Cooking, Wine and Tomato Passata sauce making small group tour- max. 16 pax
7 days/ 6 nights, Vasto/Vasto
2018 depart: 01 July
Join us on a 7-day Italian cookery tour in Abruzzo, central Italy! You will be part of a small group of people and will be able to develop your passion for Italian food whilst exploring the region’s off-the-beaten-track secrets.
Every year, during summer time, many families, especially in southern Italy, prepare homemade tomato sauces to use during the whole year. It is a special day in which all the family meets to participate to this important event for Italian culture and cuisine.
The highlight of this tour is the chance to join an Italian family to learn how to preserve tomatoes to last all winter by making traditional delicious bottles of passata and pezzetti. You will discover one reason more why Italian cuisine is so healthy.
Highlights:
Tomato passata sauce making experience
Hands on cooking classes: pasta, pizza and fish
Award winning winery tour, wine tasting
Olive oil tasting, cheese making, cheese tasting
Fishing demonstration, visiting artisans, farm, castle, abbey
Personalized cooking booklet, apron
6 nights’ accommodation
6 breakfasts, 8 meals in selected restaurants, farmhouses or wineries
Small groups up to 16 people
Day 1 Rome-Abruzzo
14.30 Rome Fiumicino airport pick up and transfer to the ancient Roman town of Vasto on the Adriatic Coast after crossing beautiful Abruzzo Mountains looking at amazing landscapes. After checking at charming and family run Hotel San Marco in the historical downtown, get to know your guide and learn more about the 7-day Italian cookery holiday. Enjoy a welcome dinner in a traditional restaurant in the heart of Vasto.
Day 2 Vasto-Loggia Amblingh
In the morning, enjoy a leisurely traditional breakfast of freshly baked bread, whole fruit country-style preserves, cake, pastries, coffee, tea and freshly squeezed juice. Then, we will learn how easy fresh pasta is to make with a cooking class by Mamma and an introduction to her favourite seasonal sauces. A typical menu includes Bruschette with meat sauce, Pasta alla chitarra with meat sauce and polpette (meatballs), Cavatelli with vegetables and Tarallucci (typical biscuits from Abruzzo) – naturally this depends on seasonal availability. Lunch will consist of the scrumptious dishes that have been prepared in the morning. In the afternoon we’ll explore Loggia Amblingh, a promenade overlooking the fascinating crescent-shaped coastline, the old town with its medieval Castle, charming lanes, a tower, the Cathedral and Piazza Rossetti, dedicated to Gabriele Rossetti, a poet from the town and father of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. We will meet some local artisans and then you will have some time at leisure. Tonight, you may experience dinner in one of the many restaurants of Vasto.
Day 3 Vasto-Punta Aderci Nature Reserve-San Giovanni Venere Abbey
After breakfast we’ll explore the Abruzzo coast line. After a short and easy walk inside Punta Aderci Nature Reserve, one of the 10 most beautiful Italian beaches according to the British daily The Telegraph. Then, we’ll visit a trabocco that is constructed mostly from acacia wood and railway iron sleepers. Rinaldo, our host will show us how to fish from it and the secrets and history behind Abruzzo’s unique fishing platforms that have been featured in the BBC TV show: Escape to the Continent. His wife, Maria, who comes from a family of well-known cooks, will give us our fish cookery class sourcing fish from the Adriatic where possible – Marinated fresh anchovies | Mariner’s-style clams | Octopus in tomato sauce with polenta | Stuffed mussels | Fish soup alla vastese and Pizzelle (typical sweets from Abruzzo) with home-made fruit conserve. In the afternoon, we’ll visit the enchanting San Giovanni in Venere Abbey that sits on a hill dominating the coastline, surrounded by orange, olive, oak and pine trees. In the evening, enjoy dinner in a traditional restaurant in the heart of Vasto.
Day 4 Vasto
After a leisurely breakfast, we’ll learn how to preserve sun-ripened tomatoes to last all winter making traditional delicious bottles of passata and pezzetti with a local family. Then, we will have a traditional lunch with the fresh tomatoes and extra virgin olive oil dishes. The afternoon is at leisure for your own activities.
Day 5 Vasto-Roccascalegna Medieval Castle-Ricotta cheese making
After breakfast, we’ll make our way to the farm where Pina and Berardino will reveal the secrets of sheep and cows farming to us. There will also be an opportunity to learn how to milk a sheep or cow. After a snack of cheese, we’ll learn how to prepare ricotta cheese in their creamery. We will also learn how to make a special bread called “pizza scima – stupid pizza”. A delicious traditional lunch will be prepared and served. This will be the time to savour our “just made” warm ricotta cheese We’ll explore the enchanting Abruzzo’s castle in the sky in Roccascalegna. Tonight, you may experience dinner in one of the many restaurants of Vasto.
Day 6 Vasto-Selvotta Olive Grove-Fontefico-cooking class
Following breakfast, we’ll visit the La Selvotta Olive Grove that has been farmed by Giovanni’s family for 3 generations to produce DOP olive oils. He will unfurl the secrets of what Homer described as “liquid gold” and we will finish with an olive oil tasting. Then, we’ll visit Fontefico, an award winning winery that sits between a marine park and the mountains. We’ll have a wine tasting with pairings from local cheeses and salami and tour of the vineyard and cellars by owners Emanuele and Nicola. After lunch, we’ll have an homemade pizza cooking class that includes the teaching of traditional bruschette and tiramisu.
Day 7 Abruzzo-Departure
After breakfast departure (normally at 09:00 am) for Rome Fiumicino airport or your next destination (3,5 hours driving from hotel to Rome Fiumicino airport).
Inclusions: 6 nights’ accommodation at Hotel San Marco in the historic centre of Vasto or similar accommodation, breakfast Buffet Daily, 8 meals (food, water, house wine) in selected restaurants, farmhouses or wineries based on traditional regional dishes, 4 hands-on cooking classes and associated food costs, daily trips and excursions, pick up and drop off at Rome Fiumicino airport, personalized cooking booklet and apron, all transport for daily trips and excursions, all entry fees for excursions, tours and wine, olive oil and cheese tastings, English-speaking tour manager throughout the duration and all taxes.
Exclusions: airfares, snacks/drinks between meals, or any meals not listed on the itinerary, travel insurance, drinks not listed in the itinerary and the cost of additional excursions or activities.
Note: no single supplement
