New Adventures for 2010: Vegetarian Half Term | Taste + Textiles | Italian Countryside Tour

Other personalized packages: Cheese + Honey | Pork + Porcini | Olive Oil, Chestnuts + Polenta |
Gastronomic Adventures for Familes | Bare Oil in Tuscany | Cooking Lessons and Courses

Courses: Advanced Salumi Course: Salami, Sausages and Salted Loin

Chocolate, Chestnuts and Christmas Shopping

5-night Tour to Lucca and the Garfagnana
4 – 9 December 2009

Personally escorted by Heather Jarman of Sapori e Saperi Gastronomic Adventures in Lucca, Tuscany. With Heather you will experience new flavours, acquire new skills and meet locals and artisans along the way. It would be positively un-Italian to publicize details of December festivals in October.  Embracing the local spirit, we present an outline of exciting activities for your adventure.

Arrival
Arrival at Pisa airport or train station.
Transfer to Hotel Villa Moorings, Barga, our accommodation for 5 nights in the Garfagnana region north of Lucca.
Welcome dinner at Villa Moorings.

A day behind the scenes
The ‘tree of bread’ is what people call the chestnut tree. Locals still remember when chestnuts were the basis of every meal. Discover how chestnuts get from the tree to the table:
Visit a metato, the hut where chestnuts are dried before being ground into flour.
Visit a water mill where chestnuts are ground into flour.
Lunch at Il Vecchio Mulino in Castelnuovo, where the tasting menu allows you to feast on an extraordinary array of the best produce the Garfagnana has to offer.
Visit a handloom cashmere scarf factory. See scarves being woven on traditional Garfagnana handlooms, and shop at factory outlet prices for scarves designed for top European fashion houses.
Cooking lesson with chef using new chestnut flour in traditional Garfagnana dishes.

Città della Castagna (City of the Chestnut)
We party with the inhabitants of Castelnuovo Garfagnana, who devote three days to celebrating the official release of this season’s DOP chestnut flour. Beneath the 13th-century fort the streets are crammed with stalls selling everything having to do with the chestnut. Lunch is a pilgrimage from one restaurant to the next, each serving a different course based on chestnut flour. Marching bands and flag throwers add a festive note. This year the festival will host the national chestnut cake competition.

Barga Cioccolata (Chocolate Festival of Barga)
Every spare shop, cellar and exhibition space in Barga is invaded by chocolatiers from all of Tuscany and as far away as Turin. Binge your way from chocolate ‘pasta’ to main course ganache-filled cioccolatini to a dessert of cherry liqueur-filled samples with a few other courses in between.
Dinner at Barga’s top restaurant, which uses traditional ingredients to create new dishes.

A day in Lucca
Lucca is well worth visiting at any time of year, but in December there’s the extra attraction of Il Desco, a Christmas market filled with artisanal food, art and crafts.
Cooking lesson with Lucchese chef using new season olive oil. Farewell dinner eating the delicious dishes you’ve learned to cook accompanied by Colline Lucchesi DOC wines.

Wednesday 9 December
Departure. Transfer to airport or train station.

Accommodation

Hotel Villa Moorings, Barga
3-star boutique hotel with swimming pool in newly restored ‘Liberty’ villa with original Cordati frescoes, located in gorgeous mediaeval town of Barga.
Visit: www.villamoorings.it

PRICE PER PERSON: €1000 (MINIMUM 8 PEOPLE)
SINGLE SUPPLEMENT: €360
The Itinerary is subject to change if necessary due to weather or agricultural conditions or other events outside our control.

INCLUDES

• Luxury accommodation for 5 nights
• Local ground transportation for 5 days
• Daily breakfast, 3 lunches, 5 dinners
• Cooking lessons, tastings, guided visits to festivals

DOES NOT INCLUDE

• Airfares
• Travel and cancellation insurance
• Wines and beverages, other than those served with meals, additional meals
• Personal expenses such as telephone, mini-bar, etc.

Notes

Meeting points
Pisa International Airport (Galileo Galilei)
or the following train stations:
Pisa Centrale
Lucca

International travel advice
For more information on flights to Pisa International Airport, please click here. For information on arriving by train The Man in Seat Sixty-One gives much good advice.