Market Tour and Cooking Class

Elena was amazing! We made pasta, gnocchi, bolognese sauce, eggplant Parmesan and tiramisu! All delicious! She was able to accommodate both our gluten free guest and the guy who doesn’t drink wine. The market was fun and Elena gave us great info and bought snacks since we overslept breakfast. All in all a great experience!

AWESOME! With the potential of a private tour. The amount of information and experience was amazing. Would do it again tomorrow. Was upstanding with dietary diets.

We weren't sure what to expect in terms of group size but we had the teacher (the wonderful, charming, witty, and knowledgeable Elena) all to ourselves for the market tour. Being from the Midwest in the United States, outdoor market was an incredible wealth of fresh and in season vegetables, fruits, seafood, etc. Elena pointed out many items that were new to us, shared about the traditional Italian market and seafood offerings, and definitely left us inspired to seek out locally grown and in season produce when we get back home (note: we live in Iowa so "summer" is when we can get fresh lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, etc from the garden. No year round growing season.:() We then had a wonderful cooking lesson her nearby Cook and Dine kitchen facility which included everything we needed. We were joined by two others, a young couple from Germany, and Elena helped the four of us make delicious gnocchi with a lovely marinara, a vegetable lasagna with green beans, bechamel sauce, and pesto, and delicious tiramisu. We made every item as Elena expertly taught us with good guidance and humor. There were lots of laughs but also a lot learned (eg use the basil stems in marinara sauce as it cooks and then remove - there is much flavor in the stems. And a "pinch" of salt means "an ITALIAN (hefty) pinch of salt! We learned to taste and then season and Elena was great with praise and correction. It was the highlight of our visit to Milan and we enjoyed the meal with our new friends while Elena served us wine and limoncello and cleaned up (she refused to let us help - with the threat of no wine! "You are on holiday"). She was an excellent teacher and just a wonderful person and we enjoyed spending the time learning and laughing. Highly recommend!!!

We weren't sure what to expect in terms of group size but we had the teacher (the wonderful, charming, witty, and knowledgeable Elena) all to ourselves for the market tour. Being from the Midwest in the United States, outdoor market was an incredible wealth of fresh and in season vegetables, fruits, seafood, etc. Elena pointed out many items that were new to us, shared about the traditional Italian market and seafood offerings, and definitely left us inspired to seek out locally grown and in season produce when we get back home (note: we live in Iowa so "summer" is when we can get fresh lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, etc from the garden. No year round growing season.:() We then had a wonderful cooking lesson her nearby Cook and Dine kitchen facility which included everything we needed. We were joined by two others, a young couple from Germany, and Elena helped the four of us make delicious gnocchi with a lovely marinara, a vegetable lasagna with green beans, bechamel sauce, and pesto, and delicious tiramisu. We made every item as Elena expertly taught us with good guidance and humor. There were lots of laughs but also a lot learned (eg use the basil stems in marinara sauce as it cooks and then remove - there is much flavor in the stems. And a "pinch" of salt means "an ITALIAN (hefty) pinch of salt! We learned to taste and then season and Elena was great with praise and correction. It was the highlight of our visit to Milan and we enjoyed the meal with our new friends while Elena served us wine and limoncello and cleaned up (she refused to let us help - with the threat of no wine! "You are on holiday"). She was an excellent teacher and just a wonderful person and we enjoyed spending the time learning and laughing. Highly recommend!!!

Our market tour and cooking class with Lucrezia were the highlight of our holiday, providing us with the best experience and meal. I am soo happy I can make Sicilian cannoli in my home!

It was amazing experience!! I decently recommend the cooking class. If you are looking to learn easy and testy Italian food it the place! Elena was amazing It was the best thing I did in my trip

My husband and I rarely cook. We can barely boil water. Aurora and Lucrezia are both classically trained chefs who took us into their own kitchen at home and broke the recipes down, making it so simple yet delicious - we couldn’t believe the meals we made. This was such a special experience and I can’t recommend it enough. Cooking Tips and tricks to last a lifetime !! we actually can’t wait to have a dinner party for our friends when we get home to show off the recipes we learned. Grazie mille!!!

The guide is a professional and full of knowledge of which she shared in perfect English. The market tour gave us new valuable insight of the variety of Italian vegetables, fish and fruits. In addition many tips on how to prepare it. The following cooking class gave even more knowledge and details of the Italian kitchen and how to make pasta, gnocchi, parmigiana and tiramisu. Gracie mille for a perfect day!

Strolling through the Milanese market, as Lucretzia explains the various foods and regions was amazing. And, that was just the warm up for the main course! Cooking with her was such great fun. We learned so much, and then enjoyed the fruits (read: fresh pasta) of our labors. This was a highlight of our entire trip to Milan.

Aurora and her daughter Lucrezia were fantastic. The market tour was fun. We got to know the local stuff sold in Italy and how to use the ingredients. Very easy to arrive from Duomo by Metro. We then took the Metro to their home place, not very far. Both of them were very kind, involved us in cooking ourselves the various recipes, they gave us lots of tips. The atmosphere was nice and relaxed like being at home. They speak well English. Even organized candles on the Tiramisu to celebrate our daughter's birthday. We highly recommend taking the full package, you will not regret it.