Handmade Tuscan pasta making class with an expert

We had a fantastic experience cooking with Cinzia! Buying the food at the local markets and preparing at her home were our most memorable experiences of the trip. Thank you so much!

So fun! Cinzia taught us about the traditional Tuscan method of making pasta. First, we prepared a protein pasta dough. Next we let the dough rest while we prepared a potato and spinach gnocchi. Then we prepared tagliatelle with a classic tomato garlic sauce, pecorino stuffed ravioli with pear and shallot sauce and gorgonzola cream sauce for the gnocchi. For dessert, we prepared a coffee mousse. My family had a lot of fun. For planning purposes, I had difficulty getting a taxi to Cinzia's and back to the hotel so I would recommend making arrangements for transportation in advance. Her home is roughly a 15 minute drive from the Piazza del Duomo.

Cinzia is a delight! I would highly, highly recommend booking this experience with her. Our boys loved making their own pasta, and we had so much fun putting all the ingredients and courses together. Cinzia was a terrific host, and I would love to book her again to come to our flat if we have a full kitchen.

Such a lovely evening! My dad and I took Cinzia’s cooking class and it was the highlight of our time in Florence. The patio was beautiful and we learned skills we will definitely use when returning back to the US. Overall, it felt like we were having a fun night in a friend’s home and we can’t wait to make our own pasta at home! Thank you Cinzia!

Cinzia was very welcoming and helpful. We made a lot of delicious pasta (plus dessert!) and left feeling like we could do it again ourselves!

Wow! What a fun way to immerse yourself into the Tuscan culture with a pasta class at Cinzia’s home. This experience is one of our favorite memories from our 2 week trip to Italy. Cinzia provided an appetizer and wine while she explained the menu and walked through how to prepare each dish. Then she demonstrated each step and allowed us to prepare three different menu items plus a dessert. The pasta was SO good. Cinzia was very hospitable and so much fun to visit with. We enjoyed getting to know her, her family history, and learn some of her cooking secrets. She provided the recipes that we made so we can enjoy them for years to come. Highly recommend this experience!

I booked this experience for my clients who were looking for some authentic cooking experiences and they had a blast. 5 Adults cooking, drinking and being merry. Great way to start the adventure in Florence.

What an amazing experience my Husband and I had with Cinzia in Florence. Starting in the shadows of the Duomo, we walked through the streets to a local coffee shop to enjoy an espresso and discuss what we would like to have on our menu for the evening. As we ventured through Florence to the various markets for bread, cheese, veggies and meat, Cinzia took the time to stop and discuss the many historical landmarks. We continued to visit the local shops and markets she used in the days following, as they had some of the best food and drinks we had during our week in Florence. Upon leaving the heart of the city, Cinzia drove us to the local B & B where the cooking class took place. A private, cozy kitchen awaited and the cooking began. Using herbs we hand cut from the garden below, Cinzia took us step by step, cut by cut through a traditional Italian dinner experience. We cannot recommend enough the entire experience from start to finish. Better yet, Cinzia will send you the recipes so you can repeat once home with your family and friends.

We had never done anything like this before and are so glad that we did. It was a great experience and we had a wonderful evening with Cinzia, our "Tutor/Chef". The food we prepared under her close supervision and instruction was excellent as well. We will look for similar adventures during our travels in the future.

I very rarely leave reviews, but was really blown away by this experience. It’s a must do for anyone who wants to experience the art of pasta making and cooking in Italy. Our host Cinzia was incredibly nice, highly knowledgeable and a great teacher and chef. We learned about local/ traditional ingredients and techniques, made 3 different types of pasta and a dessert and were so stuffed that we couldn’t finish it all. Overall, this was one of the most memorable parts of our trip.

Stopping food and cooking workshop. We had a very nice time with Cinzia in Florence! She took us around to visit authentic foodstores in the middel of the historica centre of Florence. Shegave us beautifull stories about the old citycenter and its stores. Then we went to her lovely cookstudio and cooked a wonderfull meal with beautifull ingredients. Thanks Cinzia for this amazing event! Ciao, Rosan, Jan and Marleen

My husband and I enjoyed every moment of this market tour and class, from our shopping through our pasta lesson through dinner conversation. Cinzia is a great instructor and a lovely, warm host. As a pastry professional, I had a great time talking with her about ingredients, cooking for those with allergies and special diets (she's an expert, trust me), and real Tuscan cooking. She had great tips to share that I will use in my own home cooking, and introduced my husband and I to such an easy way of making fresh pasta that we have no excuse not to do it in the future. I will add that if you cook and love cooking, it's really worth it to take a private class - you get the kind of hands-on experience and attention you simply cannot get in a group.

The tour is very personable and Cinzia allows you to customize it by having your group choose what dishes to prepare. After our family decided our dishes, she took us to several markets and explained the history behind each of the markets as well as information about the ingredients she was purchasing for the meal. She even provided some interesting history of Florence and some of its’ buildings along the way. We were in Italy to celebrate a family birthday and Cinzia sweetly added a birthday candle to the tiramisu to help us with the celebration. She was an excellent instructor and very patient with us learning to cook an authentic Italian meal. If you are looking for a more personable experience where you can freely ask any question of the chef, this is the tour you want.

My friend and I both really enjoyed our personalized market tour and cooking class with Cinzia. We booked through traveling spoon. We knew that it was limited to small groups (up to 6), and we were surprised when we learned it would be just the two of us with her. She pointed out later that she actually prefers to take one group or family only and will not put multiple small groups together. We met her in Piazza Del Duomo and spent a leisurely hour walking to shops and vendors where she gave us options for what meals and ingredients we could cook with later on (2 pastas with salad and appetizers and dessert-which is what we chose-vs. one pasta with a meat and veggies and dessert) and where we also stopped for a sweet pastry treat and then gelato (there was the option for a wine stop, but we preferred the ice cream). (Costs for all the groceries and treats were included, so we didn’t pay any extra during our market tour). We then walked with her to her car where she drove us a short 15 minutes to her friends bed-and-breakfast, where we used the kitchen and dining room for the evening ourselves.With Cinzia’s help, we learned how to make a multicourse authentic Italian meal (and made nearly all of it ourselves, including the pasta and sauces all from scratch). Our menu was as follows: appetizers (bread, fresh figs with salami, coccoli (fried bread balls) with soft cheese, and fried sage (super delicious!); 1st pasta (ricotta-filled ravioli with simple garlic tomato sauce); 2nd pasta (tagliatelle with garlic zucchini sauce); mixed green salad with grapes and pecorino slices; dessert (panna cotta with fresh raspberry reduction).Our time was very relaxing and enjoyable. Cinzia is very nice and knowledgeable and made us feel right at home. She gave all sorts of great cooking tips along the way, including simple basic tricks in the kitchen. We had great conversations at the table together as we enjoyed our creations. Only thing is you will likely need to take a taxi back to where you’re staying at the end of the night, but this was very fast (she called for us and one was there in 3 minutes) and relatively cheap (apprx €10 to get back to the Duomo).Though our time together was about 6 hours total, we wished it could’ve been longer! For anyone looking for the best, personalized cooking experience in Florence, look no further!

We absolutely enjoyed the night at the Bed&Breakfast with Cinzia. We ad such a lovely and friendly welcome with some appetizers and some good wine. With fresh ingredients and basil from the garden, we made the most delicious meal, a gorgeous eggplant dip, a safran risotto and the highlight: some self made pici pasta with tomato sauce. The desert was an amazing panna cotta with almond milk. And it was all vegan! We couldn't have a better first travelling spoon experience, thank you!

My husband and I enjoyed our time with Cinzia touring several little shops for fresh ingredients and gelato before heading to our class. She is very knowledgeable about the city of Florence, and we learned a lot from her about some of the more recent history of the city and the stores. Cooking with Cinzia was a lot of fun! She catered to our vegetarian diet, and we prepared tagliatelle and ravioli from scratch. We also had a delicious eggplant, mozzarella, and fresh pesto dish, as well as a scrumptious panna cotta. The private setting made it more enjoyable than being in a big group with people you don’t know. Definitely recommend trying this private tour and cooking class with Cinzia!