Arrive, relax, and explore a few local neighborhoods.  Optional activities for today and tomorrow, depending on the group's interests: Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Castel Sant’Angelo, Villa Borghese, Galleria Borghese, Trastevere, Campo de’ Fiori, Piazza del Popolo, and more.

Welcome dinner at a classic trattoria featuring staple dishes of Roman cuisine 

Stay in Rome as a base for the next 4 nights

Day excursion to a small village in the Lazio region. You’ll spend the afternoon in the home of a local nonna, learning how to make fresh pasta from scratch: working the dough by hand, feeling for the right texture change, and shaping everything from simple ribbons to filled or hand-rolled styles. You’ll learn the small, practiced gestures that only come from decades in an Italian kitchen: how to judge the dough by touch, how to coax it into uniform strands, and how to match each shape with the right sauce. Traditional recipes are passed down by the best teachers imaginable: Italian grandmothers.

The medieval town of Palombara Sabina offers a contrast to Rome’s street food and restaurant scene, giving you a sense of everyday home cooking and the rhythms of village life. After cooking together, you’ll sit down to enjoy the meal you’ve prepared, paired with local wines.

Dinner back in Rome for more Roman cuisine.

From Rome, we'll take a full day trip to Naples: the beating heart of Italian food culture, the birthplace of pizza, and home to some of the country’s most passionate culinary traditions. Between wood-fired pizzerias, bustling markets, and pastry shops stacked with sfogliatelle, the city offers a deeply local, intensely flavorful look at everyday Neapolitan life. Starting in elegant, hillside Vomero, we’ll enjoy panoramic views and local snacks before making our way down toward the Pignasecca market in the historic center. 

Throughout the day, we’ll taste a wide range of Neapolitan foods, from pizza margherita and pizza fritta, to frittatine di pasta, cuoppi with seafood or vegetables, and freshly made mozzarella di bufala. Sweets include sfogliatelle, babà, struffoli, zeppole, and pastiera, and other savory highlights are ragù Napoletano, pasta e fagioli, taralli, and panini with cured meats and cheeses. Today offers a full immersion in the flavors and traditions that make Naples one of Italy’s (and the world's) most important food cities. 

Dinner back in Rome.

Depart for Florence in the morning. We’ll learn about the city through its rich food culture, one shaped by medieval guilds, Renaissance wealth, and the traditions of the Tuscan countryside. At the Mercato Centrale, we’ll see how Florentines have sourced ingredients for centuries, from butcher stalls specializing in bistecca alla Fiorentina and trippa to vendors selling olive oil, Pecorino, and seasonal produce from nearby hillsides. Beyond the market, we’ll explore the neighborhoods of Santa Croce and the artisan-filled streets of the Oltrarno, where small workshops, bakeries, and family-run trattorie, despire mass tourism, still reveal a Florence that still lives at a human scale. Through its foods, crafts, and daily rituals, you’ll get a sense of how history, art, and local identity intertwine in this iconic Renaissance city.

Afternoon options available for sightseeing, shopping, and other cultural excursions: including the Duomo, Giotto’s Bell Tower, and the Baptistery. You can visit museums like the Uffizi and the Accademia, walk across the Ponte Vecchio, explore the streets of the Oltrarno, and see landmarks such as Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novella. 

Dinner at a local trattoria, featuring Florentine and Tuscan cuisine made from traditional, seasonal ingredients

Stay in Florence for the next 3 nights

Day trip to Emilia Romagna, a region long considered the beating heart of Italian gastronomy and home to some of the country’s most iconic foods: prosciutto di Parma, mortadella, culatello, Parmigiano Reggiano, traditional balsamic vinegar, tortellini, lasagna bolognese, and many other specialties. Known since medieval times as a crossroads of trade and craftsmanship, Emilia Romagna developed a food culture rooted in a deep respect for technique and terroir. Today, its cities—Parma, Modena, and Bologna—remain living kitchens of Italian culinary history. Our visit gives you a chance to experience how these products are made, why they’re protected, and how food here reflects a culture built on abundance, pride, and meticulous tradition.

Today, we'll tour a few different artisanal producers, starting at a Lambrusco winery, tasting the region’s signature sparkling red wines. We'll also visit a Parmigiano Reggiano dairy to witness the early-morning cheese-making process followed by cheese tastings.  We'll continuewith a tour of a Prosciutto di Parma curing house to see how the pork is cured and aged. Nearby Modena, we’ll stop at a traditional balsamic acetaia for tastings of 12- and 25-year (and older) barrel-aged vinegar.  Included in the day is a traditional Emilia-Romagna lunch showcasing the region’s cusine. 

Dinner back in Florence

A visit to the Chianti wine region. Leaving Florence for the day, we’ll visit two or three family-run organic wineries, each offering tastings of Chianti, Super Tuscans, some whites, and other styles of wines. You’ll enjoy the countryside, meet interesting winemakers, and experience the region’s cuisine, including locally produced olive oil and a traditional Tuscan countryside lunch. 

Chianti is synonymous with Sangiovese, the grape that defines the region’s reds. Wines here often show bright cherry, wild herbs, and earthy notes, balanced by natural acidity that makes them exceptionally food-friendly. Chianti Classico is the historic core: its wines are typically more structured, with deeper fruit, spice, and aging potential, and they’re marked by the black rooster seal. Chianti is home to innovative “Super Tuscan” wines: bold blends that may include Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, or Syrah, offering richer textures and modern expressions of Tuscan terroir. 

Return to Florence for one last Tuscan dinner.

Return back to Rome for a final day in the eternal city

Free time for shopping, exploring, and any final bucket-list items to check off

Farewell dinner at a special Ristorante featuring modern Roman cuisine