Handmade Tuscan Pasta Making Class in Florence

"Chef Cinzia was a delight. We had a wonderful late afternoon/early evening learning,
enjoying and eating/drinking. Chef was approachable and knowledgeable -- without the
overtones of authoritative pomposity. We had a delight!!"

"This was an amazing, utterly magnificent experience!!! The cooking aspect was wonderful
but even better was just the ambience, interaction, and conversation!!! Highly recommend
and will definitely do again when we return another time!!! Grazi, Cinzia!!!"

"One of our favorite things we did in Florence. We loved cooking with Cinzia and having true
Italian food. She is an amazing cook and host!"

"As my clients travel advisor I received this message.

"We had such a great time. Cinzia was a lovely host and we felt so welcome at her home. We are all excited to use our new skills when we get back home! Thanks again so much for organizing this for us!!""

"My wife and I were warmly welcomed into Cinzia’s home and shown to her BEAUTIFUL Tuscan patio where the table was set among here beautiful flowers and garden. She walked us through making three traditional pasta dishes and then guided us through preparing, cooking, and eating them (along with a delicious dessert we made first!). Book her if you can, we DEFINITELY will cook with her again when we return to Florence!"

"Our boys learned so much and have a new appreciation for international cuisine. We highly
recommend Cinzia. She is wonderful. And the food was excellent!"

"Cinzia was a wonderful hostess as she welcomed us into her home and began to teach us to make homemade pasta (gnocchi, ravioli and tagliatelle) along with sauces using pumpkin, artichokes, pears, sausage and leaks. She was patient and wise and we had fun and enjoyed her amazing kitchen with all the best equipment-it was such a great experience for us and the food turned out to be delicious and very “Florentine”! By the end of the evening we were like family…highly recommend this experience while you are visiting Florence."

"Outstanding host makes for an outstanding experience. Thank you Cienza for teaching us
your craft and sharing a wonderful meal and evening."

"the host cenzia was great and very informative plus the food was excellent. she was very attentive to our questions and presented in a way that was helpful to understand."

"We had a fantastic experience cooking with Cinzia! Buying the food at the local markets and preparing at her home were our most memorable experiences of the trip. Thank you so much!"

"So fun! Cinzia taught us about the traditional Tuscan method of making pasta. First, we prepared a protein pasta dough. Next we let the dough rest while we prepared a potato and spinach gnocchi. Then we prepared tagliatelle with a classic tomato garlic sauce, pecorino stuffed ravioli with pear and shallot sauce and gorgonzola cream sauce for the gnocchi. For dessert, we prepared a coffee mousse. My family had a lot of fun. For planning purposes, I had difficulty getting a taxi to Cinzia's and back to the hotel so I would recommend making arrangements for transportation in advance. Her home is roughly a 15 minute drive from the Piazza del Duomo."

"Cinzia was a great teacher. She made it easy to follow the directions and taught us about regional cooking styles as we were making the recipes. She used Zoom well, showing us the steps in the process and giving us tips on how to do things. The recipe gave measurements in grams, but we didn't have a scale so she was able to convert to cups for us. The food came out delicious, and feel like I would be able to follow the recipes again on my own in the future. It was also fun to be able to share the experience with my son who lives in California - we don't often get the chance to do things together like this."

"Cinzia was so great! We thoroughly enjoyed her class. Not only did we learn how to make past but her knowledge of the history was amazing to hear about too"

"I enjoyed my cooking class with Cinzia very much! The only thing that would have made it better would be if we were together in her kitchen instead of 5000 miles apart over Zoom. The recipes were delicious and I’ve made them again."

"I enjoyed my cooking class with Cinzia very much! The only thing that would have made it better would be if we were together in her kitchen instead of 5000 miles apart over Zoom. The recipes were delicious and I’ve made them again."

"Cinzia was very kind AND PATIENT! I am not a natural in the kitchen, but she taught me how to do everything. We had a very nice time."

"Cinzia is a delight! I would highly, highly recommend booking this experience with her. Our boys loved making their own pasta, and we had so much fun putting all the ingredients and courses together. Cinzia was a terrific host, and I would love to book her again to come to our flat if we have a full kitchen.
"

"Such a lovely evening! My dad and I took Cinzia’s cooking class and it was the highlight of our time in Florence. The patio was beautiful and we learned skills we will definitely use when returning back to the US. Overall, it felt like we were having a fun night in a friend’s home and we can’t wait to make our own pasta at home! Thank you Cinzia!"

"Cinzia was very welcoming and helpful. We made a lot of delicious pasta (plus dessert!) and left feeling like we could do it again ourselves!"

"Wow! What a fun way to immerse yourself into the Tuscan culture with a pasta class at Cinzia’s home. This experience is one of our favorite memories from our 2 week trip to Italy. Cinzia provided an appetizer and wine while she explained the menu and walked through how to prepare each dish. Then she demonstrated each step and allowed us to prepare three different menu items plus a dessert. The pasta was SO good. Cinzia was very hospitable and so much fun to visit with. We enjoyed getting to know her, her family history, and learn some of her cooking secrets. She provided the recipes that we made so we can enjoy them for years to come. Highly recommend this experience!"

"Cinzia was wonderful! She took to time to explain everything in good detail and even provided some stories and tidbits of knowledge throughout the class. She was so personable and showed us around her beautiful home (well the patio and kitchen!)"

"I loved the short experience I had working with Cinzia! There were a lot of little things she showed me that I didn’t know about. I made beef ragu and panna cotta. It was delicious! I would definitely recommend this to others! And
someday I hope to come in person to Italy and learn more. "

"What an incredible class! I was so nervous (homemade pasta!? Tiramisu!?) But Cinzia was amazing! She is the perfect teacher... so patient and thorough and engaging. The food was delicious! I will absolutely be taking more classes with Cinzia!"

"I made a successful bid on a private pasta cooking class for a charity auction, and my "plus one" (our teenager) and I were paired with Cinzia for the experience. She was a lovely chef and host for us. She was patient with our questions and our inept "inexperienced cook" capabilities, and while our fresh pasta was far from the best pasta we've ever had, the thrill of eating our own homemade ravioli (and panna cotta too) was pretty amazing! Not to mention, we were in the NYC area and she was in Florence, and despite that the Zoom cooking and logistics lesson worked surprisingly well. We both really enjoyed and would do it again."

"Cinzia was amazing to learn from. I can’t wait to meet her in person someday. She was so helpful and very easy to spend 1.5 hours with."

"Cinzia gave a great explanation of the different foods, great instructions and was also warm and welcoming from her kitchen."

"Can I give more than 5 stars? This was a fantastic way to spend time during the pandemic! Cinzia brought warmth and wonderful food to our home. I was so impressed with learning by Zoom! She checked in on our progress, and showed everything she was doing. I would definitely recommend this to ANYONE and EVERYONE!!!! :-) Thank you for a fabulous meal!"

"Cinzia was the best! She made the cooking feel effortless and was fun to chat with. We cannot wait till we can go to Italy and cook with her again."

"We loved learning how to make tagliatelle and pana cotta with Cinzia! Her tips were so helpful and we can’t wait to make it again."

"Our class with Cinzia was wonderful. We made fresh ravioli and panna cotta, both of which turned out very well. Cinzia gave us useful insights and methods on pasta making and explained why different approaches have different results. I've made pasta for a few years now on my own, and this definitely increased my skill level. The panna cotta was delicious as well."

"Cinzia is a great host. The recipes were delicious and we had a great time."

"Cinzia was a great teacher! She not only told us how to make the food, but added the history behind why it is made that way in that part of Italy!"

"Cinzia was a wonderful host. We all had a great time and look forward to our next class. She also adjusted the recipe as we requested. 5 stars"

"Cinzia was great! We had a blast taking the class and the food turned out delicious."

"Cinzia was generous with her time and very patient with mixed ability home cooks. Our gnocchi was delicious and the tiramisu decadent!"

"Since I couldn't celebrate my daughter's birthday with her in person this year, it was fun to celebrate by taking this class with her. Cinzia was welcoming and helpful, offering valuable cooking tips in addition to leading us through the recipe. The results were delicious. Highly recommended!"

"Cinzia was personable and very knowledgeable about making homemade pasta, and the finished product was delicious! This was such a fun experience to share with my mom who lives across the country and whom I'm missing dearly during this quarantine. Thank you!"

"Cinzia helped guide me and my friends on a very fun, very flexible, and very delicious video cooking adventure! Highly recommend her, and we look forward to cooking with her next time we visit Italy!"

"Our class with Cinzia was such a treat! Our friends had gifted us this online cooking class because we were supposed to be in Italy & had planned to take a cooking class in Florence. This was the next best thing! Cinzia was a great instructor, so friendly, and a pleasure to cook with! It was incredible how she made us feel at home in her kitchen, even though we were a world away. We weren't sure if our dishes would turn out because of the training through a screen, but Cinzia did an amazing job of coaching us and showing us how things should look before moving on to the next step. The gnocchi & mushroom dish was delicious! We had so much leftover gnocchi for the rest of the weekend & we loved every bite. And oh my gosh, the tiramisu!! It was sinfully delicious! We had also made twice the size so we were able to share it with our friends, and they were very impressed! We can't wait to travel to Italy soon and take a cooking class with Cinzia in real life! Grazie mille, Cinzia! "

"I loved taking Cinzia’s cooking class with my daughter. We made homemade tagliatelle with ragu and tiramisu. Cinzia was super sweet and nice and a good teacher. I also like cooking foods from around the world and hearing how people live and the foods they cook. Cinzia was amazing ❤️"

"Cinzia was so sweet and patient with us! It was really fun and a unique experience, and our food came out great. I never thought I’d be successful at making homemade pasta, especially not via Zoom, but I was! We can’t wait to take another class soon! This was a great gift for Mother’s Day and is highly recommend it to anyone looking for a special way to celebrate a birthday or special event :)"

"I really enjoyed the experience, we moved along at a good pace and i really enjoyed this. I would do it again."

"I had a fantastic cooking experience with Cinzia. Both of the dishes we made together were absolutely delicious and the class was huge fun! You can read more (and see photos) via my ese-ne-tekreme blog Ravioli https://ese-ne-tekrema.community/2020/04/25/ravioli-with-zucchini-and-garlic-sauce/Tiramisu https://ese-ne-tekrema.community/2020/04/28/cinzias-tiramisu/"

"Cinzia was an incredible host and I had so much fun taking her class. I felt like I had a window to Italy from my kitchen in Sweden. "

"I loved learning to make tiramasu and ravioli online with Cinzia. She was knowledgeable, patient, and very good about answering our group's questions. Plus, everything was delicious. Online cooking class is a great way for friends in different places to have fun together and share a cultural experience as well."

"Four girlfriends, in our own kitchens, at the same time, learned to make Tomato Ravioli and Tiramisu on Zoom last night. It was really fun. Afterwards we invited our husbands to join us to share the dinner. The Ravioli was really tasty and we were all successful in our efforts. Great way to still have fun and connection in this time of separation. Thank you Traveling Spoon. Can't wait to do another."

"We were supposed to go to Italy for 2 weeks in June so instead we took a cooking class with Cinzia. We absolutely loved it! We have 2 teen daughters and this class was a perfect family activity during quarantine. We met her daughter as well. She was flexible asking what sauce we would like for dessert. Chocolate vs Berry and we went for the berry one. As we were making the Panna Cotta, she recommended adding different flavors so we added cinnamon. Then we made a delicious mushroom sauce while the potatoes were cooling for the gnocchi. We then began the gnocchi process of mixing potatoes with flour, then forming a ball and cutting the gnocchi. The gnocchi boiled quickly and we had a delicious traditional Italian dinner at home. She told us about the cooking classes she offers with a trip to the market that we can and will take when we can finally visit her in Florence. We think it was fate that brought us to Cinzia and we are looking forward to booking another virtual class with her soon until we can visit her live in Florence. "

"I booked this experience for my clients who were looking for some authentic cooking experiences and they had a blast. 5 Adults cooking, drinking and being merry. Great way to start the adventure in Florence."

"What an amazing experience my Husband and I had with Cinzia in Florence. Starting in the shadows of the Duomo, we walked through the streets to a local coffee shop to enjoy an espresso and discuss what we would like to have on our menu for the evening. As we ventured through Florence to the various markets for bread, cheese, veggies and meat, Cinzia took the time to stop and discuss the many historical landmarks. We continued to visit the local shops and markets she used in the days following, as they had some of the best food and drinks we had during our week in Florence. Upon leaving the heart of the city, Cinzia drove us to the local B & B where the cooking class took place. A private, cozy kitchen awaited and the cooking began. Using herbs we hand cut from the garden below, Cinzia took us step by step, cut by cut through a traditional Italian dinner experience. We cannot recommend enough the entire experience from start to finish. Better yet, Cinzia will send you the recipes so you can repeat once home with your family and friends."

"We had never done anything like this before and are so glad that we did. It was a great experience and we had a wonderful evening with Cinzia, our "Tutor/Chef". The food we prepared under her close supervision and instruction was excellent as well. We will look for similar adventures during our travels in the future."

"I very rarely leave reviews, but was really blown away by this experience. It’s a must do for anyone who wants to experience the art of pasta making and cooking in Italy. Our host Cinzia was incredibly nice, highly knowledgeable and a great teacher and chef. We learned about local/ traditional ingredients and techniques, made 3 different types of pasta and a dessert and were so stuffed that we couldn’t finish it all. Overall, this was one of the most memorable parts of our trip."

"We had a very nice time with Cinzia in Florence!She took us around to visit authentic foodstores in the middel of the historica centre of Florence.Shegave us beautifull stories about the old citycenter and its stores.Then we went to her lovely cookstudio and cooked a wonderfull meal with beautifull ingredients.Thanks Cinzia for this amazing event!Ciao, Rosan, Jan and Marleen"

"Stopping food and cooking workshop. We had a very nice time with Cinzia in Florence!
She took us around to visit authentic foodstores in the middel of the historica centre of Florence.
Shegave us beautifull stories about the old citycenter and its stores.
Then we went to her lovely cookstudio and cooked a wonderfull meal with beautifull ingredients.
Thanks Cinzia for this amazing event!
Ciao, Rosan, Jan and Marleen"

"My husband and I enjoyed every moment of this market tour and class, from our shopping through our pasta lesson through dinner conversation. Cinzia is a great instructor and a lovely, warm host. As a pastry professional, I had a great time talking with her about ingredients, cooking for those with allergies and special diets (she's an expert, trust me), and real Tuscan cooking. She had great tips to share that I will use in my own home cooking, and introduced my husband and I to such an easy way of making fresh pasta that we have no excuse not to do it in the future. I will add that if you cook and love cooking, it's really worth it to take a private class - you get the kind of hands-on experience and attention you simply cannot get in a group."

"The tour is very personable and Cinzia allows you to customize it by having your group choose what dishes to prepare. After our family decided our dishes, she took us to several markets and explained the history behind each of the markets as well as information about the ingredients she was purchasing for the meal. She even provided some interesting history of Florence and some of its’ buildings along the way. We were in Italy to celebrate a family birthday and Cinzia sweetly added a birthday candle to the tiramisu to help us with the celebration. She was an excellent instructor and very patient with us learning to cook an authentic Italian meal. If you are looking for a more personable experience where you can freely ask any question of the chef, this is the tour you want."

"My friend and I both really enjoyed our personalized market tour and cooking class with Cinzia. We booked through traveling spoon. We knew that it was limited to small groups (up to 6), and we were surprised when we learned it would be just the two of us with her. She pointed out later that she actually prefers to take one group or family only and will not put multiple small groups together. We met her in Piazza Del Duomo and spent a leisurely hour walking to shops and vendors where she gave us options for what meals and ingredients we could cook with later on (2 pastas with salad and appetizers and dessert-which is what we chose-vs. one pasta with a meat and veggies and dessert) and where we also stopped for a sweet pastry treat and then gelato (there was the option for a wine stop, but we preferred the ice cream). (Costs for all the groceries and treats were included, so we didn’t pay any extra during our market tour). We then walked with her to her car where she drove us a short 15 minutes to her friends bed-and-breakfast, where we used the kitchen and dining room for the evening ourselves.With Cinzia’s help, we learned how to make a multicourse authentic Italian meal (and made nearly all of it ourselves, including the pasta and sauces all from scratch). Our menu was as follows: appetizers (bread, fresh figs with salami, coccoli (fried bread balls) with soft cheese, and fried sage (super delicious!); 1st pasta (ricotta-filled ravioli with simple garlic tomato sauce); 2nd pasta (tagliatelle with garlic zucchini sauce); mixed green salad with grapes and pecorino slices; dessert (panna cotta with fresh raspberry reduction).Our time was very relaxing and enjoyable. Cinzia is very nice and knowledgeable and made us feel right at home. She gave all sorts of great cooking tips along the way, including simple basic tricks in the kitchen. We had great conversations at the table together as we enjoyed our creations. Only thing is you will likely need to take a taxi back to where you’re staying at the end of the night, but this was very fast (she called for us and one was there in 3 minutes) and relatively cheap (apprx €10 to get back to the Duomo).Though our time together was about 6 hours total, we wished it could’ve been longer! For anyone looking for the best, personalized cooking experience in Florence, look no further!"

"We absolutely enjoyed the night at the Bed&Breakfast with Cinzia. We ad such a lovely and friendly welcome with some appetizers and some good wine. With fresh ingredients and basil from the garden, we made the most delicious meal, a gorgeous eggplant dip, a safran risotto and the highlight: some self made pici pasta with tomato sauce. The desert was an amazing panna cotta with almond milk. And it was all vegan! We couldn't have a better first travelling spoon experience, thank you!"

"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!"