Join us in 2023 - all you need to know

By Alison Goldberger

We hope you enjoyed our round-up of 2022. Perhaps it whetted your appetite for our tours and courses and you're thinking of joining us this year? We are already looking forward to meeting you! But first, let’s take a look at what’s in store in 2023…

FEBRUARY

Advanced Salumi Course Bologna-Parma

Aldo Brianti breaking down a side of Black Pig of Parma

​Our salumi courses are always the first of the year – winter is the best time to make salumi of course! Many of our artisans use traditional methods to air dry their products, so cool weather is a must.  If Prosciutto di Parma is your thing, you could take our last space on the Advanced Salumi Course Bologna-Parma in February. This course also teaches Mortadella di Bologna as well as some niche products – nose to tail at its best. This will be the only time this course runs in 2023, the 2024 date is still to be announced.  

MARCH

Mozzarella & its Cousins

Hands on at Tenuta Chirico

The Mozzarella & its Cousins course is a professional development course teaching cheesemakers how to make pasta filata cheeses – mozzarella, scamorza and burrata (just reading it makes your mouth water, right?). For those of you who don’t happen to have buffalo milk at hand, we also take a look at the differences when using cow’s milk. This course will run in March, and there are still a couple of spaces left. It might run again in July and October, so please get in touch if you can't come in March.

Art & Science of Gelato

Mirko and course participant pastry chef Sorravee tasting her creation

​Create your own flavours, use professional machinery and get into the nitty gritty of sugar and fat content and how that translates into the perfect scoop during the Art & Science of Gelato course. Mirko Tognetti runs one of the top gelaterias in Italy and is passionate about natural gelato and sharing his knowledge. He also shares his insights into the business side of things. This course has availability in March, August and October. In October we also learn how to make panettone with a sourdough starter.

APRIL

Theory & Practice of Italian Cheese

Vitalina has been making cheese her whole life, she is a wealth of knowledge

​Join us in April on this professional development course which gives artisan cheesemakers the chance to expand their knowledge through working with five Tuscan cheesemakers. The Theory & Practice of Italian Cheese course teaches various cheeses including lactic-coagulated goat’s milk cheese, rennet-coagulated cow, sheep and goat cheese and ricotta.

Theory & Practice of Italian Cheese Extension

Coaxing parmigiano curd into its mould at Caseificio Santa Rita Bio

​The two-day extension introduces you Parmigiano Reggiano cheese at Caseificio Santa Rita Bio in Modena Province. They make parmigiano from the milk of the indigenous white Modenese cow. At the dairy we have the invaluable opportunity to see the whole process from milk to brining with all questions answered. And a tasting of their spectacular parmigiano of several ages from one year up to ten years.

Celebrating Sardinia

We see Sardinians celebrating their patron saint during the tour. What a spectacle!

This wonderful tour is always popular and is fully booked for 2023, but there are places left for the April 2024 tour. During the Celebrating Sardinia tour our guests arrive during the Sardinian feast for their patron Saint Antioco and are thrown into the island’s colourful food and culture during  two days of street parties. After the party there are many more interesting things to discover – pecorino cheese, salt pans and a day on a fishing boat to name but a few. 

MAY

Tastes & Textiles: Woad & Wool 

Emanuele Francione teaches how to block print with rust

​During this tour in the picturesque borders of Tuscany, Umbria and Le Marche (a dream landscape!) you have the chance to dye with woad, block print with rust, visit the makers of Casentino wool and cook local specialities. The Tastes & Textiles: Woad & Wool tour allows guests to delve into living traditions and meet the makers who have been creating these very special crafts for generations. This tour will take place in May, and there are still some spaces available. 

JUNE

Tastes & Textiles: Hanging by a Thread

86-year-old Sestilia shows us how she knits typical peasant socks.

​Join us in June as we visit the last of the textile artisans using methods handed down through generations. Tastes & Textiles: Hanging by a Thread 2023 also includes a new activity – making sandals with a luxury-market shoemaker. It goes without saying, there will be delicious food too, and various cooking lessons from our artisans who invite you into their homes. 

JULY

 Artisan Bread Course Tuscany

Giulio Baldacci shows us how to make fogaccia leva of Gallicano.

​Real. Bread. Need we say more? Okay, maybe a little more then. Five artisan bakers share their knowledge through hands-on classes during the Artisan Bread Course Tuscany. Think sourdough, focaccia, pizza, heritage grains, wood-fired ovens and the very special Garfagnana potato bread. Travel back home inspired. This course will run in July.

AUGUST

Tuscan Heritage 

During a visit to a tobacco farm we see the harvesting and drying of the leaves. (We don't promote smoking, but tobacco played a major part in Tuscan economy for four centuries, and we shouldn't ignore it.)

​August sees us hop aboard a time machine for a journey into Tuscany’s past. A few of the highlights of the Tuscan Heritage tour are hunting for truffles with an Etruscan dog, feasting on Palaeolithic beef and 14th-century pork, gazing at the countryside from a 16th-century fortress and tasting Chianti Classico wine from 17th-century terraces. Divine!

SEPTEMBER

Tastes & Textiles: Wine to Dye For

Tommaso Cecchi de’ Rossi shows us how he uses wine as a mordant to dye leather and fabric

This popular tour is full for September 2023, and we're now taking bookings for September 2024. During the Tastes & Textiles: Wine to Dye For tour we visit Pistoia and Pescia and try our hand at weaving baskets with marsh reeds, making watermarked paper and using wine as a mordant to dye leather and fabric. 

Tastes & Textiles: Sea Silk in Sardinia

Weaving with Arianna Pintus

​This 5-night Tastes & Textiles: Sea Silk in Sardinia tour takes us in search of the truth about byssus, or sea silk. The dark brown beard of the giant mollusc Pinna nobilis shimmers like gold thread when cleaned, treated with lemon juice and viewed in bright light. We visit the last remaining byssus weavers – a special experience. 

SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER

Giants of Sardinia

Making culurgiones, a ravioli that looks like an ear of wheat

​Off to Sardinia once more in October for the fully booked Giants of Sardinia tour. In 2024 this tour will run from September 28 – 5 October and is available to book. This tour encompasses  Bronze Age stone giants as well as the giants of Sardinian cuisine – what a combination!

NOVEMBER

Autumn in Tuscany

Truffle hunter Riccardo

The delightful Autumn in Tuscany tour is fully booked for 2023, but available to book for November 2024. The sweet smell of roasting chestnuts, wood fires, new olive oil, truffles and new wine in the cellar. An indulgent dive into the traditions of the area and a culture seen through the eyes of local artisans. A season to remember. 

 Advanced Salumi Course Tuscany

We learn from Gino Rocchi during the Advanced Salumi Course Tuscany

​Just as the year begins with salumi, so it will end. In November we will once again visit the artisan norcini of Tuscany during the Advanced Salumi Course Tuscany. We glean their knowledge of making sausages, salami, Lardo di Collonnata IGP, pancetta, prosciutto and sopressata as well as many other delectable items. It’s a practical course and you can come armed with your notepad and camera to return home ready to make these products yourself, or vastly improve on what you currently make. 

If you’re feeling inspired to join any of our tours and courses in 2023, or indeed to book a place in 2024 for some of this year's fully booked tours please get in touch with Erica. Find out all you need to know about each tour and course on the website. Our Facebook and Instagram pages will keep you updated with current tours and give you an insight into what to expect when you join us. We hope to see you soon!

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