Your Hosts

Michael and Paola Kovnick, the founders of CultureDiscovery, split their time between Italy and The United States (read their story here). They travel back and forth very frequently, so at least one of them is generally in Italy at almost any given time between late spring and early autumn. During the summer months (when the kids are out of school in the states), you will find the whole family there as your hosts. Even their eleven year old son, Andrei, is an aspiring sommelier who will always be happy to uncork a bottle for you :-)

Making it perfect takes more than two...
We have a full staff on hand at all times. This includes two english speaking chefs, two english speaking vacation hosts and guides, cleaning people, a destination manager, a driver, and several backups.

When you arrive, you will meet the vacation host that will take care of you during your week. The host will be with you on excursions, and during many of your classes to take care of every need. The first evening you arrive, you will also meet the chef that will be teaching all of the cooking classes that week, and may even be with you for some of your excursions. They will quickly become like family to you!

People that TRULY care...
As you hear the stories of how members of our team became involved with us, you will completely understand the friends and family theme of our company. The guy up there driving the minibus is Sergio, Paola's brother. One of our chefs has been a close friend of Paola's for 25 years. Another literally grew up in front of our eyes, The pizza teacher has been Paola's neighbor across the street all of her life, and other members of the team have been family friends for longer than anyone can remember.

The point is that this is a really tight-knit operation of friends and family, and since we have very small groups, everyone becomes very fast friends. It is a truly remarkable experience!