DAY 1
Arrival at Naples airport, where your private driver will meet you and take you in comfort to your beautiful residence overlooking the Mediterranean Sea where the Sorrento and Amalfi coasts meet. Relax and settle in to your room, then get to know the other guest participants during a welcome aperitif and dinner at the residence’s restaurant.
DAY 2
Escorted visit to a former 1600s convent that now is a farm growing lemons used to produce the famous liquor limoncello. Your visit will take you through the lemon orchard with its heady citrus aroma, its pergola brimming with fruit. Delight in the amazing sea views stretching to Capri. See how limoncello is produced, with a mozarella-making demonstration by the owner’s mamma. Then enjoy a tasting buffet in the orchard or ancient convent cellars of country bread and olive oil with local meats and cheeses, ending with homemade desserts and, of course, limoncello. After returning to the residence from your day’s culinary adventure, the piece de resistance this evening will be your first cooking lesson.
DAY 3
Discover the art of producing olive oil with a visit to a local olive oil mill. Situated in the hills of Sorrento between the isle of Capri and active volcano Mt. Vesuvius, the mill preserves ancient traditions in producing its extra virgin oil. Learn about the various phases of the process, from the orchard where the precious fruit is collected to the pressing and bottling at the mill, followed by a tasting with bread and other typical products, all paired with a local wine. After your tour, enjoy some relaxation time at the residence, followed by your chef’s second cooking lesson.
DAY 4
Enjoy a superlative full-day wine excursion with tasting and lunch at one of the region’s finest producers. A full “grape cycle” sensorial experience awaits as you tour the vineyards, herbal and rose gardens, cellars and wine production facilities, then delight in a guided tasting of 3 different wines (which may include Greco di Tufo, Fiana di Avellino and/or Falenghina) grown in the unique local microclimate of Campania’s Irpinia region. The tasting is part of your savoring a four-course lunch at Marenna’, a Michelin starred restaurant since 2009, whose cuisine provides a contemporary reimagining of the typical local cuisine of Campania and Irpinia. Your driver will return you to your comfortable lodging with time to relax before further honing your culinary skills during your third cooking lesson with the chef.
DAY 5
Today you will immersed in ancient archeological and culinary history as you tour two of the most famous ruins in all of Italy, Pompeii and Herculaneum. After your breakfast head to Herculaneum, less famous than Pompeii but in many ways even more dramatic and evocative. Stroll the ruins this morning and feel the sensation of seeing a town frozen in time as you visit the part of town excavated after being buried by Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Your guide will ensure you see the most beautiful mosaics, and most interesting shops, houses and buildings, culminating with the melancholic sight of the molds of skeletons of people overcome by the mud flows in the seaside boathouses as they awaited rescue from the volcanic eruption. Ponder your visit while delighting in an exceptional lunch at the President Restaurant in the modern town of Pompeii, where the chef has maintained one star Michelin since 2015. His cuisine reimagines recipes from ancient Pompeii using the same ingredients and his menu the same structure, while his assortment of special breads again inspired by ancient models is simply amazing in its diversity, creativity and delicious tastes. Then walk off your lunch with a guided afternoon visit to Pompeii, where you will walk the same streets where chariot ruts are still carved into the roadways, and see the most impressive public and private buildings, shops, the theater and sports facilities and mosaics that still dazzle. Step into the public baths and marketplaces and imagine yourself a citizen of the time before Vesuvius buried the city under volcanic ash. Tonight take it easy and have some fun at pizza night. Campania is world-famous for its Neapolitan pizza, so don your aprons and take a pizza-making class at a local restaurant and enjoy your delicious results before retiring for the evening with views from your lodging overlooking the beautiful Mediterranean.
DAY 6
See firsthand how mozzarella and provolone cheese is made on a visit to a small family run, organic production farm. Start your “Stable to Table” tour with a visit to see the cows and calves, then on to the dairy to see how the milk is processed in various stages into cheese. Finish your experience by tasting the various cheeses accompanied by local salumi and wine plus homemade bread with farm-made lemon and orange marmalade and lemon and orange-scented olive oil. Tonight you rejoin the chef for your fourth cooking lesson.
DAY 7
Head to Gragnano, the city of pasta, to visit two of the renowned pasta making manufacturers. Upholding long tradition, these artisans use durum wheat flour and pure water from the Lattari mountains and passion to make their signature specialty. See firsthand how the pasta is produced, then enjoy lunch at a convivial local restaurant to enjoy this pasta in its home city. Tonight, join your chef back in the residence’s kitchen to learn more during your evening’s fifth and final cooking lesson.
DAY 8
View the gorgeous coastline by boat with a choice of two exciting full-day Mediterranean adventures (weather permitting): a cruise to the fabulous island of Capri or a fishing excursion along the Amalfi coast. Capri’s beauty is the stuff of legend. Start your morning with a cruise along the coast and arrive at Marina Grande, where you will disembark to explore the island, perhaps to shop, dine on local seafood in the main square or seaside in Marina Piccola, or take a taxi up to Anacapri for strolling and admiring the gardens and gorgeous views of the famed Faraglioni rocks. Rejoin your captain for a round-the-island boat tour of Capri’s natural glories such as its famed Grottos, sea caves and Natural Arch. Another option is to take to sea to try your hand at fishing. Board your boat in the morning for a scenic cruise along the coast and to the offshore Li Galli islands for plenty of fishing with high quality equipment guided by experienced local fishermen. A light lunch will be provided on board, then enjoy the afternoon with more fishing or exploration of the coast, based on guest preferences. Upon your arrival back at your residence, groceries await courtesy of the chef’s morning market visit. You will use those fresh ingredients as you follow the chef’s instructions in preparing your own antipasti, entrée and dolce for an evening Farewell dinner, accompanied by a graduation ceremony with your own diploma.
DAY 9
Enjoy one last delicious homemade breakfast at your residence, then pack up your Amalfi Coast culinary memories and relax as your driver comfortably takes you to your departure airport.
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