Tuscany’s Rhode School of Cuisine offers a master class in Italian cookery“I’d struck gold, spending a week at the Rhode School of Cuisine in the glorious Villa Lucia “ Patrick Powell

“ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME... THE PERFECT ADVENTURE“The perfect retreat for learning to master the art of Italian cookery - perfect idylic retreat for foodies everywhere “ Charlotte Gunn

SUNDAY TIMES TRAVEL ‘At last, a spa we can love. Red wine and chocolate every day, in every way. They stuff it down you in the restaurant and slather it all over you in the spa, allowing the grape and the cocoa bean to work their magic both internally and externally. Yum’

Villa Lucia, Tuscany. “BREATHTAKING in its surroundings”“I can’t recommend the experience enough” Laura Davis

“There are few times in life when you truly feel like you don’t have a care in the world.I realised this was one of them... nothing short of breathtaking... Vila Lucia sits against a backdrop of snow capped mountains... deliciously decadent... I felt indulged and refreshed... fine wine, fine food, it felt like heaven” Jessica Boulton

“...I could eat like this forever...definitely a recipe for happiness...“Rolling hills, gentle streams, olive groves and vineyards... Any broken heart could be mended with the joythat is served up on the plates of italy” Natalie Chalk

“There are few times in life when you truly feel like you don’t have a care in the world.I realised this was one of them... nothing short of breathtaking... Vila Lucia sits against a backdrop of snow capped mountains... deliciously decadent... I felt indulged and refreshed... fine wine, fine food, it felt like heaven” Jessica Boulton

Nikki Barr cooks up a storm in one of Tuscany’s finest culinary schools!“the most incredible food we have ever tasted”...sprawling grounds, king-sized and four poster beds, antique furniture, chandeliers, tennis courts, a swimming pool and even an ancient grotto, the villa screams ‘luxury’ from the moment we enter...

 

“One of the most beautiful spots in Tuscany. And believe me, it is spectacular......we wolf down every course with gusto, it tastes all the sweeter for knowing we created it ourselves. Come my last day at Villa Lucia i am sorry to leave......a real learning experience and so much fun too” Jenny Crombie ITALIA!

“...I could eat like this forever...definitely a recipe for happiness...“Rolling hills, gentle streams, olive groves and vineyards... Any broken heart could be mended with the joythat is served up on the plates of italy” Natalie Chalk

Gourmet on Tour at Villa Lucia, Tuscany. By Laura Davis ‘I can’t recommend the experience enough’

If, like myself, you leave a lot to be desired in the kitchen but would certainly like to attempt to impress others with your culinary skills, you might find an answer in the form of Gourmet on Tour. They offer tailored culinary experiences from France to Morocco, and I was fortunate enough to take a trip to the picturesque area of Vorno in Italy.

Situated only 30 minutes from Pisa airport, where you can get flights to as cheap as £35.99, the area is a hidden gem. Make sure you take a trip via the Leaning Tower of Pisa, as pictures just can’t quite capture how uneven the tower is, and you’ll find yourself won-dering just how it hasn’t fallen over. Our friendly tour guide explained that the whole of Pisa actually has the problem of weak soil, but it’s most apparent in the tower. If you’ve ever been fortunate to have a tour guide who truly finds everything they’re describing as fascinating as the first time they saw it, then you’ll know what a difference this makes to sight-seeing. We were also taken around the beautiful city of Lucca, where an Italian gentleman stopped to tell us the history of a clock tower for about twenty minutes; you certainly wouldn’t get this in London…

We stayed in Villa Lucia, which was breathtaking in its surroundings. They make their own delicious olive oil that you can sample in their cooking and have also just started making red wine, which we all learnt the science behind and just why the beverage is so good for you (I’m taking this little tip on board…).Your stay is catered to your tastes, and we learnt how to cook the big Italian classics, pizza and pasta. I discovered there is some-thing incredibly satisfying about making fresh ravioli from scratch, and even more satisfying about tasting it.

Gordon Ramsay may have you believing that the kitchen’s a place where you might implode from the stress, but our truly profes-sional chef allowed us to get involved as much as we wished to, at a pace we felt comfortable, and even maintained the patience of a saint when we became a little too giggly and excitable from the never-ending flow of Prosecco.

Every member of staff at Villa Lucia, the owner and his own friends (including an opera singer who sang to us at dinner), went out of their way to cater to our needs and become friends with their guests – including staying up having drinks until four in the morn-ing. How on Earth they got up to clear our mess the next morning I’ll never know…It’s not cheap, but I can’t recommend the experience enough.

Prices start from £1800 and you can book Villa Lucia through Gourmet on Tour

“ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME…THE PERFECT ADVENTURE” By Charlotte Gunn

Learn to cook Italian StylePasta, pizza and Prosecco – Italian food and drink is adored the world over. Not only delicious but research tells us that the Mediter-ranean diet holds the key to a longer, healthier life.

‘ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME’

If you were inspired by Elisabeth Gilbert’s eat pray love journey (well, the eat part at least), then we’ve found the perfect adventure for you.

Nestled in the heart of the Tuscan countryside lies the perfect retreat for learning to master the art of Italian cookery, whilst finding a little headspace. In the village of Vorno, about half an hour outside of Pisa, is Villa Lucia – a rustic-yet-luxurious Italian country house-turned-cookery school which makes the perfect idyllic retreat for foodies everywhere.

The beautiful 10-bed villa runs week-long cookery courses where participants will learn how to roll perfect pasta, cook pizza like a pro in their incredible wood-fired oven and master other Italian favourites such as tiramisu and of course, risotto. but don’t worry if you’re not a master-chef, the school caters for cooks of all abilities and the head chef is more than a little patient.

Course bookings start from £1800 for a week through gourmet on tour. It’s not exactly cheap, but the price includes all food and drink for the duration, tours to the surrounding areas, the cookery course and transfers to and from the airport.

Visit gourmet on tour for more information on booking on a course as an individual or as a group.buon appetito.

Tuscany's Rhode School of Cuisine offers a Master class in Italian cookery By Patrick Powell

“I'd struck gold, spending a week at the Rhode School of Cuisine in the glorious Villa Lucia”

We all agreed that the minestrone with homemade focaccia, followed by fillet of beef on a bed of porcini mushroom risotto and spinach and rounded off with a rosemary-flavoured Tuscan chestnut cake was a bit special - not least because I and six fellow guests had made it ourselves.

There are more than 500 cookery schools in Tuscany to choose from, offering everything from one-day courses to those lasting four to five days. But I’d struck gold, spending a week at the Rhode School of Cuisine in the glorious Villa Lucia in Vorno, a former hunt-ing lodge about 12 miles north east of Pisa. The chefs broke us in gently on the first day when we helped to cook lunch-porcini mushroom and potato soup with truffle oil, chicken breast stuffed with sage ricotta and wrapped in prosciutto and served with a herb and grilled pepper risotto, and grilled mango and pineapple with an Amaretto sabayon. That’s all!

And although at first we simply chopped up the various ingredients, the advice and tips our chefs passed on over the next few days were invaluable. Watching a TV chef at work is undoubtedly more helpful than following instructions in a cookery book, but nothing beats having the chef only feet away. You can ask as many questions as you like and when you try something new and get it wrong, help is instantly at hand.

As the week went on, we fell into a pleasant routine, gathering at 10am to start preparing lunch and at 6pm to make supper, invaria-bly with a glass of something in our hands. When we were not cooking - the following evening it was gnocchi with pesto and cherry tomatoes, followed by Mediterranean bream with fennel and lemon sauce and ratatouille, and then panna cotta with a mixed berry dressing - we had time to use the school’s many extra facilities and admire the villa itself.

Built in the 17th century, it was extended in the 18th, but by the late Nineties it was semi-derelict. During World War II, the Ger-mans used it as a field hospital, so previous owners had whitewashed every fresco to save them from being stolen by the occupation forces, begging the question: how, exactly, do you steal a fresco?

During the villa’s renovation, the frescoes were meticulously restored by the department of art at the University of Pisa, and if you ignore the electric light chandeliers, the sidelights and electricity sockets, the villa surely looks much as it would have done in the 18th century.

My large, en-suite bedroom on the top floor, with terracotta floor tiling, would surely have been the last word in ancient regime luxury. The lodge’s stables were most recently renovated and became the school’s purpose-built kitchen and dining room, where our lessons were held. They also house the villa’s Turkish bath and sauna and provide extra accommodation. No trip to Tuscany is com-plete without a little exploring, and on one overcast morning we visited famous Lucca, seven miles away, a very wealthy Renaissance arch rival to Florence, once famous for its silk and the birthplace of both opera composers Luigi Boccherini and Giacomo Puccini.

The old city of Lucca is surrounded by its three-mile long medieval town wall, which is still totally extant simply because Lucca was never actually besieged. Worth seeing is the city’s 900-year-old duomo, the Cathedral of St Martin, there is a unique cedar-wood figure of Christ, and Tintoretto’s take on The Last Supper.

Another trip took us to extremely chic Forte dei Marmi, the summer playground for everyone who is anyone in Italian showbiz, TV, politics and fashion. The other guests also visited the fruit and vegetable market at Pistoia to buy what was necessary for the evening meal, but needing a little exercise to counterbalance all the food, Campari and wine, I climbed almost to the top of an olive grove-covered hill near Vorno and reflected on how soothing semi-silence can be. Back in the kitchen, we continued to apply our new skills until, by the end of the week, we were preparing goat’s cheese and sundried tomato tartlets with beetroot reduction on a bed of rocket, pear and ricotta ravioli with gorgonzola sauce, and deep-fried sweet ravio-li with apple and marsala dusted with cinnamon, as if they were second nature. Some insist the French cook best, some that the Italians taught the French to cook. I’m more attracted to the essential simplicity of Italian cuisine than the often over-sophisticated flim-flammery of French cooking. And I like the Italian attitude to cooking: if something doesn’t come out as planned, don’t worry - simply call it rustica.

Travel facts

British Airways (0844 493 0787, www.britishairways.com) flies return from London to Pisa from £149 including taxes.

A six-day cookery programme at Rhode School of Cuisine (01252 790222, www.rhodeschoolofcuisine.com) in Tuscany costs from £1,800pp. Price includes airport transfers, hands-on cooking lessons, accommodation and all food and wine consumed at the school.

Nikki Barr cooks up a storm in one of Tuscany’s finest culinary schools!

TYPE ‘cooking classes in Tuscany’ into Google and you’ll be inundated with delicious options to choose from.From baking the perfect panettone to making your own fresh ravioli from scratch - all while learning to speak Italian - few places in the world can rival Tuscany’s culinary delights.

Having recently watched Julia Roberts devour several plates of pizza and pasta during her ‘binge phase’ in Eat Pray Love, OK.co.uk were desperate to follow in her footsteps. But while we were happy to just book a B&B in Pisa and eat ourselves into a coma, we thought it best to make the most of our time and checked into one of the region’s finest cooking schools through Gourmet on Tour.

Located just 30 minutes from Pisa airport (and the Leaning Tower) and 10 minutes from the stunning walled city of Lucca, Villa Lucia is about as ‘rustic Tuscan’ as you can get. With sprawling grounds, king-sized and four-poster beds, antique furniture, chande-liers, tennis courts, a swimming pool and even an ancient grotto, the villa screams ‘luxury’ from the moment we enter through the wrought iron gates.

After a glass of Prosecco (just to get into the Italian spirit, obviously), we sat down for our first culinary class.First up: the art of making fresh ravioli, which we would follow up with a classic tiramisu. The last time we ate ravioli it came in a plastic package from Sainsbury’s, so when faced with a bowl of T00 flour (yep, we know the techy words now!) and an egg, we were a little baffled. Thankfully, our chef could spot a group of novices from a mile away and was quick to help us with our mixing skills - but not before we were covered head-to-toe in flour. Villa Lucia make their own olive oil as well as red wine, so while we waited for the dough to ‘rest’ for half an hour, we had a brief lesson in wine tasting accompanied by some mouth-watering anti-pasti, which had been whipped up earlier by our chef.

Looking back, wine tasting before using a pasta machine for the first time probably wasn’t the best idea. Feeling very merry, we were eager to get stuck into a bit of ‘ravioli rolling’, but half-an-hour later, having overloaded the machine, it broke - a first for Villa Lucia, apparently. Luckily, we had already made enough ravioli squares for a small army and our chef kindly nudged us on to preparing our tiramisu. The chef was happy to take things at our pace - which was becoming painfully slow by this point - and was always on hand to talk us through each step, chatting away about ingredients and the different ways to adapt his recipes.

Villa Lucia pride themselves on offering a tailored experience for every guest, and that includes sitting down to every meal as a ‘fam-ily’ and enjoying endless banter until the early hours of the morning.

We had travelled to Tuscany to get a feel for Elizabeth Gilbert’s journey in Eat Pray Love, and while we settled into our cosy beds, tummies bursting with the most incredible food we have ever tasted, we can see exactly why Italy was the first place on her list.

Book Villa Lucia through www.gourmetontour.com, prices start from £1800. Flights start at £35.99 one way with www.easyjet.com.

A FLAVOUR OF ITALY by Jenny Crombie ‘In one of the most beautiful spots in Tuscany. And believe me, it is spectacular…’ A FLAVOUR OF ITALY by Jenny Crombie ‘In one of the most beautiful spots in Tuscany. And believe me, it is spectacular…’ A FLAVOUR OF ITALY by Jenny Crombie ‘In one of the most beautiful spots in Tuscany. And A FLAVOUR OF ITALY by Jenny Crombie ‘In one of the most beautiful spots in Tuscany. And believe me, it is spectacular…’ believe me, it is spectacular…’ A FLAVOUR OF ITALY by Jenny Crombie ‘In one of the most beautiful spots in Tuscany. And believe me, it is spectacular…’

ITALIA! A FLAVOUR OF ITALY ‘In one of the most beautiful spots in Tuscany. And believe me, it is spectacular…’ by Jenny Crombie

If there’s one thing I adore it’s Italian food. Given my way I would quite happily munch my way through the staples of the Italian diet every night of the week: be it pasta, pizza, risotto or any al forno delight, la Cucina Italiana is varied enough to keep me endlessly content. But this passion for pasta doesn’t necessarily translate into any degree of culinary skill. So, although I can cobble together a passable Bolognese if the occasion calls for it, I am hardly a dab hand in the kitchen. So what could be better for me to master these much-desired skills than a hands-on cookery course in the heart of Tuscany?

So this is how I come to arrive in Vorno, in the Lucca province, to enlist in the Rhodes School of Cookery at Villa Lucia. This is where I hope to learn the secrets behind my favourite style of cooking while enjoying a relaxing break in one of the most beautiful spots in Tuscany. And believe me, it is spectacular. The picture-perfect landscapes are archetypal northern Tuscany: soaring hillsides dappled in sunshine, reams of rolling vineyards and distant snow-capped mountains hinting at adventure beyond the horizon.

But on arriving at luxurious Villa Lucia, I feel in no need of looking to the horizon – or even beyond its gates, for that matter. From the moment I sweep up the cypress-lined drive, I am reluctant to leave. Bedrooms here are – without exception – elegant and his-torically resonant, boasting opulent fabrics and traditional features. I am lucky enough to be staying in the very finest room at Villa Lucia, the Caravaggio suite – a four-postered emperor of a room, complete with its own living quarters upstairs and an enormous bathroom with roll top bath and a double rainfall shower.

There’s no time for making myself at home just yet though – it’s time to start the first part of the course. And first on the itinerary is pizza making. With the help of expert chef (and liberal helpings of Prosecco) our group are all soon mixing our ingredients and get-ting to grips with the dough: pulling, kneading, rolling and eventually scattering our flattened discs with toppings from the choice of fresh ingredients on offer. A few minutes in the stone oven and my masterpiece is complete.

The next step, with my fellow students, is to sit down with a glass of local wine to taste the fruits of our labour. I’d been nervous about having to eat dishes of my own making during the course, but our chef manages us novices well, and has patiently and atten-tively overseen proceedings to ensure that it’s hard to get it wrong – he’s even made a couple of extra pizzas in case anyone does have a culinary mishap. We round off the evening with a sweet pizza of cinnamon and pear. A perfect end to a fun-packed – yet educa-tional – evening. By bedtime I am pretty confident that I could now rustle up a pretty incredible pizza at home under my own steam (but maybe that’s just over-confidence borne of an evening’s Prosecco quaffing!) Sweet taste of success.Over the next few days we enjoy a mixture of cookery lessons and free time around the villa and further afield – the charming city of Lucca is within easy reach, as is the coast, Pisa and spa towns like Bagni di Lucca. In our kitchen sessions the chef teaches us how to make pasta (pear ravioli, complemented perfectly with speck and gorgonzola sauce), osso buco (braised veal shin), tiramisu, lemon sorbet, asparagus risotto and more. Each session is accompanied by delicious Italian wine and lots of laughter, while we bond as a group and pick up culinary skills along the way (you also get to take home a certificate and a booklet of the course’s recipes to prove your prowess and carry it on back home). The food is unfailingly delicious...

A FLAVOUR OF ITALY by Jenny Crombie ‘In one of the most beautiful spots in Tuscany. And believe me, it is spectacular…’ A FLAVOUR OF ITALY by Jenny Crombie ‘In one of the most beautiful spots in Tuscany. And believe me, it is spectacular…’ A FLAVOUR OF ITALY by Jenny Crombie ‘In one of the most beautiful spots in Tuscany. And A FLAVOUR OF ITALY by Jenny Crombie ‘In one of the most beautiful spots in Tuscany. And believe me, it is spectacular…’ believe me, it is spectacular…’ A FLAVOUR OF ITALY by Jenny Crombie ‘In one of the most beautiful spots in Tuscany. And believe me, it is spectacular…’

...we wolf down every course with gusto, and it tastes all the sweeter for knowing that we created it ourselves.Come my last day at Villa Lucia I am sorry to leave – and after so much great food on tap I fear I may have to roll home. It’s been a real learning experience and so much fun too. I feel I am taking away the skills to improve my culinary abilities and, having tried it all out, I have also gained the confidence to give it a go on my own. With my passion for Italian cooking flying higher than ever, and my new knowledge spurring me on, my poor kitchen isn’t going to know what hit it.

HUNGER set in the minute I arrived in Tuscany. The tempting wafts of garlic, herbsand sizzling steaks from the restaurants were overwhelming and impossible to ignore.

So, like Liz Gilbert, the American author played by Julia Roberts in the hit film Eat Pray Love, I went in search of food. Gilbert, after divorcing her husband, embarked on a round-the-world trip and set up home in central Italy for four months to rediscover la Dolce Vita through its cuisine.

“I came to Italy pinched and thin,” wrote Gilbert in her book, which was turned into the film. I can certainly see how she soon swelled around the waist and in spirit. Any broken heart could be mended with the joy that is served up on the plates of Italy.

Pisa – the gateway to Tuscany, where my Gatwick flight landed – is known for its rolling hills, gentle streams, olive groves and vineyards. These scenes alone are food for the soul. With the Leaning Tower five minutes away, I posed for the obligatory photo in front of it before jumping on a bus for my half-hour journey to Lucca, where I was staying. Like Gilbert, I decided not to refer to my guidebook but wandered around the centre “lost but happy” seeking out the right restaurant for lunch.

Settling for the Anfi teatro Caffe near the Roman Amphitheatre, I was soon tucking into a plateful of cured meats, soft cheeses, black olives, artichokes, warm bread, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. And that was just a starter. Just like Julia, playing Gilbert, I wolfed down my food hungrily and messily before ordering a glass of sparkling Prosecco.

The Italians think it’s quite reasonable to start drinking early in the day and it feels liberating to be able to relax for hours enjoying food and wine without worrying that people think you are a pig or an alcoholic. Straight after my huge appetiser came the spaghetti with a meat ragu. It’s easy to assume pasta and pizza is all there is to indulge in but in Tuscany the locals go crazy for Florentine steak. The meat is seared on both sides for four minutes and seasoned only with salt and pepper. This is typically served with porcini mushrooms.

For those longing not only to eat but to learn how to cook authentic Italian cuisine there are numerous cooking schools in Tuscany that teach how to prepare antipasti, soups, risotto, gnocchi and, of course, traditional pizza and pasta dishes.

Gourmet On Tour, offers a hands-on experience with professional chefs and throws in wine-tasting and guided tours to nearby cities. The school is in Villa Lucia, just 20 minutes from Lucca in the valley of Vorno.

Many villas in this area are impressive in size and bursting with extravagant decorations and Villa Lucia is no different, with king-size beds in large rooms with wooden beams and chandeliers. In the evening’s young Italians head out to a popular nightspot called Betty Blue where they drink red wine, limoncello or grappa well into the early hours. It’s more about chilling and chatting than get-ting slaughtered, though.

Around every other corner in Lucca there seems to be another square to explore. Near Piazza San Michele is Buccellato Taddeucci, the only café that sells the liquor Biadina. This is a sweet spirit tasting of aniseed and is served with pine nuts at the bottom of the glass. It sells for 14 Euros a bottle and the recipe is a well-kept secret.

The area is steeped in history with city walls that can be walked around in under an hour. There are around 100 churches in Lucca but instead of visiting them, it’s popular to just climb their towers to soak up the panoramic views. It costs around 3.50 Euros to walk up. I decide on Tower Guinigi, the tallest at just over 40metres. From the top of its 211 steps everything below looks like something out of a fairytale, with the red-tiled roofs of the houses against the white-painted walls.

During the spring and summer months, Lucca gets busy as it hosts a film festival from March 18 to 26 and a three-week music festi-val in July. The line-up this year includes Elton John, Joe Cocker, BB King, Arcade Fire, Seal and James Blunt. My trip ends much as it started, with a plate of antipasti and a glass of Prosecco at the family run Bimbotto restaurant in Vorno.

Like Gilbert, I don’t know if I could eat like this forever but a few days under the Tuscan sun savouring these tasty morsels is defi-nitely a recipe for happiness.

Nikki Barr cooks up a storm in one of Tuscany’s finest culinary schools!“...the most incredible food we have ever tasted...sprawling grounds, king-sized and four poster beds, antique furniture, chandeliers, tennis courts, a swimming pool and even an ancient grotto, the villa screams ‘luxury’ from the moment we enter...” Laura Davis

 

Web : www.rhodeschoolofcuisine.com Email : info@rhodeschoolofcuisine.com

“There are few times in life when you truly feel like you dont have a care in the world.I realised this was one of them... nothing short of breathtaking... Vila Lucia sits against a backdrop of snow capped mountains... deliciously decadent... I felt indulged and refreshed... fine wine, fine food, it felt like heaven” Jessica Boulton

“...I could eat like this forever...definitely a recipe for happiness...“Rolling hills, gentle streams, olive groves and vineyards... Any broken heart could be mended with the joy that is served up on the plates of italy” Natalie Chalk

“One of the most beautiful spots in Tuscany. ...and believe me, it is spectacular…we wolf down every course with gusto, it tastes all the sweeter for knowing that we created it ourselves. Come my last day at Villa Lucia I am sorry to leave…a real learning experience and so much fun too...” Jenny Crombie

‘The setting is undeniably lovely, meals are shared at one long table and a lively house-party atmosphere develops……The room and grounds are grand and comfortable and I relax, sleep wonderfully, my skin glows and I develop a healthy new appreciation of red wine’ Jessica Boulton