AUTUMN MAGIC AND CULINARY MEMORIES:

VINEYARDS, TRUFFLES AND HILL TOWNS NEAR CAPTIVATING SIENA

Imagine surrounding yourself in the beauty of Tuscany, immersing yourself in the local cuisine, visiting local producers of delicious seasonal foods, sampling superb wine vintages in charming hilltop towns and celebrating la dolce vita in your own welcoming villa.

Your villa is situated in the heart of the Crete Senesi, a dramatic terrain with a sere, lunar-like landscape punctuated by isolated farms with undulating hills and stately rows of cypresses dotted with medieval towns. Some of your visits will take you through the UNESCO world heritage site of the Val d’Orcia, an area of rolling hills filled with grain fields and sunflowers, a dreamscape of castles, villages, towers, monasteries and thermal springs, along with vineyards producing such masterpieces as Brunello di Montalcino.

Enjoy a series of cooking lessons, under the personalized guidance of a talented and experienced Chef, whose class menus will be based on seasonal products, including but not limited to truffles, chestnuts, pumpkins, apples, local cheeses and meats. Autumn is the perfect time to visit. Enjoy a truffle festival and join in a truffle hunt, sample some of the world’s finest wines, experience the harvesting of olive oil, watch a local butcher preparing meats and learn how pecorino cheese is made.

9 days / 8 nights

➢ 8 nights’ accommodation at a private luxury villa
➢ Private drivers’ transportation to and from Florence or Rome
➢ Tuscan-style aperitif and welcome dinner on the first evening
➢ Daily Italian style breakfast
➢ 7 lunches
➢ 5 cooking classes with Chef followed by dinner accompanied with wine
➢ 1 dinner outside villa
➢ White Truffle festival market in San Giovanni d’Asso
➢ Olive oil mill visit
➢ Visit to local butcher shop
➢ Val di Chiana cattle ranch visit
➢ A full day wine immersion at a famous area winery near Montalcino
➢ Pienza Pecorino cheese making visit
➢ Vineyards visit and wine tasting at your Tuscan villa’s property
➢ Truffle hunt
➢ 1 Bid Farewell dinner on the last evening
➢ Private transportation for all excursions with English-speaking drivers
➢ Daily private concierge service for all activities

  • Optional Gratuities for Staff, Drivers, Guides, Wine and Food Experts

At Additional Cost, your private concierge can arrange:

  • Transportation to and from other airports in Italy
  • Optional personalized trip extensions for additional nights at the beginning or end of your culinary retreat to experience the cultural and culinary highlights of other Italian locations
  • Private art historian guides to historical sites and museums

Your daily itinerary

Arrival at airport of choice, where your private driver will meet you and take you in comfort to your Villa. Relax and settle in to your room, then get to know the other guest participants during a welcome cocktail reception and dinner at the villa.

Escorted visit to San Giovanni d’Asso, where you will experience the sights, tastes and aromas of the White Truffle festival and demonstration market.
This is the heart of white truffle territory, and these rare delicacies are only harvested during October, November and December. Here in the village center truffles take center stage, but the festival also features markets offering all manner of Tuscan products to eat, drink and discover. There is also a Truffle museum located in the underground vaults of the 14th century castle.

After returning to the villa from your morning culinary adventure, the piece de resistance will be your evening first cooking lesson complete with truffles as a featured ingredient!

Discover the art of producing extra virgin olive oil in the heart of the Val di Chiana region with a visit to an olive oil mill. Learn about the harvesting of the olives and the various phases of production of extra virgin oil, followed by a tasting combined with a light lunch which may include local pecorino cheese, meats and bread, all paired with a local wine. After your tour, enjoy some relaxation time at the villa, followed by your chef’s second cooking lesson.

After your breakfast head to a local butcher shop to see an authentic local macelleria and view how the butchers prepare their meat products. Afterwards visit a local cattle ranch, weather permitting. This area is home to the White Chianina Cattle, the oldest breed in the world.  Enjoy lunch at the farm’s own restaurant.
Your driver will return you to your comfortable lodging and tonight you can further hone your culinary skills during your third cooking lesson with the chef.

Enjoy a full day wine tasting excursion in Montalcino, one of the most beautiful hilltop towns in Tuscany, equally world-famous for its Brunello, Chianti, and Rosso di Montalcino wines. Here we will visit one of its most prestigious wineries and enjoy a guided visit of the cellars, and its Brunello Museum and private tasting along with lunch. Afterwards there will be time for exploring the charming village. Then a return to the villa area, with dinner tonight at a typical local trattoria.

Today you will learn the full process of how the famous Pienza Pecorino cheese is made through the various stages of production. Sample a tempting array of the Pecorino varieties at different levels of aging and with delicious added ingredients. Then a full lunch will be served on a scenic outdoor patio with extensive views overlooking the Val D’Orcia. Then stroll through the beautiful hilltop town of Pienza, savoring its expansive vistas and shops full of local produce and crafts. This evening you rejoin the chef for your fourth cooking lesson.

Today enjoy a wine tasting in your villa in Trequanda. Tour the vineyards to learn about the life of the vines and the various phases of grape production, from pruning the vines to harvesting the grapes. Visit the cellars and finish your tour by enjoying a tasting of the local wine with a lunch consisting of local products. Tonight you rejoin your chef during the evening’s fifth and final cooking lesson.

After breakfast get ready for a special experience, a truffle hunt at the villa’s own special reserve. Your truffle guide will educate you about truffles and their history and uses in the kitchen and you will see them discovered first hand. Then lunch awaits featuring, of course, fresh truffles.

Upon your arrival back at the villa, groceries await courtesy of the chef’s morning market visit. You will use those fresh ingredients as you follow the chef’s instructions tonight in preparing your own antipasti, entrée and dolce for an evening Farewell dinner, accompanied by a graduation ceremony with your own diploma.

Enjoy breakfast at your villa, then pack up your culinary memories and relax as your driver comfortably takes you to your departure airport.

Your accommodation:

The private villa is situated in the Trequanda area of the beautiful Val di Chiana set amidst gently rolling hills crowned by medieval villages, and within easy distance of Siena.

Book your retreat now