Tuscany sets the standard for all Italian cooking: its balance between traditional recipes and a creative use of classic ingredients results in Italy's most renowned cuisine. Francesco Ricchi, a native Florentine and owner of Cesco and Etrusco, headlines our cooking season in Tuscany.
As we pedal through the very fields and vineyards that inspire our menus, our meals include grilled artichokes, pancetta, pappa al pomodoro, and green fava beans paired with sharp pecorino. Touring with our Guest Chef gives us a special perspective on Tuscany. Not only do we enjoy hands-on cooking lessons, but we also have the chance to share informal; discussions over a glass of wine, or perhaps the unexpected pleasure of cracking open a fresh chestnut that our chef discovers as he bikes along the routes with us each day.
Highlights of our week include:
- A private tour and tasting at Avignonesi, an aristocratic estate in the Val di Chiana with a centuries old cava and cantina. Selections include Desiderio, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Rosso di Montepulciano;
- A route through the wheat pastures to visit Paolo and tour his azienda agricola. His family's homemade pecorino cheese is spiced with truffles, arucola and walnuts;
- A special visit with Signor Silvio at his Tuscan farmhouse near Cortona. We taste-test cold pressed olive oils and prepare classic Tuscan antipasti such as panzanella and ribollita;
- An afternoon in a perfect medieval town where a private kitchen is ours to create our own Tuscan feast. Menus include crostini, fresh pici pasta, homemade gnocchi with peas, basil & mint, and roasted wild hare and pheasant. Dinner follows, set under an arched stone cantina, or under the stars in the piazza;
- Our routes include the spectacular towns of Cortona, Pienza, Monticchiello and Montalcino and the evocative landscape of the Sienese Crete.
Accommodation:
Accommodation in elegant Tuscan manors. Hotels include a wonderful 16th c. palazzo and an intimate villa that is reserved solely for us in the Sienese Crete. Meals include lunch at Locanda dell'Amorosa, dinner at Poggio Antico and other favorite trattoria along the way.
Notes:
Airfare is not included in the tour price.
Price includes:
Meals: all breakfasts, all dinners and 2 picnic lunch;
Hotels: elegant Tuscan manors.
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