8 Day Luxury Italian Culinary Vacation in Tuscany
Sightseeing Tour and Cooking Vacation in Italy
La Cucina Sabina’s authentic luxury vacations include a culinary and cultural vacation in the heart of Tuscany and near the city of Siena. They have created a single villa-based vacation to experience both luxurious comfort and convenience. Located in a lovingly restored late 18th-century villa, with finely appointed furnishings and bathrooms, this villa will please the most discerning guests. This is a foodie’s dream vacation which combines food, cooking, culture, wine tasting, touring, shopping, picturesque excursions, and adventure into an experience of a lifetime!
Highlights
- Visit wineries and enjoy wine tastings
- Experience hands-on pizza-making class
- Cheese and gelato-making classes at artisanal shops
- Afternoon truffle hunting and Pici pasta making lesson with a local nonna
- Guided tour and sightseeing to various towns in Tuscany
- Hands-on cooking class with a Michelin-star chef
- 7 nights luxury accommodations
- Airport transfers
Accommodation
La Cucina Sabina curates authentic luxury culinary and cultural vacations throughout Italy. In the heart of Tuscany and near the city of Siena, La Cucina Sabina has created a single villa-based vacation to experience both luxurious comfort and convenience.
Located in the town of Torrita di Siena, the late 18th-century villa has been painstakingly and lovingly restored to combine Italian elegance with modern and sophisticated amenities. It’s perfectly situated in a small town allowing casual walks for a gelato or coffee, yet conveniently located within short drives of Siena, Cortona, Pienza, and some of the best wine-making areas.
All accommodations are superior or above.
Program
Join La Cucina Sabina as they tour unique and less touristy places in Tuscany, plus the classic Renaissance and medieval charm of small towns and countryside. Whether your cooking interests are hands-on with a Michelin-star chef, observing and learning to make pasta with a Tuscan nonna, or simply enjoying delicious Italian food and great wines, they have created an exceptional experience for you!
All-inclusive (except air) vacation Itinerary – 8 days / 7 nights including lodging in an exclusive and luxurious Tuscan villa, food, wine, excursions, tours, guides, cooking lessons and demonstrations, plus ground transfers. La Cucina Sabina combines food, culture, and fun into an experience of a lifetime!
Itinerary
Day 1: Saturday
Late afternoon arrivals at the beautiful Villa Rocchi in Torrita di Siena. La Cucina Sabina will handle your transfers from hotels or train stations in Florence or Siena or the Florence-Pisa Airport.
Torrita di Siena is a lovely and quintessential Tuscan town just 45 minutes from Siena. Check in to your rooms, relax, enjoy a swim in the pool, a pre-arranged massage, stroll through the town just outside the villa’s gates. Join others for welcome dinner at Villa Rocchi’s grand dining room in the early evening.
Day 2: Sunday
When you say Tuscany, one of your first thoughts is fine Tuscan wines such as Brunello’s, so you start your Tuscan tour visiting two wineries in Montalcino, with tastings and a lunch pairing. After lunch, you visit the small town of Montalcino for free time for shopping and exploration. After a return to Villa Rocchi and a bit of relaxation, you have your first hands-on cooking lesson with a pizza class!
Day 3: Monday
After breakfast, you depart for one of the most beautiful hilltop towns in Italy, Pienza. Pienza is perched on a high hilltop allowing unsurpassed views over the Tuscan countryside. You’ll have time for touring and exploration before visiting the town of Bagno Vignoni, famous for its natural thermal waters and the pools of Lorenzo il Magnifico. Lunch is enjoyed in Bagno Vignoni. A day isn’t complete without the food culture of the area, so you have a fun and most interesting hands-on cheese-making lesson with dinner at an artisanal cheese factory.
Day 4: Tuesday
Tuscany is world-famous for its Bistecca Fiorentina steaks. You visit one of their best butchers where you learn about the Chianina Beef and what makes it so special, then enjoy a lunch featuring a taste of the succulent Chianina steak. What could be a better pairing than a truffle hunt in the afternoon and a Pici pasta-making lesson in the evening with a local nonna at Villa Rocchi?
Day 5: Wednesday
Enjoy a half-day guided tour of Siena, likely Italy’s loveliest medieval city, where you experience the unsurpassed masterpieces of the Italian Romanesque-Gothic architecture without the crowds of Florence. Along the tour, you will see Il Campo, where they run the Palio, the famous horse race through the center of town along with many of Siena’s other gems. You’ll also stop for a tasting of their renowned pastries. Because of the excellent and abundant ceramic, leather, and other artisanal shops, La Cucina Sabina will give you extra time for exploration and lunch on your own. Dinner will be back at Villa Rocchi.
Day 6: Thursday
What better place to learn authentic Tuscan cooking than in a hands-on lesson with Michelin-Star Chef Silvia Baracchi, at her renowned Il Falconiere restaurant and resort in Cortona. After the lunch lesson, you head to lovely Cortona’s center, the famous “Under The Tuscan Sun” town, for a tour and visit to Celle di San Francesco, the monastery and Hermitage where St Francis resided and taught for a period. There’s a bit of open time for strolling the town before dinner at a local restaurant.
Day 7: Friday
You start the day heading to Montepulciano, one of Tuscany’s most famous wine-making areas for a tour of the town and its vast underground cave and tunnel system first created by the Etruscans 3,000 years ago, and still used as wine cellars for storing and aging wine. You’ll enjoy lunch in town as well as an artisanal gelato-making lesson. You have time for exploring or shopping before heading back to Villa Rocchi for relaxation and packing before dinner.
Your special farewell “Arrivederci Dinner” will be held at a winery in a memorable setting. Celebrate the week’s vacation with new friends and family as we enjoy some of Tuscany’s best cuisine paired with some of their best wines. This will be an unforgettable Arrivederci to cap your special week!
Day 8: Saturday
After breakfast, La Cucina Sabina will provide transfers to local airports, hotels, or train stations in Florence or Siena.
Location
This sightseeing and culinary vacation takes place in Tuscany. Towns visited include Siena, Pienza, Torrita di Siena, Cortona, Montalcino, Montepulciano, Bagno Vignoni, and more.
Food
The package includes food, wine, coffee, tea, restaurant meals, 4 cooking lessons and demonstrations (one with a Michelin Star Chef), truffle hunt, winery visits, and tastings as outlined in the itinerary. One lunch is not included in the price.
The following meals are included:
- Breakfast
- Lunch
- Dinner
- Drinks
The following drinks are included:
- Coffee
- Tea
- Alcoholic beverages
The following dietary requirement(s) are served and/or catered for:
- Regular (typically includes meat and fish)
What's included
- 7 nights accommodation in an exclusive and luxurious Tuscan villa
- Scheduled meals, wine, coffee
- Excursions, tours, guides
- 4 cooking lessons and demonstrations (one with a Michelin Star Chef)
- Truffle hunt
- Winery visits and tastings
- Visit artisanal shops
- Ground transfers to and from Siena or Florence airports, train stations, or hotels
- Taxes and fees
What's not included
- Airfare
- One lunch is independent
How to get there
Recommended Airports
Florence Airport, Peretola (Amerigo Vespucci Airport)
85 km
Transfer included
Arrival by airplane
Please book your flight to arrive at Florence Airport, Peretola (Amerigo Vespucci Airport) (FLR). The package includes a pick-up service at hotels or train stations in Florence or Siena, or the Florence Airport.
Guests should arrange arrival in Florence or Siena and return from Florence airport / train stations. Most international flights
would be to / from Milan or Rome.
Cancellation Policy
- A reservation requires a deposit of 14% of the total price.
- The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
- The rest of the payment should be paid 30 days before arrival.
For this organizer you can guarantee your booking through Tripaneer.com. All major credit cards supported.