Longevity Cooking Class
These classes are designed to let people fully experience how food can become the longevity secret and its “what”, “where”, and “with whom”.
Gathering simple, healthy ingredients directly from the field, learning the techniques of traditional Tuscan cuisine, having fun making pizza, preparing the meal together in the Tuscan countryside, savouring the fruits of your labor over lunch, paired with wines and the company of people you enjoy.
Yes, cooking is a big part of Italian culture. And yes, we love doing it together with the people we enjoy the most: chatting, stealing a piece of our mom’s freshly baked focaccia, sipping wine, and living life.
Interestingly enough, people often wonder how we stay in good shape, while eating pasta every day. The truth is, there’s no real secret. Our classes are proof that our recipe for a long, healthy, and happy life is simple, but we do need to rediscover it.
No recipes, no measurements, our grandmothers never needed them. Here you learn by using your hands, eyes, smell, so you’ll never forget how to recreate the dishes that made your Tuscan stay special.
Three Locations
Three different locations for three different experiences.
All cooking classes take place in Castelnuovo dell’Abate, in Montalcino, the core of the local UNESCO heritage site. Each class unfolds in slightly different scenarios that fully reflect their purpose.
Cooking class
Rural
An outdoor patio in the middle of our biodynamic farm, along our farm animals overlooking the vineyards. Ingredients are picked directly from the garden, and the eggs from the hens. Relaxation is the foundation of this location.
Cooking class
Convivio
A convivial terrace at the edge of Castelnuovo dell’Abate, surrounded by a first class view of the Val d’Orcia valley and the volcano Mount Amiata. A space pizza making classes, that inspires friends and family reunions. Music, cooking, and fun.
Cooking class
Origini
In the heart of the Medieval Village of Castelnuovo dell’Abate, in a newly renovated historical landmark. There, we will be cooking among the locals, following their recipes infused in history and tradition.
Our Cooking Classes
Cooking reflects a rural Italian way of living based on simple foods, time spent outdoors, seasonal rhythms and the possibility to rediscover one of the oldest love language: caring for the beloved ones through the experience of food. For this reason our experiences reflects the main three ingredients of our longevity:
1) the art of “Rural” life and the art of growing food with patience and passion (Rural Cooking Class),
2) the ancient way of Tuscan villagers to live life through food as it was in “Origine” (Origini Cooking Class),
3) “Convivio”, the art of living together and sharing the magic of food with others (Convivio Cooking Class).
There is no complicated lifestyle, or mystic formula. It is really just about simplicity: simple foodstock, simple habits and simple connections.
Everything starts with the ingredients that form the base of Italian cooking: extra virgin olive oil, vegetables, legumes, wild herbs, garlic, and eggs. Guests will use only what is available according to seasonality. Pizza classes will have the chance to have people pick and choose which flour to use (whole wheat, spelled flour, senatore cappelli..) and how to marry seasonal toppings together.7
Menus change throughout the year: cooking with the seasons is central to the experience and allows guests to work with ingredients at their best, as has always been done in traditional Tuscan kitchens.
The cooking class is fully hands-on and designed for all skill levels. Our chefs cook alongside guests in a relaxed, informal setting. The atmosphere is meant to feel like cooking in a private home, not a professional kitchen, with an emphasis on learning by doing and sharing the meal together.
The Maestro
You’ll be guided by Culinary Mentors who were born and raised on this very soil. They are the keepers of our land’s secrets, having spent a lifetime learning how to respect and celebrate its seasonal gifts.
Our philosophy is simple: we don’t want to be your teachers; we are going to be friends who cook alongside you. And as we prep the garden’s harvest together, we’ll reveal the true “secret” to the Italian lifestyle.
Book Your Experience
Fill the form and ask us any questions, we will help you organize your special day
