Umbria Food & Fashion™

Join us in the rolling hills of Umbria where silvery gray olive trees and acres of vibrant vineyards blanket the landscape. Check into our 4-star luxurious property with a spa for a relaxing stay including hands-on cooking classes with Chef Fabio and scenic tours to Umbrian landmarks and local artisans.
Known as the Cuore Verde, Green Heart, this bountiful region is set in central Italy. It’s a region steeped in ancient history with traditional cuisine where the wine dates back to the Roman times.
In the kitchen, you will participate in hands-on cooking classes guided by our Executive Chef who shares his knowledge and technique in authentic Umbrian cuisine. Learn how to select ingredients and cook in the rhythm of the seasons – making antipasti, fresh pasta with sauces, main courses and desserts steeped in family tradition and passed down from generation to generation.
During your stay, discover the beautiful wine of Umbria such as Montefalco Sagrantino and Palazzone Campo del Guardino Orvieto while soaking up the slow-paced lifestyle. Enjoy a Food Lovers’ Landmark Tour in Spoleto and Assisi with our English-speaking guide. Visit both towns while exploring landmarks and tasting local artisan bread, cheese, salumi, wine and pastries along the way.
Umbria
Umbria enchants guests with dazzling views of centuries-old villages perched atop rolling hillsides and endless fields of green. Discover artisans, winemakers, and bakers who follow tradition in their Old-World way. Sip and swirl Umbrian wine and extra virgin olive oil made in the rhythm of the seasons. From Perugia and Assisi to the smaller towns of Terni, Todi, and Montefalco, discover a tapestry of vineyards, olive groves, and small sleepy villages blessed by Mother Nature. The region brims with ancient art, culture and landmarks. Food, music, and art events are held throughout the year, such as the Umbria Jazz Festival in July and Eurochocolate in October. In the Autumn, there are sagre, local festivals, celebrating the harvest of wine, truffles and olive oil. The region is known for Saint Francis of Assisi, Etruscan monuments, museums and hidden-gem places, along with passionate locals who carry on their traditions and welcome guests with open arms.

Spoleto and Assisi

Discover Spoleto and Assisi! Spoleto is a small, quaint village known for its culture, history and enchanting flowers. There is also the Festival dei Due Mondi, meaning Festival of Two Worlds, an international arts festival that showcases an array of performances in opera, music, theater, and dance, attracting artists and audiences from around the world. The crown jewel of the town is Spoleto’s Cathedral, the Duomo di Spoleto, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. This Romanesque cathedral is adorned with frescoes by the Renaissance painter Fra Filippo Lippi. Spoleto is also well known for its flower boxes. Residents take pride in decorating their windows with multicolored flowers that bloom from spring to winter. The town also hosts the Infiorata, a festival of flowers each year in the month of June.

Assisi is the birthplace of San Francesco of Assisi, the Saint of peace and revered founder of the Franciscan order – one of the most influential figures in Italian history. There’s the 13th-century Basilica di San Francesco named after him, adorned with frescoes painted by Giotto that vividly depict the life of Saint Francis. This Basilica houses the crypt of Saint Francis and consists of two churches: the lower church is Romanesque dating back to 1230, and the upper church is Gothic dating back to 1253. Assisi is the home to Rocca Maggiore, a medieval fortress, and the Basilica di Santa Chiara dating back to 1194.

Umbria Cooking Classes

Tie on your aprons and join Chef Fabio and his team of sous chefs for hands-on cooking classes in Perugia. Umbrian cuisine, steeped in its Etruscan roots, is rustic and traditional. Ingredients are farm-to-table from fruit, vegetables, herbs and produce – think wild porcini mushrooms, spring asparagus, fagioli, beans, and autumn lentils. Known for black and white truffles as well as beef and pork raised in the Umbrian pastures, this cuisine is wholesome and healthy. Duck and wild rabbit, artisan pecorino di Pienza, local sheep’s milk cheese, are used abundantly in local cooking. You’ll also discover that Umbrian extra virgin olive oil dating back to the Etruscans has the DOP stamp of approval made from organic olives from the hills of Amerini, Assisi-Spoleto, Martani, Orvieto and Trasimeno.
Tie on your aprons in Umbria with Chef Fabio and transform seasonal farm-to-table ingredients into culinary masterpieces that can later be prepared in your own home kitchen.
You’ll learn how to prepare crostini al tartufo, toasted bread garnished with black or white truffles and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, strangozzi, long flat pasta served with black truffles or a spicy tomato sauce. Pappardelle alla lepre, pasta with a wild rabbit ragù seasoned with bacon and cloves and bringoli al sugo finto, handmade pasta with tomato sauce, are samples of handmade pasta served in sauces fit for a king. Main courses wow with pork loin in a crust of herbs, wild rabbit with rosemary, sage and white wine, and porchetta, roasted pig, and sausages cooked with grapes. Umbrian desserts delight the senses, such as pinolate, dried round biscuits made with almonds and pine nuts, cicerchiata, a honey and almond cake, and chiacchiere, flash-fried ribbons of dough made by hand. Following each Perugia cooking class, everyone dines on the foods that were prepared in class with a toast of local red or white wine included.

Umbrian Cashmere and Wine Tasting Experience

Indulge in a private shopping experience and discover the secrets of artisanal cashmere handmade in Umbria. Visit the cashmere maker’s studio and learn how the threads and garments are made. Tour the studio, learn how the cashmere is transformed into Made In Italy garments with a discussion along the way. This experience brings you into the heart of Italian cashmere making and its centuries-old secrets of craftsmanship. Famous for its unmatched softness and exquisite texture, Italian cashmere is carefully selected then transformed via eco-friendly practices by skilled artisan hands. A personal shopping tour follows.
Next, enjoy an Umbrian wine tasting lunch at an organic farm and tour the charming village of Bevagna. Bevagna has been selected as one of the most beautiful villages of Italy – and it certainly lives up to its reputation.

Umbria Accommodations

Check-in to the 4-star luxury hotel and spa built in the 16th century. Old World architecture blends with subtle refurbished updates, creating a beautiful mix of old and new. Each room offers comfortable bedding dressed in beautiful Italian linens, and suites offer larger spaces with a living area and sofa. Each room spills out to a balcony with sweeping views of the Umbrian grounds and gardens. Guests can indulge at the sophisticated bar serving everything from Prosecco to Aperol Spritz, cocktails and wine, or enjoy fine-dining restaurant with Umbrian cuisine, the professional spa with Turkish bath and an outdoor swimming pool. Breakfast is served daily including artisan cakes, breads, cheese, ham, seasonal fruit, cereals, farm-fresh eggs, jams, coffee, tea and juices.

Property Photos

Itinerary ~ 7 Days, 6 Nights

Day 1: Check In

• Check in and relax. Enjoy your Welcome Prosecco and Cooking Vacations’ Welcome Bag.
• In the evening, dine on a traditional Perugia Welcome Dinner at a Michelin Star Restaurant featuring a full course Chef’s Tasting Menu with Chianti wine included.

Day 2: Cooking Class & Cashmere Visit and Shopping Experience & Wine Tour with Tastings

• Breakfast is served.
• Following breakfast, tie on your aprons and join us in the kitchen for your hands-on cooking class preparing an antipasto, fresh pasta and sauce, main course and dessert. Lunch follows and includes the food that was prepared in the cooking class with wine included.
• Following your cooking class, join your host for a visit to an Umbrian artisan for our Cashmere Visit and Shopping Experience.
• Wine tour with tastings to follow, tour and tastings included.
• After your tour, return to the property and relax.
• Later in the evening, enjoy dinner at a local trattoria featuring a traditional three-course Tasting Menu with local wine included.

Day 3: Ricotta Cheese Making Experience & Cooking Class 2

• Breakfast is served.
• Following breakfast, meet your driver and visit an Umbrian Cheese Farm for a Ricotta Cheese Making Experience.
• Following the Ricotta Cheese Making Experience, return to the property and tie on your aprons for a hands-on Perugia Cooking Class where you will prepare an antipasto, fresh pasta and sauce, main course and dessert. Lunch follows and includes the food that was prepared in the cooking class with wine included.
• Your afternoon is free with suggestions provided, or simply relax by the swimming pool or take a leisurely stroll through the gardens.
• Later in the evening, enjoy dinner at a local trattoria featuring a traditional three-course Tasting Menu with local wine included.

Day 4: Assisi & Wine Tour Tasting with Food Experience

• Breakfast is served.
• Following breakfast, meet your driver and visit Assisi with an English-speaking guide for a landmark walking tour of the town. Lunch is on your own, choose from one of the many restaurants in Assisi with suggestions provided.
• Following lunch, enjoy a wine tour of the cellar along with a wine tasting and Umbrian Food Experience. Tour and discussion included. Following your tour, return to the property.
• Later in the evening, enjoy dinner at a local trattoria featuring a traditional three-course Tasting Menu with local wine included.

Day 5: Cooking Class 3 & Excursion to the Cascata delle Marmore, Marmore Waterfalls

• Breakfast is served.
• Following breakfast, tie on your aprons and join us in the kitchen for your hands-on Perugia cooking class which includes the preparation of an antipasto, fresh pasta and sauce, main course and dessert. Lunch follows and includes the food that was prepared in the cooking class with wine included.
• In the afternoon, meet your driver for an excursion to the Cascata delle Marmore, Marmore Falls, constructed by the Romans in 271 BC.
• After your tour, return to the property.
• Later in the evening, enjoy dinner at a local trattoria featuring a traditional three-course Tasting Menu with local wine included.

Day 6: Black Truffle Hunting Experience, Picnic in Norcia & Spoleto

• Breakfast is served.
• Following breakfast, meet in the lobby and transfer to the Black Truffle Hunting Experience. Trek the fields with your host and truffle dog hunting for the illustrious tubers. Following the Black Truffle Hunting Experience, enjoy an Umbrian Picnic lunch in Norcia.
• After lunch, meet for your transfer to Spoleto and spend the afternoon with our English-speaking guide on a walk through the precious town known for its flower box displays.
•  In the evening, enjoy dinner at a local restaurant with a 3-course menu with selection of two glasses of wine per person

Day 7: Departure & Arrivederci!

• Breakfast is served. Ciao & Arrivederci!