Take cooking school tours where you stay and cook with local families in their homes. You get a better taste of genuine Italian life and often spend less than for a comparable tour based at an elegant villa with a top chef.
Let's compare two cooking school tours at a lovely villa hotel and at a family's farm house in Tuscany's Chianti area.
For six nights at a luxurious, four star villa hotel, enjoy three full menu, hands-on cooking lessons with a top professional chef in a state of the art kitchen for $2800 (March, November, December) to $3500 U.S. (May to October). The tour also includes transfers from Florence, welcome dinner, three meals after cooking lessons, picnic lunch, wine tasting, a light dinner, castle visit, half day walking tour and drive to Siena and San Gimignano where you explore on your own.
On a family style Chianti cooking school tour for five nights, stay in a family’s beautifully renovated farm house in a hill top hamlet in “at a friend’s home” style rooms. With the daughter you cook five multi-course lunches hands-on in their big kitchen with magnificent views over herb gardens, roses, olive trees and vineyards. Each noon you gather around their dining table with your cooking teacher and her charming 80ish dad.
Price for five nights all year round is 1555 Euros, about $2099 US at current exchange rates and includes five full menu, hands-on cooking lessons followed by big lunch, welcome dinner at a restaurant, four light dinners at home, two excursions with your cooking teacher to Chianti towns with wine tasting, and transfers from Chianti town of Greve to/from the family’s home.
The Chianti villa tour costs $466 (off season) a night to $583 US (May to October) a night while the Chianti family tour costs about $420 US a night all year round at current exchange rates. Both offer similar excursions but you get more meals with the family tour.
This tip is provided by supplier M05151
