Cooking Class in Chianti
We’re not much for souvenirs. We have a light collection of magnets from past trips adorning our fridge, and sometimes we’ll pick up a new piece of swag for our wardrobe, but it’s never top of mind to get a souvenir for ourselves or our family (sorry, family!). We’d rather spend our money on a fun experience during the trip.
Like the time we took a cooking class in Provence. Or the time we experienced falconry at an Irish castle. In fact, our favorite travel experience is one we’ve booked entire trips around - enjoying our favorite bands in new music venues (still waiting on a Red Rocks/Denver trip!).
While in Florence, we took a cooking class in Chianti that had been recommended by friends (thanks, Mark & Lisa!). It was also the first time we used Airbnb’s Experiences feature.
The class was perfect, from start to finish (minus the fact that Jeff was battling a cold!). Booking the class through Airbnb made it very easy to manage, and I already know it will be so much easier to search for experiences in the future compared to the hunt I went in to find the Provence cooking class a couple years ago.
The group size of the class was ideal (8), allowing everyone to get to know each other, as well as the opportunity for each person to try every part of the experience.
We learned how to make pasta from scratch and made two kinds: lemon ricotta pecorino ravioli, and spaghetti carbonara. We also made lavender panna cotta. Everything was fresh! The eggs came from their four chickens, the lavender from their garden, the olive oil from their neighbors.
It was fun to work with dough - an experience neither of us had really done before. My favorite part was filling and cutting the ravioli. We enjoyed our homemade feast al fresco, and the carbonara was the best I've ever had.
Here are 5 other food experiences in Italy that are on my wishlist:
