kwren

For anyone following along, here's a link to my trip report for our second trip to Carunchio Sept 2013:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...e-florence.cfm

jdtinsaluda

I was at this Carunchio venue in 2014 with 12 friends I put together who wanted to go to Italy. So many said it was the best trip of their lives. They told everyone in our small town, so in 2015 I took 22 friends and neighbors back again and we filled the whole palace. We are going back again next week, again with enough friends to fill the palace. And our little town of Saluda, NC has adopted Carunchio as our Sister City in the International Sister City Program. This visit will seal the deal as we have a representative from our City Council going to make it official. I arranged everything with Massimo and did all the arrangements for everyone just for the love or traveling and sharing this wonderful place. (I am a lawyer in my day job when I am not traveling.) Lots of our travelers are a bit older (50-80s ) and some have never traveled abroad so it has been wonderful to give them this experience. Massimo is amazing and so dedicated to giving everyone a great adventure. The staff changes from year to year but they are all great. I can hardly wait to see what Massimo has in store this year. Because I reserve the whole palace, we get a deal similar to Groupon which is how I found the cooking school the first year. I strongly recommend it. We'll be going back again next year, I hope, if enough are interested.

kwren

Wow jdtinsaluda! I don't know if you first heard about Carunchio because of my trip report or not, but I had to reply to thank you for posting this follow-up! What an amazing opportunity for all your friends. I agree with everything you posted about Massimo too. Please post back after your trip and let me know how the second building is coming along! Have you gone truffle hunting? Have you harvested - and stomped - grapes? I wish I was going with you! Please please let Massimo know Karen says hi! (With Leon on both our trips in case he knows more than one Karen!) I told him I would write a trip report!

amy_torres_sd

I wanted to let you know that 10 years after first reading your trip report, I came back to this thread to get the information about the cooking school. Thank you for a wonderful homage to Massimo!