Alfred's Victorian

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Totally Tuscany

SMALL GROUP TRAVEL MADE AFFORDABLE AND EASY!

We host an all-inclusive cooking and dining tour to Tuscany, Italy. Please join us. This relaxing vacation is based in the picturesque village of Semproniano. Featured in Travel and Leisure Magazine, Semproniano is located about two hours north of Rome. Its beautiful hillside atmosphere offers a relaxed, reasonable pace so that our guests can truly immerse themselves in the cooking and dining for which this area is world-famous.

Your driver will meet you at the Rome Airport with private transportation. The ride will follow the coastline for part of the trip. Simply relax and enjoy the Cypress-lined roads that lead to your hotel for the week’s stay.  This cozy inn, Locanda La Pieve, features seven newly-decorated rooms, each with its private bath.  The hotel is yours for the week, serving our private group exclusively. Together, Patricia Passalaqua and Pamela Pellegrini Yascavage will host a pleasurable and educational week of dining, wine tasting, cooking instruction, and sightseeing.

This tour is meant to be fun and casual, as well as educational. Highlights will include morning cooking classes, lunch (the results of our morning’s preparations), dinner excursions to nearby villages, nightly cocktail parties and local wine sampling. We will also visit the legendary medieval city of Siena, where we will privately tour both a local cheese factory and winery.

The cost of our Tuscany tour for 2006 was $2995.00 per person, just to give you an idea of costs. This includes all land travel, hotel expenses, daily continental breakfast, lunch, cooking classes and demonstrations, tours, drinks and dinners. The fee does not include airfare. When we announce the dates for our next trip a deposit of $500.00 is required.  Remember, your tour group will be small and will only consist of ten to fifteen travelers. 

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Please contact Pamela Pellegrini Yascavage for more information at (717) 944-5373.

QUOTES FROM OUR TRAVELERS

"The cooking classes were not overly intense but did provide us with basic 'tenets' of Tuscan cuisine-flour, eggs, olive oil and salt.  Buy only what's fresh and ready to use, and use it all."

"That experience was a highlight of our European travels."

"We whole heartedly endorse the trip and the cooking program-it was a great time."

Cooking Class and Dinner Tour

Saturday, Day 1
Arrival at Locanda La Pieve, an intimate hotel in Semproniano. A day to relax and settle in for your week-long stay. A Welcome Dinner will be served at the Hotel at 8:00 p.m., featuring traditional Tuscan cuisine.

Breakfasts are served in the hotel daily from 8:30 - 9:00 a.m.

Sunday, Day 2
Cooking class I 9:30-12:30. Learn how to make homemade pastas and delicious sauces. Enjoy what you've made for lunch at 1:00. Walking tour of Semproniano with local guide.  Wine and cocktails at hotel. An optional, one mile walk under the stars to nearby village of 'Rochette di Fazio' for dinner.

Monday, Day 3
Cooking class II 9:30 - 12:30. Famous soups of the region will be featured.  Learn about meats and cheese from Tuscany. Lunch in the Hotel at 1:00.  Afternoon ride to Roccalbegna to sightsee the countryside. Cocktails on hotel terrace at 6:00. Depart for nearby town of Petricci for dinner at
'La Cirenella'.

Tuesday, Day 4
Bus departs at 10:00 am for a day of touring beautiful Siena on a private guided tour. Art galleries, cathedrals, fountains and excellent shopping all await you. Lunch on 'Il Campo', return to Semproniano for dinner at 'Il Novecento'.

Wednesday, Day 5
Ride thru the Tuscan countryside to Sorano for a tour of 'Caseificio' Cheese factory. See how local
Pecorino cheese is made. Then, its off for lunch under the olive trees in ancient etruscan town of Sovana.  We travel to picturesque Pitigliano for sightseeing, shopping and dinner.

Thursday, Day 6
9:00 am at the local street market for shopping until 10:30 when the bus will depart for 'Villa Calcinai' in the famous region of Chianti. Our private tour of the estate ends with lunch and a wine tasting. We wind our way thru the vineyards to return to our hotel for dinner.

Friday, Day 7
Cooking Class III. Soups and Risotto. Lunch in hotel after a siesta, we visit an animal park in Maremma 'Monte Labro' with dinner at ristorante 'Podere dei Nobli'.

Saturday, Day 8
Cooking Class IV. Hors Dourve's Crostini and Bruschetta. Lunch in hotel. Free time until our Awards
Ceremony on the hotel terrace.  Farewell dinner at 'Il Molino' in Semproniano.

Sunday, Day 9
Breakfast and hotel check-out.  Depart for Rome Airport and the U.S.