Italian cooking short breaks in Tuscany

We use local guides and cooking teachers with wide experience and knowledge of cultural traditions in Tuscany. Our guides have an ability to interpret the cultural heritage of Tuscan food and relate it to real life every day Italian experience. We operate in a way that increases the positive impacts and decreases the negative ones bought by tourism. We support the local community economically by bringing small carefully monitored groups to rural areas in Italy. Integral to our courses is the principles of the Slowfood movement, a member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.

We believe in promoting rural Tuscany and its culinary heritage. Our property Villa Segalato is far enough off the tourist track that we are able to offer a very authentic experience where Italian heritage and traditions stay intact to be handed down to the guests at our schools. Local transport is always used, we use local transport business and local drivers. The use of local drivers means that we have no unnecessary emissions from using transport companies from outside of the region.

We are passionate about always using local suppliers and local produce. It is important for us and our guests that they have an authentic experience of the region that they visit. All produce is sourced from local markets – which form excursions for the clients providing them with an insight and understanding into the agricultural economy of the region. Family owned local venues are integral to all of our holidays. We have chosen venues not only due to their natural beauty but also as a means of preserving historic buildings and landscapes. All the venues are family run ventures which allows for local character and heritage to be maintained without interference. It also means that while our business grows local business grows with it. With our cooking holidays we aim to educate clients about a sustainable lifestyle during there stay in our properties.

We have a laundry scheme where we only change towels and sheets after 3 days or when guests request them to minimalise the use of detergents. We also ask guests to recycle any plastic or glass whenever possible. We are keen supporters of the AquaSenza scheme where we will only use locally sourced bottled water. This is a scheme where bottled water is rated on its distance from the source, meaning local business and suppliers of water are directly benefited as well as lowering our carbon footprint in terms of transportation costs. We minimalise energy use by using energy efficient light bulbs and turning off lights when not in use in both our offices and in our properties. We restrict the use of paper in our UK office and always recycle. We provide clients with electronic itineraries and e-tickets whenever they have access to the internet.