Recently The New York Times has featured our cooking school ( Mama Isa's Cooking School ) as one of the 5 best cooking classes in Italy. It's a pleasure to share with you this important goal. Please stay tuned with us!
Ranked in Tripadvisor as the best cookig school in Emilia Romagna, Bologna is CIBO Culinary Institute of Bologna for Foodies provides the largest selection of cookery lessons among the many cooking schools in Italy. Providing cooking classes for every skill level from beginners to professional chefs the school provides hands on cooking classes in a fun and informative manner. Http://www.cookingclassesinbologna.com/cooking-classes.
Ranked in Tripadvisor as the best cookig school in Emilia Romagna, Bologna is CIBO Culinary Institute of Bologna for Foodies provides the largest selection of cookery lessons among the many cooking schools in Italy. Providing cooking classes for every skill level from beginners to professional chefs the school provides hands on cooking classes in a fun and informative manner. Http://www.cookingclassesinbologna.com/cooking-classes.
I offer more than 25 cooking courses in the Veneto region, near Venice, in Padova. My website is http://isacookinpadua.altervista.org and my fanpage is https://www.facebook.com/cookingclassesvenice. I am on twitter https://twitter.com/isacookinpadua and on Google+ https://plus.google.com/111625207591233289949/
There are lots of wonderful cooking classes offered in Italy at all levels of proficiency. It all depends upon WHERE in Italy you are going, first of all, and second, what you want to learn.
If you ever get to Sicily, try a small town in the central part of Sicily. The city is Ghangi, and the place, Ganghivecchio.Its an old 13th century abbey run by a delightful family. They have a few rooms for overnight stay and also give cooking classes. Delightful! Also, take a ferry from mainland Italy to Messina, and drive there. It's a great adventur!
I have done two in Italy and disappointed with both. It depends on your skill level. Go to learn, or go to have fun. I think you can learn more by going to a local restaurant, get to know the owner and chef, and ask for tips on the dishes you have enjoyed eating. Take a gift - something as simple as a few fresh local onions will get you into the kitchen and a hug from chef.
My name is Mama Isa and I offer a wide range of cooking classes (one day, 2 days and 3 days). These classes take place every days in Padova, near Venice. If you want to learn the secrets of pasta making or pizza making. The website is ISACOOKINPADUA.ALTERVISTA.ORG Taste the traditional Italian food through hands-on cooking classes! I ma the only-one cooking school for very small group and I offer private cooking lessons for foodies and foodie travelers.
About Mama Isa's Cooking School: We had an amazing half day cooking class with Mama Isa! We opted for the focaccia pizza, fresh pasta and tiramisu class. Not only did Mama Isa share her grandmother's recipes with us, she shared her family's gust for life in their beautiful home. It was an experience we will never forget, and was the highlight of our time in Venice.
The lesson was completely hands on. We are so confident in the skills and recipes that we learned in her class, we are throwing a huge dinner party for our friends and family back home to showcase our authentic Italian recipes and cooking skills.
We highly recommend this experience! Highlight of our 2 week European vacation. It was truly a fantastic day.
CASAOMBUTO.COM -- A truly amazing cooking vacation that exceeded all my expectations.
Chef Paola - extraordinare was well-organized and taught us with humor and joy. Beautiful
grounds, apartments were large and clean, the staff wonderful. Best way to experience
Tuscany with daily excursions and the best food imaginable. I can't recommend this highly
enough. . . .memorable.
I asked a similar question not too long ago, and you may find some recommendations there that are not in this thread: http://www.food52.com/hotline/15805-culinary-tours-of-tuscany-or-umbria-that-won-t-break-the-bank
Getting back to cooking classes in the beautiful region of Emilia Romagna, home to Prociutto Di Parma and the traditional Balsamico from Modena, we loved touring those areas with CIBO (Culinary Institute of Bologna) but what we liked the best was the cookery skills we learned from the great restaurant chefs who taught the classes. They have some great instructional videos with Italian recipes:
Http://www.tinyurl.com/cibovideos
When my family and I went to Venice for my parents' 40th wedding anniversary a few years ago. We took a class with two fun ladies through the website, venice veneto gourmet.
Sara Cossiga was the contact. We cooked and ate dinner at Maria Genovina De Cicco's lovely little apartment near the San Stae ferry stop. Sara personally picked out local wines to go with our dinner, which was a nice addition, since she has just completed sommelier training so she knows what she's doing.
We learned how to cook a sformato with cardoons, served with a butter-and-anchovy sauce. We also made a risotto with the little purple artichokes and shrimp and learned how to cook sea bass in a salt crust. The dessert was Tiramisu! It was a great evening, and I think we loved being able to take a bit of Venice home with us (in the form of cooking knowledge).
If you go to Lucca checkout a great restaurant. http://www.bucadisantantonio.it/templates/www.bucadisantantonio.it/static/
----------------------------------
Bologna is the Culinary Capital of Italy. (I still think it is a beautiful city) If you really want the true hands on experience of working with professional fun chefs in a real kitchen and to have a real fun time I'd still vote for the Culinary Institute of Bologna for foodies http://www.cookingclassesinbologna.com. Go to youtube.com. Put in Bologna cooking classes and there are some great videos. I googled Stefano Corvucci. And found some funny videos of him
During a stay with friends in Lucca (Tuscany) in 2010, we took a class with Chef Paolo Monti. He teaches in a large space created especially for his classes in a hotel outside the ancient walled city. We so thoroughly enjoyed it, my friends returned for a second class when they were in Lucca with family last month. Chef Paolo is funny, delightful, a very good teacher, and because he worked for some time in the U.S., speaks perfect English. Here is his website: http://www.lacantinadicarignano.com/cucinaitaliana/
Bologna COULD be lovely, but it is too covered with grafitti and generally abused for me to call it beautiful. The arcades are lovely; the churches, magnificent; the market, a place I could (and have) wandered for hours; and the university, a treasure. The city just needs some TLC--and elbow grease. I remember visiting the natural history museum there and wanting to cry because the cases were so clouded with dirt and the animal specimens--some extremely rare--were falling apart. Money, of course, is the problem--there are so many treasures and so little money.
If you are going to Tuscany, you can take cooking classes at Fagiolari, a B&B located in Panzano. Giuletta is a sweetie and that B&B is so peaceful and lovely. We took a cooking class there about 6 years ago when we explored Tuscany for our honeymoon. We actually found the class when we stopped in Greve in Chianti. The tourist office had a bulletin board of classes and activities. So we went inside and signed up for the class and a separate wine tour of Castello Verazzano. Both were so much fun and reasonably priced.
Here is the link for Fagiolari, http://fagiolari.it/
One of the most beautiful and romantic spots in the world is Ravello on the Amalfi coast, way up above the sea. Mamma Agata has a cooking school there. (also has a cookbook)
Check out our cooking school in Le Marche (Central Italy) next to Tuscany- La Tavola Marche organic farm, inn & cooking classes! www.latavolamarche.com - we teach local seasonal recipes with produce picked from our garden! We also offer mushroom & truffle hunts in our back woods and guided wine tours.
CIBO looks very intriguing. bologna is a fascinating city--it lacks surface beauty, but has so much to offer. and the market there is one of my favorites. I will add this to my to-do list.
Actually I will contest the idea that Bologna "lack's surface beauty". Personally I think it's one of the most beautiful cities in northern Italy. Those reddish pavement stones? I can't believe cars and busses drive over them. The centro is gorgeous but they even have the most beautiful football stadium I've ever been in, the Renata del Ara.
We have been to many cooking schools in Italy; by far the best is CIBO the Culinary Institude for Bologna for Foodies. Http://www.cookingclassesinbologna.com They have the most creative selection of cooking courses from short pasta courses to half day and full day cooking lessons. Many of the places we went to said they were "hands-on" cooking classes but they had different people cooking different dishes, at CIBO we all had our own cooking stations and cooking burners and we really learned how to cook each authentic Bolognese dish. The classes take place in a professionally equipped kitchen area and it's a really fun environment. Some of the cooking classes in Italy are in people's homes and apartments, be careful of "sanitation issues," It is illegal to serve people food and charge a fee in your home and unlike a restaurant or cooking school, the "apartment" cooking classes receive no government or health department inspections. Anyway, getting back to the Culinary Institude for Bologna for Foodies, they are located in downtown Bologna, not far from the famous Two Towers ( due torri) and the school is affilated with Trattoria Del Rosso - http://www.bolognaitalyrestaurants.com - check out their great 5 course 10 euro menu (on weekends the line is out the door) . Our friends took their seven day cooking foodie vacation which included many hands on cooking lessons, trips to the market, visits to Parma to see parmigiana Reggiano cheese being made, trip to Modena to see Balsamic vinegar production and they said they also got to make their own sausage and salumi. Our friends loved the courses the did in the countryside near Ravenna, which was part of the week tour. So, if it's a short pasta course or a day of cooking and eating ( you get to eat what you make...along with ever-flowing wine) it's a real fun experience. Their prices are extremely moderate and are a great value. We are going to return next year and take the week long trip.
Check out awaitingtable.com. It is in Puglia, a relatively off-the-beaten path area. Great program, excellent wine, an excellent teacher . . . It has it all.
28 Comments
It is run by the Tornabene Family.
www.cooking-class-authentic-tuscany.com
Voted the Best Reply!
The lesson was completely hands on. We are so confident in the skills and recipes that we learned in her class, we are throwing a huge dinner party for our friends and family back home to showcase our authentic Italian recipes and cooking skills.
We highly recommend this experience! Highlight of our 2 week European vacation. It was truly a fantastic day.
Chef Paola - extraordinare was well-organized and taught us with humor and joy. Beautiful
grounds, apartments were large and clean, the staff wonderful. Best way to experience
Tuscany with daily excursions and the best food imaginable. I can't recommend this highly
enough. . . .memorable.
Http://www.tinyurl.com/cibovideos
Sara Cossiga was the contact. We cooked and ate dinner at Maria Genovina De Cicco's lovely little apartment near the San Stae ferry stop. Sara personally picked out local wines to go with our dinner, which was a nice addition, since she has just completed sommelier training so she knows what she's doing.
We learned how to cook a sformato with cardoons, served with a butter-and-anchovy sauce. We also made a risotto with the little purple artichokes and shrimp and learned how to cook sea bass in a salt crust. The dessert was Tiramisu! It was a great evening, and I think we loved being able to take a bit of Venice home with us (in the form of cooking knowledge).
----------------------------------
Bologna is the Culinary Capital of Italy. (I still think it is a beautiful city) If you really want the true hands on experience of working with professional fun chefs in a real kitchen and to have a real fun time I'd still vote for the Culinary Institute of Bologna for foodies http://www.cookingclassesinbologna.com. Go to youtube.com. Put in Bologna cooking classes and there are some great videos. I googled Stefano Corvucci. And found some funny videos of him
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFsjq8EOKQo
http://tinyurl.com/beautifulbologna
Here is the link for Fagiolari, http://fagiolari.it/