About the location: Discover a little piece of Tuscan heaven and savor the very best in Tuscan living
gathered together in our kitchen and around our table.
The Tuscan Chef is based in one of a number of wonderful private villas in the area near Vorno, a small town outside of Lucca.
Your week-long Tuscany cooking tour might take place at the Villa al Boschiglia,
while other weeks may be held at the charming Casa Matteucci or
another equally wonderful private villa.
The villas are all of the same caliber, surrounded by wild and stunning olive grove terraces or fruit orchards reaching out over Monte
Pisano with views across lavender and lemon scented Italian gardens towards the enchanting walled
town of Lucca. They each feature a small selection of wonderfully outfitted rooms (usually only 6 to 8 rooms) with private en suite
bath
or shower facilities. Your cooking classes are held in the charming Tuscan kitchen of your villa, with meals served in the
elegant dining room. During your free time you can enjoy the lovely grounds or the gracious Italian living areas.
About the cooking lessons: Our hands-on cooking courses are under the guidance
of professional Italian chef, Valter Roman, one of our top collaborators for many years!
If you asked Valter what he wanted to do when he was a child, he would have always said "be a chef."
Like, many, he began his "studies" at the side of his mamma and grandma learning the traditions and kitchen culture that are today the essence and basis of any successful Italian chef.
Valter studied professionally at the Instituto Alberghiero di Casargo, which led to many successful positions in renowned restaurants throughout Italy and the world. His mentor, Ugo Amato, trained him in London in the art of pastry where he created some of the most sought after pastries and cakes and even supplied the British Royal family. He has also studied with the formidable Tuscan chef Alvaro Maccioni and after three years of study has achieved his sommelier status to accompany his vast kitchen knowledge.
Craving the "bella vita" life of Italy, Valter returned to Tuscany with his English wife, Julia, where together they have teamed up for the last ten years to create the ideal cooking vacation.
The classes are fun, informative and full
of tips and tricks of the trade. You will discover and explore the tastes and
textures of some of the finest ingredients from fresh home-made pasta and plump
potato gnocchi with their various complimenting sauces to truffles, fragrant
garden Italian herbs, porcini mushrooms and wild asparagus, freshly pressed olive
oil, creamy pecorino cheeses and classic Italian wines. Kitchen studies are enhanced
and complimented by a special touring program to some of the most enchanting
and personally selected towns, markets, vineyards and other hidden treasures
of Tuscany.
The Week with The Tuscan Chef at the Villas of Vorno
Lucca, Tuscany
Sample Itinerary (Itinerary may vary slightly according to season)
Day One - Sunday
- Transfers from Pisa or Florence airports or train stations (or from Lucca train station) for
arrival at your accommodation on the outskirts of Lucca around midday for
a welcome buffet lunch prepared by your Italian chef for the week, Valter Roman.
- During lunch, meet your hosts and cooking colleagues with time to settle in and relax before your first hands-on cooking lesson.
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Hands-on cooking lesson with preparation of dinner:
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Fiori di zucca ripieni and fritti con cestini di parmigiano —
Ricotta filled zucchini flowers with oven crisped parmesan baskets
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Risotto ai Carciofi o Funghi Porcini — Artichoke or Porcini Mushroom Risotto
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Cantucci di Prato — Almond biscuits from Prato
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Welcome aperitivi and orientation before dinner.
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Day Two - Monday
- After breakfast, a specially themed cooking lesson of pasta and its sauces.
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Tagliolini al pomodoro ciliegino and basilico —
Long thin pasta with a cherry tomato and basil sauce
- Ravioli di asparagi selvatici con una salsa tartufata di stagione — Wild
asparagus filled ravioli with a seasonal truffle butter
- Lasagna dello chef — chef's special lasagna
- Mostarda — Jam making for cheese tasting
- Lunch al fresco followed by a short guided tour of Lucca where you will visit gourmet suppliers
and producers for tastings.
- Hands-on cooking lesson and preparation of dinner.
- Zuppa di Farro — Spelt grain soup
- Melanzane alla Parmigiana — Oven baked layers of eggplant, tomato and parmesan
- Pesche amaretti e gelato di cannella — Amaretto peaches and cinnamon ice-cream
- Limoncello di Nonna Maria — Grandma Maria’s lemon liqueur
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Day Three - Tuesday
- Breakfast available.
-
Depart for a Chianti adventure stopping off at an enchanting market town as well
as renowned vineyard for wine-tasting and lunch.
- Leave Chianti and return home for an informal pizza supper in the lively village
trattoria, just a short walk from the villa.
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Day Four - Wednesday
- After breakfast, enjoy a chef’s tour of the bustling market town of Pistoia to choose fresh produce for a kitchen
challenge where students and chefs work together to prepare a buffet lunch with items found at the market.
- Lunch followed by free time to relax and enjoy the peace and tranquillity of the villa.
- Hands-on cooking lesson and preparation of dinner.
-
Gnocchi con Pesto — Potato dumplings with a pesto sauce
- Tagliata Fiorentina con funghi porcini and rucola and fagioli zolfini —
Florentine steak dressed with a porcini mushroom sauce or rucola
topping and served with zolfini beans
- Sformatino di Gianduia con una salsa di cioccolata bianca and vaniglia —
Warm chocolate and hazelnut pudding with a white chocolate and vanilla sauce
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Day Five - Thursday
- Breakfast available.
- Gourmet adventure in the Garfagnana visiting a cheese producer and a salami/cured meat specialist
with a Tuscan tasting lunch at an old mill.
- Hands-on cooking lesson and preparation of dinner.
-
Tagliolini di Pesce — Seafood pasta
- Pesce in cartoccio — Fish in a bag
- Sorbetto di limone and salvia — Lemon and sage sorbet
- Aperitivi and dinner.
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Day Six - Friday
- After breakfast, your hands-on cooking lesson specializing in pastry and dessert techniques.
- Tiramisu — A little 'pick me up'
- Florentines and Petits Fours.
- Lunch followed by a short visit to see the Leaning Tower in Pisa.
- Hands-on cooking lesson and preparation of dinner.
- Crespelline Fiorentine — Fiorentine spinach and ricotta crepes with a walnut sauce
- Ossobuco alla Milanese con riso pilaff — Beef shanks in a citrus vegetable sauce
and pilaff rice.
- Farewell drinks, graduation ceremony and celebration dinner.
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Day Seven - Saturday
- Breakfast available and transfers to Florence or Pisa airport or Florence, Pisa or Lucca train station.
Goodbye, until the next time!
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If you wish to substitute any of the above activiites with one of the following tour options,
it can be arranged at an additional cost:
- Renaissance Florence with a tour of the Uffizi, the Ponte Vecchio, Duomo and Giotto’s Tower,
all complimented by Italian shopping on Via Tournabuoni.
- A visit to a local Lucchese press to watch the whole process of olive oil being made followed by a tasting (November-January)
- A boat trip along the Ligurian coast and the world heritage site of the five cliff-clinging
villages of the Cinque Terre with a visit to a local vineyard and a picnic lunch.
- An outlet shopping experience which includes Prada and the new Gucci Mall featuring a host of Italian designer names.
- Time out on the golf course (with the chef!).
- A visit to Vinci to see the Leonardo da Vinci museum with its life size scale models of some of
his incredible inventions. Stop off also at the Fratelli Taccini studio with a showroom full of unique ceramics,
vases, plates, jars, sculptures available for purchase.
- A tour of Siena, the one-time capital of Tuscany and one of the most beautiful cities in Italy.
This trip may also include a stroll around the small town of San Gimignano with its medieval
towers (of the original 76, just 14 have survived) and charming piazza.
- A visit to see the Bernardini family still in residence at Villa Bernardini, a stunning Lucchese
villa dating back to 1615. Tour the villa and it’s beautiful gardens before heading off on a two-hour walk
through the hills to a hidden away restaurant where a special lunch has been arranged.
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Included in the Program:
- Six nights accommodation with en-suite
bathroom in private villa
- Seven hands-on cooking classes with Chef Valter Roman
- All meals and house-wine
- Cost of pre-arranged restaurants
- Transfers to and from Pisa or Florence Airport, or Pisa, Florence, or Lucca
Train Station
- Transport for all arranged outings, guided tours and entrances to museums
as arranged
- Wine tours/tastings
- On arrival, each student will be presented with a course guide, a cookbook
of course recipes and an apron
- Graduation certificates
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Cooking Vacations 
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