Description of the Four Day Cooking Program and Tour of Umbria and Tuscany
Day One
Arrival at the country farm La volpe e l'uva.
Check-in your apartment for the week around 2 pm.
Your first hands-on cooking lesson begins at 5 pm at which time you will prepare a four-course dinner and dine on your creations accompanied by typical wines of Umbria.
Day Two
Today you will enjoy a full day's excursion to Siena. Siena is surrounded by olive groves and the breathtaking vineyards of Chianti and is considered to be one of the most beautiful cities in all of Tuscany.
Your day begins at 8 am for travel to Siena. Upon arrival, you visit the Piazza del Campo and the Duomo. In the afternoon, your driver will bring you to a location known as the so called " way of the wines".
On your trek back to Umbria, you will visit the beautifull villages of Montalcino, Pienza and Montepulciano.
Day Three
Today you will begin your second hands-on cooking lesson begins at 10 am, a new four-course meal will be learned and you will join your fellow students in enjoying the fruits of your labor with a typical leisurely lunch with a refreshing glass of wine (or two!).
In the afternoon, you will join your driver and fellow travelers on a visit to the mystical city of Assisi, a beautiful medieval town based on Mount Subasio, overlooking a peaceful Umbrian landscape.
Assisi is the location of the birth of St. Francis and Santa Chiara. You will visit the city and a few of the areas famous churches like the St. Francis Church filled with spectacular frescoes by Giotto, and the Eremo delle Carceri - a peacefully isolated church and monastery in the wooded slopes just outside Assisi's walls and the first monastic home of St. Francis and his followers. It is also home ot the St. Damiano Church, a monastery outside the city walls where the crucifix spoke to St. Francis, prompting him to repair it and begin his ministry.
Day Four
Today's (full day) excursion begins at 8 AM at which time you will begin your journey to the city of Arezzo. Arezzo is found to the far east of Tuscany, forming the third point of a triangle with Florence and Siena.
Arezzo may be famous for many things, such as gold, the Etruscans, the most important antiques fair in Italy, but the number one tourist attraction is the church of San Francesco and the frescoes by Piero della Francesca which you will see on your tour.
Lunch will be enjoyed in a lovely restaurant in Anghiari, "Il Castello dei Sorci", which is situated in in a medieval town lying between two rivers, the Tiber and the Arno. In the afternoon you will visit the city of Sansepolcro in Tuscany.
Day Five
Departure and time to say Arrivederci to Umbria!
