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Join Chef Eugenio for six days of hands-on cooking and culture in the Eternal City of Rome. Learn classic Roman recipes from one of Italy’s most applauded chefs.

Rome, the largest city in Italy, overflows with spectacular beauty, robust flavors, and romance. Three thousand years of history are on display in this open-air museum, featuring ancient ruins, Renaissance palaces, Baroque fountains and the Vatican. This program has been designed for the food lovers, cooks & chefs with time on your own for sightseeing in the Eternal City. 3 hands on cooking classes creating full course menu, and an outdoor Market tour to the famed Testaccio, gives you time to explore the city, visit museums, and sit back in a busy street side café to watch the Romans go by.

Visitors can’t help but be swept up in the Eternal City’s vibrant energy. Modern Rome blends in with the city’s centuries-old architecture, as Vespas hurry by and busy Italians of all ages chatter on their cell phones.

Life has always been lived passionately here. Passion has inspired world-renowned treasures like Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, Bernini’s fountains, and timeless culinary traditions. A traveler who experiences Rome, experiences La Dolce Vita (the sweet life) – whether they are admiring the view from one of its Seven Hills, discovering a trattoria in a quiet alley, rubbing elbows with the fashion set on Via Condotti, lingering in a cafe near a gushing Baroque fountain, standing awestruck before a masterpiece in a church, or enjoying a delicious gelato.

Cooking Classes

Join Executive Chef Eugenio in Rome for exclusive hands-on cooking classes in his professional Roman kitchen. Learn the tastes and traditions with Italy’s most colorful and acclaimed chef in the heart of Rome. Chef Eugenio, a talented and highly celebrated chef, knows his food and cooking, and shares his secrets with you. He leads his classes with passion and love, taking you up close to the classical cuisine of the Eternal City. Your pasta class teaches you how to mix, blend, knead, twist, and roll a variety of fresh pastas. Not only will you learn how to make it, but you will learn the history and technique on making true Italian pasta. Pizza making brings you up close with the Pizzaiolo to mix, kneed and learn how to make true Italian pizza. The Traditional Roman Menu, part of the 3 cooking classes, includes an appetizer, first course and second course.

Also included is a trip to the Testaccio Market with Chef Eugenio. Visit rows of stands selling prized vegetables, fruits, fish, meat, and cheese and see this ancient bustling market that is the heart of Italian daily life. Upon leaving the market, Chef Eugenio, brings you to the kitchen for a full course cooking class. Chef Eugenio hails Italy as the “the great kitchen” and each morning class starts with a welcome and introduction with the Chef, before you head into the kitchen to get cooking!

Accommodations

While in Rome, you will be welcomed to our charming jewel-box 3-Star Superior hotel located between the 18th century Spanish Steps and the famed Via Veneto. The conveniently located hotel has been newly renovated, while preserving its old world charm. Privately owned, clean, bright, the Hotel has a professional staff to help you with all your questions while staying in the Eternal City.

The family-owned hotel has welcomed travelers since the days of the Grand Tour. Gracious owners, writer Marco, and his musician wife Giulia, cater to their guests’ every need with a winning combination of welcoming warmth and high professional standards. Elegantly furnished rooms, a quiet inner garden, and a rooftop offering a spectacular view of the historical city, make this home-away-from-home a haven of relaxation in bustling Rome. Each spacious room offers a private bathroom, air conditioning/heat, in-room safe, minibar, Satellite TV and hair dryer. The Hotel lobby offers free Wi-Fi internet, and an internet point is located just steps from the hotel as well.

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Itinerary ~ 6 days, 5 nights

Day 1: Arrival & Tasting Dinner

• Transfer from the Rome Airport or Train Station to the hotel. Check in, freshen up and relax.
• When ready, we suggest a self-guided exploration through the neighborhood. Visit Bernini’s Fountain of Triton and Fountain of Bees, the Spanish Steps, and Borromini’s church masterpiece: San Carlo alle Quattro Fountain. Directions and maps to these easy-to-find attractions are available at the front desk.
• Suggestion: stop for lunch at one of the local trattorias in the environs by the Spanish Steps, minutes from the hotel.
• After lunch visit the designer stores on Via Condotti, taking a break at the 18th century Antico Caffe Greco. Watch the sun set over the Vatican from the top of the Spanish Steps.
• Evening Chef’s Tasting Dinner included. Wine and beverages not included.

Day 2: Market Tour & Cooking Class 1

• Breakfast is served.
• Join Chef Eugenio for an early morning visit to the colorful outside marketplace in Rome. Your morning starts off with a one-hour tour of Rome’s historic and colorful Testaccio marketplace. You will visit rows of stands selling prized vegetables, fruits, fish, meat, and cheese.
• Testaccio Market: Rome’s fresh-produce markets are treasured reminders of a more traditional way of life. There’s a dazzling array of fresh fruit and vegetables, often meat and fish stalls. The Testaccio market on Piazza Testaccio, is the most Roman of all the city’s markets. It is noted for its excellent quality and good prices. The Testaccio market is where the baby chicory shoots, broad beans, and Roman artichokes are both fare for the Roman dinner table and good reason to socialize in the morning. The late actor Marcello Mastoianni’s cousin’s stand, with Marcello’s face on the sign, sells fresh fish.
• Upon leaving the market, Chef Eugenio, brings you to the kitchen for Cooking Class 1 a full course cooking class of “primi piatti” (first courses) and two “secondi piatti” (second courses). Everyone enjoys the dishes prepared in class together. Wine and drinks not included.
• In the afternoon: Self-guided tour, walking through the heart of Old Rome: highlights include the Pantheon, San Luigi dei Francesi church (featuring Caravaggio masterpieces), Piazza Navona, the Via Giulia, and Palazzo Farnese. Visit the Trevi Fountain. Throw in a coin to ensure your return to Rome! Dinner on your own. Suggestions provided at the hotel.

Day 3: Cooking Class 2 ~ Pasta Making

• Breakfast is served.
• Cooking Class 2: Pasta Making. The morning class starts at 10:00am with a welcome and introduction. There is a brief historical and cultural introduction on the traditions of the Italian Mediterranean kitchen. Chef Eugenio hails Italy as the “the great kitchen”, as he ensues historical and social evolutions of food, followed by instructions and the preparation of hand-made “pasta all’uovo” (egg pasta).
• Two types of homemade sauces are included. Lunch follows, and everyone eats the fruits of their labor together with the recipes prepared in class. Wine and drinks not included.
• In the afternoon: On your own sightseeing. Don’t miss –must sees! A visit to the Barberini Gallery, Doria Pamphilj, or Palazzo Altemps. Head to Termini and hop on “the Red Bus” for a complete tour of Rome. Your excursion ticket allows you to get off all day long and re-enter at your leisure. Tickets can be purchased at the Termini Station.
• Dinner on your own. Suggestions provided at the hotel.

Day 4: Cooking Class 3 ~ Pizza School

• Breakfast is served.
• Cooking Class 3: Pizza School. Chef Eugenio’s pizza class shows you how to mix, knead, and roll dough into an award-tasting creation. Pizza, also one of Italy’s most celebrated food, is served with tomatoes, fish, vegetables, and even an egg in the middle. The morning class starts with a brief historical and cultural introduction on the traditions of the Italian Mediterranean kitchen and the history of pizza. Join Chef Eugenio for this intense pizza cooking class as he takes you through the technical steps of making perfect Italian pizza. Lunch follows, and everyone eats the fruits of their labor together with the recipes prepared in class. Wine and drinks not included.
• In the afternoon: On your own sightseeing. Don’t miss –must sees! Visit the Vatican museums, featuring classical sculpture (the Lacoon, the Belvedere Torso, and Apollo Belvedere), the Stanzas of Raphael and Sistine Chapel.
• Visit Saint Peter’s Basilica, featuring Michelangelo’s Pieta, Bernini’s altar, and the Pope’s tombs. Optional: climb to the top of the dome for a panoramic view of the Eternal City!
• Dinner on your own. Suggestions provided at the hotel.

Day 5: Free Day ~ Self-Guided Walking Tour

• Breakfast is served.
• Free Day to reserve a guided tour or go on a self-guided walking tour through the quiet, winding alleys of the Jewish Ghetto, featuring the Fontana delle Tartarughe and Teatro di Marcello, crossing the Tiber via the Isola Tiberina, and ending up in Trastevere at the 12th century Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere.
• Stop for a Roman lunch in Trastevere at Da Giovanni on via della Lunagara.
• After lunch, take a walk heading back to the hotel and onto the Via Del Corso and lead up to the Piazza del Popolo, featuring a 3000 year old obelisk and two Baroque churches: Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria in Montesanto. Stop for a café or gelato in the piazza.
• Another suggestion: visit the Piazza della Republica, featuring the Fountain of the Naiads and Santa Maria degli Angeli church.
• Rome’s most famous churches are Santa Maria Maggiore, one of Rome’s oldest and largest churches; and San Giovanni in Laterano, the cathedral of Rome. Head to the Roman forum, starting at the Capitoline Hill. Highlights include the Forums of Trajan, Augustus and Caesar. Continue on, ending at the Palatine Hill.
• Head to the Roman forum, starting at the Capitoline Hill. Highlights include the Forums of Trajan, Augustus and Caesar. Continue on, ending at the Palatine Hill.
• Visit the Colosseum; ancient Rome’s most famous monument.
• Dinner on your own. Suggestions provided at the hotel.

Day 6: Departure & Arrivederci!

• Breakfast is served.
• Transportation to the Rome Airport or Train Station.
• Arrivederci Roma! (until you return…)

*Note: This schedule may vary due to inclement weather, saint days or festivals. All activities, in the event of rescheduling, are always included during the program.