Historical Sights and Scenery Delights!

Sicily is a history lesson on a plate. And the best way to understand the island’s colourful history is to immerse yourself in its cuisine. Sicily is fascinating, delicious and paradoxical. It has been influenced beautifully by the parade of Phoenicians, Greeks, Normans, Moors, Romans and Spanish who have left their mark in temples, cathedrals and palaces but also in language, customs and above all, food.

Hike through the spectacular eastern Dolomites, sleep in remote mountain huts, meet artisans and cheesemakers, and walk through forests of immense beeches as you get a taste of mountain life high in the Italian Dolomites!

Join us on a unique and exclusive trip of Sicily a veritable treasure chest of art, history, color and culture plus fabulous food and wine and spectacular landscapes.

​​Join on of our intensive courses for professionals and keen amateurs with theoretical and practical sessions during which you learn with Italian professionals in your area of interest. Since there is a lot of hands-on practice, you return home being able to produce what you've been learning about. Course instructors are available after the course to answer questions by email. Advanced Salumi - Art and Science of Gelato -  Theory and practice of Italian Cheese - Truffle - Mozzarella - Olive Oil

Learning to make cheese takes an hour. Learning to make good cheese is a lifetime’s work. This course will give the novice enough training to make some simple cheeses, but its main aim is to give professional artisan cheesemakers the opportunity to share and enhance their knowledge by working with five Tuscan cheesemakers who have been making cheese every day of their lives. Their cheese and ricotta are expressions of an unbroken tradition handed down to them from their parents and grandparents, some made in a single pot from the milk of their own animals and some to which a little modern technology has been applied without obliterating their character. The course covers cow, sheep and goat milk cheeses. It is taught in English.

The Bronze Age stone giants from Mont’e Prama are the wonder of Sardinia. Nearby we’ve found some giants of another kind: smaller in stature but brave and bold when defending their traditional food. Some will be familiar and some unexpected and bizarre, like the culurgiones you’ll get to make yourself. Don’t know what they are? Come find out. From bottarga to rice to saffron and peperoncino, your palate will expand to encompass a whole new world of flavours. You could even become a giant yourself. Really small group (maximum 10 people)​

Experience Tuscany and learn the basics of Tuscan cooking, stroll the narrow cobblestone streets of the medieval villages, shop at the city markets, cook with the local women, listen as the church bells ring, wander the gardens as you sip Vin Santo wine while you discover each view is better than the last. Extend your stay! Make it a Grand Tour by combining this tour with our Sorrento Local Living Tour

This 4-night hop to Sardinia is an extension to our Wine to Dye For tour. We’re going in search of the truth about byssus or sea silk, the dark brown beard of the giant mollusc Pinna nobilis. When cleaned, treated with lemon juice and viewed in bright light, it shimmers like gold thread.

This small-group textile and food tour takes you to the cities of Pistoia and Pescia and the Renaissance hunting reserves of the Medici dynasty in Tuscany. Our game is their textile and culinary traditions, both preserved and renewed. You encounter rich silks woven for the church and aristocracy and the handiwork of peasant women. In Florence you learn about velvet and brocade.

This small-group tour takes you to visit the last of what was once a thriving tradition in the region around Lucca, in northwestern Tuscany, producing textiles ranging from rich silks for the church and aristocracy to the hand-spun hemp of farming families. You meet and learn with the artisans who are carrying on the methods of spinning, dyeing and weaving handed down the generations.