Caitlynmae21

Hey you guys I'm in the mist of planning my trip to Italy, and I want to do something fun like a cooking class or something. Do you guys have any recommendations and please say what city. We're traveling to rome, venice, Naples, Milan, Cinque terre, Amalfi coast.

ekc

With that many locations, I certainly hope you will be in Italy for more than 2 weeks!

Where are you staying on the Amalfi Coast? Bucca di Bacco in Positano has a good cooking class I took last year.

Caitlynmae21

Yes it's going to be 3weeks. And I'm still planning where we are staying

jamikins

Will you gave a car? You could stop here for a couple nights and do a cooking lesson in Le Marche region.

http://www.latavolamarche.com/html/culinary.html

We have been three times and are going again for two weeks in August. You can see our pics of the area here

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pug_gi...7634528008046/

sandralist

What time of year are you traveling, how many of there are you, how much do you want to spend and -- most importantly -- what would you like to learn to cook?

Just like people in South Carolina know how to cook things that people in Brooklyn do not, and vice versa, cooks in different regions of Italy have their own specialties. I would not go to Venice to learn to great pasta sauce and I would not go to le Cinque Terre to learn to make risotto.

Caitlynmae21

We will be there in May I'm thinking thats would be the best time. It will be my boyfriend and I and we're not thinking about budget with this because we're willing to stretch our budget to experience something. With cooking anything would be amazing to learn and take home our new knowledge. We are meat eaters if the matters. If the town is close enough we can rent a car our add to our iteniary.

sandralist

If you are meat eaters then don't look for a cooking class in Venice or the Mediterranean coast. That leaves Rome and Milan, and Milan is far less likely to have one-day cooking classes for English speakers. Rome has a lot more opportunities for that.

You might look around for a class you can join rather than a class for just you and your boyfriend. The costs go down the bigger the group. Still, a lot of people are surprised by the cost of a half-day or full day cooking class. But usually the class includes lunch or dinner, so if you look at it that way, plus a fair payment to the teacher for his or her time and the use of all the cooking equipment, and you can see that the pricing makes sense.

I think there are some people who regularly post on Fodor's who have taken cooking classes in Rome, but if they don't see your thread and give you a recommendation, check out the reviews for cooking classes for Rome on TripAdvisor, and if you still don't find anything that appeals, ask on the Chowhound food website message board for Italy or do a search of past threads on that board.

sandralist

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Search?q=...azio__2E__html

His_Dudeness

Check out http://www.homefood.it/en/

SheriMG

If you find yourself in Cortona, I highly recommend taking Alessandra's cooking class. To begin with, she's a hoot and will keep you more than entertained. The class begins by meeting her in the town square where she takes you shopping for the ingredients you need for the day. She then drives you to her home where you prepare an enormous meal, which you will then eat in her backyard. Cooking in her home was so special - and she keeps the groups small, so you can get lots of attention! At the end, she emails you a cookbook with all of recipes. Highly recommend:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...o_Tuscany.html

sandralist

Also, if a a cooking class was just one example of something "fun" to do in Italy, then you could also consider learning how to row a gondola in Venice (there are people who give lessons), or a mosaic class, taking a bike ride along the Appian Way in Rome, or go anchovy fishing at night in le Cinque Terre -- although some of these things are not easily transferable to home.

Caitlynmae21

Yea we are thinking more cooking class cause thats something you can take home I've researched the one in Le Marche and it looks awesome and im going to research alessandra cooking class

pctraveler

Highly recommend Cooking Classes in Rome, located @ Via dei Fienaroli, 5, 00153 Rome, (Trastevere area) phone 347 133 9684

The chef is Andrea and his wife is from Dearborn. Cute couple and a fabulous chef. We were with another American couple and the four of us enjoyed it immensely.

Caitlynmae21

Do you guys think it would be smarter to rent a vacation home for 3weeks or just do hotels?

jamikins

Do you mean stay in one location for three weeks?

Caitlynmae21

Ya somewhat we were thinking if we rent a place out we can just walk, drive, bus, or train to the other cities

adrienne

<< Do you guys think it would be smarter to rent a vacation home for 3weeks or just do hotels? >>

You can't visit all those locations in Italy from one place. You would need apartments rather than a vacation home which will be very expensive and sleep more than 2 people.

It depends on how many days you're staying in each location. For 3 nights or less I prefer hotels.

Caitlynmae21

Ok we weren't sure which would be the smarter way to go

jamikins

We always rent a vacation rental for a week at a time then do day trips in the vicinity. That works well. But you can't rent a place in central Italy and take day trips to cities around Italy.

jamikins

For example week have rented places for a week in

Amalfi coast
Rome
Dolomites
Emilia romanga
Tuscany
Umbria
Piedmonte
Le Marche
Lucca

We don't travel for more than an hour or so for day trips.