronomic tours in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, for American, European and Japanese groups. Bluone is a tour operator licenced by the Province of Bologna with insurance guaranteeing clients’ funds and damages up to 3 billion lire (about $1,818,000 U.S). They carry more insurance of 400,000,000 lire (about $242,000 U.S.) payable to the Province of Bologna to cover any other problems Bluone might create for clients. Bluone is a branch of Le Torri Viaggi registered in July 1987 with the Bologna Chamber of Commerce.

You can be assured of high quality Italian cooking tour events, professional integrity and wonderful, very personal service from experts who really know this region. Some of our Bologna clients have cried when they had to leave.

E-mail me any questions at margaret@italycookingschools.com