Trips
8 Day Gourmet Cooking Vacations in Tuscany, Province of Lucca, Italy
Available from July till April4 Day Cooking Break with Paolo Monti in Lucca, Tuscany, Italy
Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec, 2025We are constantly updating
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About Paolo Monti
Chef Paolo Monti's goal is to give you a basic knowledge of contemporary Italian recipes and how they are prepared using traditional ingredients.
Instructors
Paolo Monti
Chef Paolo Monti studied all aspects of restaurant and hotel work, as well as French, German, and English. His cooking classes are routinely held in all three languages. Striving to perfect his languages and skills, Paolo worked his way up the culinary and hotel industry ladder passing through several countries. During his career, he has launched and managed several restaurants and catering operations in several countries. His classes are conducted in a light, entertaining atmosphere.
What Do People Say About Us?
All our reviews are from travellers with verified trips booked through our platform.
Suzanne Moiny
from Canada, June 2025
How Chef Paolo taught us valuable tips on cooking techniques and how easy it is to prepare a fantastic Tuscan Italian meal with only a few fresh ingredients. We really appreciated his great sense of humour and his foodie jokes!
Anonymous
from United States, March 2025
Chef Paolo is a delight to work with
Chef Paolo was very accommodating and personable. He was easy to understand and follow his instructions for making delicious Italian meals.
Alison
from Great Britain, January 2025
A great few days cooking in Lucca
I really enjoyed my trip, thank you Paolo.
I was the only one on the course and felt really welcomed and looked after by Paolo and Serena.
We cooked a great range of dishes in the 2 days, and I'm looking forward to trying them out when I get home. I really enjoyed the dinner on the first evening and we sat and ate what we made during the course.
The school/restaurant and the accommodation are in easy walking distance of each other and the centre of Lucca. It is a great city to wander around after the classes.
The whole trip was as described.
Robert Pauley
from United States, November 2024
Incredible Cooking Experience
We had the best time with Paolo, we booked the 8 day cooking class for a week in October 2024. We had 5 days of cooking so many awesome meals and then eating them, so very good! Our tour day was incredible with a personalized tour of a Parmigiano Reggiano factory, a Prosciutto factory and a balsamic vinegar producer. Paolo is in a new location as of Dec 2023. Previous reviews spoke of the need for a rental car, this is no longer necessary. His new location is an easy 15 minute walk to his cooking class restaurant in the incredible town of Lucca. The accommodations were simple but comfortable with air-conditioning. We had our own bathroom with a hair dryer. Breakfast a simple continental with a great espresso machine! All other meals are provided. We were the only ones who booked the 7 day class, so every day was a new group of students, so we met many other cooking enthusiasts during the week. Be prepared to eat A LOT of good food! Buon appetito from Timbuktu!
Gregory Roberts
from United States, October 2024
Cooking in Lucca
The town of Lucca was a great place to visit; easy to walk around and enjoy the city inside the wall. Fascinating architecture, shops, bars & cafes, and a variety of good restaurants. Since the cooking school is inside the wall that made exploring Lucca convenient once class ended. However, the highlight of this trip was spending a week with Chef Paolo Monti and cooking at his school on Via del Fosso. Chef Paolo was a great host, the complete package - entertaining, well-travelled, very knowledgable, and passionate about Italian cuisine and its preparation. The cooking class was immersive with hands-on experience making pasta dough and gnocchi, creating antipasti appetizers, cooking tomato and cream sauces, and learning about flavors and seasonings. The food we ate was plentiful and delicious, well worth the price.
Gill Henderson
from New Zealand, June 2024
Not what was expected
The food we cooked was excellent as were the recipes.
Rhonda Trombley
from United States, April 2024
A Great Week with Chef Paolo!
Chef Paolo was a wonderful teacher, very patient, easy going, funny and explained the processes with ease. I took 5 of his classes and made many, many items that were all delicious, easy to make and had only a few ingredients that are easy to find. We also learned about Parmesan cheese, Prosciutto and Balsamic Vinegar by going to see how these are made as well as receiving useful information for future purchases.
Thank you Chef Paolo!
Adele Pelland
from Canada, September 2023
Tuscany cooking
Thoroughly loved the cooking classes and the dishes we made… so many dishes to make and taste. I learned some tips and tricks of pasta making from Chef Paolo. Generally the food was awesome and the sauces were amazing. The chef is friendly, funny and knows his stuff. He took time to explain things and answered any questions that we had. Loved the classes when we had only 4 people cooking… it made for a more intimate time with the chef. The food was delicious, the atmosphere of the location in the countryside was great… Our room was rustic and charming and the balcony that we had allowed us to get the feeling of being in Tuscany.
Ron Kubek
from Canada, May 2023
Best cooking class ever
The variety of the meals prepared each day, the stories and insight from Chef Paulo, the taste of the food, and the general hospitality was excellent. If you’re coming here to Lucca, whether it’s for a half-day class or a one week class, this is the only place that I would recommend. The chef is one of the most hospitable people I have ever met. His knowledge and insight and Grace was wonderful. A great experience.
Pooja Siddhi
from Great Britain, January 2023
We loved this Italian culinary experience .
Paulo tailored this for us and made it easy learning with simple recipes that we will surely try at home.
We would recommend this experience to others and Paulo was an amazing host too.
Ron Parks
from United States, October 2022
Educational and fun!
Chef Paolo’s 8 day Gourmet Cooking Vacation in Tuscany exceeded my hopes and expectations! Chef Paolo is a delightful, friendly, entertaining host with a very personal touch. He is a gifted teacher and made each lesson fun and informative with his vast knowledge of Tuscan history and culture. We made and then enjoyed eating multiple dishes during each lesson. We visited a local wholesale market and took a delightful and informative excursion to Parma and Modena where we experienced the making of parmesan-reggiano, prosciutto, and balsamic vinegar. The accommodations were more than comfortable and restaurant meals were delicious. I was surprised that I only gained 4 pounds the week I was there as it seemed we were non-stop eating with coffee and wines flowing freely throughout the week. I can’t say enough positive about Chef Paolo and the entire experience and would do it again in a heartbeat!
Janice Naidoo
from Netherlands, October 2020
Cooking classes experience
Amazing personal experience with Chef Paolo Monti. I had the privilege of having private classes and learned so much, ate even more 😁 and the food was just incredible! The quality of ingredients, dishes and overall experience exceeded my expectations. Thank you again for your wonderful hospitality, was such an honor to have a week with you and have absorbed so much knowledge on Tuscan and Italian cuisine! Il be back and highly recommend for any foodie fans.
Eric Key
from Canada, December 2019
Good food and instruction
The training and food was exceptional
Arkady Katz
from Israel, October 2019
It was my best vacations for the last five years
Te atmothphir
Donna And Kevin Gilder
from United States, October 2019
Kevin and Donna from CANADA really enjoyed this experience
Lots of dishes, lots of hands on, and really interesting tours. Plus Lucca is a very cool little city.
Really enjoyed our time there.
Patricia Agnew
from United States, October 2019
Fantastic Experience!!
Chef Paolo was a true delight! We started each day with preparing our ingredients, then learned many tips and processes to making GREAT AUTHENTIC Italian food.
Jerri Griffee
from United States, September 2019
Even better than I had hoped for
I absolutely loved it. I like to create special experiences for significant birthdays. We prepared fabulous food using simple recipes. Chef Paulo is well versed and made the classes fun. We took side trips to learn about parmesan cheese, prosciutto, and balsamic vinegar. The restaurant is fabulous and the full menu was available to us. I was apprehensive because I was travelling solo but my classmates became fast friends. I was treated like a queen on my birthday by my classmates and the restaurant staff. It was worth turning 60!
Marian Nel
from South Africa, September 2019
A perfect Tuscan Culinary Holiday Experience
Chef Paolo Monti shared his in-depth knowledge as a chef with the participants in a very hands-on way. All the recipes are practical and can easily be made at home. The atmosphere in the classes was always relaxed and Chef Monti has a good sense of humour. The classes were conducted in a very organised manner. The generosity of meals and beverages as well as the overall hospitability of Chef Paulo Monti and his staff made this culinary holiday a truly memorable experience. This vacation is highly recommended. The accommodation is spacious, homely and spotlessly clean The apartments are serviced every day.
Jane Mairs
from Great Britain, September 2019
A wonderful experience with a fantastic chef and host!
We made many delicious but simple to make recipes and ate them all! The hospitality was excellent, each night you could chose from the menu of the restaurant next door whatever you wanted, both to eat and drink, at no charge. Chef Paolo was not only a wonderful tutor but also very humorous and entertaining. He also took us to tour the production of Parma prosciutto, Moderna balsamic vinegar and Parmesan cheese. The whole experience was fantastic!
Babak Khosrowshahi
from Great Britain, July 2019
Memorable cooking experience
A big thank you to chef Paolo for providing a comfortable atmosphere to learn a number of Italian recipes. Chef Paolo was very generous with the ingredients and the variety of dishes we tried our hands on. His jokes add flavour to the whole experience. The great bonus is having the meals you prepared with Tuscan wine. The advantage of booking your accommodation with Chef Paolo Monti is that there is no driving straight after the class and you can indulge in both food and wine. The accommodation is adequate and is in need of some adjustments, but 20 minutes drive from Lucca, is in great location.
Anonymous
from Great Britain, July 2019
Yummy
Going to the market was a treat. It is only open once a week and to go with someone who knew what they were looking at was an eye opener - who knew there were boy and girl courgette flowers and the boy ones are the best. I learned a lot and enjoyed eating what we had cooked.
Rachel Abrams
from United States, June 2019
My 3-Day Cooking Class and Stay in Corignano
The apartment was beautiful and spacious, the staff very gracious and friendly, and Chef Paolo Monti was a very excellent chef and cooking instructor. He was very talented. I didn’t realize I would be receiving such a top-notch cooking class. One class was about sauces and pastas, and the other was preparing different types of seafood. It was wonderful to try all the foods we prepared and the groups were nice people. Thank you, Rachel
Anonymous
from France, June 2019
Highly Recommend
We had a wonderful week’s cooking course with Chef Monti. We brought our grandson, aged almost 13, who has experience in cooking, having taken a couple of courses in the UK. The course was demanding in that we cooked over 40 recipes, and ate the final products. We learned a great deal with lots of tips and tricks and covered a wide range of recipes. Each of the classes had a theme, e.g. seafood, risotto, Tuscan specialities and involved preparing a four course menu based around the theme. The results were delicious. The number of people involved differed each day. There were four of us that were there for the week and then several other people came each day for the day’s class. This generally worked well and the groups gelled and combined to give an interesting dayr. This was helped by the Chef’s friendly manner, his string of well-rehearsed jokes and his effective teaching. The other participants seemed to enjoy their course and several said it had exceeded their expectations. The Chef was particularly good with our grandson and they had a great relationship so we would recommend this class for enthusiastic young people but it could be daunting to do a whole week for children who have no experience or are not committed. In conclusion we would highly recommend the cooking classes and perhaps the best summary came from our grandson who said to us at the end."Chef Paolo was inspirational".
Claudia Blydenburgh
from United States, June 2019
Perfecto!
This was an amazing experience for our whole family - the four of us took the two day course and had 8 full hours of instruction on pastas and sauces (Day 1), and seafood (Day 2). The classes were hands-on and fast-paced - the facilities were comfortable, spacious, and clean - and the food was superb!
Anonymous
from United States, June 2019
Loved the cooking, not much to do there
Chef was friendly, engaging and informative. The classes were very enjoyable and we cooked some delicious food.
The accommodations were large, clean and comfortable.
Lucca, the walled town, is very pretty and walkable.
Malika Saidi
from Netherlands, June 2019
cooking course in Lucca
I liked the apartments and facilities of the cooking school. During the classes, everything was organized and the staff are very hard working and friendly. The size of the groups is good, there is a lot of interaction during the classes. Good balance of theory and hands on cooking.
Pamela Strelec
from Canada, May 2019
HIGHLY Recommnded!
Everything was fantastic, from our arrival to hugs at the end of the week. We were treated like royalty, by Chef Monti and all his staff. When we weren’t eating in class we ate in Chef’s restaurant attached to the school. Everything was delicious and fresh. Classes were very informative, hands on and the food was five star. We stayed in an apartment above the restaurant which was spacious and clean, with daily maid service. I have absolutely thing negative to say about our eight day culinary adventure.
Diane Ewer
from Canada, May 2019
! Learning, cooking, eating and meeting great people!
The chef is very knowledgeable. Mixed in with a heaping cup full of his dry sense of humor, it made for a fabulous time. Learned so much. Very much appreciated the side trips. Chef put a lot into the week to make it memorable
The staff were outstanding! Friendly & helpful at every turn. The food was the best. Every meal incredible. Very generous with everything.
Anonymous
from United States, May 2019
Staff,facilities and instuction were excellent. Highly recommend this adventure. Kitchen was fully stocked with fruits and drinks and a coffee machine was there for expresso, cappuccino or tea.
The bus stop was in front of apartment and for 2 euros you could go to Lucca.
Recommend taking bus#53 from main hub to Carignano where school and housing is locatec
Marion Burgess
from Great Britain, March 2019
Just amazing
Paolo was a brilliant teacher and very funny with it. He showed us the true taste of Italy and the food we cooked with him was delicious. His restaurant also served excellent food and all the staff were lovely. Would definitely return for the other cookery lessons he does.
Terry Piper
from Canada, February 2019
Fabulous experience...
I loved Chef Paolo’s instruction. He was clear, funny, and very good at explaining why he does things the way he does. I learned a number of tricks of the trade, and I found the trips outside to be very informative. I can’t say enough about the hospitality and kindness of Chef and his staff. I fell on my second day (not related to the class), and I was overwhelmed by their thoughtfulness to me, including changes to the schedule to accommodate my limited mobility. The refurbished apartment was clean, comfortable and spacious. I left vowing not to come back.
Anitha Gopinath Kumar
from India, January 2019
It was my wish to do a culinary tour in Tuscany
Chef Paolo is a wonderful host and a professional chef and cooking school is so well run
You learn hands on and in a happy environment
Antonio Solano
from Costa Rica, December 2018
Experiencia de cocina en la Toscana
Paolo es un excelente profesor, se toma el tiempo y formas parte importante en el desarrollo de las recetas
Todas las personas te hacen sentir como en casa
Disfrutas en todo momento, la visita al mercado muy agradable
Se recomienda rentar auto al estar un poco lejos de la ciudad
Anthony Mealing
from Great Britain, December 2018
Needs to say hiure a car taxies are to expensive.
The food...........................................
Vinod Elangasinghe
from Philippines, December 2018
Perfect getaway for a foodie
Chef Paolo was a walking encyclopedia
There were plenty of opportunities to learn
He engaged you in the cooking process
The place was perfect for walks and enjoying the scenery
The rooms and toilets were clean and tidy
There was no limits on food and beverages
Hospitality was if top notch
All the staff were very friendly and accommodating
The food here was 'heaven'
Kelly O'brien
from Canada, October 2018
DREAM vacation - enjoyed 100%
Absolutely a dream vacation for me, has been on my "bucket list" for many years was more than I could have expected stayed for the 8 days, cooked 4 of these - 50 recipes - Chef Paulo - amazing and made it fun and entertaining. Two excursions and two long days assumed we would go with another group however Chef Paulo does these himself - wow is all I can say - the experiences we had in those 2 days he is full of knowledge - wine/cheese/balsamic/geographics of Italy - couldn't have been any better - recommend 100% to everyone who has an interest in cooking - surprised by how little ingredients used and how wonderful everything tasted! Can't wait to use some of the tips/tricks/recipes he shared throughout the week. Apartments renovated and very comfortable and always food at hand in the common area! Just outside of Lucca, 45 minute walk or bus is at your doorstep! Amazing, amazing, amazing!! thanks Chef Paulo you treated Kathy and I like royalty!
Keti Koras
from Canada, October 2018
Eat Cook Eat Under The Tuscan Sun!
The knowledge that chef paoulo shared was exceotional. He even stopped on the side of the road to show us a chestnut and walnut tree! Very kind amazing gentleman who is the best teacher and chef I have met!
Kathrine Kinal
from Canada, October 2018
Wonderful Experiene
Chef Monti was wonderful, he made the classes fun and interesting, and he was very accommodating. I especially appreciated the day trip to the cheese factory, prosciutto maker and to Modena to experience the balsamic vinegar tastings. I would never have been able to experience this otherwise. I loved the experience of seeing the old fashioned, traditional ways of making these wonderful products and appreciate the work and dedication to it.
On the trip we also got to experience more of the Italian countryside.
Muna Sabbagh
from Great Britain, September 2018
Cookery classes
The classes were a great experience. Chef Paolo is an excellent host and teacher. His staff are brilliant. I met lots of very interesting people from around the world.
Matthew Hammel
from Panama, August 2018
A non water boiler
Chef helped me hold a knife, chop, dice, mince, and sauté. The facility is great for groups. Chef keeps everything light and moving. Ingredients were top rate, and the results were very much appreciated.
Mary Lea
from Canada, August 2018
Private time with Paolo
The kitchen was well organized and lessons ran like clock work. Side trips were fun and interesting and added variety to the cooking lessons. Large group lessons were the best when we got to meet and talk to other people from around the world, but private lessons were good too as we got more one on one time with Chef Paolo! The room was spacious and air conditioned.
F Gedutis
from United States, June 2018
Gastronomic delight
The number of recipes and techniques presented was extraordinary and executed with a high level of organization. The lodging facility is a little rough around the edges and the location is a 3 mile hike from town.
The staff are extraordinarily talented and helpful
Aisling Mc Mahon
from Ireland, April 2018
Fabulous experience!
I did a three day cookery course with Chef Paolo and thoroughly enjoyed it - just arrived home now and can't wait to try out the recipes! Chef Paolo is a wonderful teacher as well as being a warm and engaging person.
Annette Blackwell
from Canada, November 2017
Chef Paolo Monti’s Cooking school
I enjoyed the quality and simplicity of the recipes we made. I thought the mix of cooking classes and tours of various food producers and wineries made it a relaxing vacation with many points of interest.
The on-site accommodation, breakfast and attention from all the restaurant staff really added to the experience.
Patricia Redinger
from United States, October 2017
You don't want to miss this!
Accomodations were wonderful, just above the cooking school. Chef Paolo is such a good teacher - passionate about cooking and teaching
Mexico Lindo Cooking
from Mexico, August 2017
Amazing experience in Italy
Spending a week with Chef Paolo was amazing,
Knowledgeable, funny,
Knows a lot not only gastronomy but culture in general.
Great experience and fun for all ages.
Sarah Moise
from Great Britain, July 2017
Cooking in Tuscany with Chef Paolo Monti rocks
Just back from the 7 day Tastes of Tuscany cooking trip. Had a fantastic time. Chef's instruction was brilliant - very clear, good pace, everyday new people joined, always laughter, great banter, The timetable works perfectly & is well thought through. Loved hearing the history....of food, of Tuscany, of everything from a well travelled, open and experienced man. The excursions (parmesan, balsamic, prosciutto production & wine tasting) all very enjoyable. Location (walking distance to Lucca) and at the foot of a mountain (ideal for running off the excess pounds!).
Britt Voll
from Norway, June 2017
Thorough walk trough of Italian cuisine
The knowledge of the chef, quality of lessons and professional and friendly service!!! Location provided great walks also in spare time :)