Cook with a local
Cook, shop and eat with Italians at home
With Cesarine, Italy's oldest network of home cooks, we add what a hotel cannot give you: a private kitchen and a family table. Choose a class below and send us your request: we arrange it with your host and confirm within 24 hours.
Rome
Cooking class · 3 h
Rome in a pot: fresh pasta and Roman cooking course
A three-course lesson in a period home in Parioli, the residential quarter where actors and diplomats settled after the war. Valeria and Valentina press their own olive oil and bake with a homemade sourdough starter: you prepare a seasonal starter, hand-rolled pasta and a dessert, then sit down together with a glass of wine.
With Valeria & Valentina · shared, up to 10
€133 per personRequest
Private cooking class · 3 h
Cooking class in a period house in Parioli
The same Parioli home, reserved for your group alone. A seasonal vegetable starter, tagliatelle rolled by hand with homemade sauces and a ricotta and sour-cherry tart, cooked with the hosts' own olive oil. The class ends at the table, over a glass of good wine.
With Valeria & Valentina · private, up to 6
€135 per personRequest
Cooking class · 3 h
The four Roman pasta dishes
In a villa among centuries-old olive trees, a short drive from St Peter's, Cristina shows you how to knead, roll and cut tonnarelli on the chitarra. The same pasta then becomes the four Roman classics: cacio e pepe, gricia, amatriciana and carbonara. You leave with the recipes.
With Cristina · shared, up to 15
€140 per personRequest
Cooking class · 2 h
Cook and enjoy the true Roman carbonara
An aperitivo of local specialities in Ofelia's Trastevere kitchen, then carbonara made step by step, the Roman way, until it reaches the right creaminess. Ofelia blends her Calabrian roots with the cooking of her husband Leonardo, born in Trastevere, and has plenty of stories to go with it.
With Ofelia · shared, up to 6
€102 per personRequest
Market tour and cooking class · 4 h
From market to table: amatriciana and tiramisù
A morning at a local market with Gianluca, choosing the ingredients together, then his family kitchen for amatriciana and tiramisù cooked side by side. Cured meats and cheeses with Parmesan and balsamic vinegar on the table, and a homemade genziana with biscuits to finish.
With Gianluca · private, up to 4
€189 per personRequest
Venice
Cooking class · 3 h
Tagliatelle, ravioli, tiramisù and aperitivo in Venice
Giulia grew up between Turin, Mantua and Venice, and her cooking carries all three. In her home in the centre you shape tagliatelle and ravioli by hand, make a simple tomato and basil sauce and hear the story of tiramisù, with a surprise aperitivo along the way and local wine at the table.
With Giulia · shared, up to 8
€153 per personRequest
Market tour and cooking class · 4 h
Rialto market and cooking class
A morning among the stalls of Rialto with Giulia: fish from the lagoon, fruit and vegetables, cheeses, cured meats and fresh bread. Back in her kitchen the shopping becomes a Venetian starter, fresh pasta and a traditional sweet, eaten together at the end of the class.
With Giulia · shared, up to 8
€174 per personRequest
Market tour and cooking class · 3.5 h
Rialto tour and cicchetti class in a Venetian home
Barbara takes you through the Rialto market for the season's produce, then to her home near the Grand Canal. There you prepare cicchetti, the small bites of the Venetian bacari: baccalà mantecato, mozzarella in carrozza, meatballs and more, served with a spritz.
With Barbara · shared, up to 12
€133 per personRequest
Cooking class and dinner · 3 h
Home cooking and dinner on Giudecca
On the island of Giudecca, in a kitchen surrounded by flowers and plants, Rosa opens with a Prosecco toast. Fresh pasta from scratch, homemade sauces, a tray of baked seasonal vegetables and fruit and a tiramisù, then dinner in her courtyard with wine.
With Rosa · shared, up to 10
€153 per personRequest
Cooking class · 3 h
Fresh pasta and tiramisù in a Venetian attic
Nicolò and his family, all cooks, welcome you to the sunlit attic of a seventeenth-century palazzo, with views over the rooftops. Two fresh pasta shapes and a classic tiramisù, plus homemade focaccia or breadsticks, with a chef's techniques explained along the way.
With Nicolò · shared, up to 10
€111 per personRequest
Naples
Private cooking class · 2 h
Making gnocchi with a Neapolitan family
Anna learned to cook from her Tuscan grandmother and teaches as if you were family. A private lesson built around gnocchi and dishes of the season, opened with an aperitivo and served with Falanghina and Aglianico from the Benevento vineyards.
With Anna · private, up to 4
€135 per personRequest
Market tour and cooking class · 4 h
Pignasecca market and cooking class
Emanuela and her husband Maurizio take you through the Pignasecca, the city's liveliest street market, then up to their home on Posillipo hill. On a green balcony above the gulf you cook calzoni, montanarine, ravioli, mozzarella in carrozza and tiramisù, with a homemade aperitivo.
With Emanuela · shared, up to 10
€153 per personRequest
Cooking class · 3 h
Nonna Maria's Neapolitan lasagna
The menu Emanuela's family cooked for her father Mario's name day: aubergine rolls with buffalo mozzarella, lasagna with Neapolitan ragù and pistachio ricotta cannoli. Prepared in a bright home with a balcony over the gulf, and eaten at the family table.
With Emanuela · shared, up to 12
€153 per personRequest
Cooking class · 3 h
Pizza and tiramisù facing Vesuvius
On Elisa's terrace facing Vesuvius: tomato bruschetta, then margherita and marinara baked in the wood-fired oven, and a lemon tiramisù to close. An aperitivo is included, and guests often mention evenings that run well past the planned end.
With Elisa · shared, up to 6
€113 per personRequest
Cooking class · 3 h
Cooking on a rooftop in the old town
Rosa, originally from Avellino, cooks in the historic centre of Naples: pizza marinara, pasta allo scarpariello and tiramisù, with wine and stories of the city told from the inside. Vegetarian versions on request.
With Rosa · shared, up to 6
€123 per personRequest
Florence
Market tour and cooking class · 4 h
Sant'Ambrogio market and cooking class
Shopping with Carlo at Sant'Ambrogio, the market where Florentines still buy their daily food, then his home kitchen: bruschetta with seasonal produce, hand-filled ravioli and tiramisù. Carlo cooks with stone-ground flours from small mills and local ingredients.
With Carlo · private, up to 5
€235 per personRequest
Cooking class · 3 h
Two fresh pasta recipes and tiramisù
Carlo has cooked all his life with an eye on health, using stone-ground flours from small mills and carefully chosen ingredients. In his kitchen you make ricotta ravioli and spaghetti alla chitarra or fettuccine, finish with tiramisù and talk about ancient grains.
With Carlo · shared, up to 6
€153 per personRequest
Cooking class · 3 h
Fresh pasta class in Florence
Tortelli, pappardelle and spaghetti alla chitarra shaped on a wooden board, each guest at their own station. Alfredo and Tamara guide every step, from the dough to the final cut, then everyone sits down together to eat the pasta they have made.
With Alfredo & Tamara · shared, up to 8
€153 per personRequest
Cooking class · 2.5 h
Homemade pizza in a Florentine kitchen
Dough kneaded by hand and left to rise while Alfredo and Tamara prepare the toppings: seasonal produce, cured meats or sausage. The pizzas are shared at the family table, and a tiramisù closes the meal.
With Alfredo & Tamara · shared, up to 8
€102 per personRequest
Cooking class · 3 h
Cooking with a view of the Duomo
Cecilia's home looks out over Florence and Brunelleschi's dome, near the Stibbert park. A full family menu from start to finish: ravioli, fettuccine with butter and sage, pici with sausage, focaccia and tiramisù, with Chianti on the table.
With Cecilia · shared, up to 6
€147 per personRequest
Prices per adult; children pay about half, to be confirmed with your request. A Dimore d'Epoca gift voucher can be used towards any class.
