Guest Quote: "The past week has been an introduction to family we never knew we had."
Mary & Erica, NY, USA (see full letter)

Our Cooking School



Villa Eddarella

All of our cooking classes are held in our beautiful teaching kitchen at our private villa in the countryside near Soriano. Here is a little about it:

Villa Eddarella is owned by Michael and Paola, the founders and owners of Culture Discovery Vacations. The home has been in Paola's family for more than 300 years, after her family emigrated from Corsica to Italy. At the time, one of Paola's ancestors, who was a doctor, had delivered twins for a countess in Soriano. As payment, the doctor was granted thousands of acres of land beneath the town. From that point forward, and until the middle of the 20th century, the family were land barons and this home had been one of the residences where families of farm-servants lived.

During World War II, the Nazis had occupied Soriano. In doing so they ousted the family from their home in the town piazza. They had chosen to live in one of the family farmhouses, and this was the one they chose... a choice that probably saved the family when the Americans bombed the main piazza as they liberated the town from the Nazis.

The home continued to be inhabited by a family of farmer-servants until the 1980's, and with time it fell into disrepair. In 1999 Paola's mother, Edda (often referred to as Eddarella), passed away and left the home to Michael and Paola.

Almost immediately, they began a total renovation on the home by completely gutting the house out and rebuilding it from the inside out. After a few years, the country house was named in Paola's mother's honor as Villa Eddarella.

Today they spend their summers living in the top two floors of the villa, while the bottom floor is dedicated to the cooking classes.



The Teaching Kitchen

Until 2007, all of our classes were done in our second floor kitchen, but we wanted more room. There was an ancient 700 foot stable attached to the house, and we decided that it would get much better use as a kitchen. So we designed what we felt would be the ultimate kitchen to teach and learn in... naturally respecting the beauty of Tuscany and Umbria!

In July of 2008 it was finally done, to to say this kitchen is breathtaking is a complete understatement. The room is divided in half by a crumbling stone wall, on one side is the kitchen section with solid-block travertine marble counters, a hand-carved travertine marble sink, custom hand-painted tiles, etc. Hanging from the rack above the 8 foot center counter, you will find salames, onions, garlic, etc. Over on the far side we always have a complete prosciutto there to pick on at will. On the other side is our dining area. As you walk up the steps between the two, it is impossible to miss our 90 bottle wine rack that you will have complete access to any time you desire!

Just outside the door, the view is simply unmatched. On one side you look toward the Tiber Valley, and the other toward the hills of Umbria.

To make you feel a little more connected to home, we have a webcam running during all of our classes, so you can let your family know when to watch for you, and we have a dedicated computer on which you can check your e-mail, browse your pictures, etc. Additionally, for those that want to bring a laptop, we have wireless internet at the villa.