Learn how to make two types of Italian pasta and a classic Italian dessert during this chef-led cooking workshop. In the private home of a Cesarina in La Spezia, receive hands-on instruction for making trofie, gnocchetti and tiramisu from one-of-a-kind family recipes. Workshops include local wine and coffee, as well as lunch or dinner prepared during the class.

Learn to Make Pasta: Cooking Lesson in Cinque Terre

In this three-hour cooking class, led by an experienced chef, you will discover the secrets of traditional cooking in La Spezia in an authentic Italian home, learn how to make handmade pasta and pair it with the freshest, seasonal ingredients!You will be happy to take home your new culinary skills and amaze your guests!

Cooking class in the garden in the Cinque Terre

Learn to shop and cook like a true Italian with this custom home cooking class based on the ingredients you choose at the market with your local host and instructor.Stroll through La Spezia’s market and choose up ingredients that catch your eye, then head back to your host’s home kitchen for a hands-on lesson to create dishes featuring the fresh, seasonal specialties you’ve selected.

Market tour and cooking class in La Spezia

I will be happy to host you in my home and offer a lunch or dinner with the recipes we will prepare together during this cooking class.Step by step we will learn how to make noodles and ravioli learning all the secrets to make them perfect.To conclude we will gladden the senses with the most mouth-watering dessert in the Italian tradition: his majesty the tiramisu.

The Italian menu: ravioli, tagliatelle and tiramisu

My experience is a three course menu (starter, pasta, dessert) with wine included, set in the beautiful location of San Venerio, a small village in the hills of La Spezia.The appetizer is made with fried pumpkinflowers and is followed by trofie al pesto, a must if you are staying in Liguria.The dessert, light and sweet at the same time, is Mascarpone cream with seasonal fruit salad.I'm waiting for you!

Typical ligurian dinner with trofie

Welcoming guests to our home, surrounded by olive trees and vines, is a privilege that allows us to pass on the culinary culture of our beautiful Italy.I am waiting for you to prepare local recipes with ingredients we produce (such as oil and eggs from our chickens) and enjoy them together in our wine cellar or in the garden overlooking the sea, overlooking the Ligurian coast and the Gulf of Poets that bewitched artists and poets.The culinary experience ends with a visit to our farmhouse, barn and sheepfold to make the moments spent together unforgettable.

Cooking Class with sea-view over the Italian Riviera

The cooking class includes stuffed egg pasta, semolina pasta and tiramisu: ravioli stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach stir fried with butter and sage, Maltagliati (irregularly cut fresh pasta) with ragù.The tasting of these two fresh homemade pasta will be served with Vermentino, a regional Ligurian wine.Such an experience will be completed with Tiramisù.A wide terrace will be the perfect location to taste the results of your class!There are beautiful places you can reach to make your stay a great experience, such as Cinque Terre (Five Lands) with just a 30' train ride, Portovenere (my hometown) or Lerici.Nice places for those who love the seaside and those who want to start appreciating inlets and peculiar landscapes filled with the scent of sea, seafood dishes and Ligurian focaccia!

Small group hands-on cooking class with two pasta recipes

Experience the authentic taste of the 5 Terre with me at the Possa cellar. As a wine lover, I invite you to join me for a pre-dinner drink in a stunning vineyard overlooking the sea of Riomaggiore. Discover the secrets of natural wine production without added sulfites or enzymes while indulging in three glasses of exquisite wine. Accompanying the wine are locally-sourced appetizers such as focaccia, rice cake, and salted anchovies. Immerse yourself in the wine culture and savor the unique flavors of the region. Join me for an unforgettable tasting experience!

Natural Wine Tasting & Aperitif with Seaside view in 5 Terre

As we take in the stunning view of the sea from the vineyard, I'll begin the class by sharing the fascinating history of our pesto from Spezia. I'll explain the traditional system of using the best basil plants and carefully selecting high-quality ingredients to ensure the best flavor. Then, I'll demonstrate the two methods of preparing pesto: using a mortar and pestle or an electric blender. I'll also give you tips on how to properly store the pesto to keep it fresh for as long as possible.After we've made our pesto, we'll package it up for you to take home and enjoy. You can savor the fruits of your labor either when you return home or on a rocky cliff overlooking the sea. The class lasts about two hours, and we'll provide you with water and wine from the local Possa winery.

Pesto express cooking class with sea view in 5 Terre

In the charming village of Vezzano Ligure you will have the pleasure of cooking and tasting traditional Ligurian dishes, admiring a unique landscape: the Apuan Alps, the hills and the sea. As an appetizer we will prepare a vegetable pie according to your tastes and seasonality, enriched by the scents of herbs from my terrace. As a first course we will learn together the secrets to recreate the famous ravioli with meat sauce of Grandma Luisa. To close in sweetness we will prepare a tart with caramel cream and walnuts, or alternatively, depending on taste, with one of my jams.

Ligurian cuisine between the sea and the countryside

Guests will gather with Max and Sarah to in a true pasta master class in an exclusive countryside location overlooking Sarah's vineyard. Handmade pasta, pesto, and wine from Sarah's vineyard, are the notes for a rejuvenating alchemy in the midst of nature, for an experience of learning about and interacting with km0 local ingredients that are such a big part of the Ligurian cuisine. The course will last about 3 hours and guests will learn the craft of sfoglino, an ancient craftsmanship still part of the Unesco heritage. Like Max who is a certified sfoglino, guests will learn how to dance with their pasta....creating a magical atmosphere!

Pasta class and wine tasting in Cinque Terre vineyard  

Podere FerrariGuests will reunite for Max's cooking show and learn how to make handmade pasta in an exclusive location inside the villa's barn that overlooks Sarah's vineyard.Max's Magic Show along with wine from Sarah's vineyard, are the notes for rejuvenating alchemy amid nature, for an experience of learning about and interacting with nature's ingredients!After visiting the historic villa and its cellars, guests will be ready to enjoy a typical dinner with local products. They will truly feel at home in a unique setting far away from the hustle and bustle.