Summary

Savour dreamy views and the secrets of home cooking and haute cuisine in Italy

Highlights

Stay at one of Tuscany’s finest small hotels with its own Michelin-starred restaurant
Relax and travel by train through the Tuscan and Umbrian countryside
Tour the hotel’s vineyard, and taste the wine afterwards
Enjoy two cooking lessons with the chef, served as lunch or dinner with matched wine selection

In pictures

Il Falconiere, Cortona

About

Recommended for:
Food & wine | History & culture | Short break | Summer

Italy is as famous for its cuisine and fine wine as it is for its frescoes and glorious art and architecture. Cooking here is resolutely regional and seasonal, literally a way of absorbing the beguiling landscapes. The charming Tuscan hotel, Il Falconiere, sits in the middle of it all, and is the perfect base for a gourmet break, as part of the Relais & Chateau group, where culinary excellence is a given. The restaurant holds a Michelin Star, the hotel’s vineyards and cellars provide notable wines, and the cookery courses here are full of fun as well as finesse, with trips to picturesque hillside towns and markets. Learning to cook local classics under the Tuscan sun and then recreating them back at home keeps those holiday memories vivid, a pleasure that lingers long after leaving.

Day 1
Depart the UK, arrive Perugia

Make the most of complimentary lounge access before your flight to Perugia, where you will be met and transferred through verdant Umbria into the Tuscan charms of Cortona, a typical hillside town made more romantic still by Frances Mayes’ book and film about restoring a house here. Your awaiting transfer will whisk you to Il Falconiere where owner Silvia Barrachi, will welcome you with a cocktail. A delicious gourmet supper in the Michelin starred restaurant follows, to whet your appetite for the coming days

Stay: Il Falconiere, Cortona (Superior)

Meals: D

Day 2
Il Falconiere/Cortona

After breakfast – an extensive buffet of delectable cold cuts and hot dishes, stroll over to the hotel kitchen for your first cooking lesson with the master chef. Some dishes pay homage to Frances Mayes, who made Cortona famous in her memoir Under A Tuscan Sun. The ingredients are predictably the finest to be found in the region. Beef here, particularly from local white cattle – La Chianina – is a subject of veneration, and often features on the teaching menu, perhaps cooked with shallots and balsamic vinegar. Another staple is pici, the local pasta, long and round, married with small fragrant tomatoes and herbs, or aubergines rolled around prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella. Enjoy the fruit of your labours over a leisurely lunch and then relax in the spa or beside the pool in the afternoon. There’s an evening tour of the notable vineyards and cellar, followed by a wine tasting during dinner.

Stay: Il Falconiere, Cortona (Superior)

Meals: B L D

Day 3
Il Falconiere/Cortona

Make the most of your last day with a trip to a nearby vegetable farmer and choose the pick of the crop. The last culinary lesson will incorporate these into the menu. There will be time for a last visit to the spa or to relax and take in the beautiful surroundings before dinner. As the farewell meal, this is a special occasion, with flickering candles, music, fun… and the handing out of cooking certificates.

Stay: Il Falconiere, Cortona (Superior)

Meals: B D

Day 4
Cortona to UK

After one final buffet breakfast, your transfer will take you to Perugia for your return flight to the UK.

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Map

Pricing

Any element of this itinerary can be adjusted to suit your needs. Just contact us to find out more.

Accommodation rating: Superior

4-day tailor-made break
from £2,225 pp incl. flights

Deluxe
from £2,225 pp.

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Deluxe

Validity

Cooking under the Tuscan sun operates between May and September

Arriving on a Thursday and departing on a Sunday from Perugia

Includes

Complimentary UK departure airport lounge access
Return flights from UK to Perugia
Return Private transfers from Perugia Airport to Il Falconiere
3 nights accommodation in a classic double room with buffet breakfast on a daily basis
Welcome aperitif and dinner on arrival
2 cooking lessons with the chef, followed by lunch or dinner with a matched wine selection
1 guided sightseeing tour followed by a lunch at Bottega Baracchi
Wine tour and tasting of Baracchi cellar followed by 4 dinner courses
Access to Thesan Spa for the Route Acqua & Steam (hydro massage pool, Sauna and Turkish bath)

Terms & Conditions

Prices are per person based on two people sharing a twin/double room; prices are subject to availability and possible change; normal booking conditions apply.