Site icon Joey is a Traveler

WHY JOINING A COOKING CLASS IN ITALY SHOULD BE ON YOUR TRAVEL BUCKET LIST

Joey Cobain

One reason why many travelers come to Italy is the food, and I’m no exception. Ever since reading “Eat, Pray, Love” by Liz Gilbert, I had been dreaming of stuffing my face with yummy food at an authentic Italian restaurant in Italy.

This dream came true when I finally traveled around Italy in May 2024. As I’d hoped, the food at all the restaurants in Italy I went to was really good!

Soon, as a passionate amateur chef, I decided to dive even deeper into Italian cuisine. That’s why I booked a cooking class in Italy through Get Your Guide at Pastamania Culinary School in Rome. 

So if you’re thinking about Joining a Cooking Class in Italy to make your trip even more unforgettable, I’d say “Go for it!” Especially in Rome, Venice, or Florence, where crowds are in lots of places, this fun adventure is different from typical tourist activities!

Whether your favourite Italian food is pasta, pizza, tiramisu, or gelato, the many cooking classes all over Italy surely won’t disappoint you. You may learn some new skills to use at home and impress your loved ones! So without further ado, let’s get started!

Disclosure: I only recommend products that I’ve used in the past, and all opinions expressed in this post are my own. This post contains affiliate links. If you use one of the links throughout the page to buy something, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!

Step 1: Welcome to Pastamania Culinary School

Address: Via della Gatta, 14, 00186 Roma RM, Italy

Our group of eleven people met in front of the Pastamania Culinary School about ten minutes before the cooking class. Then we followed Chef Ricardo, our instructor, upstairs, and everyone grabbed a seat at a long table.

After putting on a red apron and introducing ourselves, it was time to start making homemade pasta!

Step 2: Kneading and Rolling the Pasta dough

First we prepared the pasta dough by beating one medium egg and 3/4 cup (100 grams) of Italian 00 wheat flour with a fork in a metal bowl until well combined.

Next, we used our fingers to knead the dough for about 10 minutes. This “workout” is necessary to develop the gluten in the flour. It makes sure that the pasta comes out springy and al dente instead of flabby and soft when cooked!

Then we cut the dough in half and rolled the pasta dough with a rolling pin into a paper thin circular shape.

Step 3: Making fresh Fettuccine

Now it was time to prepare our first kind of pasta: Fettuccine. While there are different ways to make pasta strands, we used a traditional Italian pasta cutter called Chitarra (Pasta guitar). What’s special about this tool?

Well, it’s a frame strung with music wire where you put the pasta dough to be separated into thin strands. Then roll across the dough with a rolling pin, which pushes the pasta through the strings! Or if not all of them go through, just play a chord on the strings, and the pasta will fall down! 😀

Finally, Chef Ricardo reminded us to proudly show our finished fettuccine by holding them on the rolling pin!

Then we covered and set the finished fettuccine pasta aside.

Step 4: Cutting and filling Ravioli & Cappelletti

Next, we rolled out the rest of the dough to make Ravioli and Cappelletti pasta. Cappelletti is a ring-shaped filled pasta that looks a bit similar to tortellini, but it’s bigger and the dough is thicker.

We cut out the pasta with a ravioli cutter and filled them with a prepared mixture of fresh ricotta, Italian Parmigiano cheese, nutmeg, and truffle oil. Doing this was a lot easier while chatting with each other and enjoying some organic Dalle Nostre Mani wine from Tuscany, lol!

Although my ravioli and cappelletti were not the prettiest, I was quite happy with the result!

Step 5: Chef Ricardo is Cooking the Pasta

Now the fettuccine, ravioli, and cappelletti were ready to be cooked! Unlike dry pasta, fresh pasta is often al dente after just three or four minutes.

We eagerly watched Chef Ricardo as he mixed the cooked fettuccine with a tomato sauce (which took two hours to cook beforehand) and the ravioli and cappelletti with a simple sauce of butter and fresh sage.

Soon after, our instructor made everyone’s pasta dish look fancy (after all, food is supposed to be a treat for the palate and the eyes), and set the plates in front of us!

Step 6: Buon Appetito!

After all this work, it felt great to finally dig into the pasta we made! Man, it was so yummy, especially after topping it with more Parmigiano cheese!

While the fettuccine with tomato sauce was good, my favourite was the Ravioli and Cappelletti in the butter and sage sauce. The blend of ingredients matched perfectly and I was amazed how simple it is to create such a tasty Italian meal!

Last but not Least: Dessert and Limoncello

Of course, you can’t finish a traditional Italian meal without a dessert and a digestif!

Chef Ricardo served us a dessert called Salame al Cioccolato. It means Chocolate Salami, because it looks like a salami sausage before you cut it! It’s a popular no-bake Italian dessert, which consists of eggs, white sugar, biscotti, butter, and cocoa!

Last but not least, we drank a shot of Limoncello, which is an Italian lemon liqueur from Southern Italy, especially around the Gulf of Naples, the Amalfi Coast, and Sicily. What a perfect and delicious end to this fun Italian cooking class!

Now it was time to say arrivederci to Chef Ricardo and my fellow cooking classmates. It looked like everyone was happy with what they learnt and their cooking results, so we all agreed that it was a successful class!

We also got a thin recipe booklet of the meals we cooked!

What Did I learn from this Pasta Cooking Class?

I learnt quite a few things from the Pasta cooking class at Pastamania. First of all, I had no idea that it takes so much effort to make homemade pasta, especially kneading the dough in the beginning! But of course, it was so worth it. 😛

I also learnt that Italians don’t break long pasta (like fettuccine) before cooking, because it’s disrespectful to the tradition and history of Italian food. Besides, breaking pasta might affect the way the sauce adheres to the pasta, which changes the texture and overall eating experience!

Who is this Cooking Class not Suitable for?

Unfortunately, this awesome cooking class at Pastamania Culinary School is not for everyone.

First of all, the recipes use butter and eggs, so it’s not for vegans. But there are vegan cooking classes available in Tuscany, just outside of Florence, for example.

Besides, wheat flour is used for the pasta dough, so this class is also not suitable for people with gluten intolerance.

Lastly, since we had to go up several stairs to the classroom, wheelchair users or people with limited mobility cannot join this class, unfortunately.

Final Thoughts on joining a Cooking Class in Italy

So why should Joining a Cooking Class in Italy be on your Travel Bucket list? Well, you’ll cook like a local Italian, and may learn some new skills that will surely impress your loved ones back home! 😀 Besides, not every tourist in Italy does this, so it’s a nice break from the crowds.

The Pasta Making class at Pastamania Culinary School was one of my favourite experiences in Italy. I still think about the workout for making the dough and the yummy Ravioli and Cappelletti with the butter and sage sauce after all this time!

It was also fun to get to know the people in our group and learn about their trip to Italy! Chef Ricardo was very knowledgeable and funny, too! For example, he promised that he won’t yell at us like Gordon Ramsey if we make a mistake, lol! So it was a very easy going vibe during the class.

This hands-on and enriching workshop took about three hours. I can’t wait to go back to Italy and join another Cooking Class someday (maybe for making Italian pizza?) 😀

Traveling around Italy for a while? Then check out these posts:

The Ultimate Guide to 48 Hours in Venice, Italy

The 11 Best Things to Do in Verona, Italy in One Day

Is Rimini, Italy Worth a Visit?


Follow Me
Latest posts by Joey Cobain (see all)

Sharing is caring!

Exit mobile version