Ravello, Amalfi Coast
with Nonna Orsola’s recipes
Founded in 1974, and renowned both in Italy and abroad.
Since 1974
Villa Maria cooking school, founded in 1974, has more than thirty years of experience and is renowned both in Italy and abroad. The courses include:
Goethe, Wagner, Reid, Lawrence: the great travellers of the past discovered the flavours of Ravello too.
The cookery school was founded in 1974 as the “Academy of High Medieval Conventual Cuisine”, then “Nonna Orsola” in honor of the hostess, and lastly “Villa Maria Cooking School”. It organizes daily cooking classes for individuals or groups.
The initial intention was to teach the true Italian cuisine to the many tourists who visited Ravello, as gastronomy is one of the fundamental customs of the people. The great travellers of the past, Goethe, Wagner, Reid, Lawrence, besides discovering the beauty of our villages, learned about the customs of our people and our culinary traditions.
This continues to the present day: to travel and visit new countries also means to know the tastes and flavours. On the Amalfi Coast, thanks to the mild climate and the traditions of a people with over fifteen hundred years of history, there were favourable conditions to develop a pleasant culinary evolution.
Moreover, thanks to the value of the structure, organization and professionalism that Villa Maria can boast, the idea has proved over time of great interest both nationally and internationally. In fact the school has become a destination for students from all over the world. Many of the weekly courses are attended by professionals, lawyers, doctors, engineers and even chefs. They are particularly popular with Americans, who have come to discover the secrets of Neapolitan cooking.
The school offers different levels of courses for all students who wish not only to learn the thousand secrets of cooking, but also to spend 3 hours in a pleasant and stimulating atmosphere. All classes end with a tasting of the dishes prepared during the lesson.
In addition to Italian and Mediterranean cuisine, thanks to our experience and willingness to teach, we can also organize cooking classes customized to the wishes of the “pupils”.
The courses vary in length
Menu of the day
Every lesson is made of five courses.
The courses vary in length, from a minimum of a single lesson to a maximum of one week. After the week’s courses students will be awarded a certificate of attendance.
At the beginning of the course the culinary history of dishes and ingredients is explained, together with the culinary techniques and the history of the products you will use in the day’s menu.
Participants are accompanied in Villa Maria’s organic garden, where they gather the produce that will be used and enjoyed during the preparation. Very interesting also is the cave with a medieval chapel, located in the garden and open to the guests. In this place, in the past, the farmers gathered in prayer in their times of rest from work.
It starts with a demonstration of the preparation of fior di latte. An expert cheesemaker will transform the curd into mozzarella with the help of the participants, who will taste the product they have made.
Classes take place in a large and well stocked kitchen, in Villa Maria, Villa Eva and the organic garden. All the planned menu will be prepared in collaboration between chef and students, with a practical demonstration by our kitchen Maestro, who will assist the “students” as they prepare the dishes.
At the end of the class, students will enjoy the meal they have prepared, with local wines: a culinary experience they will never forget!
The Neapolitan pizza is a “miracle”
It comes from simple and popular ingredients.
From simple and popular ingredients such as flour, tomato, mozzarella, oil is born a dish fragrant, smooth and colourful, which has won the palates of the world.
The course offers the opportunity to learn the techniques and secrets of preparing a “true Neapolitan pizza”.
During the course, students will follow and repeat all stages of preparation and cooking of the pizza, thus becoming an expert in “the art of pizza”.
You can choose the course for you.
One lesson
This course is ideal for those who want to have, in one lesson, the basis to give the sensation of the great Neapolitan cuisine to their meals.
Lesson one: appetizer, pasta, main course, side dish and dessert.
Includes
2 nights, 3 days
For those who wish to have a taste of Mediterranean cuisine, for those who want to learn some tricks but also have time for their holiday.
This course is divided into two classes on two different days.
Includes
7 nights, 8 days
This course is designed for those who want to know the best of gastronomic excellence of our cuisine, a course designed for the true lovers of the kitchen. A unique opportunity to immerse yourself in Mediterranean food and wine culture to understand and appreciate the entire cycle from production to preparation.
Includes
At the conclusion of each course the participants will receive the recipes of all dishes prepared and a certificate of participation.
The recipes prepared in our classes, with ingredients for four people and step-by-step procedure. The recipe book is in English.
The photos of our cooking classes.
Ravello, Amalfi Coast
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