Rome: Pasta & Tiramisu Cooking Class with Prosecco

4.92

(163 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I still remember the first thing that hit me — the clatter of pans and the sharp, sweet smell of espresso drifting through the kitchen. We’d barely arrived at the little cooking school in Rome when our host, Chef Marta, handed us glasses of prosecco that fizzed up my nose (in a good way). I was nervous about kneading dough in front of strangers, but she just grinned and said, “Don’t worry, it’s only flour.” It felt like joining an Italian family dinner prep — except nobody yelled about the garlic.

The class started with tiramisu, which surprised me. Apparently it needs to chill while you make everything else. Marta showed us how to dip ladyfingers just enough — not too soggy — and I got mascarpone on my shirt almost immediately. She didn’t mind. Someone asked about cacio e pepe versus carbonara, and suddenly we were debating pecorino cheese like it was politics. The kitchen windows were open; you could hear scooters outside and sometimes someone singing from another apartment. My hands got sticky from egg yolk and flour as we made fettuccine by hand (my arms still ache thinking about it), but honestly, I loved that part.

Dinner was loud in the best way: plates clinking, people laughing at their own lumpy pasta shapes. We poured local white wine (it was hot out) and tried both sauces—cacio e pepe won me over. Eating something you actually made in Rome is weirdly satisfying. And then dessert: our own tiramisu, creamy and cold after all that work. I didn’t expect to feel so proud of a dessert I once thought came from a box.