Learn Pizza, Pasta & Gelato Making on a Tuscan Farm - Book from Santa Maria Novella, Florence

Summary: What a fantastic experience! The Pizza and Gelato Making class was the highlight of our time in Florence. Chefs Tizziano and Loodvik kept the group laughing while showing us how simple (and fun!) it can be to make delicious pizzas! For dessert, Gloria wowed us by demonstrating how to make gelato using liquid nitrogen, turning fresh ingredients into the smoothest gelato we’ve ever tasted. The class was held on a beautiful farm with a stunning view of the Tuscan hills – truly unforgettable!

Summary: Ado, Luca, Livio, and Lucia made this excursion the best cooking class ive had in Europe! Their mix of teaching and banter was excellent and the food was great. 10/10 would recommend. The gelato was my favorite since I got to try new flavors I hadn't had. Definitely make the peach and pour some aged balsamic over it if you take this class!

Summary: This activity was a "well-oiled" machine of groups of 20 people bussed in about every 4 hours for the cooking class. We were assigned a time to meet (near the front of the city library). It was another 10 minute walk from here to where we all boarded a large bus. The total bus trip was about 10-12 minutes, about a 3-5 minutes drive past the Piazzale Michelangelo. Once we arrived it was another 3-5 minute walk along a dirt and gravel road. Then we descended a few flights of stone steps and ended up in the back patio area of a farm. So the class really didn't start at least 30 minutes after our meeting time. The space had a large kitchen area with two long prep tables for the gelato-making. There was also a covered dining area for the pizza eating. There was a third area outdoors that we all congregated for the putting together and cooking of the pizza, which had a covered, huge marble table near a pizza oven (fire). There is a lovely view of Florence from the patio. The gelato making was informative and I felt like I learned how to make it. There was a main chef who lecture a bit about making gelato, and then set us all up to make a batch (many different kinds were made). This part of the class was interesting and educational. There were also several "helpers" working, so the class simply moved from one activity to another while these folks cleaned up and prepped the workspace for the next round of activities. The pizza portion was entertaining (the two chefs were funny, and did a bit of a comedy routine), but the cooking demonstration was not that educational and the making of the pizza wasn't noteworthy and the end product wasn't particularly delicious if you've made it at home before. So if you haven't made pizza before from scratch, maybe this would be more like a class and learning experience. I did learn to add salt to the dough after the yeast was mixed in so that it wouldn't interfere with the rising of the yeast. I have taken several 4 hour cooking classes in the past, and they were much more in depth and informative. The class was a bit too performance-based (scripted?) for me, and it was a tourist activity rather than what I wanted (a class on how to cook). If you are looking for a tourist experience, then maybe try this. If you are looking for a cooking class, then maybe try another venue. I anticipate a smaller group would be a better cost for value ratio, as this experience seemed particularly pricey compared to other activities.