Italian Pottery, Art and Food Holiday

Highlights

  • Learn traditional pottery techniques with acclaimed local artisans
  • Live like a local in a hilltop village under the Apennines and in a charming Roman town on the Adriatic Sea
  • Visit Abruzzo’s acclaimed extra virgin olive oil and wine makers and prepare homemade pasta with locals
£1838 pp
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What you'll do

Arrival Day

Get picked up from Rome Fiumicino airport pick up at 2:30 pm, and then it’s a transfer to the charming, medieval village of Castelli, after crossing beautiful Abruzzo mountains complete with amazing landscapes, hilltop villages and castles.

Check-in at the Agriturismo in the countryside of Castelli and relax.

Get to know your local guide and learn more about this 7-day Italian cultural vacation over a welcome dinner.

Begin Your Pottery

You’ll visit the oldest pottery studio in town and meet the ceramists Antonio and Vincenzo di Simone.

After teaching you about the ancient pottery making story of Castelli, Antonio and Vincenzo will show us their own pieces and their personal collection of ceramics and ancient tools.

Next, you’ll have your first pottery class! The exact nature of the class will be determined based on the skill level of the participants. After booking, you’ll receive a questionnaire to ...Read All

Explore Vasto and Pottery in the Hills

After breakfast, explore the Vasto historic center.

Discover Loggia Amblingh, a promenade overlooking the fascinating crescent-shaped coastline, the old town with its medieval Castle, charming lanes, a tower, the Cathedral and Piazza Rossetti, dedicated to Gabriele Rossetti, a poet from the town and father of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

You’ll then move onto Vasto Marina, by the beach, for lunch and some free time to relax, have a walk o...Read All

Fishing and Landscape Painting

After breakfast, explore the famous Trabocchi coast and visit a traditional trabocco (the symbol of the area), mostly built with acacia wood and railway iron sleepers.

There you’ll have an exclusive watercolor class with Antonio, a local painter, to capture unique landscapes from a beautiful viewpoint on the Adriatic Sea.

Weather permitting, Rinaldo, our host, will demonstrate how to fish from the trabocco and reveal the secrets behind Abruzzo’s unique fishing platforms that...Read All

Traditional Markets and Authentic Cuisine

In the morning, walk out to visit Vasto’s colorful market and source some seasonal products with your host. Here, you can practice a little bit of Italian even if you don’t speak a word of it… Fabrizio can help!

Next, drive to the beautiful countryside outside Vasto, where you’ll meet Fabrizio’s family and enjoy an exclusive cooking class with them. You’ll learn how easy it is to make fresh pasta and get acquainted with fresh Abruzzo sauces.

An example menu based on ...Read All

Wine and Olive Oil

After breakfast, visit an olive grove that has been farmed by Giovanni’s family for three generations to produce DOP olive oils. He will uncover the secrets of what Homer described as “liquid gold” and you will finish with an olive oil tasting.

Next, you’ll visit an award winning winery that sits between a marine park and the mountains. You’ll enjoy a wine tasting and lunch with pairings of local cheeses and salami, along with a tour of the vineyard and its cellars, organized...Read All

Departure Day

After breakfast, you’ll head off (usually at 09:00 am) for Rome Fiumicino airport or your next destination (Rome Fiumicino is about 3.5 hours driving from Vasto). Please let us know if you need help with alternative departures and options.

What's included

Included

  • 1 night in Castelli at Agriturismo Il Bivacco del Parco (or similar accommodation) and 5 nights in Vasto at Hotel dei 7 (or similar accommodation) in the historic center
  • Breakfast Buffet Daily
  • 4 pottery classes (around 3 hours each) and pottery materials
  • 1 painting class (watercolour, around 3 hours) and painting materials on a trabocco fishing house
  • 10 meals (food, water, house wine) in selected restaurants, farmhouses or wineries based on traditional regional dishes. Some evenings are free for you to explore the town by yourself
  • 1 hands-on cooking class and associated food costs
  • Personalized cooking booklet and apron
  • Daily trips and excursions
  • Pick up and drop off at Rome Fiumicino airport
  • All transport for daily trips and excursions
  • All entry fees for excursions, tours and wine, olive oil and cheese tastings
  • English-speaking tour manager throughout the duration
  • All taxes
Your local host

Fabrizio and friends

Fabrizio is your tour guide and host extraordinaire on his Italian gastronomy holidays. Native to the region of Abruzzo in central Italy, he is immensely proud of its history and heritage. Fabrizio’s passion for keeping everything local also means that guests on his holidays will be joining his family for cooking lessons, meeting local producers and using only locally sourced products.

This is not your typical cooking school or indeed cookery holiday. All cooking activities and gastronomic experiences take place in the local’s homes, on local farms, or in the hills on the lands of local suppliers and families. There is no “professional chef” on this holiday – you are learning from housewives, mothers, fat... Read All

Fabrizio is your tour guide and host extraordinaire on his Italian gastronomy holidays. Native to the region of Abruzzo in central Italy, he is immensely proud of its history and heritage. Fabrizio’s passion for keeping everything local also means that guests on his holidays will be joining his family for cooking lessons, meeting local producers and using only locally sourced products.

This is not your typical cooking school or indeed cookery holiday. All cooking activities and gastronomic experiences take place in the local’s homes, on local farms, or in the hills on the lands of local suppliers and families. There is no “professional chef” on this holiday – you are learning from housewives, mothers, fathers, brothers, farmers and fisherman, as well as wine makers, olive producers. Pretty much everyone in the community and what you’ll learn, see and experience are not taught it in schools but refined and passed down through the generations.

Fabrizio and friends image

Location

Pick up at Rome Fiumicino airport is included at 2:30 pm on day 1, followed with a 2-hour transfer to the base of the holiday in Abruzzo, Italy.

For the drop-off to Rome we usually leave the hotel in Vasto after breakfast, at around 09:00 am so that we arrive at Rome Fiumicino airport at maximum 01:30 pm (if there is traffic, but it normally takes 3-3,5 hours).

If you have flights outside of these times, please let us know and we can find the best solution for you.

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