Autumn Arts Festival-Tuscan Cuisine
Dates: 10/25/2010 - 11/3/2010
Location: Tuscany - Dievole Chianti Classico Winery
Instructor: Michael Vignapiano
Price: $2,995 
workshop details |
Il Chiostro celebrates this time of the year in Tuscany with our final program - The Autumn Arts Festival. We offer 3 separate workshops that all overlap throughout this 10-day celebration of the arts, the harvest, the wine and this wonderful region of Italy. The workshops are:
- Watercolor and Acrylic Painting with Lynn Stender
- Tuscan Cuisine with Chef Michael Vignapiano
- Digital Photography with Barbara Brundege and Allen Kuhlow
In addition to your workshop we offer Italian Opera Appreciation lectures with Prof. Lincoln Clark each evening before dinner. This is open to all participants.
Program Description - Tuscan Cuisine:
Italy is known for its varied regional cuisines. Tuscan cooking is called cucina povera or cooking of the poor. Historically rural Tuscany was an economically underdeveloped area where the people subsisted on whatever would grow in their gardens or on the local fowl and boar they would hunt. Their traditional recipes were simple and based on bread, olive oil and, of course, wine. Today, Tuscan cuisine is renowned for its health aspects, being both seasonal and local. The diet reflects a wise balance between fruits and vegetables, cured meats, bread and pasta.
In this workshop, learn the philosophy of traditional Tuscan cuisine, then learn how to apply it in your own kitchen. These are daily hands-on cooking classes where participants actually make several regional specialties from scratch, including bread, limoncello and desserts.
In the kitchen at Dievole with Chef Michael Vignapiano
Activities:
- class will learn to prepare regional specialties: wild boar sausage, fresh pasta, pastries, etc.
- lectures, demonstrations and tastings with chefs
- plan and prepare Tuscan lunches for other classes
- harvest and prepare wild mushrooms, chestnuts...,
- wine, vinegar or olive oil tasting sessions
- shop in regional markets
- sample meals from local trattorie and restaurants
For scenes from past Autumn Arts Festivals, click here...
Price: $2,995 p/p (limited number of suites available for a $450 p/p supplement)
Includes:
- Room (double or suite) with full bathroom
- 2 meals per day (dinner with wine and full Tuscan breakfast)
- Workshop tuition and fees (except where noted)
- General activities (except where noted)
- Transfers between Siena train or bus station and Dievole
Note: if you are traveling alone, we can match you up with a roommate.
Departure is on morning of November 3.
General Activities Open to All Participants (in addition to workshop):
Most activities take place in and around the 900 year old Dievole estate & vineyard.
- Winery tour and tasting, featuring Dievole`s Chianti Classico
- Italian Opera Appreciation classes every evening before dinner
- Excursion to Siena
- 1-day excursion to Florence
- Dinner in the old cantina
- Various topical excursions with your class
- Special evening concerts and surprise entertainment, TBA
- Pig Roast celebrating the harvest and the arts
Price does not include:
- Airfare
- Museum admissions
- Local bus or train fares
- Laptops or other photography equipment for participants in photography workshop.