Authentic Tuscan Cooking in the Val d’Orcia Valley

Day 1 – Arrival in Sarteano

• Private transfer from Chiusi train station to Residenza Pio III in Sarteano village.
• Arrive at your accommodations and meet your host, Chef Chiara.
• Enjoy some free time to explore the charming village of Sarteano.
• Welcome dinner at the property, featuring complimentary wine.

Day 2 – Pienza & Monticchiello; Cooking Class

• This morning meet your private driver in the hotel lobby and depart for an half day excursion to Pienza & Monticchiello.
• Arrive in Pienza start exploring on own a gem in the Val d’Orcia. It’s known as the city of Pope Pius II, Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who was born here in 1405. Once Pius became Pope, he wanted to transform his humble birthplace into an urban-architectural treasure. This is how the artistic city is known today: “born from a thought of love and a dream of beauty”. At the end of the visit, board again on your private car and reach Montichello.
• In Etruscan and Roman times, this small village was a crossroads of streets that connected centres and communities in the area. There are still traces of the medieval fortresses, greatly contrasting the Renaissance framework of Pienza. The sturdy walls and the tower of the keep that stands on the hill are signs of the village’s intense past, a stronghold for the defence system of the Republic of Siena.
• Lunch at leisure, then transfer back to Sarteano, escorted by your private driver.
• In the afternoon, enjoy a fun and entertaining cooking class at property. The food culture in Italy is not just the act of dining but to the ritual of conviviality, the need to take a break from work to talk, exchange ideas, renew the bonds of love that have long been at the heart of our domestic culture. Inspired by this concept, the cooking school is open to food in the broadest, most all-encompassing sense of the term: not just a source of pleasure and sustenance, but a repository of knowledge, ideas and emotions!
• In this hands-on lesson you’ll use the best seasonal products following alongside a professional chef. Learn how to make fresh, handmade pasta and finally enjoy the fruits of your labor for dinner.
• Overnight.

Day 3 – Montepulciano & Cooking

• After breakfast, meet your private driver in the lobby and depart for an half day excursion to visit Montepulciano. Montepulciano is a lovely hilltop medieval town well known as the little Florence for its urbanistic style similar to Florence and known throughout the world for its coveted nobile wines and a remarkable number of wine shops lined along its medieval streets. This beautiful Renaissance hilltown, which still adheres to its medieval plan, is embedded in a picture- postcard landscape: every way you turn, you are confronted with the iconic image of the Tuscan countryside, where waves of hills and golden fields, dotted with cypresses, roll and roll together.
• Explore the town at your leisure (no guide). Then, head again by private car to a local winery to discover the production and the various stages of refining and aging of the wine. The visit culminates with the tasting of the famous Vino Nobile di Mopntepulciano and a typical light lunch!
• At the end of your excursion, transfer back to your hotel escoted by your private driver.
• Return back to Sarteano. You will have the opportunity to prepare some of the tastiest Tuscan dishes with the help of the chef. A fun, instructiveand enjoyable experience that will allow you to recreate the unique taste of your Tuscan holiday at home whenever you want.
• Dinner and overnight.

Day 4  – Bagni Vignoni & San Quirico d ‘Orcia

• Breakfast at the Hotel.
• Depart on a full day excursion with our driver to two beautiful Tuscan villages: Bagno Vignoni & San Quirico d ‘Orcia.
• Upon arrival in Bagno Vignoni, you’ll explore the city on your own and be amazed by its curious main square, which features a large hot springs basin.
• Later journey to San Quirico, which lunch on your own.
• After lunch, visit the Collegiate Church of San Quirico, a Romanesque temple distinguished by three elaborately decorated porticoes from different periods. Explore the Church of San Francesco as well.
• Return back to Sarteano at the end of the Tour.
• Dinner on your own and overnight.

Day 5  – Orvieto & Cooking Class

• Enjoy your breakfast. This morning meet our English speaking driver and reach Orvieto for a 2-hour guided tour: You will learn about the history and see the main monuments of this beautiful city built between the 13th and 14th centuries, a period in which Orvieto reached its maximum power.  Start at the Piazza Duomo and meander along the main city squares. The end of the tour is in the old medieval quarter.
• Lunch on your own in Orvieto (with suggestions from your guide) before coming back to Sarteano .
• In the afternoon meet the chef and start your third cooking class for the preparation of a Tuscan menu. Delicious dinner to follow.
• Overnight

Day 6  –

• Breakfast, then a day free for your individual explorations.
• In one of the most beautiful areas of southern Tuscany, Sarteano stands out against the backdrop of Monte Cetona and is a place where nature and history are intertwined in a fascinating combination.  Not to be missed is the Castle, built around 1000 and then renovated, which overlooks the historic centre, where you can admire the Collegiate Church of San Lorenzo and the church of San Martinowhere the Annunciation by Domenico Beccafumi is preserved. Palazzo Gabrielli houses the Civic Archaeological Museum, with finds dating back in particular to the Etruscan civilization.
• The best known site is the Tomb of the Hellish Quadriga, found in October 2023 in the necropolis of the Plains, one of the most significant discoveries in the field of etruscology in recent decades.
• Or, if you want additional cooking, we can add another hands-on cooking class in the morning, followed by lunch, for $200 per person.
• Farewell dinner with at the Residenza, and a final overnight.

Day 7   – Arrivederci!

• Enjoy your final breakfast in Sarteano.
• Private transfer to Chiusi railway station.