A cooking class in Siena, in the house you rented
from€100 per person
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Why Siena is the area we know by heart
Roberto's professional history in Siena includes the Park Hotel and Grand Hotel Continental, followed by years of teaching. That local knowledge is practical: access, market days, old-town restrictions and the Palio dates can all affect arrival. The exact kitchen and address are still checked for every booking rather than assumed from the area.
The kind of house we cook in around Siena
South and east of the city you are in the crete senesi: stone farmhouses with thick walls, small windows and a kitchen built to feed the people who worked the land. They stay cool in August. Some have a wood oven in the courtyard that has not been lit since the restoration, which is a safety question we settle in advance. North towards Chianti the houses get larger and the kitchens newer. Inside the walls the apartments are narrow, with stairs instead of lifts, and the class works there when we know before we load the van. Which one you have varies by property and is confirmed before booking.
Two things about those kitchens matter more here than anywhere else. The first is the heat: a stone room with small windows is the coolest place in the house in August, which is why a class that starts late in the afternoon works better here than one that starts after lunch. The second is the courtyard. Many of these houses have an outdoor oven or a barbecue restored as a feature rather than as equipment, and neither gets lit without asking the owner first: it is their chimney, and a flue that has not drawn in decades is not something to find out about with eight people standing around it.
What the land around Siena gives us
Pici first: flour and water, no egg, every strand rolled by hand between the palms, thick enough to hold a sauce. They are the pasta of this province and the class is often built around them. Then pecorino; Cinta Senese pork, a breed brought back from near extinction; beef for a long meat sauce that cooks for hours, the kind that goes with pappardelle; and in winter the bitter greens that mark a Tuscan plate. Siena's own sweets are ricciarelli and panforte, which are best left to the bakers who make them rather than attempted in an afternoon.
Some names, with the caveat that they are places rather than promises. The Consorzio Agrario has been an agricultural cooperative with a shop in the city since 1901, and the Antica Drogheria Manganelli has stood in Via di Città since 1879: both sell the thing itself rather than a souvenir of it, which in a town this visited is worth knowing. The Wednesday market runs from the Fortezza down Viale XXV Aprile and is one of the largest traditional markets in Tuscany, worth a morning of your own trip, with or without a class attached to it.
What the guests wrote, unedited
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.
★★★★★Angela Bereski · September 2026 · on Google
Roberto and Ilario were exceptional! It was a very fun evening of making pasta and dessert. Roberto is a great teacher and Ilario was a wonderful addition to the experience as he helped throughout every stage. The food was amazing and the experience was one to remember. We also walked away with new recipes to make at home. Highly recommend them for a cooking class in Tuscany!
★★★★★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!!
The questions we get about Siena
Can you cook in an apartment inside the city walls?
What happens if our dates fall on the Palio?
The farmhouse has a wood oven. Can we use it?
What a class costs in Siena
Siena is where we start from, so nothing is added for the distance: travel is included within 1.5 hours and calculated from the exact address under the published travel rule. 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 |
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