Join a world-class American chef as she explores the finest food and wines of Italy with an Italian Countess and her travel-writing, truffle-hunting husband.

Introduction to Cucina Povera: the cooking style of Tuscany and Umbria.

The Central Italians have never forgotten the beauty of locally sourced foods. Cellophane and preservatives are unheard of here. Produce comes from backyard vegetable gardens, rare herbs are hand picked in secret places and wild game is hunted locally by men of honor and character.

The cooking style in this historic part of Italy has evolved over the millennium to showcase the purity and superiority of natural ingredients. Herbs such as rosemary, basil and sage are relied on to augment not camouflage. Excessive, heavy sauces are avoided at all cost.

Acclaimed American chef Leah Puidokas (former executive chef of Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse) will cook her way from a fairy-tale-like countryside kitchen in Tuscany to the 150-room medieval palazzo of her friend, Alessandra Gardino, the Countess of Gubbio

Trip dates: May 8 through 14, 2010

Price: $3,290 (p.p. in a double room not including international airfare)

It’s included!

• all transportation
• all hotels (4 star)
• two cooking classes with Chef Leah Puidokas
• a cooking class with Countess Alessandra of Gubbio
• a dessert class with Chef Maurizio of Orvieto
• two wine tastings – Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Brunello di Montalcino
• Umbrian olive oil tasting
• all sightseeing as per the itinerary below
• six dinners (including one in Countess Alessandra’s palace and another in Maurizio’s privately owned Etruscan cave), one lunch and all breakfasts
• the 24 hour services of a M&G personal travel manager
• a travel insurance package by Travelguard

The wine!
If you don’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen, feel free to take a glass of fine wine out to the garden and experience what the author Spalding Grey once called a “Perfect Moment”. Two Tuscan wine tastings will be worked into our daily sightseeing schedule. Fortunately, you won’t be driving!

The art!
Explore the finest medieval castle in Umbria, behold a fresco that Raphael painted on the wall of his bedroom when he was just twelve years old and the very fresco that inspired Michelangelo to paint his version of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel.

The adventure!
Those who want to work up an appetite each day can follow Alessandra’s travel-writing American husband Rick to explore pre-Roman Etruscan burial grounds, the crumbling village of Civita and several stretches of the Franciscan Trail. Rick has written for a number of magazines (including T+L, Outside and Men’s Journal) and he has led expeditions for both the Sierra Club and Geographic Expeditions.

The food!
This is a trip where you will, to borrow an Italian phrase: “put your hands in the dough.”  Besides learning how to master a few local dishes from a Tuscan chef such as chestnut linguini (drenched in a rich and creamy ricotta cheese), guinea fowl seasoned with figs or a spectacular herb-encrusted roast leg of lamb, you will also discover from Chef Leah that many culinary rules were made to be broken

Day by Day Itinerary:

Day 0 - May 7: Fly from the USA to Rome

Day 1 - May 8: Rome to Tuscany
Your trip will begin in Rome where we will meet you and transfer you immediately to the tranquil heart of Tuscany where you will unpack your bags for a three-night stay. Our private resort is located on the sunflower and tulip studded plain between the famed hilltowns of Cortona and Montepulciano. We believe there is no other more tranquil place on the planet. Sleep in the Tuscan countryside

Day 2 - May 9: Tuscany - Montepulciano
Today we will visit the nearby hilltown of Montelpulciano to taste a special wine blended from three grapes: Prugnolo gentile (local Sangiovese), Canaiolo Bero and Mammolo. Our close friend Susanna will tell you about her family’s winery and how she managed to move on after the tragic deaths of her brother and father.

Later today we will join Chef Leah and the Tuscan Chef Dimitri for our first cooking class. You will not sit with a notebook and pen. Instead you will work side by side with these two great chefs. Join Dimitri in preparing a classic Tuscan panzanella (Leah would want to grill the bread… Dimitri probably not)…then join Leah outside by the grill, to prepare an unforgettable afternoon snack: grilled pancetta-wrapped figs (or peaches) with fresh sheeps’ milk ricotta (or hand-stretched mozzarella) and rosemary, crostini misto (smashed shellbeans on grilled bread with charred cherry tomatoes and bottarga di muggine), grilled figs with lardo and rosemary and bresaola with grilled persimmons and Balsamic. Sleep in the Tuscan countryside

Day 3 - May 10: Tuscany - Montalcino
Today we will make our way to Montalcino to explore Tuscany’s famed Brunello grape and visit Sant'Antimo, an Abbey that once controlled the entirety of southern Tuscany and gave the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne safe haven in 781 AD.

Leah’s second cooking experience will take place tonight followed by an unforgettable Tuscan apertivo next to our resort’s infinity pool. We will work together, prepping, chopping, braising, grilling and finally savoring a four-course Tuscan supper which may include an heirloom tomato carpaccio, spit-roasted pork loin stuffed with garlic and herbs, fresh shellbeans cooked in the fireplace, wild arugula with fennel and bottarga, and stuffed apricots {or peaches} roasted in the wood oven with zabaglione. Sleep in the Tuscan countryside

Day 4 - May 11: Lago Trasimeno, Gubbio
We will make our way to nearby Lago Trasimeno this morning for a boat ride on the lake and an introduction to the region’s best olive oil. We will also visit a nature sanctuary created for birds flying to and from the valleys of Slovenia across the Med to Africa and north to Scandinavia.

This afternoon we will arrive in Gubbio, our second destination of the trip where we will unpack our bags for two nights. Tonight you will be on your own to explore Gubbio and dine in whatever restaurant you choose. You are of course welcome to accompany us to our favorite local restaurant. Sleep in Gubbio

Day 5 - May 12: Umbria and Marches - Gubbio, Urbino
Today is reserved for a hike into the forbidding mountains that separate Umbria from the lesser-known province of Marches. After visiting the very monastery where Dante fled to write the Inferno of his Divine Comedy we will make our way to the important city of Urbino to visit the Montefeltro Castle and childhood home of Raphael.

Tonight, Rick is will bring up a few special bottles of wine (perhaps his prized 1997 Sagrantino) for an apertivo from the palazzo’s subterranean wine cellar. A special dinner in the palazzo will follow. Care to dance? Sleep in Gubbio

Day 6 - May 13: Umbria - The Plains of Saint Francis, Orvieto
After a leisurely morning (or a local hike with Rick to pick wild asparagus and hunt for truffles) you can enjoy a cooking class with Alessandra inside her palazzo’s medieval kitchen. You will be surprised when you see how the Umbrians prepare their famous truffles! Later, we will hit the road for a beautiful drive along the plains of Saint Francis and the watershed of the Lower Tiber to our final destination, the unforgettable hilltown of Orvieto. Sleep in Orvieto

Day 7 - May 14: Umbria - Orvieto, Civita di Bagnoreggio
Work up an appetite today with Rick during another stroll to the nearby hilltown of Civita di Bagnoreggio. This tiny village sits atop several layers of Tufa rock that have been crumbling on all sides for centuries. After walking up from the valley below through a hidden path and ancient Etruscan tunnel, you will learn about how American soldiers liberated Civita from occupying Nazi forces during World War II. Our friends the Recchias will treat you to fresh bruschetta toasted over an open fire and local wine in their private olive oil mill.

Tonight, we will make our way to our friend Mauricio’s pasticerria to learn how to make delicious Italian desserts. Mauricio’s bakery sits above a secret, mile-long Etruscan tunnel which his father started to excavate and decorate over 20 years ago. The results are amazing. Come with us underground to explore ancient history and enjoy an unforgettable farewell feast! Sleep in Orvieto

Day 8 - May 15: Fly home from Rome
Awake early this morning for the drive to Rome Fumicino (Leonardo Da Vinci Airport) to catch your flight home. If you haven’t spent much time in Rome (or any of Italy’s other greatest cities including Venice and Florence), now is your chance!

About our traveling chef Leah Puidkokas
After a short career in advertising, Leah (a native of Michigan and graduate of Cornell University) decided to leave the corporate world to follow her passion in the culinary arts. She enrolled in The Culinary Institute of America and then secured an internship at Chez Panisse where she continued working for 10 wonderful years. After three years as the Head Chef of Chez Panisse she took a break to pursue her own private cheffing, teaching, and consulting business. Leah can often be found talking it up with the farmers at the various produce stands around town.

Leah met Alesssandra and her husband Rick (the owners of M&G Expeditions) through a mutual friend in Santa Barbara California and a long conversation followed about food and wine. This dream trip to Tuscany and Umbria is the result of that memorable conversation!

Please contact us for more information!