Dreaming of Italy? Book Your 2025 Tour With Us!

What do you see in your mind's eye when you picture your ideal vacation? If you immediately conjure up images of Italy, with leisurely meals at intimate restaurants, strolls through winding medieval streets, Aperol spritzes in an elegant piazza, encounters with friendly locals eager to share their culinary treasures, you're ready for the Rustico Cooking tour experience.

Just last month we announced our brand new Secrets of Southern Italy Cooking Tour from October 8 to 16, 2025 and it's already more than half filled, so don't wait to book this incredible experience if southern Italy beckons! We'll explore Puglia, Calabria, and Basilicata, three regions with very diverse landscapes and some of the most iconic foods Italy has to offer. (Cheese, bread, and pasta aficionados especially will love the cuisine here.)
Southern Italy video

We've also got our two most popular tours lined up in spring 2025: Heart of Italy Tour: Tuscany & Beyond from May 11 to 17  and  Liguria – The Italian Riviera from May 18 to 24.

In a nutshell, the Heart of Italy tour covers three regions (Tuscany, Umbria, and the Marches) where the olive oil, cheese, and prosciutto are among Italy's best, olive trees and vines line a verdant landscape, and towns look like  Renaissance paintings; the Liguria tour explores the elegant Riviera of Portofino, Santa Margherita, and Cinque Terre, a true sea lover's paradise, with amazingly fresh seafood, light pastas, and the best focaccia ever. (The great thing about May tours is that daylight lasts longer so if you enjoy dinner al fresco and swimming, these are the ideal tours for you.) 
Tuscany video
Liguria video

Tour Calendar for 2025

Client Testimonial: Susan B., Fort Worth, TX

"We have talked and talked about our wonderful experiences in the Liguria region. Thank you for sharing with us such an exceptional experience of Italy - we couldn't have had a better time! The restaurants you picked, the towns we visited, our extra-ordinary time in the kitchen - were more than we could have hoped for! Paula is convinced that it was the best vacation she's ever been on! Thank you, thank you!! You poured your heart into the week and it showed. " 

Almond Crescent & Thumbprint Cookies

Just in time for your holiday cookie swap, these two cookies (made from the same dough but shaped and finished differently) are among our favorites thanks to their crumbly texture and buttery flavor.

ALMOND CRESCENTS

Makes 24
130 grams (4.6 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted
100 grams (3.5 ounces) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature, cut into small cubes
60 grams (2 ounces) ground almonds
10 milliliters (2 teaspoons) pure vanilla extract
75 grams (2.5 ounces) granulated sugar
confectioner's sugar for dredging
 

1. Preheat the oven to 300° convection or 325° regular.
2. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Place the flour on a counter. Cut in the butter using a pastry scraper. Dust the butter with the flour to coat it well.
4. Work the butter into the flour using the scraper until the mixture resembles coarse meal or peas. It will take about 5 minutes or so. You want to still see some small butter lumps coated in flour, rather than a single mass of butter and flour mixed together; this will make for crumbly, tender cookies.
5. Make a well in the center. Add the ground almonds, vanilla extract, and granulated sugar.
6. First mix and then gently gather the ingredients with your hands until you obtain a mass. This will take about 2 minutes of gentle kneading: don’t get discouraged, even if the dough seems impossibly dry at first. Try to be gentle so the butter doesn’t start to ooze out and result in greasy cookies.
7. Shape the dough into a thick log and work out any air pockets with gentle pressure.
8. Cut the log into 2 equal pieces. Cut each piece into quarters and then cut each quarter into thirds, to make a total of 24 pieces (12 pieces per log). If the pieces are uneven, add a bit of extra dough from the large pieces to the smaller pieces. The cookies need to be the same size to bake through evenly.
9. Roll each piece into a log with tapered ends. Gently curve each log into a crescent or quarter-moon shape. Place on the prepared baking sheet, leaving a bit of space between the cookies.
10. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until the cookies are just barely colored. They should NOT brown.
11. While the cookies are still hot, sift the confectioner’s sugar over them and move the cookies gently around in the confectioner’s sugar on the baking sheet to avoid breaking; they should be well coated on both sides with the confectioner’s sugar. Cool to room temperature. Store in an airtight tin.

CHOCOLATE THUMBPRINT COOKIES

Makes 24
For the cookies:
1 recipe Almond Crescents (see above)
For the ganache:
60 milliliters (1/4 cup) heavy cream
60 grams (2 ounces) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1. Make the cookies: Follow steps 1 through 8 in the recipe above for Almond Crescents.
   
2. Roll each piece into a ball and flatten the top.
3. Place on the prepared baking sheet, leaving a bit of space between the cookies.
4. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 5 minutes.
5. Remove the cookies and immediately make a thumbprint in the center of each using your thumb or (if you are very sensitive to heat) using the handle of a wooden spoon.
6. Return to the oven for 15 more minutes, or until the cookies are just barely colored. They should NOT brown. Cool to room temperature.
7. Meanwhile, make the ganache: Bring the cream to a simmer in a small pan and remove from the heat. Stir in the chocolate until smooth.
8. Spoon a dollop of still-warm ganache into the thumbprint in each cookie. Store in an airtight tin.