Excellent wine and food. We were treated like royalty by the friendly and wonderful staff. The scenic view , with panoramic hills and vineyards was incredible. Lots of wine and freshly made pasta- just great.

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My husband and I enjoyed our time with Cinzia touring several little shops for fresh ingredients and gelato before heading to our class. She is very knowledgeable about the city of Florence, and we learned a lot from her about some of the more recent history of the city and the stores. Cooking with Cinzia was a lot of fun! She catered to our vegetarian diet, and we prepared tagliatelle and ravioli from scratch. We also had a delicious eggplant, mozzarella, and fresh pesto dish, as well as a scrumptious panna cotta. The private setting made it more enjoyable than being in a big group with people you don’t know. Definitely recommend trying this private tour and cooking class with Cinzia!

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Market Tour

I had a divine experience with Fabio and his warm and welcoming wife! Fabio and I had discussed prior to my arrival what I wanted to prepare. He was a wonderful teacher and taught me and my partner so much about the Italian cuisine and the small but quite important elements to the Italian cuisine. The kitchen atmosphere and panoramic views were a delight and then dining on our completed dishes was truly a dream come true! Very Dolce Vita!!! Grazie for a true highlight culinary experience. I naturally can only highly recommend this experience. You will not be disappointed but inspired.

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A fantastic host!

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Market Tour

Martina is a talented teacher and excellent cook. We had such fun with he class and the food was delicious! See also had lots of useful hints!

Food Tour

We had an amazing evening with Maria Cristina. Maria picked us up at the Sant’Ambrogio market in Florence and whisked us away to her beautiful Tuscan villa which is rich with history. We opted for the cooking experience with Maria Cristina through Traveling Spoon. Maria has renovated the entire home, sticking to the historic design throughout. We enjoyed every moment with Maria, who is a true renaissance woman with numerous varied talents. The delicious meal we prepared was made with the freshest ingredients. I need to be gluten free so Maria took every precaution to make sure everything was gluten free or avoided cross contamination. The best part was how much fun we had getting to know Maria. We all had many laughs and stories to share. Maria even packed up leftovers for us to enjoy at our Airbnb. We are still talking about how amazing this experience was. I highly recommend Maria Cristina for a true local culinary experience in Tuscany.

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Market Tour

Clients LOVED this tour! Linda is amazing.

Market Tour

We've seen "the David", mercato centrale, uffizi, the leather shops, luxury shops, the beautiful city of Firenze. Enjoyed meals at all the best restaurants.. By far our favorite experience in Firenze was Antonella's cooking class with dinner. Antonella was the most gracious host. Her demeanor gave us a family like sense of comfort. Her knowledge, professionalism and love of cooking was clearly evident within the first 15 minutes. The food was simply amazing! It's a MUST try. Very highly recommend...we will be back.

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AMAZING!!!! Would give this 10 stars if we could!! My wife & I thoroughly enjoyed our experience with Mirella and Stefano. It started with the both of them taking us on a tour of the Sant’Ambrogio food market, where they told us fascinating details about the market and vendors. This is where they picked up the ingredients for the menu we were to cook a bit later in the day. This market tour was a fascinating & entertaining way to start the experience! We then got to cooking, during which my wife and I could not stop smiling. It started with two different forms of bruschetta, both of which turned out DELICIOUS. Then, we made handmade tagliatelle pasta with Tuscan ragu. WOW, just wow. The next thing we prepared for the menu was chicken cacciatore. Sooooo wonderful, tender, and flavorful. Finally, we prepared homemade tiramisu. It was every bit as tasty & amazing as it sounds! Throughout the food prepping and cooking, Mirella & Stefano gave us the perfect combination of talking us through it, assisting hands-on if needed, and informing us about the fascinating history behind each dish. The time passed so quickly, as we were having the time of our lives! When it came time to eat, Stefano served us each course. The food all came out INCREDIBLE and it was amongst the best meals we had throughout our entire week in Florence! Stefano & Mirella’s kindness and courtesy made us feel like we were family. This was our first full day in Italy (our first experience in all of Europe, in fact!) and we can’t stop talking about this experience. We get so welcomed & appreciated by Stefano and Mirella. We would highly recommend this experience to just about anybody, regardless of culinary interest. For all of the fascinating things you’ll learn about Tuscan food & history, you’ll also feel like you just had an amazing get-together with new friends! Thank you, Stefano & Mirella. The next time we make it out to Florence, we will absolutely sign up for another class. Oh, and one more thing: Mirella handed us a printout of our entire menu, with detailed instructions of how to prepare each item! We’ve already recreated the bruschetta with Tuscan bread, sausage & stracchino cheese - DELICIOUS!!! Grazie mille, James & Christa

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Patrizia was lovely and, like any true Italian, very easy to talk to. We covered a wide variety of topics beyond just cooking during our morning together. I have been to the markets in Florence many times – I even give tours to students – and I learned SO much from her. She really REALLY knows her stuff. The market people knew her and let us try some of the items and it felt very authentic to basically decide what we were going to eat on the spot, based on what looked good, and then head home with our bounty… I LOVED making the pasta. I really so enjoyed that. I have seen it done so many times and realized I never really got to do it myself. The whole process is so satisfying and as Patrizia said, which I now completely agree with, there’s cooking and then there’s making pasta. They really are two different things. Making pasta is like knitting. It is therapeutic and relaxing. We talked about cooking but in the way you do with your favorite aunt, mixed with life lessons and little Italian sayings and tid-bits – one of my favorite things Patrizia told me is that when you make pasta there is a certain flour/egg ratio and you almost always make an amount that uses 4 eggs. That is just a good standard size, not too little and not too much. So people used to say instead of “Oh I am making fresh pasta tonight for dinner” they would say, “I am making 4 eggs of pasta!” Patrizia was just lovely. I am now fully invested in getting a pasta maker at home!

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Market Tour

Your guided Florence food tour is the perfect introduction to Florence. Learn about the food and culture while exploring the city's charming districts and small alleyways. Your first stop on this food tour, is a local bakery. Here you will taste a few sweet delights and focaccia, while you learn about bread making using ancient grains. Then take a stroll along Via Tornabuoni, to meet Alessandro, the owner of a farm to table delicatessen, just by the Ponte Vecchio. Here you will taste a charcuterie with Tuscan prosciutto, finocchiona, pecorino cheese, paired perfectly with a glass of Chianti. Also learn all about extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Next stop is Ciro’s gelateria, one of the best in town, as they make them fresh every day. Then continue your tour to a chocolate store to taste some delicious chocolates. Tasting will include the blood red Sicilian orange rind dipped in dark chocolate. And your fun tour ends with a glass of prosecco and truffle panino at a historical wine bar.

Food Tour

Meet your hosts Michele and Ilaria at their kitchen in the Chianti hills located in a vast garden surrounded by olive groves and vineyards. Your Florence cooking experience begins with a garden tour! Explore the aromatic herb garden and organic vegetable gardens before joining your host in the kitchen. Here, you will learn to cook traditional and seasonal Tuscan cuisine using organic produce and fruit from the gardens. Your hands-on cooking class in Chianti Hills lasts about 2.5 hours during which you will learn to make 2 dishes using organic extra virgin olive oil produced at the farm. Learn to cook a primi (first course) or secondi (second course), and dessert. After cooking, enjoy your Tuscan meal served with Chianti and Sangiovese wines also produced on their grounds as well as an olive oil tasting. Your seasonal Mediterranean Italian menu includes dishes such as zucchini blossoms, handmade pasta and a dessert like tiramisu. <br><br>Your cooking class takes place in the kitchen of Ilaria's B&B so while there may be other B&B guests in the dining room, your cooking experience will remain private.

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Passion for food and the joy of cooking! The only thing that eclipsed the beautiful villa we explored and cooked in was the food itself. Constanza is incredibly knowledgeable and an excellent teacher who made sure to discuss the how and why along with the what for everything we did. It was a perfect mix of explanation, demonstration, and practice that resulted in a meal and dining experience that topped the best restaurants in Florence. My wife and I were joined with two families, one with children, and the kitchen became a wonderful community with our host accommodating us all. We left with our stomachs and hearts full and with an renewed appreciation for quality ingredients that make excellent food and the joy that should come with cooking.

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