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Villa Romana: Authentic Amalfi Cuisine
Minori, Amalfi Coast
About the location: The town of Minori has been well renowned for pasta making since medieval times and since the 17th-century invention of the ‘ngegni, a device which made mass pasta production possible. This turned every available public and private space in Minori, even the sea-front promenades, into an outdoor display of fresh-made pasta drying in the sun: macaroni, ‘ndunderi, cocce, cannarocini, vermicelli, and tagliarelli.
This gastronomically oriented town, set in a beautiful inlet, is the perfect base from which to explore the gorgeous Amalfi Coast. It is also the perfect place for an Amalfi culinary vacation. You will not only visit Minori’s treasures such as the ruins of the 1st-century Villa Romana, but also explore the Coast’s best offerings: Pompeii, the excavation of a town buried by a volcanic eruption 2000 years ago; Ravello, the most poetic cliff-top town of romantic gardens; and Amalfi, the charming, cobble stoned, seaside town with a magnificent cathedral.
The Hotel Villa Romana, named after the ancient ruins, is a modest, unassuming hotel, which will accommodate you in comfort while delighting your palate with masterfully concocted Mediterranean cuisine. This cuisine will also be the subject of your Amalfi cooking classes. The Hotel is surrounded by a lemon garden and terraces with a sunny pool overlooking the tiered hills of the Amalfi coastline.
About the cooking lessons: Your Amalfi cooking classes with the hotel’s chefs will initiate you in the Mediterranean cooking style as well as in Minori’s pasta tradition in three or four lessons throughout your culinary vacation on the Amalfi Coast. The chefs have worked at a number of the best hotels and restaurants throughout the Amalfi Coast and specialize in Mediterranean cuisine and Neapolitan gastronomy.
Price Per Person
All prices based on double occupancy.
2012
6-night program
Low season (October through April):
US$2400 per person for 2 – 4 people
US$2100 per person for 5 or more
High season (May through September):
US$2900 per person for 2 – 4 people
US$2700 per person for 5 or more
Single supplement (high or low season): US$375
4-night program
Low season (October through April):
US$1800 per person for 2 – 4 people
US$1700 per person for 5 or more
High season (May through September):
US$2100 per person for 2 – 4 people
US$1800 per person for 5 or more
Single supplement (high or low season): US$275
Tour Dates
AVAILABLE ON REQUEST ANY SUNDAY TO SATURDAY FEBRUARY-NOVEMBER FOR A MINIMUM OF 2. FOUR-NIGHT PROGRAM AVAILABLE ANY SUNDAY TO THURSDAY.
†Join a week others have confirmed OR ANY OTHER WEEK ON REQUEST.
May 23 – June 4 (SOLD OUT)
June 28 – July 3 (SOLD OUT)
What's Included
Included in the 6-night cooking vacation:
- Six nights accommodations
- Six dinners (four in the hotel, two out)
- Water, coffee, and local wines with all meals
- Roundtrip transfers at Salerno train station, or Naples airport
- All transportation related to the itinerary
- Four cooking lessons with an Italian chef, assisted by a gastronome
- Breakfast daily
- English-speaking escort during excursions and lessons
- All entrance fees
Included in the 4-night cooking vacation:
- Four nights accommodations
- Four dinners
- Water, coffee, and local wines with all meals
- Roundtrip transfers at Salerno train station, or Naples airport or train station
- All transportation related to the itinerary
- Three cooking lessons with an Italian chef, assisted by a gastronome
- Breakfast daily
- English-speaking escort during excursions and lessons
- All entrance fees
- Transfer from the Salerno or Naples train station or the Naples airport.
- Arrival at Hotel Villa Romana. (Please note: Four-night program begins the same day as the scheduled 6-night program and ends after breakfast on Day Five.)
- Rest until the evening and then enjoy a welcome dinner at the hotel.
- Morning: After breakfast transfer to Pompeii for the visit to the ruins of this very popular archeological site.
- Afternoon: Your first cooking lesson is from 3:30-6:00pm.
- After the lesson, you will eat what you have prepared for your first Mediterranean dinner!
- Morning: After breakfast depart for a guided visit of a Limoncello factory with a practical demonstration of the production of this popular European lemon liqueur.
- Then visit some of Minori’s treasures: the monuments of the town and the excavation of the Villa Romana, dating back to the 1st century A.D.
- In the afternoon, participate in your second cooking lesson.
- Dinner tonight at a local restaurant.
- Morning: Breakfast at the hotel.
- Enjoy a guided visit to a dairy products factory with a demonstration of the production of mozzarella cheese.
- In the afternoon, your third cooking lesson will take place from 3:30-6:00 pm.
- Dinner at the hotel.
- Morning: After breakfast, check out if you are on the 4-night program, and transfer back to the Naples airport or the train station in Salerno or Naples. For those completing the 6-night itinerary, depart for a guided visit to a local fishmonger from 9:00-10:00am.
- Your fourth and final cooking lesson follows from 10:30am-12:30pm, and will culminate in a gourmet lunch.
- Afternoon: After the sumptuous lunch, depart for a guided visit to the town of Ravello at the top of the cliffs, where you will visit the Cathedral, the Villa Cimbrone gardens and the Villa Rufolo.
- Dinner tonight is at a typical restaurant in Minori.
- Morning and afternoon: Spend the day exploring the town of Amalfi. You will have a guided visit to the paper mill, which produces the very popular “Charta Amalfitana.” Sightseeing of the town’s cultural treasures: St. Andrew’s cathedral, the Cloister of Paradise, the Arsenal of the Ancient Republic. Weather permitting, you may also take a trip out to sea to visit the Emerald Grotto.
- The day will culminate in a farewell dinner.
- Breakfast and check out.
- Transfer back to the Salerno or Naples train station or Naples airport.
