Review By Kell S. - Cambridge, IN - CAN (November 2010)
It was like having your favorite relatives show you around Italy
The tour was a perfect mix of cooking classes and visits to the surrounding sights of Tuscany and Umbria. Some tours took us off the beaten path and others to more familiar sights of the region.
| Written By: | Kell S. |
| Rating: | |
| Location: | Cambridge - IN - CAN |
| Review Source: | Trip Advisor |
| Type of Traveler: | Couple |
| Itinerary: | Soriano - Cities Lost in Time |
Full Review
For our 25th Wedding anniversary, we booked the Wine and Cooking Under the Tuscan and Umbrian Sun Tour with Culture Discovery Vacations. For one glorious week, we became part of Italian life in the small medieval town of Soriano nel Cimino, about 30 miles NE of Rome. It is here we were put up in our own apartment and where we shopped for the ingredients that we would use for our cooking classes held in the owner's lovely villa just outside of town. With our small tour group (typically 12 people), we shopped together, cooked together, laughed together, and dined on the fruits of our labour together at the end of each class.
The tour was a perfect mix of cooking classes and visits to the surrounding sights of Tuscany and Umbria. Some tours took us off the beaten path and others to more familiar sights of the region. Every meal for the week was taken care of for us. It was all included in the package price. We ate in small unassuming restaurants, large fancy restaurants, a private home, and even a utilitarian farm kitchen after making and cooking pizza in an outdoor wood-fired oven. We will never forget how wonderful that pizza tasted.
Every detail was taken care of for us. Michael and Paola, the owners, went out of their way to make you feel welcome. When we arrived at our small apartment, inside we found fresh flowers, a small gift for our anniversary, wine, freshly made Italian pastries, fresh fruit, and a refrigerator stocked with cheese, meat, and other goodies. They even purchased our train tickets to Naples for us since they knew we would be too busy to do so and they even drove us into town to pick up our laundry. Michael and Paola truly treated you like you were family.
If you go, pack very lightly because to get to your apartment accommodations, you will be hauling your suitcase up narrow cobblestone streets where cars cannot go. Pack good walking shoes and an extra empty suitcase to fill with souvenirs!
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| Sample Photo from this Itinerary |