Book Your 2023 Dream Vacation!

We're writing from Italy, where we're leading three sold out culinary tours to Sicily, Puglia, and Tuscany... We are eating the most AMAZING food and having a fabulous time with our tour participants as we discover Italy's quaint medieval towns, meet passionate food artisans, and cook up a storm in our daily hands-on cooking classes.

Want to see what our tours are like? Watch our new 3-minute video of highlights from our May 2022 Puglia tour.  And follow us on Instagram as we post new photos daily from Italy.

If you're hungry for a taste of the real Italy and want to enjoy an unforgettable week of food, laughter, and travel, join us on one of our 2023 tours to Liguria, Sicily, Tuscany, and Puglia in the spring and fall of 2023.  Best of all, you don't need to do anything more than show up: we'll take care of all the details so you can revel, explore, and enjoy Italy without the stress of planning and managing daily activities.

Our 2023 Tour Calendar

All of our 2022 tours sold out with a wait list so be sure to book your 2023 tour soon. We have 7 tours in 2023 for you to choose among.

SPRING 2023
Puglia & Beyond April 23-29, 2023
Tuscany & Beyond April 30-May 6, 2023
Liguria May 7-13, 2023
Sicily & Calabria May 17-25, 2023

FALL 2023
Tuscany & Beyond September 24-30, 2023
Sicily & Calabria October 4-12, 2023
Puglia & Beyond October 15-21, 2023

All our tours share the same philosophy: our aim is to immerse you fully in the regional cuisine. You'll savor local specialties, meet food artisans, and learn authentic Italian cooking in hands-on cooking classes. We visit smaller destinations rather than large tourist centers, favoring small gems where you can really feel part of the fabric of Italian life. Whether you're tasting wines in the Tuscan hills, making fresh mozzarella in Puglia, honing your pasta skills in Sicily, or dining in Portofino, you'll savor every delicious moment of your time with us.

Want to know more about us? Read about your tour hosts Dino and Micol. Check out our client testimonials. And if you have a group ready to travel and prefer a private tour, ask us about private custom tours at micol@rusticocooking.com

Watch a NEW video of highlights from our May 2022 Puglia tour

Click here for an overview of each tour and watch our 3-minute videos of each region to see which tour is best for you!
Tuscany Video
Sicily Video
Puglia Video
Liguria Video

Questions? Ready to book? Email us at micol@rusticocooking.com 

What's on the Menu?

One of the unique things about our tours is that we only book villas and hotels with exclusive access to a teaching kitchen. This means most of our days together begin with a two-hour hands-on cooking class, followed by a lavish lunch of the specialties we've prepared before we head out for an afternoon of sightseeing and a sumptuous dinner in a nearby town. 

But just what can you expect to learn to cook during your week with us? Below is our cooking class menu from our 2022 Liguria tour. We make fresh pasta every day, a variety of main courses, vibrant vegetables, and decadent desserts. It's amazing what an enthusiastic group of cooks can accomplish in just 2 hours!

DAY 1
Cavatelli with tuna, olives, & mint
Spinach & ricotta sformato
Bresaola, arugula, and parmigiano rolls
Mom's flourless almond-chocolate torte

DAY 2
Tagliatelle with mascarpone, parmigiano, walnut, & basil
Pork bundles stuffed with pancetta & pecorino
Sourdough rosemary focaccia 
Ligurian onion focaccia
Roasted beet salad in mustard vinaigrette
Jam-filled butter cookies

DAY 3
Garganelli with peas, cream, saffron, & prosciutto
Herb-rubbed roasted chicken with caramelized fennel
Sesame breadsticks
Green salad with carrots
Sweet anise & white wine taralli

DAY 4
Foolproof ricotta gnocchi in amatriciana sauce
Grilled mortadella & mostarda di Cremona
Tuscan bread & tomato salad
Pizza al palo with olives & tomatoes
Vanilla panna cotta with amaretto crumble

DAY 5
Mom's potato gnocchi with creamy broccoli & ricotta sauce
Sausages & grapes with Vin Santo
Ricotta puff
Shaved fennel, walnut, & parmigiano salad
Apple & amaretto cake with cinnamon whipped cream

Our menus change with the seasons, on inspiration, and to better incorporate local ingredients that are hard to find elsewhere so you can experience uniquely Italian offerings. A surprise favorite in our Puglia cooking classes was agretti (a vegetable similar to land seaweed or saltwort, aka friar's beard): we simply boiled this succulent vegetable and dressed it with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Some people loved it so much that they've already ordered seeds to grow agretti next spring in the US!

One thing that's always on the menu: something sourdough... we bring our starter to Italy from New Jersey, and after a day or two of baking with it, class participants lovingly nickname it (this year, it was Stewy in Puglia, Bob in Liguria, and Joey in Tuscany). And of course, several class participants have now started their own starters back home (yes, we're on call for emergency sourdough questions).

Client Testimonials

Here is what Nina S. from Northfield, NJ, said about our June 2022 Tuscany & Beyond Tour: 
I'm writing to formally tell you how much I enjoyed our trip to Tuscany and Beyond... You made everyone feel comfortable and welcome. Your ability to teach us as much as you did in two short hours of cooking a day was amazing. It was like a choreographed dance, and we all got to participate. And the food was so delicious! The daily tours were fascinating, beautiful, and tasty too. Not to mention the incredible multi-course dinners we had each night at a different and exceptional restaurant. And the value was more than I anticipated. You gave us a huge bang for our bucks! Your warmth, patience, kindness, and caring made the trip extra special and unique. It was a trip I will hold dear forever... You are amazing hosts and teachers with the warmest hearts. Every detail was perfect. I can’t wait to prepare your recipes to share with my family and friends. I am still in awe of how you both orchestrated the tour. I know how much work goes into organizing and executing it. You were responsible for the well-being of everyone, and you did it with love and care and expertise. Having you as our guides was the absolute greatest and perfect way to experience Tuscany and Beyond. 

And what Chris T. from Decatur, AL said about our Liguria Tour:
"You are such a sweet couple and we truly felt your heart and desire to make everything so special. This will definitely be one of our favorite vacations ever! The trip was just the right amount of cooking class, touring and sightseeing, shopping and great dinners in wonderful restaurants... There are definitely other parts of Italy we would like to visit or spend more time so we look forward to going back with you on a future trip."
 
And a note from Judi H and Maureen W. in Tequesta, FL. and New York City about our Puglia & Beyond tour:
"Thank you for all your hard work arranging such a WONDERFUL tour. We left no sight unseen or morsel uneaten! We had a fantastic trip!"

Photo of Portofino: Diane Tuthill
Photo of plated food: Nina Soifer