Why would you want buy your food pre-packaged from Tesco when you can skip down to the garden and pluck pesticide-free herbs and gather eggs from a happy hen? Locally sourced and welfare-friendly food is becoming a huge trend in foodie circles and where better to indulge in your thoughtful food passion than a sprawling traditional villa nestled in the rolling hills of Tuscany.
Sound idyllic? Well, we can safely say it is. Not content with running their award winning food tours in Rome and London our friends at Eating Italy invited us to sample their new Tuscan Food Experience. It’s not all about cooking – although of course it features pretty heavily – the three or four day courses offer a fully fledged Tuscan kitchen experience complete with wine tasting, star gazing and optional horse riding.
The course takes place in Villa Ferraia in Val di Merse, a region in the south of the province of Siena, under the watchful eye of charismatic host Vittorio, calm and gentle chef Stefano and the rest of the team who are all passionate about food, wine and animal welfare. The villa itself is typically Tuscan with 11th century granite stone walls and tastefully rustic interiors. The views in all directions are jaw-dropping: hills most definitely roll, trees sprout upwards from misty green forests and only the odd scuttling family of wild boars break the silence of the eerily empty surrounding lanes. To up the glitz factor, the villa is also home to a sauna, a collection of impressive looking swimming pools (including an infinity pool) and even an astronomical observatory.
After taking in the gorgeous views, the experience is about learning the art of Italian cooking, so after a leisurely breakfast and a trip to the organic garden to gather a few fresh herbs, it was time to don our cooking aprons. There’s something very attractive about the simplicity of Italian cookery, even to non-foodies like us. Thanks to the traditional food gadgetry, the jovial nature of the kitchen staff, and a glass or two of the local wine, it can also be a lot of fun. The classes are a mixture of watching and hands-on experience, and by the end of the weekend we had honed our new skills enough that we were boiling plum jam, thinning pasta sheets, making gnocchi and whipping up a tiramisu as if it was second nature.
No trip to Tuscany is complete without a little exploring, and if a horse ride during the early morning mist isn’t your thing, there are other optional activities. The experience also includes a very civilised wine tasting trip to the medieval city of Siena. Famous for its Il Palio horse races, its art and beautiful architecture you can easily fill a day there. Worth seeing is the Piazza del Campo, the uniquely shaped piazza at the centre of the city (which also doubles at the city horse racetrack twice a year) and the Duomo, Siena’s striking black and white Italian Romanesque cathedral.
Back at the villa, we were about to find out why the area is held in such high regard by Italian astronomers. The lack of light pollution means that particular corner of Tuscany is the perfect setting for stargazing. We spend the evening on the onsite professional astronomical observatory sipping wine and peering a little blurry-eyed at constellations through a giant telescope.
The next morning we left the villa with a heavy heart but with a bunch of recipes, new friends, a fresh batch of mozzie bites (make sure you use the repellant spray provided) and with our enduring love of all things Italian still well and truly in tact.
If you want to experience cooking in Tuscany then get in touch with the lovely team at Eating Italy. Also check out their blog about Italian Food – lots of tips and resources for tourists to Italy can be found there.
23 Comments
Kathryn Burrington (@TravelWithKat)
9 November, 2013 at 9:15 amThis all sounds wonderful (although I might skip the horse riding). I visited Sienna many years ago and stayed in a villa just outside the city walls for a couple of days. Happy memories. Hope I get to go back one day and this would be the prefect way to do it!
Great photos Gray.
Graham
9 November, 2013 at 10:11 amThanks Kathryn, it was a lovely experience (and we skipped the horse riding too)! 🙂
Eileen C.
13 October, 2013 at 1:12 amI’ve been all over Europe and still haven’t hit Italy. Everytime I read these posts I just drool. Thanks for sharing!
Graham
16 October, 2013 at 12:30 pmWe promise when you do go you won’t be disappointed, it’s a very beautiful country! 🙂
Emma
12 October, 2013 at 11:37 amI’m soo jealous! It looks like an incredible Tuscany experience, would love to do this one day!
Becky Moore
12 October, 2013 at 12:38 pmHey Emma you’ll definitely have to give it a go one day
Scott
12 October, 2013 at 11:25 amWow looks like a very cool place to learn how to cook the Italian way! Wouldn’t mind trying this out one day!
Becky Moore
12 October, 2013 at 12:39 pmYou should 🙂
Dariece - Goats On The Road
12 October, 2013 at 7:24 amCouldn’t be more jealous right now! That food looks amazing, now I’m starving 🙂 Great photos guys.
Becky Moore
12 October, 2013 at 12:42 pmThanks guys I definitely recommend it!
Lauren Meshkin
11 October, 2013 at 11:23 pmVery cool! Now I’m starving.
Happy travels 🙂
Becky Moore
12 October, 2013 at 12:40 pmHa ha thanks Lauren, the food was pretty amazing there!
Paula McInerney
11 October, 2013 at 10:13 pmtotally agree. We did a cooking school in Sorrento and not only did it improve ‘my’ cooking but we made such interesting friends from all over the world and all walks of life. Coking in this environment is a level playing field.
Corinne
11 October, 2013 at 4:25 pmLove the shot of kneading the dough…gorgeous!
Becky Moore
12 October, 2013 at 12:42 pmThanks Corinne 🙂
Tiana Kai
11 October, 2013 at 3:08 pmLove this, you were in my neck of the woods! Siena is absolutely dreamy, so glad you had a great time!
Becky Moore
12 October, 2013 at 12:43 pmDreamy is definitely how I’d describe it, lucky you living there! 🙂
The Guy
11 October, 2013 at 12:44 pmWhat a fabulous experience. There is no doubt that Tuscany is a beautiful part of Italy and your photos just reinforce that.
To cook with the freshest ingredients and make fabulous Italian food sounds perfect. In fact I’m hungry now 🙂
Becky Moore
12 October, 2013 at 12:45 pmThank you! I can’t think of many more places I’d rather learn to cook 🙂
Agness
10 October, 2013 at 10:59 pmGreat experience guys. I have started cooking at home some Chinese dishes and so far so good! I love the landscape, the view is so iddylic. Tuscan cooking experience must be so much fun! I’m a big fan of plums. Wondering how they taste with wine :).
Becky Moore
12 October, 2013 at 12:46 pmThanks Agness, I’m still plucking up the courage to practice at home! Glad your Chinese cooking is going well 🙂
@mrsoaroundworld
10 October, 2013 at 3:01 pmWow, what a nice experience!!
Becky Moore
12 October, 2013 at 12:46 pmThanks Ana, it was pretty special! 🙂