Imagine Your Dream Vacation in Tuscany, Umbria and the rest of Italy...

Our Italian Cooking Vacations through Tuscany, Umbria and the rest of Italy are not just about what you see, but how you see it. They are all about fun, laughter and a sense of family. We reject mass tourism in favor of discovering the real Italy. After all, it's about so much more than just the sights you see, so we integrate you into the warm and friendly Italian culture at every opportunity. You will discover Italy among the Italians, rather than being wrapped in a crowd of other tourists. This wonderful and warm Italian experience is what makes it the trip of a lifetime. Look further and discover what makes us so special... and get ready to become a part of our extended family!
Guest Quote: "We have felt like members of your family as you shared your home, your friends, and your family" ..."This has been the trip of a lifetime"
Terry & Katie - Wisconsin - USA (see full letter)

Our Cooking, Wine & Culinary Vacations in Italy

Cooking, Wine, Culinary & Cultural Experience Vacations in Italy

  • Cooking at Villa Eddarella

    All-Inclusive Tuscany and Umbria Cooking & Culinary Vacations

    In Italy, life is all about food, family and friends, and that is what we are all about. Join us on one of our popular small-group weeks in which we bring you a balance of cooking classes, culinary outings, and excursions to major sightseeing destinations, as well as some of Italy's most wonderful hidden treasures. We'll get wrist-deep in dough and laugh together as we make homemade fettuccine, lasagna & gnocchi from scratch. We'll make our own limoncello, biscotti & gelato, and even country wood-fired pizza. When we are not cooking, our excursions take us to the most stunning Tuscan wineries, cheese factories & olive mills. We visit royalty in Umbria, the sights of Tuscany & Umbria, plus so much more.

    Our Tuscan cooking vacations really get you off the beaten path... as hoards of tourists flock to Italy, so much of the real beauty and culture that originally drew them there has become lost.  Much of Tuscany and Umbria have turned into giant tourist traps.  But our home base of Soriano nel Cimino is still true.  It is one of the few places in the Tuscany, Umbria and Rome area that has been able to maintain everything that makes Central Italy so special.  Soriano boasts amazing restaurants and pizzerias, adorable cafes, and stunning postcard-perfect scenery. It embodies that vision you have when you close your eyes and think of a Tuscan village... only here it is still unspoiled by mass tourism.

    If you want to explore beautiful Tuscany and Umbria while eating amazing food and laughing with new friends in relaxed cooking classes, we are sure you will love our vacations!


    Click here to learn more about our Italian Cooking Vacations
  • Group photo in Montepulciano Tuscany

    Take The Ultimate 16 Day Culinary Tour of Italy

    We now offer a truly incredible and comprehensive 16 day tour of Italy with small groups of less than 28 people!

    This is an exclusive first-class coach vacation that begins at The Amalfi Coast and ends in Venice. In between, we visitRome, Florence, Venice, Cinque Terre, Pisa, Sorrento, Positano, Capri, Pompeii, San Gimignano, Deruta, Assisi, Siena, Montepulciano, Pienza, Montalcino, Modena, Murano, Burano, and more. In fact,we visit more than a dozen UNESCO World Heritage Sites!

    Along the way we will have cooking classes, plus visits to three wineries, a mozzarella factory, a Parmiggiano Reggiano facotry, a Prosciutto factory, a Balsamic Vinegar factory, an Olive Mill, a Murano Glass Factory, The Ferrari Museum & Test Track, a private tour of the Lamborghini factory & test track, visits to outlets, and much more.

    This is a very unique experience, completely unlike other tours of Italy. All along the way we will introduce you to the best of the best as you will discover Italy in a way other tours don't. We'll be like family for 16 days, and tour Italy like Italians

    Click here to learn more about our 16 Day Culinary Tour of Italy

The Culture Discovery Vacations Blog

Insights from our adventures in cooking & touring Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio - Italy
Mar 09
2008

The Blindfolded Chef - Ceci Soup Challenge

Posted by: admin

Tagged in: Personal , Humor , Culture  , Cooking

Last week Paola wanted to teach Alyssa, our 18 year old daughter, how to make Ceci Soup. She was saying it was so easy that she could do it blindfolded. As we laughed at her, she insisted that she could, so I ended up betting her $100 that she couldn’t. What started out as a stupid little bet turned into an evening of intense laughter and family fun.
We found a sock, blindfolded Paola and she went to task as I filmed her. While it all went quite well, she failed to consider a few potential pitfalls. For one, at our house here in Florida, we have a flat electric stove. Finding the buttons was an exercise of trial and error. Additionally, she had some trouble finding rosemary, and finally learned that Paprika and Marjoram smell more or less the same.
In the end, with almost no help at all, Paola pulls it off. More importantly, we had a week’s worth of laughter in an evening… and some great Ceci soup!
Those of you that know us from our cooking classes and tours in Italy will get a chance to see Paola do her thing at our winter home in the States.
I only hope you have as much fun watching this as we did making it. We’re even talking about make this a regular thing, turning it into a video cooking class.