A private Italian cooking class, in your own kitchen in Tuscany
from€100 per person
Book
Taught by someone who teaches for a living
Cooking since 1994, teaching since 2005.
Roberto Parato is a chef and cooking teacher. In professional kitchens since 1994, from the five-star hotels of Siena to the Tuscan villas where he now cooks for guests on holiday.
Roberto has taught professional cookery in Italian catering colleges since 2005. During the class he demonstrates each technique, then works between the stations so every guest receives practical guidance.
★★★★★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!!!
★★★★★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!
Who it is for, and how the afternoon goes
The three classes are not three levels. They are three different things to cook: pizza, fresh pasta, or tiramisù and the desserts Italians make at home. Inside the one you choose, you decide how many preparations to make, two or three, and which. Nobody is graded, and nobody needs to have cooked before.
3
hours
From 2 guests
Up to 25 guests
The three classes
All three classes share the same private format: your villa kitchen, a station of your own at the worktable, and at the end you taste what you made. What changes from one to the next is the ingredient in your hands, dough, pasta or pastry. The rule of two or three preparations is the same in all three.
Pizza e Fuoco
Three different pizzas, and you choose how many to make.
from€100 per person
Minimum €500
Pizza e Fuoco
Three kinds of pizza, and the first decision is how many to make. Two preparations means you choose two; three means you make all of them, because there are exactly three kinds. Pizza al piatto and pizza in teglia are the same family seen from two sides, and which one you make depends on the oven in the house. We tell you before confirming. Pizze fritte are the ones nobody expects, and yes, they really are fried: it is cooking, and around Naples it has always been done this way. Pizze ripiene are the case where the dough changes job, because it has to close and hold a filling. Everything is included: Roberto buys and brings all the ingredients for the lesson. Everyone has their own station, their own dough and their own apron: that is one pizza each per kind, and if dough is left over you make more. While the dough proves, Roberto often makes a schiacciata or some bread to fill the wait. That is something he throws in, not one of the preparations you choose.
from€100 per person
Minimum €500
Mani in Pasta
Fourteen shapes, four families, your own hands.
from€100 per person
Minimum €500
Mani in Pasta
Making pasta by hand is a skill you can learn in one afternoon and never forget. There is no fixed programme here: there is a list of fourteen shapes in four families, and you choose two or three of them. The long egg shapes are tagliatelle, maltagliati, tagliolini, pappardelle: one sheet of dough, four different cuts. The filled egg shapes are ravioli maremmani, tortellini, tortelloni, where what changes is not the cut but the way you close them. The shapes without egg are pici, farfalle, orecchiette, scialatelli: flour and water, and hands doing all the work. Gnocchi come from potato, from ricotta or from semolina, three different doughs that share one name. The choice is free: you can cross three families or stay inside one. Everything is included: Roberto buys and brings all the ingredients for the lesson. He also brings the stations, the tools and the pasta machine, and while you work he shows a few of the sauces he usually puts with those shapes.
from€100 per person
Minimum €500
Dolci di Casa
Tiramisù, crostate, cantucci: the desserts Italians make at home.
from€100 per person
Minimum €500
Dolci di Casa
These are the desserts Italians make at home, not the ones in a pastry shop window. Seven preparations, and you choose two or three. There is tiramisù, which everyone believes they know and almost nobody has seen properly assembled. There are cantucci and frollini, which bake, cool and go home in a paper bag. Crostate, with fruit, with jam or with chocolate, which are one shortcrust pastry and three ways of finishing it. Torta caprese, babà and brioche, which ask for patience and an oven. And panna cotta, which wants no oven at all and only the time the fridge needs. Everything is included: Roberto buys and brings all the ingredients for the lesson. Everyone has their own station and their own apron. Children work at a station with an adult, and knives, flame and oven stay with the adults: that is why this is the class that works best with families.
from€100 per person
Minimum €500
What we bring, and what your kitchen needs
Before confirming the booking, we ask a few practical questions and may request photographs of the kitchen: the hob, oven, refrigeration and available work space. A professional kitchen is not required. Knowing the space in advance allows Roberto to plan the work in that kitchen and decide what equipment to bring.
Before confirming, we ask for photographs and a few practical details about the hob, oven, refrigeration and work space. If equipment is missing, Roberto adapts the programme or brings what is needed. The plan is agreed before the class, so the experience is suited to the kitchen available.
What it includes, how long it lasts, what it costs
| Pizza making class: three kinds, you make two or threePizza e Fuoco | from €100 per personMinimum €500 |
| Fresh pasta making class: four families, you make two or threeMani in Pasta | from €100 per personMinimum €500 |
| Tiramisù and Italian pastry class: seven things, you make two or threeDolci di Casa | from €100 per personMinimum €500 |
The price includes menu planning, preparation at the villa, the class, and cleaning of the kitchen and equipment used. Everything is included: Roberto buys and brings all the ingredients for the lesson. Drinks, wine, flowers, rentals and table styling are separate. When requested, we can introduce an independent local supplier who will confirm their own price, terms and invoice directly with you.
Each guest has a working place and an apron for the class. A chef's hat and the recipes prepared that day are provided to take home, with the proportions used during the lesson.
Children are welcome. In a cooking class they pay the full rate because each participant needs a station, ingredients, equipment and Roberto's attention. Their age is collected during booking. They do everything the others do, helped by Roberto and their parents; knives, the hob and the oven stay with the adults.
How it works, from booking to the table
Choose the experience, date, location, number of guests and menu, and review the full price before paying. A 30 per cent deposit reserves the date; the balance is due 14 days before the service. We then confirm allergies, dietary needs, children and the practical details of your villa kitchen. Roberto arrives with the ingredients, prepares the experience on site and leaves the working area in order.
- Introduction
- Preparation
- The wait
- Tasting
Two or three preparations: how the price works
You choose the class first, then how many preparations to make. Two or three, never fewer and never more, and always inside the class you chose. The number is the only thing that moves the price; which ones you pick does not change it. With three preparations in the pizza class you make all three kinds, because there are exactly three.
| 2-4 | 5-8 | 9-16 | 17-25 | Minimum | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Two preparations | €155 | €125 | €110 | €100 | €500 |
| Three preparations | €170 | €140 | €125 | €110 | €500 |
Two preparations
2-4 guests€1555-8 guests€1259-16 guests€11017-25 guests€100Minimum€500Three preparations
2-4 guests€1705-8 guests€1409-16 guests€12517-25 guests€110Minimum€500
Where we work
Roberto teaches across Tuscany from Siena, and travel is included within 1.5 hours of it. The areas below get the most requests, so each of them has a page with the local detail: the drive, the kind of kitchens, what the land gives and the questions people there actually ask.
FlorenceSienaChiantiSan GimignanoMontepulcianoCortonaVal d'Orcia
The practical questions
Is our villa kitchen big enough?
Can children take part?
Do we need any experience?
How long are we on our feet?
What do we eat at the end?
Are groceries included?
Can we do it outside if the weather is good?
What is the difference between two and three preparations?
Can we mix preparations from two classes?
Pick a date and we will hold it
For a large group, more than one kitchen or an occasion that needs additional planning, send a personal request and Roberto will review the set-up with you.
