3 Day Trip Garfagnana

After meeting your driver you will head out to enjoy one of the most charming parts of Tuscany. The Garfagnana is the area that occupies the mid and upper parts of the Valle del Serchio, surrounded by the Apuan mountains and the Appennines. The cultivation of farro (spelt) has been a huge resource for this area since the Roman times & till to this day is found in restaurants all throughout Italy. Chestnut products, 'fagioli' , porcini mushrooms & lard are staples in the kitchens of this area of Tuscany.

You will enjoy a typical lunch in Colonnata which is a tiny town of no more than 300 inhabitants, perched up among the Apuan Alps at around 560 metres above sea level. On a clear day you can see the entire Italian Riviera from here. This town has been made famous for the "lardo" which is basically cured strips of pork fat and is cured in caves for 3 months in marble moulds. The number of visitors sometimes exceeds the number of residents who come by car up through the Alps every year to see this small imprisoned like village wedged between the white facades of marble. You may think that you are seeing snow as you drive through this area though it is in fact the marble that is quarried here and has been for years. It is the birthplace of many of the most famous sculptures in the world. You may be familiar with the term 'Carrara Marble'. This is the area of Italy where this is quarried. During the day you will drive over the 'Ponte del Diavole' ( or the Devil's Bridge) which legend says was built in one night by the devil himself, in exchange for the soul of the first person to cross it the next day. The locals sent a dog (some say it was actually a pig) over instead, and the Devil, still falling for this one, bent the bridge into the wonderful shape it is today. You can still see the church tower peering above the water of the sunken town of 'Vagli', where it was covered by a dam built in the 1940's. In particularly hot summers the dam dries up and you can see the entire town.

After an afternoon exploring you will have some time in the fortified town of Lucca to wander around freely, shopping and browsing through the variety of antique shops and musuems before enjoying a typical 'Lucchese' meal at one of the towns characteristic Osteria's located in an historic palazzo.

After dinner you will be taken back to your hotel inFlorence.

Cooking Day – 'The Tastes of Garfagnana'

9. 30 -2.30pm

Today you will incorporate the typical foods from the Garfagnana area & our driver will collect you and transport to the marvellous private villa where you will enjoy your day of cooking with our Italian chefs.

Learn what you can do with 'lardo'. Other typical dishes include , farro & truffle soup, tuscan white beans cooked with sage, Tortelli in Ragu (like a spiced meat raviolli in a red meat sauce). Lots of game meat - stuffed rabbit, Vina Santo duck wrapped in pastry, guinea fowl, pheasant, cinghiale or pork)

After the class finishes at around 3pm the driver will take you back into Florence where you will have free time for the remainder of the day to enjoy the city. Please let us know if you would like us to book any museums or restaurants for you. The musuems can be visited either with or without our Art History Tour Guide. Another idea for the afternoon is to have the driver takeyou down to the 'Outlets' where you can often find great prices on some of Italy's best known brandslike Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Sergio Rossi, La Perla and more.

Day 3 - 'The Cinque Terre & the Italian Riviera'

After a typical italian breakfast of fresh coffee and even fresher pastries, we head off to enjoy the beauty of the 'Five Lands'. The five distinctive fishing villages stretch along five miles of rocky Ligurian coastline and look proudly out to see . The villages are not easy to get to though a rickety local train travels between and you can also walk between them using the path that has been cut through the rock . The best way though is to travel by boat and from here you can really imagine what the fisherman have see everyday for centuries. You will enjoy a typical lunch on one of the villages and can expect to tastes dishes such as 'Troffie' which is a kind of pasta made from chestnut or wheat flour and is one of the forefathers of modern and more sophisticated pasta. Its condiment is still 'pesto' sauce; an original Ligurian sauce made from basil leaves, extra virgin olive oil, grated cheese, pine nuts, and marjoram. 'Cotoletta di acciuga' are anchovies stuffed with a breadcrumb based filling and then fried. The 'fritelle di bianchetti', fritters made from tiny newborn anchovies or sardines were also highly appreciated. Following the seaman's gastronomic traditions, other dishes included stewed cuttlefish, stuffed calamari and spiced octopus. Wine from this area is very good as well as the olive oil.

There are also many shops in the cinque terre and many artisans still stand in the lane ways oputside their shops whittling away at the wood or making various items like picture frames or fishing nets.