A cooking class in Cortona, in your own kitchen
from€100 per person
Book
Why this side of Tuscany is worth a page of its own
Cortona looks across the Val di Chiana towards Umbria, giving the area a culinary context distinct from the hills around Siena. For the booking, the practical detail is access: steep approaches, tight turns and terraces below the walls can affect the vehicle and arrival time. We plan from the location pin and access notes, not the postcode alone.
The kind of house we cook in around Cortona
Two families of house, split by altitude. On the slope below the town, stone houses on terraces with olive trees, small windows, older kitchens and a long view; there the drives are the planning problem. Down on the Chiana plain, larger farmhouses with more room, newer kitchens and space to seat a large group outside. And inside the walls, apartments on stepped streets where nothing arrives on wheels: workable, with notice. Which one you have varies by property and is confirmed before booking.
The difference you will feel is not the size of the kitchen but the age of it. The terraced houses below the town often keep the one they had: a single oven, a small hob, a stone sink and a window that looks a long way down the valley. They are good rooms to cook in and they set the pace of the class, because you cannot run four things at once and there is no reason to want to. The farmhouses on the plain are the opposite: newer, larger, built around a table that seats twelve. Both work. It is the drive up to the first that is worth agreeing in advance.
What the Val di Chiana gives us
Chianina beef, the reason this valley is known to anyone who cooks. It is one of the oldest recorded Italian cattle breeds, it is very large, and it is the meat behind bistecca alla fiorentina. If your group wants to understand why Tuscans are serious about a piece of beef, this is the valley to be standing in. Around it: the white celery and the pork of the plain, and an olive oil from the Cortona slopes that is milder than the Chianti one and suits the desserts. Anything named here is confirmed through the actual shopping rather than promised in advance.
For the beef the honest address is not in the town but out on the plain: the Chianina is butchered and sold at Cesa, in the middle of the Valdichiana, by a firm that has done almost nothing else for close to forty years, and the breed is covered by a protected-origin consortium, which is how anyone can check what they are buying rather than taking a menu’s word for it. The oil is nearer: Frantoio Cortonese presses under the Cortona slopes and sells direct from the mill. For bread, Menchetti has been baking at Cesa since 1948.
What people wrote, in their own words
These come from the Google listing. It does not record which house a review was written in, so we do not sort them by area and we do not claim they were left here.
★★★★★Melina Davis · September 2025 · on Google
We had such a wonderful evening learning from Chef Roberto and tasting his food (and ours) following the class. He came to our rented villa in Chianti and spent 5 hours with us teaching, laughing and savoring the incredible pastas and almond cantucci we asked to learn about! I think we all feel so much more confident about trying this at home and had such a fun time together! I can’t recommend Chef Roberto highly enough!
★★★★★Annie Lewis · September 2026 · on Google
Chef Roberto and Elario cooked for our group of four at the Tuscan villa we were staying at and it could not have been a more enjoyable evening! The cooking class portion of the night was fun, interactive and informative - Chef Roberto is definitely a master of traditional Italian cuisine, and he and Elario worked well together to guide us through the cooking process. The food we made was SO tasty and Chef Roberto and Elario were so genuine and personable, it made for a truly lovely experience. On top of everything, they left the dining area and kitchen spotless which was very appreciated. I cannot recommend Chef Roberto and Elario highly enough, it was a definite highlight of our trip!!
★★★★★Marshall Hoke · September 2026 · on Google
Roberto and Elario taught my friends and I how to make homemade spinach raviolis and pici and cantucci toscani in authentic Tuscan style. They were super fun and friendly and left our kitchen looking spotless after a three course meal. 100% would recommend Roberto Chef for a delicious cooking experience!!!
The questions we get about Cortona
It is over an hour from Siena. Does that cost extra?
Our house is up the hill with a very tight drive. Is that a problem?
We are staying just over the border by Lake Trasimeno. Do you come there?
What a class costs in Cortona
Travel is included within 1.5 hours of Siena and calculated from the exact address under the published travel rule, which normally covers Cortona. Prices are per person, and everything is included: Roberto buys and brings all the ingredients for the lesson, and leaves the kitchen as he found it.
Pizza e Fuoco | from€100 per person |
Mani in Pasta | from€100 per person |
Dolci di Casa | from€100 per person |
