Florence: Pasta Cooking Class & Tuscan Wine in Historic Home

4.87

(197 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

“You know you’re really in Florence when the smell of flour and eggs hits you before you even see the kitchen. I was still laughing about my attempt to pronounce ‘gnocchi’ when Chef Marco waved us into this old room—walls kind of faded, but warm, like someone’s grandma’s house. There were people from all over—one couple from Hamburg, a solo traveler from Madrid—and somehow it felt like we’d known each other longer than five minutes. Marco made sure everyone had an apron that actually fit (mine was comically large), then started talking about how every region in Italy has its own pasta rules. I didn’t expect to feel so at home so quickly.”

We got right into making dough—no demonstrations, just hands in the flour, sticky fingers and all. The table was cool marble, and there was this soft clatter as we tried (and mostly failed) to roll out the tagliatelle thin enough. The chefs kept circling around, giving tips or just laughing along with us when someone’s ravioli burst open. At one point, Marco handed me a bit of ricotta filling and said “assaggia”—taste it—which I did, even though I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to. It tasted fresh and sweet somehow, not what I expected from cheese.

Lunch came together slowly—ravioli stuffed with spinach and ricotta, gnocchi with meat sauce (I went for seconds), fettucine alla Norma with these tiny eggplants that looked almost too pretty to eat. They poured young Tuscan wine that smelled a little earthy; it cut through the richness of the food perfectly. Someone asked about vegetarian options and they just nodded like it was obvious—no fuss at all. After dessert (I picked tiramisu), they handed out little booklets with our recipes inside. Mine had a flour fingerprint on the cover—I kept it that way.

I left feeling full but also kind of proud—like maybe next time I could try making gnocchi without destroying half the kitchen at home. Still think about that marble table sometimes, and how easy everyone made it feel to just sit down together and make something good.