Cookery and wine holiday with 5 nights in Tuscany's Chianti countryside, including cookery lesson with lunch and wine-tasting
This 5-night wine and cookery fly-drive holiday begins in Pisa or Florence where you collect your hire car before heading to the Chianti region south of Florence. Your hotel castle-hotel is located in the countryside surrounded by wooded hills and vineyards, and a short distance from the wine-producing town of Castelnuovo Berardenga. The hotel occupies what was a fortified hamlet dating from the Middle Ages and has been transformed into a luxury resort with his heart the ancient main square of the hamlet. Included in your stay is a cookery lesson that takes place at 11 am and last for 1.5 hours, followed by lunch. Then there is a wine-tasting that takes place at 17.00 hrs again lasting 1.5 hours. You have ample opportunity to explore cultural places of interest in Tuscany. We suggest visiting the Chianti villages and their vineyards nearby, San Gimignano and Siena but it is also possible to visit Florence.
Highlights
Castelnuovo Berardenga • Chianti • Siena
It was an excellent holiday - due to excellent planning on your side. Super efficient, very professional.Mrs F, Holiday to Norway, Oct 2023
Holiday price guide Prices are per person based on two people sharing a double or twin room for 5 nights.
From about
£2,490 fly-drive
Holiday Code FHIT40
The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.
Call us on 01392 441245
Cookery and wine holiday with 5 nights in Tuscany's Chianti countryside, including cookery lesson with lunch and wine-tasting
Start your holiday with a flight from to Pisa or Florence with British Airways or from your regional airport if preferred and available. Collect your hire-car at the airport and then drive to your hotel in Tuscany which will be your base for five nights.
You have four whole days to relax at the hotel and with time to explore the region. During your stay on a predetermined date, you will have a cookery lesson at the hotel followed by lunch. This takes place at 11 am. Within the stay you will also have a wine-tasting which takes place on a predetermined evening at 5pm and lasts 1.5 hours. During the rest of the time, enjoy the facilities at the hotel or make use of your hire-car to explore. Siena is about 30 minutes’ drive from the hotel and is a beautiful, historic city in a hilltop location with clusters of palazzos, towers and churches. The medieval city centres around the Piazza Il Campo which is where the biannual horserace, Il Palio, is held. Other places of interest include the Palazzo Pubblico, a Renaissance palace which still serves as the city’s town hall and Il Duomo, Siena’s striking cathedral. Another place worth visiting is San Gimignano, known as the city of a thousand towers. Highlights include the Cathedral and Palazzo del Popolo. There are also numerous vineyards and wineries that can be visited just a short drive from the hotel and if you don’t want to drive yourself, the hotel can arrange a car and driver for you.
Today, depending on the time of your flight, check-out after breakfast and make your way back to either Pisa or Florence airport. Drop off your car at the airport before taking your flight back to the UK.
It was an excellent holiday - due to excellent planning on your side. Super efficient, very professional.Mrs F, Holiday to Norway, Oct 2023
Holiday price guide Prices are per person based on two people sharing a double or twin room for 5 nights.
From about
£2,490 fly-drive
Holiday Code FHIT40
The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.
Our prices include
● Scheduled return flights with British Airways from London to Pisa or Florence
● Hire of a Group B car for the duration of the holiday
● 5 nights’ bed and breakfast in a classic room at Castel Monastero, Tuscany
● Cookery lesson followed by lunch
● Wine-tasting experience
● Concierge service and Expressions Holidays regional helpful hints
Call us on 01392 441245
It was an excellent holiday - due to excellent planning on your side. Super efficient, very professional.Mrs F, Holiday to Norway, Oct 2023
Holiday price guide Prices are per person based on two people sharing a double or twin room for 5 nights.
From about
£2,490 fly-drive
Holiday Code FHIT40
The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.
Our prices include
• Scheduled return flights with British Airways from London to Pisa or Florence
• Hire of a Group B car for the duration of the holiday
• 5 nights’ bed and breakfast in a classic room at Castel Monastero, Tuscany
• Cookery lesson followed by lunch
• Wine-tasting experience
• Concierge service and Expressions Holidays regional helpful hints
The journey and how you get there There are flights from Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airport to Florence and Pisa. There are regional flights from a variety of UK airports to Pisa. We include the use of a hire-car during your stay.
Call us on 01392 441245
Cookery and wine holiday with 5 nights in Tuscany's Chianti countryside, including cookery lesson with lunch and wine-tasting
Special offers
Call to make your booking and save an extra £50 per adult Call us instead of emailing us when you are thinking of booking a holiday and save an extra £50 per adult (in addition to any special offers that might be available). We want to talk to you to discuss your requirements and a phone call is usually the best way for you to define what you want enabling us to respond more accurately. We want to talk to you and you save an extra £50 per adult.
It was an excellent holiday - due to excellent planning on your side. Super efficient, very professional.Mrs F, Holiday to Norway, Oct 2023
Holiday price guide Prices are per person based on two people sharing a double or twin room for 5 nights.
From about
£2,490 fly-drive
Holiday Code FHIT40
The prices displayed here are a guide only. Each holiday price will be tailor-made at the time of booking to reflect all actual costs including up-to-date special offers.
Our prices include
• Scheduled return flights with British Airways from London to Pisa or Florence
• Hire of a Group B car for the duration of the holiday
• 5 nights’ bed and breakfast in a classic room at Castel Monastero, Tuscany
• Cookery lesson followed by lunch
• Wine-tasting experience
• Concierge service and Expressions Holidays regional helpful hints
The journey and how you get there There are flights from Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airport to Florence and Pisa. There are regional flights from a variety of UK airports to Pisa. We include the use of a hire-car during your stay.
Call us on 01392 441245
Cookery and wine holiday with 5 nights in Tuscany's Chianti countryside, including cookery lesson with lunch and wine-tasting
About Tuscany
An Expressions tailor-made holiday in Tuscany allows you to appreciate its classical landscape of rolling hills and vineyards dotted with olive and cypress trees, its misty green-grey mountains that are never too far distant, and hill-top towns of rich brown and gold stone houses. This combines with the beauty of the works of art contained in the towns and villages throughout Tuscany to create an inspirational union of the spirit and the senses. There is an intrinsic comfort in the supposed contrast between the delicacy of a Botticelli and the heartiness of Ribollita soup, yet both are typical of this fascinating region. As birthplace of the Renaissance, the impact of Tuscan and particularly Florentine traditions and culture on European heritage is fundamental to our way of life. In addition to the obvious attractions of the scenery of Chianti and the art cities of Florence and Siena, there are the less well-known regions south of Siena with its moon-like landscape of hills, the patchwork vineyards of Montalcino, the coastal marshlands of the Maremma, the spas of Montecatini and Saturnia, the islands of Elba and Giglio, and the Casentino with the source of the Arno and abundant mushroom crops. Wherever you travel on holiday in Tuscany, you will be inspired by the beauty of your surroundings and the way of life, which is quintessentially that of Italy too.
Highlights of Tuscany
Famous vineyards producing wines of Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Alabaster is produced in Volterra. Gold and silver are worked in Florence and the Ponte Vecchio is lined with jewellery shops. Marbled paper and stationery is a speciality of Florence. Ceramics and hand-painted majolica from raw terracotta from Impruneta to the glazed pottery of Siena are to be found throughout Tuscany. Lucca has traditionally produced silk and hand-woven fabrics. Leather goods including shoes, handbags and belts are to be found from market stalls to designer shops such as Gucci and Ferragamo. Interesting markets include the Mercato dell' Antiquariato which sells furniture from antiques to bric-a-brac in Arezzo on the first weekend of every month, in Pisa on the second weekend and in Lucca on the third weekend. The 'wild' Maremma is known for its long-horned white cattle and cowboys (butteri) and natural springs including Saturnia.
Cultural highlights of Tuscany
As birthplace of the Renaissance, Tuscany contains a wealth of treasures: Giotto`s Campanile and Brunelleschi`s Dome in Florence, the Tombs of Galileo and Michelangelo in Florence`s Santa Croce, Botticelli`s `Birth of Venus` and `Primavera` and the portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino by Piero della Francesca in the Uffizi, Michelangelo`s `David` in the Accademia, the architecture of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, `The Tuscan Maremma` painting by Giovanni Fattori in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, the Piazza del Campo in Siena, `The Legend of the Cross` frescoes by Piero della Francesco in Arezzo, `The Creation` fresco by Bartolo di Fredi in the Collegiata in San Gimignano, Romanesque church of the Collegiata in San Quirico d`Orcia, 14th Century Fortezza of Montalcino, Renaissance masterpiece of the church of Madonna di San Biagio at Montepulciano, the abbey-church of Sant`Antimo, mediaeval Lucignano and the towers of San Gimignano, the Etruscan Museum in Cortona.
Festivals in Tuscany
Many of Tuscany`s festivals resound with the flamboyance of the Renaissance and keep Tuscans and visitors alike in touch with the region`s rich history. Others are linked to Tuscany`s hearty traditions of eating and drinking. The most famous is Siena`s Palio which takes place on 2 July and 16 August each year. Others include the Sagra del Tordo (Festival of the Thrush) in Montalcino on the last Sunday in October when there is an archery contest and charcoal-grilled thrush are a delicacy. In Florence, Calcio in Costume (a football match played in mediaeval costume) takes place in June. Pisa has the Giocco del Ponte (Game of the Bridge), a mock battle in Renaissance dress also held in June. Viareggio celebrates Carnival on Shrove Tuesday with a huge display of flamboyant floats. In May and August Massa Marittima holds the Falcon Contest.
Gastronomy in Tuscany
Simple country food is at the heart of Tuscan cooking. Regional dishes include Bruschetta (bread or ciabatta toasted and rubbed with garlic, olive oil and salt), Ribollita (bean, cabbage and bread soup), Pasta with hare or wild boar sauce, Porcini mushroom and truffle dishes, Bistecca all Fiorentina (thick cut of sirloin and fillet beef), Cantucci (almond and honey biscuits) served dipped in Vin Santo, Panforte (chocolate, nut and spice cake). Pecorino cheese made from sheep's milk. Local wines include the white Vernaccia di San Gimignano and the Bianco di Pitigliano. Famous reds include Chanti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino and the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Vin Santo made from semi-crushed grapes left for several months is an excellent dessert wine.
