Nonna Dinda cooking class

In the Valdichiana — the broad, fertile valley between Arezzo and Lake Trasimeno — a family has been cooking the same way for generations. This is where Ilaria grew up, in a farmhouse that once housed the Chianina cattle her family raised. The old stalla has since become a kitchen, and the recipes of her grandmother Dinda and aunt Anna are still made here the same way they always were.

You'll cook a full three-course meal: an antipasto made with whatever Ilaria's mother Paola has harvested from the garden that morning (it's always different, always seasonal), a handmade pasta — pici, tagliatelle, or gnocchi depending on the day — and a homemade dessert. Nothing is prepared in advance for you to finish off. Everything starts from scratch.

The class ends at the farmhouse table, where you eat everything together. Drinks are included. You also take home a recipe card and a certificate of participation — a small but genuine reminder of what you learned.

This experience is ideal for anyone who wants to understand Tuscan food from the inside — not the restaurant version, but the version that exists because a grandmother made it that way and nobody wanted it to change.